After leaving Arles, France we drove a short distance to an interesting coastal holiday destination called “La Grand Motte”. This massive seaside apartment/marina complex is based on the design conception of one architect. Jean Balladur’s wave like pyramidal shaped buildings are intended to blend into the natural environment when viewed from boats offshore. Our first close-up impressions of this 60’s era resort were not that great but then when you see large sections of this complex from a distant vantage point, I must admit, it is impressive and it’s still a study destination for many architectural students. Onward to Andorra which today does not resemble the country that Bert and I visited in 1972 where we parked our VW van at the top of a mountain because we got good radio reception and then almost froze to death during the cold icy night. Actually many of those mountain tops are now populated with somewhat impressively large ski resort developments. Combining awesome skiing with tax free shopping has created a mega European winter  destination and has rendered this entire little nation unrecognizable via my 1972 experience. We actually moved through busy little Andorra fairly quickly (which is not too hard to do considering it’s size) but lucky for us, diesel fuel was a bargain on the way out.  

Spain is a fascinating country and is truly one of our favourite destinations. It has so much natural beauty, culture and history to offer that it’s impossible not to be impressed with it. With limited knowledge about the northern part of Spain we called on Kees to help guide us along and he did not disappoint. Extremely well informed and an experienced traveler throughout Spain he graciously shared some wonderful ideas and destinations with us… thank you once again Kees. Zaragoza, Logrono, the wine district of Rioja, Burgos, Leon, Astorga and Ponferrada along the “Camino de Santiago” (Pilgrimage walk to Santiago de Compostela) were all great suggestions. Also of interest was a fascinating archaeological site we stumbled upon in the Atapuerca Mountains. Here, Europe’s oldest human remains were accidentally discovered by railway construction workers cutting a trench for a new railway line. Some artifacts and human fossils date back an astounding 1.2 million years. They are still excavating this site. 

Into Portugal and down the coast to Porto we drove. The weather cooperated and we had a great time exploring the old town and eating the best Portuguese sandwich ever (as promised)… twice!  Continuing south we stopped in at the surfers mecca of Nazare. Here you find the largest surfing waves in the world (they can reach over one hundred feet high) and this is the place where surfing records are set. Even though the waves were rather tame during our visit we were still able to experience this beautiful and busy place bursting with its surfer energy and mixed together with the atmosphere of a traditional Portuguese fishing village. It was a very cool place to spend a relaxing sunny day. We are now in the Algrave area on the South coast of Portugal and working our way back east again towards Spain. From this point on, we have no real agenda as we start our return trip north so we’ll just follow our instincts and drive the roads less traveled.