Seeking Sunshine in Spain . . .

After below freezing temps in Italy and snow along the Southern French Coast we were in need of the warmth of some sunshine.  Heading towards Barcelona we hoped we’d find some, and not just the painted on winter variety.
 
Able to shed at least a couple of layers of clothing we spent a week exploring Barcelona’s fabulous graffiti painted alleys of the Bari Gotic where we devoured churros (Spanish donuts) fresh from a local little bakery.  When it got a little cooler we found ourselves tucked in the back of a café sipping thick hot chocolates.   

A rarity - a tree on a corner in the Bari Gotic.

The back streets of the Bari Gotic.

Some of the amazing graffiti that adorns the walls of houses, shops . . .

Buying our xurros (spanish donuts) 2 days in a row.

Yummy - and still piping hot!

Tilly tucks into a thick Spanish hot chocky.

More of the Bari Gotic graffiti - I was in photographers heaven.

The kids of Barcelona playing football in one of the many parks set aside
amidst the apartment buildings in the Bari Gotic.

Even the street lights are breathtaking.

Rumbling down La Rambla on a quite Sunday morning.

Smurf flavoured gelato - no really!

One of the fish stalls in the market place on La Rambla.
You need permission to take photos but I managed to sneek a couple.

The girls get up close and personal with Picasso.

A fruit stall in the market - the fruit in Spain is incredible.

The Mira tile work on La Rambla.

Sucking up some freshly squeezed fruit juices.

 

Great mammoth in the gardens . . . not sure why? but he's fun.

Likewise the giant prawn down near the waterfront.

The modern Barcelona waterfront - in such contrast with the old areas of town, but surprisingly welcoming.

 

 

On the Gaudi discovery trail the girls (and Glenn and I) were blown away by his imagination and flair for the unexpected.  You can’t help but feel that architecture has taken a backwards step since his death.  Our buildings pale in comparison and although his works aren’t everyone’s cup of tea they are fun, colourful and hard to miss.

The street elevators that take you ALL THE WAY UP to Gaudi's Guell Park.

Looking over Barcelona city from Guell Park.

The girls havev a rest on Gaudi's serpentine seat.

Part of Gaudi's serpentine set - the mosaic work is incredible.

Beside serpentine seat is this huge wavve tunnel created by Gaudi to fit in with the surrounding rocky hillside.

La Sagrada Familia - due to be finished in 2025.
An unmissable sight to see when in Barcelona.

Just a small section of the statues decorating the outside of La Sagrada Familia.

The magical interior - to hard to describe let alone photograph.

It's like entering another world - hidden deep in the forests of Gaudi's church.

A window designed by Gaudi.

Some Gaudi doors through to the normalacy of a city street.

Not content with incredible buildings - Gaudi designed awesome rooftops too.
All these chimneys represent soldiers/warriors proctecting the building (and they all work too).

Taashi taking in one of Gaudi's quirky rooftop arches.

A Gaudi footpath - found throughout Barcelona's city streets.

 

 

 

On Sunday we packed a picnic and our Frisbees and headed to the park just beyond the Arc de Triumph in Barcelona city to frolic and feast with the locals.  Laying our picnic rug down under blue skies and sunshine we found ourselves surrounded by buskers practicing their tricks, families climbing trees and playing hide and seek and kids birthday parties with homemade piñata’s  made from blown up balloons, shopping bags and loose lollies.  As it grew closer to 3pm we packed up and headed to the Picasso Museum where we lined up with the hordes of others making the most of the free Sunday entry after 3pm.  Worth the wait, it was a fantastic journey through Picasso’s life.  Tilly especially enjoyed it, not leaving a room until she had looked at each of his works – and there were many!

The Arc de Triumph, Barcelona, on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

Piniata in the park.

Tilly soaking up Picasso's at the Picasso Museum.

