Brumablog

For Friends & Family


Leave a comment

The South Coast of Spain

How quickly the time passes when you’re traveling interesting places. We’re halfway through our trip already and actually starting the zig-zag return drive back towards Dümo in Germany. But fear not, we still have lots of new and exciting places to see and things to do on that long drive north.

We really enjoyed our time at “Dümo Camperpark” in Aguilas. It was the perfect place to take an energy break and catch-up on things like laundry. The staff was great, the Dümo campsite facilities are excellent, and the restaurant food was delicious. The location is good if you don’t need an ocean beach at your doorstep. When Michael found out we were at his campground, he sent a message to staff to provide us with the campground car and also pay special attention to our exiting camping bill. After working with Michael and Dümo Reismobile for over 12 years, we feel we have more of a friendship relationship with them than a transactional one. Thank you once again Michael and Anne for everything you’ve done for us over our many years of European travel.

From Dümo we took a couple of days and drove north east along the coast to have a look at Alicante and Benidorm (a major hotspot for British sun seekers). We then returned to Dümo Camperpark to reorganize ourselves before starting out on our westerly drive. We stopped first at the Dexter’s Spanish home-town headquarters in Nerja that is not just a beautiful seaside resort. Nerja is where you’ll also find one of the world’s most significant and famous natural caves. Only recently re-discovered in 1959 by 5 young men skipping school. This is a massive five kilometre ah-inspiring cave with many huge chambers that are garnished with countless spectacular stalagmites and stalactites. Including the largest geological column in the world. This cave has human history, and cave paintings, that possibly date back 42,000 years to the Neanderthal era and, archaeologists are still exploring and excavating the site.

We made our way to Gibraltar where we stayed at a fantastic new marina stellplatz very near the British border crossing that has you walking across the airport runway (only when the walking light is green). Gibraltar was a fun place to explore before heading inland to Ronda. What a great campground we found but an even more impressive town. Ronda with it’s famous 100 meter high “new” bridge (Puente Nuevo 1793) is a very beautiful village and, it boasts one of the oldest bullrings in existence. It’s also become a major and very busy tourist attraction. We spent a couple of days here before heading west again towards the oldest continuously inhabited city in Western Europe. We found a nice stellplatz in the centre of Cadiz next to a fortress on the water just a few minutes walk and we were in the centre of old town. Cadiz was established over three thousand years ago by the Phoenicians so it was old even when Christopher Columbus sailed from here a couple of different times to the new world.

We’re now in southern Portugal camping at a very nice seaside stellplatz just east of Albufeira. We’ll relax here for a couple of days before continuing our journey north. We hope everything is good on the home-front, we’re missing everyone, and we’ll keep you posted on our progress over here.

Thank you Michael for letting us use your Dümo Campground car to explore the local Aguilas area
Margot admiring a beachside view of Aguilas
Strolling around Aguilas town centre during siesta
Time for tapas in Aguilas’s Plaza de Espana
“Sea-salt” destined for your next bag of potato chips
Benidorm in a storm… we decided on the driving tour
Returning to Dümo Camping Park after our drive East to Benidorm. We now start driving Westward
But first… a delicious homemade pizza from the Dümo restaurant
Admiring the beautiful Mediterranean coast…
…With a good friend
Many “round-a-bouts” in Europe have interesting and meaningful centre pieces for one to contemplate
A bit cool and wet on this day but we were warm and cozy
Imagine the entire Fraser Valley covered in plastic… and now you get the picture (seriously!)
I still think riding a motorcycle is safer, but riding anything along this coast would be amazing
Standing in the doorway of our motorhome parked at an overnight stellplatz in Nerja
The Nerja Caves… the most amazing caves we have ever seen
Prehistoric; featuring the largest geological column formation in the world. Enormous home to forgotten civilizations with 42,000 year old Neanderthal cave paintings
A home with an excellent view of Africa and the sea
The Rock of Gibraltar… From our stellplatz at the new modern marina
A two kilometre walk across the British border into Gibraltar
And also… the Gibraltar airport runway of course
Part of the Royal headquarters where British Queens and Kings are Proclaimed. Good fish & chips at that “Angry Friar” next door
Sunset at our Gibraltar marina stellplatz, can you find Margot?
Hundreds of stork nests along our inland drive to Ronda
Small villages dot the landscape, some with castles above them and…
…small roads with big trucks too
Note! Avoid towns like this one in a motorhome…
…but this one looks okay
Our “El Sur” campground in Ronda
Along our two kilometre walk into Ronda
A welcoming cool park on a 29 degree sunny day in Ronda
Ronda’s world famous bridge across the gorge
Atop the strikingly dramatic gorge from the bridge deck
This “new” (1793) bridge connects the two sides of the town
Ronda has become a major tourist attraction with all the good and bad that goes with that
Paella for two at our campground restaurant in Ronda
On the road again heading west towards the port of Cadiz
Some somewhat pink flamingos along the coastal byway
A brand new bridge into Cadiz; the oldest continuously inhabited city in Western Europe dating back three thousand years
Cadiz is another major tourist destination. This is just one of many cruise ships in port on this day
Driving along the Atlantic waterfront in Cadiz
Just a few minutes walk from our waterfront stellplatz that was situated right beside an old defensive harbour fortress
One of the narrow and interesting side streets of Cadiz
You can almost picture Christoper Columbus sailing out from Cadiz to the new world… as he did a couple of times
Our East – West travels along the Spanish South Coast