Category: Europe (Page 17 of 20)

Vistas de Valencia

16 November 2017 / Juliet Stratton / 0 Comments

A day trip out to the beautiful city of Valencia reminded us that we are just tourists and therefore will be charged Tourist Prices for a drink in the sunny square right under the most popular church in the city!! 5 for a 330ml beer and 8 for a sugary sweet flavourless Sangria bought us back to earth with a bump, having got used to 3 for a pint, 1.50 for a soft drink and 1.50 for a glass of wine in Benicassim.!!nnWe were spoiled by the choice of Tapas available and enjoyed several mid morning as well as a bowl of paella late afternoon. We had been to Valencia before and felt no need to rush about and explore churches, the parliamentary buildings or fantastic architecure, so just wandered and took photos in between eating and drinking! Sticking with the food theme, we wandered into the Mercat (fresh meat, veg and fish market) and soaked in the sounds, smells and sights.nn

One small selection of tapas! You take a plate and eat as much as you want, you are charged per “stcik” left on the plate. Cream cheese was popular here, topped with strawberries, crispy bacon and cherry tomatoes; egg mayo was topped with crispy bacon or avocado; goats cheese topped with sardines or fried aubergines; mini croissants filled with cocktail sausages and fried onions!!

One of the many salad, fruit and veg stalls.

At a charguterie stall, you can buy parma ham ranging from 69 per kilo (on the right) to 189 per kilo on the left. Behind the counter you will find the “cheaper” range, averaging 15 per kilo!!

The butchery counters are the same as the charcuterie, you can buy fresh rib beef at 10 per kilo or aged (read yellow fat, mouldy bone ends) beef at 90 per kilo!! I’m sure it tastes nicer!!

Not being a fan, I cannot comment on the fish, apart from saying the displays are so neat and colourful!!

Talking of colourful, one square was full of florists!

This is the Town Hall; once you pass through Seciruty, you can wander about the building alongside the Town’s ministers and dignataries.

The town’s railway station (on the right) and bullring (in the middle)

We also paid a visit to the House of Rocks, so called because the statues that are paraded around the City are on bases that are so solid, they are called rocks. The statues represent worldwide nationalities that the church reaches out to across the world and are 20 feet tall. The mythical beasts are part of a religious story told to nurture friendship and love.

The “horsemen” are part of the parade.

Looking down on the statues….

We paid a brief visit to the more modern Arts, Sport and Culture part of the city.

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Donkeys and Desert

16 November 2017 / Juliet Stratton / 0 Comments

The Desert de les Palmes is a natural park just behind the coastal town of Benicassim and is not an actual desert! And there are not many palms there either, the name refers to the palm trees in the surrounding coastal areas. The donkeys are probably owned by local farmers who use them in the mountains when harvesting their crops; we came across these ones and stopped to feed them, they were friendly donkeys and appreciated the fresh grass!!

There is an 18km pot holed narrow road that winds its way from the outskirts of the town, over the tops of the mountain and down the other side, with footpaths heading off to waterfalls and natural fountains, ruined castles, remains of a monastery within sight of the newer built monastery and endless rocky outcrops with fantastic views fom the top. It tops out at 780 metres above sea level and was pretty chilly up there but the views were worth it! The area is popular with walkers, hikers and cyclists as well as pilgrims.

Black and white meets brown and white!

View of Benicassim from the top.

So much greenery.

David, Keith and Jean admiring the views.

The remains of a Carmelite monastery where spiritual refuge would have been sought. A new monastery has been built further up the hill and is still in operation today.

View of the monastery remains from a different angle.

The area is home to numerous pine trees, cork oaks, shrubs and aromatic plants and is regularly farmed.

Looking up at the “new” monastery.

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Gaudi Park – Funky Fun and Fascinating.

13 November 2017 / Juliet Stratton / 0 Comments

We spent an afternoon out with our friends Keith and Jean and went along the coast to Torre la Sal just outside Oropesa, where in the Marina D’Or area {a highly built up holiday destination} is a nature park full of Gaudi type structures. The park is full of birds, peacocks, pheasants, swans, ducks and the biggest carp fish we have ever seen!!! They must have been 2 – 3 feet long!! The main attraction was the Gaudi style park itself, full of colour and mosaics and strange ornaments.

View of Oropesa Bay.

Oropesa coastline with the Via Verde (Green Way) cycle path in the left corner.

David and friends.

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Costa del Azahar – Benicassim

13 November 2017 / Juliet Stratton / 0 Comments

After leaving Navarrete and Logrono we headed 315 miles south into the mountains, climbing for almost 4 hours to a dizzy height of 1200 metres for three quarters of the way before plateauing out then heading sharply downhill for 45 minutes to the coast arriving at Benicassim, north of Valencia. Fuel consumption is usually 18mpg when towing, 38mpg when not, however the continual climb meant we only got 15mpg and had to refuel en-route as we couldn’t risk doing the downhill drive purely on fumes!

