Today we left for Sevilla. We’d opted to take a direct bus from Conil to Seville for the price of around Euros 28 for two people. The journey took two and a half hours and we arrived in Seville just after 4pm. By the end of the journey we had made the decision that our return trip would be via train to Cadiz followed by the 1 hour coach journey to Conil. The Seville bus was just a little bit too un-comfortable in terms of legroom with one or two somewhat unruly passengers not wearing their masks and making a nuisance of themselves.

I think by the end of the trip we had covered most of the main sites of Seville. I make no apologies for using this persons Website as a guide, particularly since the guide was about how to plan your Seville visit over 3 days, which is about the amount of time we had.

3 Days in Seville: The Perfect Seville Itinerary + Map (2022) (thediaryofanomad.com)

The restaurants on his list which we tried were great value and served good food. We didn’t like the look of one of them but all the ones we actually ate in were spot-on.

Our chosen hotel was the 4-star Alfonso Rey X and quite a contrast to our chosen form of transport to this beautiful city. It’s a modern, clean hotel and our room benefitted from patio doors opening onto a small balcony. The only downside was we had requested a double-room and this room was a twin. We stuck with the Twin room because of the balcony and views across the street.

The Hotel is in the Santa Cruz district of Seville, in our view the best place to be. One can while away the evenings walking through the narrow streets and visiting the numerous bars. It’s also maybe at most a 5 minute walk from the Cathedral and Alcazar.

We arrived at the hotel probably about 5pm and promptly headed on up to the Terrace bar to meet our friends from England, D and T. A mighty fine G and T for T set the evening in motion.

We ate at El Pasaje Tapas bar (very good food and atmosphere) in the Santa Cruz district a short walk from the hotel and then wandered around Barrio Santa Cruz (Jewish Quarter) visiting the odd bar or two.

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We started our first full day in Seville with a Migraine issue for Moe, missing out on the morning plan which was a visit to the Plaza d’Espana. We have been before and Joe was a little disappointed not to go on this occasion. Our friends posed a question about the historic monument of the Plaza D’Espana, which was, why did it not get damaged in the first world war. The answer is, it hadn’t yet been build so despite it’s historic significance, it isn’t actually a very old monument.

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When Moe was finally feeling a little better, we walked the short distance to Plaza de Santa Cruz and sat watching the world go by, avoiding the falling oranges! The Cruz de la cerrajeria is a famous, ornate iron cross made in 1692 known as a masterpiece if a 17th-century Seville forge.

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In the afternoon we headed to the Alcazar. Whilst the queues for tickets weren’t insane, we should have bought them on-line first. We tried once we’d arrived but the purchase required passport details and our passports were in the safe back at the hotel.

I can’t really add to what you will find on the Audio guide or with a search on Wikipedia. It’s an awesome place, both internally and lazing around the gardens. The gardens are large and stunning. There are a few pictures below which may or may not reveal the true beauty of the Seville Alcazar.

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In the evening , we ate outside at another fine Tapas bar, Las Teresas.

Week 5 in Conil-de-la-Frontera culminated with Andalusia day. This is celebrated on the 28th February each year and has been so since the referendum on the same day in 1980 when Adalusia became an autonomous community of Spain. The Campsite filled to capacity and the party started on Friday and continued for much of the weekend.

We have entertained ourselves locally with a variety of walks, cycle rides, quiz night, yet more Spanish lessons and meals out in the local area and also at the campsite restaurant. In the next few days we head off to Seville for a long weekend.

We don’t just learn a little bit of basic Spanish at the lessons but we also find out about the local markets and the fresh produce. The picture above (of the filo Tuna parcels) remined me of one lesson learnt by one of the German “students”. She had been persuaded to buy “fresh Tuna” at a local market. Yet in this region, freshly caught Tuna is only available In May and June. Her purchase had been defrosted frozen Tuna sprinkled with a little water…

The salad (top dish) was excellent as usual, with large prawns or Langostinos. We also order Tortillita camberones which is the above dish but with the small shrimp cooked inside the “pancake”. Our waitress recommended we have the same dish but with Langostinos – a good suggestion!

More views from one our walks from El Palmar back to Conil.

We’ve had a lot of Spanish food recently and decided we’d like something a bit different – Pizza maybe – it’s been a while. We searched Conil, looked at the Tripadvisor recommendations but all were closed. We decided to sample the Menu del Dia at Verde y Blanco. A great choice and good value at 12 Euros a head.

The final day of this blog entry, we headed into town with some shopping requirements, followed by Pizza for lunch… Except the Pizza restaurants were closed AGAIN!

