Category: Europe (Page 7 of 20)

View of the French Alps during the flight to the UK.

Moving on Up……

21 March 2019 / Juliet Stratton / 0 Comments

After spending a winter in Benicassim (Spain) because Italy, Croatia and Greece were cold and closed up, we have, sadly, had to break away from the Bonterra community and have recommenced our travels. We have had a fabulous four months, in a relaxing situation, made good friends, almost won the quiz (OK, I lied there, wishful thinking) had wonderful social afternoons and evenings but time to move on and up……

In February, we returned to the UK to help Caity move into her own flat in Hampton, Peterborough. After 14 days of cleaning, painting and decorating, shifting furniture and making sure things were up and running, we left happy with the knowledge that the flat was clean and warm, in full working order and Caity had a full fridge of food! A mother’s final job is to make sure her child had food!! Boy, did my hands (and bank balance) ache when I left!!!

Trying to put together a sofa with lots of missing parts – it was returned!!

Caity became a washing machine engineer, learned how to replace a door/ drum rubber! Only took us an hour!

I also had the chance to catch up with my lovely niece Carol, and had cuddles with Jack and Libby, as well as tea and cake 🙂

We moved up to Vilanova just outside Barcelona, our sending off was lovely, all our neighbours came out to see us off on Sunday morning, mid March.

We decided to experiment with an alternative site called Vilanova Playa, down by the beach instead of Vilanova Village, outside the town. As usual, we emailed the site, told them the dimensions of the trailer and how much space we needed and was assured that we would fit…..we had 4 members of staff assuring us they would help us onto a pitch, and so the fun began…….after about half an hour of to-ing and fro-ing, became stuck because the road was narrow, there were too many trees either side of the pitches and he didnt have enough space to swing the cab around fully in front….so he eventually reversed onto a pitch but could go no further. The staff had a bright idea!! Let’s chop some trees down, so you can reverse back onto the pitch behind, turn a little and pull forward onto an exit road, (this was just as David was muttering under his breath “Get me out of here”). Bright idea. Removed the trees, reversed, pulled out, got going and headed up to Vilanova Park where we were allocated a huge pitch on a wide road, no major trees either side and total peace to chill out!! A few glasses of wine were sunk that night!!

Once the overhead cover is removed, we reversed.

Memories of Bonterra Park

Proof that Mary & Chris do dance!
And they win Mulkky tournaments!
Jenny frazzling her brains at the quiz.
Carajillo, a drink Mary introduced us to!

Local dance exhibition
Andrea, queen of Flamenco.
Drummer Chris has several groupies including me and Mary!
The lovely Chris & Mary x
Welsh Dylys and Bob, lovely boy.

Mulkky on the beach, one cloudy Sunday morning.

Keith & Jean showing off the Dancing on Ice skills.

Temporary children; Beau and May, our neighbour Paul & Julia’s children.

We are now heading on up to France, to Narbonne and Frejus, before heading over to Asti again, where we will visit Turin before returning to Lake Garda.

2 Blokes & 2 Birds in Benidorm & 200 Bikes in Guadalest

21 March 2019 / Juliet Stratton / 1 Comment

In February we had a few days out visiting our friends Mike & Brenda in Benidorm. Benidorm was quiet and quite beautiful in the warm sunshine, we had a lovely walkaround the old town, introduced Mike to tapas for lunch and downed a few beers, as expected!

We experienced a night out on “the strip”, a road famous for it’s bars, british cafes and takeaways and cabaret style night clubs, starting the night with pie and chips for dinner, following up with watching three “artistes” singing Rat Pack songs, and topped off by an hour watching a hilarious comedian from Bradford. He was so funny, we had stitches by the end of the evening; however the highlight had to be the drunk woman serenading the “artistes” on stage afterwards singing Take That songs!

Mike confirming that he had organised a “surprise” for David…..
after David had lied and bragged that it was his “birthday”. Yeah, right!!
Benidorm at night

Freddy, in one of the Benidorm bars 🙂
A view of Benidorm from the other side

The next day we took a drive up the mountains behind Benidorm to a small village called Guadalest, hiked up to the castle ruins, had lunch in the square, and gawped at the amazing azure coloured reservoir behind the village. Even the water coming from a natural spring, into a trough in the village, was blue, it tasted so fresh and was freezing cold!

As we headed out of the village on the opposite side, we came across a small motor museum, a private collection of motor bikes, some cars, scooters, bikes and other memorabilia. Such an amazing place, fascinating and full of historical items.

And to top it all off, the Museum had a shop selling local produce, fresh oranges, honey, cream, olive oils and lavendar products.

Benicassim

19 March 2019 / Juliet Stratton / 1 Comment

We have spent many a beautiful day wandering along the seafront at Benicassim, the beach is beautiful and changes with the weather. I loved taking these pictures, hope you enjoy them too.

A Big Birthday in Barcelona

19 March 2019 / Juliet Stratton / 0 Comments

**A beer in Barcelone before Brunch? Don’t mind if I do!!**

So, this year, 2019, was a big one for a certain person……although I keep telling him “he’s in Africa…….in denial (in De Nile)”. He didn’t want any fuss, (unlike his 50th in Barcelona when he was so smashed he couldn’t remember much of the weekend) so no guests, no visitors, no surprise party, just me and him. And so it was!

