We arrived in Madrid and it was so Hot- 40degrees. We had a bit of jet lag so slept most of our first day and then went for a walk around town and organised to hire a campervan for a month. We picked up the campervan the next day and then drove straight to the coast (San Sebastian) which was about 5 hours.
Andy had to learn pretty quickly how to drive on the other side of the road and I had to learn how to navagate with Spanish road signs. We found an unreal camp site close to town and settled in for the night. We had a few drinks and then went to the pub in the camping ground. Met some great ozzies and Americans and invited them back to the van after the pub shut. Andy made his special Caprinas for everyone and then it got a bit messy. To make a long story short we ended up getting kicked out of the camping ground (along with the rest of people that were with us that night) and had 2 new American room mates for our camper.
After San Sebastian we went to Pamplona where the running of the bulls is held. We drove into the opening ceremony stone sober with the rest of the town off there head. Smashing bottles, pouring sangria over everyone, throwing flour and water of the balconies. We then went to a camping ground along with another 500 ozzies (from London). Everyone was smashed and it was a constant party 24/7 for the 3 days we were there.
Next stop was my great aunts house in Mungia (near Mundaka- famous surf spot). We met part of my family for the first time and they were so hospitable..lots of info on Spain and delicious meals. It was great to talk to them as they had great knowledge of Spain and its traditions.
We then continued to drive along the top of the coast of Spain stopping at beach carparks for the night and Andy got some great surfing in.
We went to the most western point of Spain and drove down the coast of Portugal. The tolls in Portugal were so expensive, we paid $60 for one that only went for 2 hours...im never complaining about the Harbour Bridge toll again.
There were heaps of beautiful beaches everywhere we went, even when we got lost we were discovering little beaches off dirt roads where we would camp up for the night.
We continued down the coast of Portugal and then back into Spain, the bottom of Spain had a very Morrocan/African feel as you can get a 40min ferry ride there.
When we got to the Mediterranian part of Spain there was no more surfing for andy. But there were some lovely beaches with really warm water.
We saw a bull fighting show in Valencia which was quite brutal. It would be great to see the bulls get there own back. I couldnt believe that they had butchers there waiting for the bulls to be carved up all within 5min of them being killed. They even had the truck with the coolroom outside the ring.
We also visited the Americas cup area but unfortunately we were 6 weeks too late.
We went to Barcelona which we loved, it is such a beautiful city. With lots of unique architecture and lots of history.
We then had to take the van back to madrid - which was quite sad after an awesome month. We then decided that we would buy one when we got to London so we can do the rest of Europe.