We headed to El Pasaje – I think – it’s just opposite the burger place, “The Good Burger”. We ate various Tapas, the highlight being Rosalind’s choice of Dodatitos (possibly) – raw but smoked sardines!

On the way back, a little bit of Geocaching. Found two caches – here’s Moe with the one she located.

PS We haven’t won any more prizes at the weekly Quiz…

We had a morning left in Cadiz before catching the bus back to Conil. We decided we would visit the Cathedral, which is located in the Plaza de la Catedral which houses not on the cathedral itself but also the Baroque Santiago church, built in 1635.

The church was known as “The Cathedral of The Americas” because it was built with money from the trade between Spain and America. The 18th century was a golden age for Cádiz, and the other cathedral that the city had got, Santa Cruz, was very small for this new moment of Cádiz. The new cathedral was built from 1722 to 1838.

As with most of the places of interest we have visited on this trip, the Audio guide is accessed on one’s smartphone. We followed the tour around the church and the crypt underneath.

This is one of the most ornamental Choirs in Andalucia, with a double-set of seats – the upper set having been relocated from a monastery in Sevilla.

This processional and artist piece of “jewelery” is made entirely of silver and stands 5.5m tall. Created in two steps, the eucharistic tower began construction in 1648 and completed on 1664.

The bell tower is 74m high and the ticket to the Cathedral also includes access to the bell tower. The “spiral” staircase is a gentle slope, presumably to allow access via a mule. Stunning views can be had from the top of the tower.

The remainder of the week was spent relaxing around the campsite – reading, more Spanish lessons and of course the weekly Quiz. This week we managed a respectable 5th place after loosing out to a monetary 4th place prize by the tie-breaker question.

Always next week…

We decided that on Day 2 we would catch the boat to el Puerto de Santa Maria. This leaves from the dock area near to where the cruise ships visit and the single price is less than 3 Euros. Today though, only one of the Catamarans was running and the outbound journey was via a bus.

We arrived in el Puerta de Santa Maria late morning – the port know locally just as El Puerto and known by the British as Port Saint Mary – nestled on the banks of the Guadalete river.

In 711, Arab (Moors) from the North of Africa conquered southern Spain. They renamed the town Alcante or Alcanatif which means Port of Salt, due to the old salt industry of Phoenicians and Romans.

In 1260, Alfonso X of Castile conquered the city from the Moors and renamed it Santa María del Puerto. He organized the land distribution and conceded a charter under the Crown of Castile. Having received a royal charter the city was then allowed to use the title “El” prior to the name of the city itself. This is a distinguishing property and even though Madrid is the capital of Spain it has not earned this distinction.

Christopher Columbus’s first expedition to the Americas set sail from El Puerto de Santa María. His pilot, Juan de la Cosa drew his world map (the first including the coast of New World) in El Puerto in 1500.

In the nineteenth century the city became the General Headquarters for the French Army during the Peninsular War under the reign of Joseph Bonaparte (1801–1812). The town is steeped in history, museums and monuments.

Our first stop was the Castillo de San Marcos, a medieval castle. This was erected by King Alfonso X as a fortified church and it was built on the site of a mosque of which the wall of the qibla still survives.

This room is the prayer area of the original muslim mosque, which itself had been built on Roman foundations and utilised the marble columns which are still visible today. The columns are original, but the soft sandstone used to construct them is attacked by humidity so mostly this has been clad is some kind of plaster / mortar render.

On one of the columns, can be seen the original stonework.

Lunch was a recommendation from one of the Spanish ladies at the Castle. “La Liba” was situated along the waterside of the Guadalete river. As often happens, although we only ordered small portions these turned out to be larger than normal Tapas. I guess there’s a lesson not to order it all at once!

We then headed to the Plaza de Toros de El Puerto or, the Port of Santa Maria bullring. Today though was Tuesday, and many places are closed on Tuesdays. The arena is 99m in diameter with the central section measuring 60m and the bullring, one of the largest in Spain, with its capacity of 12,186 was, sadly, closed.

Late afternoon we caught the catamaran back to Cadiz and wandered around the old streets of Cadiz. We enjoyed nice views of the town of Cadiz and the “Constitution of 1812 Bridge” which opened in 2015 and has a total length of 3,092 metres. The bridge links the towns of Cadiz and Puerto Real.

An early end to the Spanish lesson as we caught the lunchtime bus from Conil to Cadiz. At 5 Euros each, that was great value for money.

We also had a great deal on our hotel, the Hotel Las Cortes de Cadiz. A four star hotel which we managed to secure for about 60 Euros a night. It was a lovely hotel right in the heart of the Old Town. Very clean and well maintained.

