Touring

Hello everyone,

Greetings from Spain, we are on tour again!!

Playing silly buggers with letters outside museum !!

Ditto

Last week we had Glen and Steve to stay for a few days. It was fabulous to finally catch up as our paths last crossed in India in 2011. We are kindred spirits as we love to roam but sadly due to changes in the health of both of them their wandering has been curtailed in the last few years. Things seem to e booking up for them and they have lots of plans for the future, albeit at maybe a slower pace than previously. We managed a bit of a potter in Mula and then had a menu Del dia in Pliego. The next day we went up into the Sierra Espuna to visit the icehouses. A complete contrast to the place they are staying in at the coast. We saw some local Espuna mountain goats on the way down. The ice houses were used to produce ice for use at the coast in the days before refrigeration. It was a pretty hard life, months were spent packing down the ice and then an equal amount of time cutting the ice blocks.

Sunday we went up to Ceheghin for the artisan market and had a very nice tapas lunch, albeit much more expensive than we are sued to paying. It spurred us on to think about getting out again in the van and I have always wanted to visit Cartagena. This is a coastal city with a huge history, first invaded by Carthage, then the Romans then it was Islamic before becoming part of Hispania. Lots of the city has architecture which encompasses all of this. 

We arrived at an “aire” on the outskirts of Cartagena, usually aires have limited facilities but this one had electricity, showers, toilet and Wi-Fi all for 12 Euros per night and a short bus ride to the centre of town. We had an evening trip into the city and it has some fabulous modernista buildings. We enjoyed the wander and then had tapas and wine in tow different bars and got our no 7 bus back to the van.

Pork on tortilla !!

Modernista!

Wednesday we had a full day in Cartagena, visiting the Casa de Fortuna, the Punic wall and the fabulous Roman forum and then in the afternoon the Underwater Archaeology museum.

Roman tyre tracks!!

 A wonderful time and lovely weather and we got back to the van and had a nice meal and watched “Gravity”.

In the night it started to rain and we had thunder and lightning.......pretty scary in a camper van. The next morning was fine and we set off to complete our Roman tour. First we had coffee in a little local bar, NO TOURISTS! and then had a quick side trip into the City Hall. This is a modernista building which was built to show off Cartagena’s wealth, but about 20 years ago it was falling down, the wooden foundations were struggling to cope with a building made of marble. Thankfully it has been restored and our free guided tour was great and it is stunning. We had saved the teatro Romano till last, but it was a bit of a disappointment. The museum is fabulous and wonderfully laid out, telling the story as you travel towards the Roman theatre. However it claims to be the best in Spain, nah Merida is so much better!!

We then went and had fabulous tapas in our “local” bar. Only Spaniards, good prices and tasty food and friendly staff.....all washed down with some local wine!!

Today we are in Isla de Plana on a campsite which is full of snowbirds........retired people escaping cold weather. There are lots of German, Dutch and French people. We pitched up, in the sun, and had a lovely outside lunch and then a swim and now at 4.30pm it is still warm and the rose wine is chilled!! We plan to stay a few days and hope to cycle around the bay.

 Till next time 

Norma xx