Bonterra Park Campsite, outside Valencia, Spain

Mon 5^th - Thurs 8^th May

We needed some time off -- time off from our 6-month holiday. Boy I can just feel the sympathy oozing out from each of you as you read this entry right now. But anyone who has travelled for more than a few weeks knows that after a while you crave just staying put for a few days.

Besides, I've been intrigued with European camping since I moved here and wanted some time to study and understand it. What possesses people to leave their comfy homes in the city only to line up along small patches of grass directly next to each other like chickens in a hen house and call it a holiday?

Back in Colorado, camping has an entirely different meaning. Camping means driving for 4 hours to the most back mountain road you can find, crossing small rivers and listening to the underside of the VW van scrape against the dirt road as you bottom out on a trail that's solely intended for 4-wheel drive vehicles. You park up in a meadow completely surrounded by nothing but wilderness, circle the cars with tents in the middle and tell the kids not to wander off due to the mountain lions and wolves. There's no shower block or toilet. Instead you bring baby wipes to clean your arm pits in the morning and feel thankful that Uncle Oscar brought the customised chair with a toilet seat, dug a hole beneath it and stuck a roll of toilet paper on the nearest tree branch.

Don't tell Bevan, but when we first started planning this trip I wasn't exactly excited. Camping for 6 months across Europe only brought back visions of Colorado and my 30-something self felt a longing to take a shower rather than appreciation for the the beautiful surroundings. Couldn't we just save a bit more cash and stay in hotels?

I dreaded the day that he actually wanted to depart, until Adam and Davina sent home a few photos and stories of their camp sites while they were doing the same route 2 years ago. They were photos of Adam flying down a water slide and sitting next to a pool under one of those tiki umbrellas with a beer in hand. Wow... maybe camping had changed since I was 15 years old.

We pulled into Bonterra Park along the Costa Blanca and immediately you could feel our excitement pulsing through the van. The beach was just 200 metres away, a huge supermarket was across the street with every type of meat you could dream of barbecuing plus an extensive selection of beers. The grounds had a huge pool, a library, a bulletin board with daily events and even a large screen TV to watch nightly football matches.

My next few days followed a similar routine of heaven:

First sunlight
Look at your watch. If clock says 7am or earlier, return to sleep. If clock says 8am, assess state of tiredness. If feeling okay, proceed to next step. If tiredness persists, return to sleep.

8:00am
Roll over and notice that Bevan has been awake for 2 hours, but is reading a book. Bevan says he'll make coffee while you go to the showers. Smile happily.

8:45am
Morning shower routine has taken so long that not only is the coffee made, but Bevan has cooked poached eggs on toast. Smile happily.

9:30am
Wash dishes to say thanks to Bevan, then assess weather. If sunny, pull on swimmers and head to beach. If raining, grab laptop and head to reception to use WiFi.

12:00pm
Return to van from beach / library / games room / internet terminals. Cycle to supermarket across the street and pick out fresh bread, cheese and meat for lunch. Cycle home and enjoy a ham and cheese sandwich with beer.

1:00pm
If sunny, return to beach. If cloudy/rainy, check activities board. It's paella cooking day so cycle to the restaurant area and find a seat near the big cooking pot.

1:02pm
Realise that everyone else brought a bottle of wine to watch the cooking class, so quickly cycle back to van and pick up wine supplies.

2:00pm
Paella is cooked and tipsiness has settled in. Pile paella onto your plate, enjoy a second lunch and smile happily.

3:00pm
If sunny, return to beach. If cloudy/rainy, choose either more WiFi, reading a book in the van, playing the PSP or cycling into town for a bit of shopping.

6:30pm
Return to van and make guacamole. Eat guacamole with chips and beer.

8:00pm
Finally it's Spanish supper time. Cycle to supermarket and pick out food for grilling / barbecue. Pick up more beer / wine if needed.

9:00pm
Dinner is ready. Eat and drink outside under the awning and smile happily.

10:00pm
Gather beers / wine into the canvas carrying bag and walk to the social room to watch the nightly football match on the big screen TV.

12:00am
Walk to shower block, wash your face and brush your teeth. Return to van to find that Bevan has made up the bed. Smile happily and promise to put bed away in the morning as a thank you. Fall asleep to an episode of Flight of the Conchords on Bevan's laptop.

Granada, Spain

3^rd - 4^th May

I never really wrote anything for Granada before we'd moved on so far that I feel a little silly writing this 2 weeks later. So I'll be brief and just summarise that Granada is on my now rather lengthy list of most liveable cities. The city is nestled against the Sierra Nevada mountains with much of the town built up along the foothills. Perched at the top of a hillside is the Alhambra – a UNESCO World Heritage Site which is the biggest draw for tourists.

We were warned at our campsite to book tickets in advance as the queues could be very long and it was even unlikely that you'd get in on the same day. Not to mention that we'd turned up on a bank holiday weekend, so the crowds were especially thick. Unfortunately we found all of this out around 9:30am on the morning we were planning to go and the man at reception gave a little chuckle when we asked about going that day.