We arrived mid to late afternoon and embarked on a long walk around the old-town and the edge of the coast. The weather was a bit blustery with a cool northerly wind testing the few layers of clothes we’d managed to bring along.

Today is Valentines day (Hoy es la dia de los enamorades) and we felt lucky to be able to book a nice restaurant – Restaurante Balandro. We weren’t in the posh part with the white linen tables but we had a high top in the bar area. Apparently the food is the same but twice the price when served on white linen!

We ordered Tapas, the highlight being a selection of fried Fish.

Our waitress wasn’t able to translate what we were eating into English – but, I think the five different fish might have been:

Calamari – definitely

Acedias – probably the whole fish on the left. This appears to have no obvious translation in English but appears to be some kind of small flatfish in the same family as Sole – perhaps a “Wedge Sole”.

Whitebait – definitely

Dogfish or Monkfish – we think that is the fish between the Whitebait and the Calamari

Hake – Maybe. This was the meaty white flaky fish second from the left

The pretty streets of Cadiz after dark.

Morning and another Spanish lesson. This is a very difficult language to learn – or maybe I’m just getting old!

After the lesson, we headed off on our bikes over to the Port of Conil for lunch at El Nautico. This is probably our favourite restaurant in the Conil area and about an eight mile walk. We took the bikes on this occasion which was much easier!

We only ate Tapas and salad for lunch as we had booked into the communal meal for the evening. This evening it was veal burger, Spanish style.

Tuesday we returned to LeRoy Merlin to buy some outdoor lengths of coloured LED strip light, complete with remote control. These didn’t quite work out as intended and were not the expected / hope for quality and a further trip to LeRoy Merlin ensued the following morning to return bits and pieces which didn’t work. Fortunately Spanish lessons had covered how to return stuff so it was all fine with one side of the conversation!

Wednesday evening we entered the Quiz night again, with Jennifer and Richard from England. A stunning performance bagged third place and we were only a couple of points off top spot. A perfect first round mind.

Thursday we took the bus to El Palmer for lunch and then walked back on the coast to Conil.

We wiled away a few hours until lunchtime watching the surfers before lunchtime.

On the walk back, we detoured past the tower which is home to some breeding pairs of the Northern Bald Ibis. We didn’t see any of the distinctive birds on this occasion but here’s a link to our last visit in Spain when they were all too visible.

Eurotrip 8, 2020 – Day 38 to 40, Walking El Palmar… – Caravan Ramblings

On this occasion there was a flock of small ground birds, probably wagtails and this chap was taking a keen interest. We think he is a Eurasian Sparrow Hawk but there is some conflicting views on this. I will leave the comment section open on this post for a while so feel free to express an opinion!

Lovely warm day on Friday with a BBQ in the evening.

Saturday we walked around Conil, and watched Rugby in the afternoon. Sunday we cycled to La Barrosa and ditto Rugby in the afternoon.

A trip to Carrefour and Leroy Merlin at San Fernando took most of Tuesday. Leroy Merlin is truly the best DIY store we’ve frequented with B&Q not even in the same league. It even puts Lowes and Home Depot in the US to shame. You can find everything there and the lighting section is amazing. I can see some rolls of remotely controlled LED strip lighting heading back across the Bay of Biscay with us…

On Wednesday we walked to the Port of Conil and enjoyed a couple of beers at Restaurante El Pastor. This is a lovely 8 mile walk and it now appears that our favourite restaurant, El Nautico – also located at the port – has just opened.

On Thursday we walked into Conil and then back to the Campsite along the beach, as is customary stopping for refreshments at “The Shack”.

Friday and Saturday were spent locally. Joe received the new awning light and spent ages figuring out how to attach it to the caravan and make it all watertight. A communal meal of Pork ribs at the campsite Friday evening – absolutely first rate. A pleasant evening view across the swimming pool.

More Spanish lessons on Saturday and then a bike ride to La Barrosa on the Sunday.

It’s about 90 days short of two years that we were last at Camping La Rosaleda in Conil-de-la-Frontera. That was the frantic end to our last visit to the continent as the plague took it’s grip in Europe and we headed home via France and the Eurotunnel.

Not knowing what to expect with the latest Omicron variant of Covid, we decided we would probably spend most of our trip at Rosaleda. With the site being well-managed and the staff helpful towards all the campers here, we felt that if anything un-toward were to happen, we would receive decent help and support.

We arrived at Conil after a 4 or 5 hour trip South from Cacares and our favourite pitch was waiting for us.