Benicassim is a Spanish holiday resort with properties looking out onto the 7km long beach; the mountain range behind (Desert de les Palmes) shelters the town from any winds and the beach in the bay is shallow and perfect for swimming and sailing. The Desert of the Palms is not a literal desert but a protected natural area with a small mountain range! The beach has a wooden boardwalk all the way along, at the top end where we are the bay is called Voramar and from 1890 onwards Spaniards realised the benefits of the fresh air, perfect warm climate and salty sea water and built a parade of villas along it. I understand that in the roaring 20’s and 30’s certain villas were popular as party houses of certain repute, whilst some bigger ones were turned into hospitals and rest homes. Nowadays most are fully maintained and still occupied, one or two are very run down and needs attention and some are restaurants and cafes. The styles differ, some are simply one level living, some have palacial balconies, some are more traditionally Spanish, and some are art deco delights.

The town itself seems to be a haven for those over a certain (retirement) age, in November people are still swimming in the sea and walking around in shorts and t-shirts, whilst the local authorities encourage activity by providing a huge network of cycle paths, activity clubs and beach games. The local market is primarily a fruit, vegetable and clothing market and bus routes take you to the next towns along, Castellon is south and Oropesa is north. The site is very social, half the residents are here for the winter and the owners of the site provide activities every day; Spanish lessons, Spanish cooking, yoga, tai chi, gym exercises, bingo, wine tasting and a band plays every Saturday. There is also a group of people that are trained by a local choir leader to perform Christmas carols in several languages for a performance at the local Church for the villagers and within the site for people here, all supported by wine and goodies of course!

On arrival at the site, we had a big issue……the main “streets” are narrow and there was no way we were going to be able to reverse into a pitch as the pitches opposite were full. However, a knight in shining armour came along in the form of Jeff, another 5th wheel owner who had a 5th wheel specific motor mover and he helped us onto our pitch. This caused quite a commotion in the street, we had at least 20 people watching, offering advice and moaning (about how big we were compared to their caravan) however, we have made friends with everyone (especially Jeff) and David is looking at purchasing a new toy for future use!

Jeff and his 5th wheel motor mover.

Part of Benicassim sea front.

Villa Del Mar is now a restaurant

Interior of Villa Del Mar.

And this is the late evening view from Villa Del Mar.

One of the seafront Villas.

Another amazing villa.

Older style villa.

My personal favourite.

View of our bay.

An impromptu street party. Can you tell where I am sitting by the location of the Jack Ratt English cider?

A jamming session at the bar. The chap with the Ukelele is from Dublin! Our neighbour Keith on guitar.

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Zaragoza – the Windy City

31 October 2017 / Juliet Stratton / 0 Comments

We arrived in Zaragoza for a week’s stay at a municipal campsite and were pleasantly surprised. We have heard several other people comment on how municipal sites were run down but thankfully this one is not. It’s on the outskirts of the city, about 6km out and under the flight path of the International Airport and the military one! However, I don’t think this is the reason it is known as the Windy City, this is due to it’s location mid Spain, surrounded by mountain ranges and on a huge plateau. One positive to the wind is, combined with the 23c sun, the laundry dries in 2 hours!

So we are both trying to learn Spanish through a BBC disc and Duolingo and practising with the locals where possible which is easy in a bar (two beers, two Americano coffees etc.) but not anywhere else. The Spanish speak so fast that I have learned to say “lentamente por favor….” which means “slowly please.” One morning we venture into the local precinct and opt to take the bus into the city. The number 43 trundles along and I have already looked up the translation for “two return tickets please” which should be “dos boletos de vuelta por favor” but you know how it is….the bus driver says something strange and my mouth blurts out “dos returnos por favour”…..???? where did that come from? Well, David was so gob smacked at my new found language he said absolutely nothing and we were sold two single tickets!!!

Just checking my Facebook page Senor.

The city has so many monuments, around every corner is a church or statue or bridge so we headed for the main building, the Basilica of our Lady of the Pillar. We happened to be admitted towards the end of Mass and what a moment! We watched the proceedings and were astounded at the beauty of the building, the amount of well dressed people at the service and the number of confessional boxes opsitioned in any open space.

We gawped at the beautiful paintings on the ceiling and the gold, marble and opulence at every turn, we admired the happiness in everyone’s faces and were honoured to watch the pomp and ceremony involved in such an amazing building. The building has been restored and expanded over the years and is a mix of so many styles – Baroque, Romanesue, Gothic and Moorish; it has on display several unexploded bombs that landed on the church during the Spanish Civil War of 19361939!

We learned that Francisco de Goya was asked to paint several of the ceilings, and subsequently found so many examples of his work around the city. I was lucky enough to be able to sit on his lap and have a word in his shell like….

Here’s a few more pictures of this amazing building.

Several of Goya’s works.

We also spend a morning at another fabulous place, however, this one has been restored to look immaculate and new so it was not as impressive. It is the seat of the Aragon Parliament during the week and full of admiring tourists at the weekend. The Palaicio de la Aljaferia was originally built as a fortified medieval Islamic palace during the second half of the 11th century and later on becoming the Royal residence of christian Kings of Aragon, before the catholic monarchs took over in 1492 after which the Palace was altered to represent a fortified military fortress. It was fully modernised between 1950 and 1990. We hope the following pictures show it’s splendour and glory.