Tuesday 28 February 2017

Mama left a piece of her heart in the Alpujarras



Pampaneira
So we came to Pampaneira and parked in a car park in the centre of the village and Mama fell in love.  She fell in love with the mountains.  She fell in love with the trees.    
A walk to the gorge
She fell in love with the white white walls and the green green plants and the water which rushed and gushed where ever you looked.
Poqueira Gorge
We walked all the way down to the Poqueira Gorge in the bottom of the valley.  There were brambles and nettles and it smelt of England in Spring time when the sun first starts warming up the wet ground and there were prickly pear and geckos.
The Gorge
And there were rivers running through the streets of the town. Melt water from the snowy Sierra Nevada and channelled down by the Moors running away from Granada.
A bar selling Jamon in a street with a stream
And they have houses with porches made of wood and terraces above and roofs made of trampled down shiny grey earth.

A house with a porch and a stream

So we went on a walk.  Daddy said it was the GR7 and a great walk of Europe.  So I took a stick for those pesky dogs.
Off to Bubion
If there was one thing I would change about Spain it is the dogs.  The place is full of caca and if you are not standing in it you are being growled at by one.  And they have great big ones charging about the place. And dogs.
Me on the GR7 and some more water.

What a view of Plastico
But we walked through Bubion and up to Capileira unscathed.  A bit barked at but unbitten.
A view

Almond Blossom

More Views
And we had the best meal in Capiliera.  And everyone was pleased to see us and we were pleased to see them as we had walked though the mist up a great big mountain to get there.  The best bit was that Daddy and I ran all the way back.  It took us 2 hours to get there and half an hour to get home.
Here Uncle Marcus.  A new building technique.
  And then we left and Mama left a bit of her heart there.  We drove to Lanjaron. Because Mama said she had found a nice hotel with a heated pool.  And it was a town full of fountains and I drank from every one.
Fountains
It was a very green and pretty.
Green and Pretty
And the house had portals which led into beautiful little courtyards with magnificent doors and it was wonderful.  If you didn't step in dog caca.
A Puerta
We spent Mama's birthday at the hotel and it was lovely.
Spa
And we got dressed up for dinner so Mama took a picture because we had a bath.
We've had a bath
Oh and when we were in Pampaneira we met a lady who was weaving wool and Mama thought she was amazing and bought a shawl from her and the lady said we could come back the following day and watch her weave and I sat next to her and was very excited and Mama thought I might get my fingers chopped off.
And now we are sitting in the carpark of the hotel using their WIFI.  Mama says what goes around, comes around.

Cabo de Gata to Trevelez Gata

St Jose
We have passed by Almeria several times and never stopped because it looks like it is covered in plastic bags but Mama has being banging on about Cabo de Gata and going there.  And how wonderful it is.  Windy but wonderful.

Volcanoes
There are volcanoes and the Spring flowers were out and the air smelt of honey.
View from La Isleta del Moro and our parking spot on the right

And the towns were small fishing villages which gave you an idea what Benidorm must have been like.
Hermy Hermit hiding from the wind
We found a parking spot on the beach at Isleta del Moro and then walked along the coast to Los Escullos beach.  A lot of the path had crumbled away and we had to scramble up cliffs.  It was very exciting.  But very windy.
Wild Flowers
We drove out to Las Negras but it was full of motorhomes free camping and Daddy didn't like it.  He saw one campervan open their window and throw out some vegetable peelings and there were lots of dogs roaming about and making caca and if there is one thing Daddy doesn't like it is dog caca.
Rodalquilar Gold Mines and a view to the sea
So we moved away from the cost slightly to Rodalquilar which was an old gold mine and has a great village and a brilliant botanical garden.  Mama stole a pomegranate and Daddy told her off and I ate it.
Looking for Gold
They have made a really good job of rebuilding a ghost town and people were moving back in and tourists were coming and Daddy said he wished they would do the same ooop North. 
Canjayar
The wind was starting to send us a little bit lala so we decided to head for the hills and the Alpujarras.  We drove up to Canjayar which was a funny little town and they had an aire right by the fire station which pleased me and morning and evening the goats walked passed us and they didn't half smell.  Mama says nothing stinks like a Billy Goat.  I'm trying to prove her wrong.



Trevelez
And then we went to a campsite in Trevelez which is supposed to be the highest village in Spain. Daddy is the best driver in the world.  It just happened to also be the best place for curing ham which is done using only the cold dry air and salt.  We bought loads of jamon.  Mam said I would grow a curly tail if I kept on eating so much of it but I haven't.
Looking for snow
I have been asking to see snow because I want to be like my cousins in Norway and Mama said it was forecast to snow there.  It didn't snow but it hail stormed as I called it.  Thunder and lightening and big snowballs from the sky.
My snowball for my cousins
Fortunately Daddy had an umbrella with a big metal spike on the top of it which he held up to the lightening on top of the mountain as Mama pointed out.
Mi gata
I didn't get any snow but I made a friend.  Daddy was getting annoyed because she kept trying to get in the van and he accused Mama of trying to kidnap her.  Mama said she was pregnant and gave me some of the best jamon to give her. I would like a cat.  I would like some snow too.

