To pick up from where i left off sat time, we had 2 more days in granada, on the second day we were there we took the bus in around 11am, we wandered the streets for a while and as we were starting to get hungry we decided to go bar hopping. in Granada if you buy a small beer, coke water ect you will receive a plate of tapas, this was so awesome we did it all day, we got tapas ranging from tuna pasta salad, to chicken wings to bread with an omelet thing on it. It was awesome and cheap at about 6pm we were a little bit tipsy and really wanted to go see a Flaminco show, our friends were in Granada a few weeks before recommended a cool little place so we went and booked, it was only 8 euros with a table which i think is pretty cheap. we went back and got ready and went back into town at about 8.30, we went to a few more bars and then headed to the show at about 9.45, this place was amazing,it was really small and you had to walk down stairs to get to it, it kinda looked like cave, we got a table pretty much at the front, we wenrn't there for long when these 2 guys walked out, one had a guitar and the other one well he just had really long greasy hair :) they sat down and started playing, the guitar was amazing and the greasy haired guy had a crazy voice, they played for about 45min. After a few songs a lady in a red and black polka dotted dress came out and started dancing, it was hypnotic, the way she moved and tapped her feet was amazing. The next day in Granada was a little more tame, as we got back pretty late the night before we had a nice sleep in and headed into town int he early arvo, we explored a bit and found this cool bar, as i was a little hung over i just ordered a lemonade, when it arrived it looked like a cocktail, it had mint leaves and was actual squeezed lemon it was delicious. we decided to stay in town for dinner and found a cute little Moroccan restaurant, we went in and they went open for dinner yet but we sat in this really cool room and had some apple tobacco which you smoke through a weird thing with a pipe coming out of it, now i don't smoke but this was pretty cool. had to give it a go. When the kitchen opened we had the most amazing moroccan lamb, it was a little small though, we both really wanted more.
The next day we left Granada and headed to a place called Almeria. When we got there it was really busy and we thought we found a cool free camp spot right on the beach, but at about 8pm the ranger drove past (as we were in a national park area) and we didn't want a tap on the door in the middle of the night we decided to deep driving and came across this really cool little town about 15min drive away, as we were drive up to it all you could see on the side of the roads were campervans, so we pulled up next to one and stayed the night. This place was really beautiful, we parked pretty much on the beach and the water was crystal clear, in the morning we got up pretty early and as it was really hot we went for a morning swim. This beach was a rocky beach, so no sand and when we were walking into the water you had to walk over bigger rocks, we were about thigh deep and i felt something on my foot, i thought it was just some sea weed so i flicked my foot and ooh another step, then i felt it again and when i looked down there was a pretty big octopus on my foot, i was so scared, i back peddled into shore but the octopus chased me and almost came up onto the beach, every time i would put my foot into the water it would lunge at me, so we had to walk down the beach a bit further so we could actually go for a swim.
That day we didn't drive far, we were in search of a nice quiet beach which is hard to find in summer. We went to a few places but they were all pretty packed. We ended up finding this amazing little beach in national park and there were about 10 other campers there, we parked up and chilled at the beach for the day, the only thing with this beach was the nudeies, not one lady had there top on and some even there bottoms and there were a few naked guys as well, but it was a nice beach so we just hung out, it was a bit weird there was this one old guy that went nude snorkelling with a torch at 10pm a night. That night we started cooking dinner and just as the food was finishing cooking the gas ran out, which was lucky. We had a really good nights sleep then in the morning i woke up at about 8am and looked out the window and there was the ranger taking photos of the campers and knocking on the doors waking people up, i quickly woke mike up and we put the bikes in the car and went to drive off before he got to us but as soon as we turned the car on we came over and started talking to us in spanish, he took mikes passport number but we couldn't understand anything he was saying, we spoke to one of the nudeies and they said that they receded a fine but as we were Australian that we didn't get one. what a relief, we were getting so sick of out bikes having to put then in and out of the van overtime we stopped and if we needed something from the back while we were driving it was he biggest mission so we decided to sell them, while we were talking to the nudeies mike asked if they wanted bikes and the guy told his girlfriend and her friend and they ended up buying them, which was awesome now we have room in our van again.
That day we drove to a place called Cartagena which is a big city, thinking we could get some gas, the guy we hired the van off told us that you could get this particular gas bottle anywhere in europe, after litterly driving around for 6 hours to every hardware store, camping shop, petrol station we realised that you could only get that gas bottle in germany, so the next day we found a caravanning shop and had to buy a whole new bottle and fitting such a mission but we finally had gas again. That arvo we drove up the costa blanca coast and found a cute little town with a free camping spot right on the beach amounst the trees, the cops even drove past early in the morning but they didn't care they are pretty laid back in europe for free camping (except if your in a national park). The east coast of spain wasn't as beautiful as i imagined it to be, it was very industrial and you had to really search for a beach with clear water. We made our way up to Valencia, we drove though it and it was just another big city so we kept driving to a town called benicassium and stayed the night there. We arrived at this little family owned campsite, and they guy was so excited that we were aussies, he was asking mike all about the formular one racing and told us that mark webbers brother even stayed at the site last year.
We were off pretty early the next morning and made our way to Barcelona. We arrived at a pretty nice campsite right on the beach and the spot we go to park in we could see the water. We spent the first day lazing around the beach as we had a few big driving days, then the next day we headed into the city. wow big mistake it was world youth day and Barcelona was so incredibly busy it was ridicules, we went and saw the sagara familiar church, and they had built a lot since we were here last year. but after a while we got over the crowds and went back to the campsite. The next day we chilled out for the morning and headed into town around lunch time, we were going to a bull fight that night and had to pick up the tickets. that day we looked at some more sites and went for a walk down at the dock we even splurged and got some payella which for someone that dosn't like sea food wasn't too bad (mind you mike ate all the mussels and prawns). After dinner was the bullfight! what can i say, i don't really know what i was expecting but it was a lot more brutal than i imagined. There were 3 matadors and 6 rounds and there was only one matador in one round that killed the bull with one stab, the others well they were just horrible i wont go into detail but it took them a few goes to put the poor bull out of its misery. There was one bull thought that had some character, it would scrape it leg on the ground and charge at the horses, we were cheering for him. I don't think i would ever go to another bullfight, im glad i did just to experience it but don't ever feel the need to go again.
We really wanted to get to italy so the next morning we started to make our way it was a big drive about 12 hours in total so we broke it up and stopped in at a little town in the french riveria, this town was so beautiful, and on the top of the cliff above was an old castle. We free camped there the night in a car park, with some other campers and was off to italy the next day. We woke up pretty early and went and checked out the town and a few after it. Some went as beautiful as other but was really cool to see them. After driving for a few hours thought the mountains we arrived just near nice this was so busy we decided to take the toll roads just to get away from it. When we got to the Italian border it was weird there was a sign about 1 km back saying italy in 1km, and when we got to where the border was it was right on the beach and there was a carpark, so not to sure where the actually border was but we make it. We stopped in a little town just past the border for the night and we went to a campsite but they wanted 62euro a night, but just up the road we found a place that was just for campers and it was only 15euro so we parked up and went for a swim in the beautiful clear water and had an awesome nights sleep.
Caio