 

It was in Barcelona that a fellow camper – known to us only as ‘Mr Cameron’ - told us about the dangerous procession caterpillars about to descend on the unsuspecting throughout Spain and Portugal.  Nestled high above in the canopy of Fir trees are these balls of what look like candy floss.  They are actually the nests of the procession caterpillar.  Every spring these inch long hairy caterpillars fall out of their nests one by one.  As they fall they attach themselves to the caterpillar in front until they have formed a 2m long chain and then they proceed across the earth in this formed chain until they find a nice spot to bury themselves 2m below the ground where they become moths.  These moths then fly up into the Fir trees and build their candy floss nests where the whole process starts all over again.  This may sound really cool but there is a huge danger associated with these interesting insects.  To a dog they smell like cooked bacon, hard to resist, but DEADLY poisonous.  If you take your dog camping in spring you have to lock them up until the caterpillars have disappeared because if they come into contact with them they will die.  For some strange reason they don’t affect cats at all!  We humans, on the other hand, are just as susceptible as dogs – although not to the same degree.  We were told about one lady who was playing petanque when she wiped her ball clean and then rubbed her eye with her hand.  The procession caterpillars had been near her ball and some of their spores had gotten onto it.  She was rushed to the hospital where she lost that eye altogether!  It puts the fear of God into camping under Fir trees in spring in Spain and Portugal.  Campgrounds do spray for it but you can’t rely on them – you just have to have your wits about you.  We came across these nests everywhere but it wasn’t until we got to Olhao (Spain) that we watched them fall from the trees and join together to precede across the road in a long line.  It freaked the girl’s right out – Glenn was just fascinated – I stopped and took a couple of photos and then moved on pretty quickly.

From Barcelona we headed along the Costa Brava coast to a quiet little town called Alcossebre.  Camped amongst German, Dutch and English winter stayers we explored by bike and on foot taking in some beautiful sunsets.  It was here in Alcossebre that we were introduced to the power of the Spanish winds.

Our campsite in Alcossebre.

Big skies . . .

Beautiful coastline . . .

Alcossebre beach.

It's always fun working out the foreign language washing machines.

Sunset over Alcossebre.

Riding to the lighthouse outside Alcossebre.

The girls try to reach the stars in Alcossebre.

 

Cabo de Gato was touted as being an amazing National Park on the southern coast of Spain.  All we found there was vast land littered with rubbish and extremely high winds!  Not what you’d expect of a National Park.  The beach was interesting with piles of debris, big piles of debris, scattered evenly along the beach.  It left us wondering whether this was a natural phenomenon or whether someone was paid to make these big piles.

 

Heading inland, through moon rock landscapes and battling super strong head winds that sucked up our fuel, we drove through great slabs of Spain, through Valencia, Granada, oranges and spring blossoms, to find ourselves camped up for a week at Puerto Santa Maria in Cadiz – just in time for the Cadiz Carnival.  What a party!  We dressed up and joined in the carnival atmosphere with the locals (and some tourists) for a couple of days.  It was fabulous, colourful, noisy, in parts smelly, and most of all FUN!  We were so glad we took this detour and experienced a true carnival.

The Spanish road signs are so CUTE!

Oranges for as far as you can see in Valencia country.

The blossoms in Spain were just stunning.

Arid country - not one river we came across had water in it.

The moon rock landscape on the way to Granada.

Despite the Spring blossoms - there's still snow on the mountains.

The Osborne Bull stands proud on many a Spanish hilltop.

We came across these painted walls on a ride to Puerto Santa Maria's harbour.

Dancing in the streets Cadiz Carnival style.

The crowds were thick.

The Sheers Family getting into the Carnival spirit.

Day 2 of the Cadiz Carnival.  It took me ages to paint the girls faces -
but they turned out pretty good - then we found these amazing wigs and voila!

Doled up for the Cadiz Carnival - we couldn't let the kids have all the fun!

My very favourite photo of Glenn.

 

Sevilla was AMAZING . . . famous for its bull fights and flamenco dancing, we walked around El Torro (the bull ring) and took in a flamenco show.  The girls were so taken with the flamenco that they danced their way back to the bus stop, Tilly even flamenco’d while brushing her teeth. 

Tilly feeds our friends in Seville.

The architecture in Seville - so Spanish - so stunning.

The Seville river front.

A Sevilla artist chatting to a quirky local.

The spirit of flamenco . . .

Red hot flamenco . . .

A stunning dance . . .

The tile work in the Palacio Espana.

Even the bridges were tiled . . .

From one of the balconies - this place is so grand you can't fit it all in one photo

A typical Sevilla souveniour stand.

The girls getting into the matador vibe.

Waiting for us when we got home from Sevilla every evening . . .
or maybe waiting for their cat bikkies.

 

It was in Sevilla that we met our new bestest friends – Linda and Milton Jackison – a couple of fellow NZ travellers exploring the world in a motorhome for a year.  It was here that our travels took a different turn when we paired up and decided to travel in convoy across the rest of Spain and Portugal.  It was here that a new adventure began . . .