Saturday 18 February 2017

Sierra Espuna,Estrecho de la Arboleja,Lorca,Lucainena de Las Torres

Santa Eulalia
 Mama took this rubbish picture of this amazing church.  Santa Eulalia in the Sierra Espuna. A national park in Murcia.  It had a wooden inside and was painted with really gory pictures of chopping off heads of people.  Daddy said they were Moors.
A walk
We had a lovely walk up a mountain and could see the church and the monastery in the bottom.  We parked Nona there for the night.
Our spot for the night
The walk up the mountain had statues on the way up and Mama really liked them.  I liked them because it was my mate Cheeses who I haven't spoken about in a while.
My mate Cheeses
The next day we went to a canyon and tried to walk along it but it was flooded with water.  We found a very old cave house though which was built into the sand stone in the cliff. You could see where they kept their animals and the way the house had been built.  Mama really liked it but Daddy said the cliff looked like it was going to come down on our heads.
Estrecho de la Arboleja
 We drove into Lorca.  Mama looked it up on the internet and said it was a very unlucky town.  It has had floods, the plague, more floods and 2 earthquakes.  They were in the middle of rebuilding the centre after a big earthquake a few years ago. The centre was very nice but the outskirts where we parked weren't so pretty.  I didn't care.  It had gravel.
Lorca
And then to one of Mama's most favourite places.  Lucainena de las Torres.  A tiny village on a mountain side.  I think she liked it because there weren't many people about.
The village
 Mama said they filmed a lot of Westerns here.  Something called Los Desperados.  I've not seen it but at the moment I can't stop watching The Axel Family on Youtube.  Mama calls him Axel Grease and his sister River Bed.  Even thought they are called Axel and River.  Mama says they are an unnatuarally happy family who spend there time pushing toy trucks along a beach.  I don't think she likes them very much but I would watch them day and night if I could. I wish I lived with them instead of my grumpy lot.
Deserted Village
 We walked along a Via Verde for 10 kms.  Gosh it was long.  We passed by lots of empty houses which were old mining villages.
Nearly Home
 We stayed for 2 nights here.  Parked just outside the town.  At night it was very dark and very quiet. I don't think Mama wanted to leave but there wasn't a bakery open here. So we moved to Nijar.
Tower at Nijar
It was a very pretty town.  We went to the tourist information office and Mama got a brocure on Cabo de Gata and so we changed plans (again) and decided to drive there.  We stopped at a lovely aire which was very cheap and very good but quite a way from town.  So I was dragged on another 10 Km walk.
Not again
 But we had a beautiful view of where we are heading to.
San Jose
 When we walked back Dady said it looked like Mexico.  There was lots of cactus and then we spotted asparagus.  It was everywhere.  Mama picked loads.  But it was very very prickly.
Not Mexico
A bit like Mama.

Thursday 9 February 2017

Exotic Elche, Novel Novelda, Manky la Manga,Crazy Cartagena

What a date
Leaving the cousins was hard and I speak about them most days and we have them on our fridge but we were glad to leave Benidorm.  We set off for the hills and went to Elche.  We loved it there.  Mama said it reminded her of Marrakech.  It was full of date palms and water and gardens but was a very busy working city. 


Palacio de Altamira

Vinalopo

Monkeying about
We really liked it there.  I made lots of friends in the parks and we heard a band playing and went in search of it and found it and followed it.  They went past a churros stand and one of them stopped and bought a big bag full as the rest of the band played on.  He went running after them.

He went round and gave each band person a churros each but the problem was they were still playing and couldn't eat it so they clamped them to their music stands.


Then onto Novelda to see a Modernista house but it was closed.  However, we got to see the Santurio Santa Magdelena and the Castillo de la Mola which had a triangular tower which I climbed up.

Cathedral
The Cathedral had an organ made out of marble which was amazing.  Daddy spotted it and Mama said that there is nothing more amazing than a stone organ.
Stone Organ
 The best bit was parking Nona right next to the cathedral on top of a mountain and sleeping there with the lights and the cats and the howling wind.

Then back to the coast.  Mama had been going on about the Mar Menor for ages and said it was an inland sea divided by the tiniest strip of land from the Med.  She had read that it had warm waters and spas and had decided it would be a great place to be.  We stopped at first on the Mediterranean side at Cabo de Palos which was nice.  But it seemed that the land was all dropping into the sea

Cabo de Palos
but we didn't mind because we hadn'tr bought a house there or parked Nona too close to edge and the port was all blue and white boarded houses and they sold ice-cream.  Then we drove along the La Manga strip and it was terrible.  Really bad. It smelt dreadful and we counted 5 dead cormorants on one beach.  Mama said it was a sign of things to come and then we sat in silence for a while until we couldn't bear the smell.



Dead bird.  Dead Beach. Dead Beat.
So we left and drove to Cartegena and that cheered us up.  What a crazy place. Castles and ports and mining chimneys and Roman Amphitheatres and Baroque buildings and Arab quarters and peacocks.  Wow.  What a place.
View over the port and the Roman Amphitheatre from the castle
Me on a Roman Temple
 The only problem was that the No Funs couldn't decide where to park for the night.  Everytime we found somewhere they'd move on. At last we found somewhere and still the No Funs weren't happy with it.  They said that there were men walking around by themselves but I liked it because it was quiet and it had gravel that I could dig in so I protested and we stayed.  I was just going to sleep when there was a bump and daddy lept out of the van with a stick.  Then Mama jumped up and opened up all the blinds and turned the lights on and opened the door.  Someone drove off in a car and a lady crept away.  I asked what happened and Mama said well what do we expect parked next to a port.  Daddy said she had lost her dog.  But then we packed up and drove off.  To the other side of town.
Baroque arcade

Amphitheatre