We started our journey north by driving directly from the expensive condo saturated “Costa del Sol” to the sarcastically named “Costa del Plastic-O”. This Spanish nickname is in reference to the seemingly endless plastic covered greenhouses that in many cases run from the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains to the edge of the water. We drove past these structures for over 150 kilometres and were surprised at how many were run down and surrounded with an atypical amount of roadside garbage. This was in such contrast to the upscale destination coastline that just preceded it. We did read that this area is now the main source of winter produce for all of Europe so economical and sustainability wise, this questionable sea of plastic has helped revitalize this region and make it a very important agricultural zone. If only they could somehow produce an environmentally friendly plastic that does not deteriorate into small shreds and litter the landscape. 

Spain does not have a shortage of sandy ocean beaches and all along the East coast you’ll find plenty of them along with an interesting mix of small cities, old Roman ruins and camping opportunities that abound. Some of these locations like the Costa Blanca coast line and the city of Valencia, are somewhat more beautiful then others.

While visiting Barcelona we stayed at our old campground on the beach from 2014. It’s near the international airport so our daily “wake-up” was 747’s taking off every minute or so, very interesting entertainment with our morning coffee but we were pleased when they stopped flying at night. Yesterday we took the bus into Barcelona and re-visited some of our favourite places including the magnificent Sagrada Familia. Uniquely designed by Antoni Gaudi it’s been under construction for 137 years and is still a number of years away from completion.  After a 5 year absence we did notice a huge increase in the number of illegal street venders. Some would argue that they provide a service, add colour and interest to the streets and provide vital employment. Others consider them a menace and a threat to the metropolis, but either way, Barcelona is such a beautiful city and has so much to offer a traveler. We decided to stay an extra day here so we could visit with Paul and Sally, a very nice and interesting couple from California that we met. Both are retired airline pilots and a short time ago they were flying those great big Airliners all over the world. They’ve slowed things down a bit now and with their motorhome, which is similar to our own RV at home, are taking a more “down-to-earth” look at some of the places they have been flying over for so many years. They also have a blog called www.AdventurAyers.com and we had a good  evening sharing travel tips, experiences, stories and destinations. Just before leaving Spain we stopped at a 4.5 star campground called Aquarius on the beach near the French border where we had previously arranged to “meet-up” with Michael Thyssen, his wife, and a group of their friends that meet annually at this campground for a couple of weeks of serious bicycle riding and relaxation. Michael is the owner of Dümo Reismobile, the motorhome dealership in Germany that we have dealt with since 2014. A wonderful group of people that fortunately for us, speak better English than we do German. When leaving we stopped at a very interesting local archeological site called Empuries (beside L’Escala, Spain) that Michael had told us about. It dates back to the 9th century BC and it’s the only known location where Greek, Roman and Iberian communities coexisted. This coexistence worked because Empuries was a major trading port and therefore peace and cooperation was mutually beneficial. Excavation of this massive site began in1908 and is presently only 25% complete. 

We did have a plan to travel through Andorra in the high Pyrenees into France but the area was experiencing snow and sub zero temperatures at the time so we decided to stick closer to the warmer and dryer coastline instead. We’re now in southern France and coming to terms with the fact that we’re half way through our trip so it’s now time to start focusing a little more attention to the planning map and calendar. 

Hope everything is going well at home… and in Hawaii (Cam, Lia, Benson, Peyton, Bob & Katie)

Everyone have a wonderful and Happy Easter!