28th July - Southern Spain

Monday 28th July 2008

For the past few weeks we have been living off pretty much the same routine, which consists of nothing more than waking up, going to the beach, sun bathing and going to sleep. We don’t normally get to the beach until around midday, the most likely reason being is because that’s not until when we’re awake enough to realise what’s happening outside of the motor home, then we do realise that it’s another beautiful day so had better make the most of it. It’s a system which is working well for us, but unfortunately not many interesting stories or anecdotes arise from such an existence!

We slowly made our way from Praia da Luz along the Algarve Coast, making leisurely stopovers at Albufeira, Tavira and Monte Gordo before crossing the border into Spain.

We were somewhat, not ‘disappointed’, but ‘surprised’ by the Algarve in general. We had this image of an idyllic, luxurious haven but we were much more impressed with Portugal’s West coast than it’s South. The Algarve’s beaches seemed small, (in comparison to the beaches of Nazare and Milades visited previously) over crowded and in some cases actually a little dirty. We visited ‘Praia do Castelo’ to the West of Albufeira and stayed for a few days as again we found a perfect parking spot a few minutes walk from the beach where we stayed for free without any hassle at all. The beach itself was as you’d expect beautiful on the eye with golden sand and apparent clear blue water, but as we got up close to the sea we discovered that it wasn’t that clear at all. We were obviously being very picky though… I mean, in comparison to the English Channel the water in Portugal was practically taken straight from a bottle of Evian, but by this point we had very high expectations after the superb waters we swam in on the West Coast.

We experienced more unpleasant water in Monte Gordo where the water was overwhelmed by green slime which had washed up on the beach and remains of which we still found on our swimming trunks a few hours afterwards. This wasn’t much of a problem though in all reality - the weather was always fantastic and we haven’t been moved on once for parking somewhere we shouldn’t - in fact at Monte Gordo we were parked up alongside 7 other Motor Homes, it was almost like being in a French Aire. I think the ease of parking will actually be the stand out memory of Portugal for us, at not one point have we felt threatened or unsafe and it’s all been free, what more can we ask?

We headed into Spain via the toll free A49 motorway, which made a lovely change after spending the past month surviving only on A Roads - we made some real progress in a relatively short space of time… we’d almost forgotten how that felt! (We were also pleased by the 12 cents drop per litre in the price of petrol just by moving out of Portugal and into Spain might I add).

Another couple of free nights were had in Punta Umbria near the town of Huelva and yet more sunbathing took place, before taking a long drive from there through Seville and down the A376/5/4/7 to the wealthy town of Marbella on the Costa Del Sol. Marbella was just as beautiful as I had remembered it from a holiday I took here two years ago, only if anything it seemed more rich and prosperous than before. A Café I had visited on the promenade called ‘the Bombaros’ was now a sleek and stylish Restaurant, no longer serving a three course meal for 11 Euros. An English paper now cost 4 Euros rather than 2, and a bottle of Peach Schnapps had also doubled in price - a shame for a traveller like me but a sign of the times I guess.

Marbella isn't just a promenade and a mile of Golden Beach though, it also has a stunning old town with narrow side streets and cute cafes and traditional tapas bars. The atmosphere it creates in the evening when the restaurants are full and the buskers are playing is delightful, and this part hadn't changed at all from my last visit. I fell in love with Marbella when I was here last, and I now remembered why - I could live here if I won the lottery...I wouldn't move away from England for many places, but this is certainly one I'd be happy to drop everything and move away for - it's a beautiful town.

We spent Saturday night in nearby Puerto Banus - a playground for the rich and famous, quite literally. Whilst wandering the streets we often passed Lamborghini’s, Ferrari’s and Aston Martins, meeanwhile the port is lined with million pound super yachts. They really are out of this world… all of them were bigger than not only my house, but any house I’d ever seen in my life. They were all lit up as the evening strollers walked by, and you could see all the way inside to where the rich people were sitting, drinking champagne and counting their money (an endless task it would seem). It was a warm evening and although we were clearly two poor travellers in a rich mans back garden it was still an enjoyable night where we somehow managed to only spend 10 Euros each in a bar called ‘Flicks’ (mostly filled with Brits). Every other bar we enquired in were charging at least 10 Euros just for entry, so we felt we’d done pretty well.

Next stop Granada, which is a few kilometres inland. We can’t be having that - straight back to the beach afterwards methinks.