Books in hand to keep us preoccupied in the lengthy queues, we arrived around 10:30am and wandered around trying to figure out where to buy tickets. A huge queue snaked from the main ticket building and looked like at least a 2 hour wait, but then I noticed another obscure sign pointing the opposite direction for reservations. We followed a maze of barricades to the back of a building that wasn't visible from the street and stumbled upon a row of 4 ticket machines with 2-3 people queueing. Surely this wasn't right, but we hopped in line and walked up to the machines, purchased 2 tickets and out they popped, complete with a reservation to see the most beautiful part of the palace at 18:00. The rest of the grounds were open to browse throughout the day. Feeling quite proud of ourselves, we walked past the hundreds of people still waiting in the other queues, vowing to share our secret to any fellow Kiwis or Americans in the crowd.

The sun beat down on us but the Alhambra grounds are so vast that it literally took us until 4pm to explore them. Gardens, a massive mud bricked fortress and the views overlooking Granada are definitely worth fighting through the crowds, and the Islamic/Spanish architecture in the main palace certainly sums up why the site is now so heavily protected. I'll let our photos tell you the rest of the story, but Granada is definitely worth a long weekend break if you haven't visited this intriguing town.

Granada Photo Album

Sevilla, Spain

Thurs 24th April

A few years ago my cousin, Amanda, decided to do a semester of studying Spanish in Sevilla, Spain. She came back to the states fluent in Spanish and sporting a level of fashion that convinced me Sevilla was on my list of places to visit. As one of our fellow campers put it, "You will find more history and culture in Sevilla than the entire country of New Zealand or the USA." I think he may have been right.

In Porto, we'd run across a few English speakers who recommended Sevilla but warned us that it was a tourist trap. I can see what they meant, but I still think it's definitely worth a visit as it's one of the friendlier, beautiful and laid back cities to visit in Spain. Just watch what time of year you visit! We arrived in late April and it was 34 degrees celsius -- the hottest temperatures we had encountered on our trip so far.

Our campsite was about a 30 minute ride away from Sevilla and thanks to my hundreds of mosquito bites, I was feeling a little apprehensive about venturing out in public. Thirty-one years old and a zit still makes me feel self-conscious, much less 300 hundred welts swelling on my face. I whipped on the biggest sunglasses I could find and we hit the city tour bus to soak in as many sights as possible within 24 hours.

Sevilla has it all -- from one of the best bull rings in Spain to a labyrinth of cool shops and cafes hidden down narrow streets, you could easily lose yourself in this city for days and not get bored. I loved it and wished we had longer to visit here, and had my cousin Amanda to show us around.

But one downfall is not really its fault. It's the number of American exchange students living in this city that transform how you view the local life. We were shocked by the number of 20-something American voices in the streets on their mobile phones saying, "Yah man, what happened in class today? Dude... I'm walking around with Trish cause we just couldn't make it to class. It's too hot yo!"

My end opinion is to definitely visit Sevilla and enjoy its beauty, but avoid April when American spring break hits and June - August during the heat of summer.

Segovia, Spain

Mon 14th & Tues 15th April

I’m writing this sentence a few days after we actually visited Segovia, but earlier today I asked Bevan what his favourite part of the trip had been so far and we both agreed – Segovia.

The city sits just an hour north of Madrid but appears to have minimal impact from tourism so far. Either that, or they’re doing a damn fine job of preserving the city from the many cheesy tourist shops that normally infiltrate highly beautiful cities. Don’t get me wrong, the tourist shops definitely still exist but you’re just as likely to find a balance of high quality shops filled with locally produced items tucked down some of the less travelled streets as you are to find ceramic plates painted with “Segovia” on the main high street.

Our campsite was located just north of the town and we could easily catch a bus into the city centre, which terminated at a 2-storey Roman aqueduct hovering over the city. From this point, a number of pedestrianised cobble stone streets fan out with most of them leading to the grand cathedral that sits at the very top of a large rock. Walking the narrow streets behind the cathedral leads you to a massive fortress that looks more like Cinderella’s castle than a real-life Spanish alcazar.

You can easily spend a day wandering the city on foot, but the real treat is viewing the city from afar. We took the city tourist bus for 5.35 euros and were stunned at how much there was to see just outside the city walls. Tiny villages with ancient monasteries were tucked into the valley just beneath the rock, plus many stunning views from the surrounding suburban neighbourhoods.

If we had known the torrential downpours that awaited us in northern Portugal, we probably would have stayed in Segovia for a few more days. A real treat to visit if you happen to have a day or two free in Madrid.

San Sebastian, Spain

Sun 13th April

We had about 20 minutes in San Sebastian before the rain started pouring down. Managed to sneak in 3 photos, before dashing into a nearby bar where we decided to drink beers until the rain let up. The rain didn’t let up, so that’s about all I have to say about San Sebastian. My sister, Teresa, and I visited the beachside resort in 2000 and I have very fond memories of the place, but my advice would be to visit in mid-summer when it’s sunny. Otherwise there’s a great little pub called Fuego Negro just next to the cathedral with 2.50 euro beers where you can hide out until it stops raining.