We actually had some fun on our own, we booked a short notice hotel as the site we were on was only 50 minutes away but the coach journey from the site entrance to the Centre of Barcelona was a bargain price of €5.25 each!! The Hotel was just off the Rambla, right near a Metro station so we really got down and dirty with the locals and took the bus and Metro before checking into our hotel. Lunch was on the hoof as we walked up to the top of the Rambla and off to the right to find the Sagrada Familia Gaudi Cathedral, a long walk punctuated by stops at cafes, shops and tabacs to do bits of shopping, buy coffees and keep warm, on this grey day. Although the temperature was about 15c, we had a cold wind blowing and grey clouds overhead threatening a rainshower. Thankfully this didn’t happen.

We booked tickets at the Gaudi Cathedral for 3.00pm entrance, and came out at 5pm! If ever you want somewhere spectacular to go, I can highly recommend this building, it’s such an unusual cathedral, like nothing we have ever seen before. Despite being full of tourists, the Cathedral had an ethereal feel, quiet and so warm, full of sunlight and a multitude of colours from all the windows in the ceiling. We got a lift to the top of one of the towers, and walked back down the narrow spiral staircase, stopping off to admire the city views at various points where bridges connect to other towers, but it was the interior that fascinated me, the whole building told a tale at different sides and points, a story of birth and death, love, resurrection, betrayal and afterlife.

After tapas and a drink, and then a short recuperation (snooze), we headed out to a local restaurant just off the Rambla that had caught David’s eye earlier, a steak and burger place that stored some of their meat in a dry storage unit to mature it; when we ordered he did order the 45 day dry aged steak and I ordered just a normal one. Mine, despite being well cooked, was much more juicy than David’s medium cooked steak, although both were extremely tasty. David was serenaded by a group of visiting musical minstrels while we were eating, whih was funny. We enjoyed a great bottle of Rioja and some fun with the staff who spoke very little English but understood that it was David’s birthday so offered him a free glass, just the glass (it was stamped with the name of the vineyard), but I forgot to pick it up!

So we headed a few door along where we spotted a bar, opened only 9 months ago, and run by a Portuguese lady called Vieja (vee-eka). The bar had been in operation since 1910, and everything inside was original, and she was an expert in cocktails!

We slunk out of the bar and managed to stagger the two doors along to our hotel, some time much later. I recall trying several different cocktails off the menu but towards the end she asked what spirits we liked and made them up for us…..I think!!! Some, in honour of David’s birthday, were spectacular, sparklers and lights were involved, as was much tequila, vodka, passion fruits, rum, bourbons and the odd plate of crisps and nuts!! Just to say that at about 5am, David stuggled to find the ensuite bathroom, so we had a great night with Vieja!!!

The next day we strolled down to the Marina area after a full Irish breakfast (Irish sausages, bacon, black pudding, mushrooms, eggs, beans….the works!!!) before walking the whole of the Rambla, admiring the street artists, Japanese tourists with their cameras and face masks, and the old buildings along the way. Before we caught the coach back, we stopped at a coffee shop, had coffee and orange juice and suddenly felt human again! A very odd sensation!!!

So this is dinner…..
Contemplating in Plaza Reale

An Ode to Bourbon, written by our good friends Brenda and Mike!! Fabulous!!

Photos of Familia Sagrada Basilica (Cathedral) – which will hopefully be completed in 2027 with the erection a total of 18 towers, 12 are currently built, the rest are in progress.

View of the internal staircase on the tower, it went on and on and on…..

The creative artwork over one of the entrances….

Some examples of the stunning colourful bright interior…..

And now, for the evening…….

Cocktail no 1, called A Bearded Lady, with a passionfruit topping filled with crackling cinnamon bark.

No 2, a straightforward vodka and champers based drink….

A cocktail complete with a sparkler, just for the birthday boy!

This was called El Cortorsionista Chino, it was delicious!!

Inside the London Bar!
Juliet & Vieja.

Clearing our heads the next day, admiring the scenery.

Seaside Sitges

4 November 2018 / Juliet Stratton / 0 Comments

Sitges

We are now back in Spain, on the Costa Daurada in the Catalan region, just below Barcelona. We visited this local town on a grey windy day but the views were still wonderful and the sun did come out for a while, just long enough to remove our jumpers, have lunch and a drink, and then walk back to the town. We were joined by friends Mike and Brenda, who introduced us to our current campsite in Vilanova. We can see the sea from our pitch, although it is about 5 miles away!!! Its that blue line on the horizon!

Sitges

The town of Sitges is known for it’s artistic trends, sculptures adorn the promenades, art galleries are on every street and buildings show off their artistic design, and since the 1960’s when tourism arrived, it has attracted international residents – 40% of it’s population are Dutch, British and French. It’s also popular with the Spanish, probably for its 17 sandy beaches! Several are nudist beaches, and one is set aside purely for the gay community.