This was a good thing because any ideas we had of maybe renting a larger or double-pitch were immediately dispelled. Any thoughts that we might be one of only a handful of units to venture south were quickly dispelled as the site is close to a sell-out and certainly the busiest we have seen it.

The mix of residents has also shifted significantly. UK outfits were always a majority but not anymore – the site is probably more than half occupied by German motorhomes, with the remaining 50% split between French, Dutch, UKs and other nations.

We have been here around 10 days now and not much else has changed. There have been two communal meals and a quiz night so far, attended predominantly by Brits. We missed out on third prize in the Quiz by just a point – we’ll give it another go tomorrow!

Despite the low numbers of Brits, it’s safe to say that they are contributing a high proportion of the bar and restaurant takings. We ate at the restaurant on the second night here – the hanging kebabs as good as ever. Two years on and Ahmed, the waiter, recognises us straight away and even commented that we were occupying a different table to the one we sat at the day before the restaurant closed due to the Spanish lockdown!

The beach shack is still in business with its stunning views across the Conil beaches and onwards towards the Port.

We have managed one cycle ride so far – from Conil towards Faro De Trafalgar and then back along the surfing community of El Palmar.

The cycle track at a cost or some 3.5m Euros now runs along the entire route. It’s now complete with its splendid green surface.

Adherence to mask wearing within the campsite is less than total. Outside of the site, indoor mask wearing has total and utter compliance. Mask wearing outside is also mandatory, although we think that if social distancing is possible (such as a walk along the beach etc) then it remains optional. In town outdoor mask adherence is also very good.

A Dutch chap is also running Spanish lessons twice weekly so we have signed up… Lesson number three is on Saturday!

After 36 hours at sea, across a very calm Bay of Biscay, we arrived on schedule at 08:00 Spanish time in Santander.

We made full use of the Commodore lounge and it’s complimentary wine and Tapas service. We’re not sure what the additional cost of a Commodore cabin and pass is, because this was the only cabin available when we re-booked. Still, we thought the service was great.

Dinner was also included in the price. I think in the price of the ferry ticket as it looked like all passengers were enjoying a free breakfast and lunch. Main course dinner was shoulder of lamb for Moe and the strangest looking quid for Joe.

The food has a Spanish “twist” to it throughout the boat.

After arriving on-time at Santander, we were subject to a temperature check and then disembarked in rapid time. We had cleared customs and passport control and on the road a mere 25 minutes after the 08:00 arrival.

Given the early start, we drove 350 miles to Caceres and the municipal site next to the football ground. The one with the personal toilet block on each pitch! We arrived at 15:40 so a pretty decent run South. Just 250 miles left tomorrow on the final leg of the journey to Conil-de-la-Frontera.

It’s fair to say we’ve faffed about with this crossing having originally been scheduled for an 11th January departure. Due to the relatively unknown effects of the Omicron Covid-19 wave at the turn of the year, we decided to delay the trip by two weeks.

We regretted this change in that folks we know had a perfect crossing over the Bay of Biscay on the 11th and with the weather still holding fair, we made a snap decision on Monday to switch our crossing forward to Thursday 20th. The advantage of the Brittany Ferries Flexi tickets although it’s also clear that many of the crossings are beginning to get full.

The forecast for the Bay of Biscay remains calm, in contrast to the chaos of getting ready for a few months away at short notice.

We finally hitched up the van at Woodbury, Devon at 3:00pm on Thursday and set off on the 150 mile / 3.5 hour journey to Portsmouth. Our route was via the A30 / A303 / A34 and M27, arriving at the port around 7:00pm.

Check-in was slow with all the added paperwork checks. We had our NHS Covid passes and our Spanish health forms to hand, all of which seemed in perfect order as we were presented with our Cabin passes and access to the Commodore lounge.

The Spanish health forms are a nuisance to fill in. They must be completed less than 48 hours before arrival on Spanish soil which on a 36 hour crossing, meant another task to accomplish before we were able to hitch up the van. Once completed, the emails failed to arrive and it took yet more messing around before we received and printed off the Spanish forms.

We boarded the new Brittany Ferries ship Galicia, promptly, and on one of the lower decks, are marginally hopeful of a quick exit at Santander. The lines of vehicles at the dockside included a large number of caravans and motorhomes and whilst the car decks seemed to have extra capacity, I think most of the cabins are fully booked. Everything on the ship is new and clean – even the vehicle decks.

We headed to our cabin, which apparently is a Commodore cabin which includes access to the Premium Commodore lounge. Our two berth cabin is very comfortable, larger than usual and equipped with comfortable beds, TV and en-suite.