Well, the crossing of Spain was not exactly as exciting as we'd expected (and we didn't expect much...), it was actually a rather boring part, miles of miles of motorway, and the places we'd decided to stop at for the night, disappointing to say the least.  For the first night, we'd booked a hotel in "Ebro Delta" (near Tortosa, 820 km south of Saint-Etienne, we thought that'd be a good distance for a first day), well, when we reached the whereabouts of the delta, we had to go through an industrial no man's land that looked anything but welcoming, even for tired travellers, named "l'Aldea". When we finally found the place in Delta Ebro itself, it was closed (at 8.30 pm, and nobody would answer the phone), so we looked for another one that turned out better, cheaper and in a nutshell, the rest of the evening was rather sweet and relaxing.

On the right: Paul drinking the local wine, 17% alcohol), so strong even he couldn't finish it (remorse pursued him for weeks afterwards).

The plan was to drove to Alicante for our second day, with the idea to enjoy a bit of Spain instead of just driving through. Now you might wonder why we only planned 400 km on our second day if we were in such a hurry to get to Morocco? Well, now, we wonder why too. We'd heard Alicante was a nice city with tons of atmosphere. We'd booked into a Formula One hotel (cheapie at 23€ a night, in an awful industrial/commercial estate). We'd picked because of the price and because we thought there would be a carpark with a gate closed at night (handy when you've got a car filled to the brim), well, no gate, and we were advised to park in front of the reception windows, for the night staff to watch our car in case of trouble (as they'd told us we were kind of in the middle of the rough area... of course). Not much else to say about Alicante itself, took a cab into town that night to have a drink and a few tapas... I'd bought the Spain Lonely Planet  before leaving, with lots of good addresses, ... all closed, and we didn't feel any of the festive atmosphere depicted in the book either.

Altea: a street in the old pueblo

Highlight of the day: Altea. This little surfing resort has retained some of that relaxed Spanish feel we'd been looking for all along. The old white-washed houses of its old pueblo make a very nice break from the monotony of the motorway. Also stopped at its Coyote Bar for a martini, a beer and a sandwich and we made the acquaintance of Mattias there, a friendly (and English-speaking) German guy in charge of the place. Stayed there for a while (well, we had some time on our hands), simply enjoying the quiet charm of the place, definitely worth stopping, and a lovely surprise (so much so, we stopped again on the way back).

This sign (left) roughly says: "Visitor that travels the earth looking for its wonders, at the top of this street lies the diamond of Altea: a little square from which you'll be able to contemplate a vision of Eden.  So even if you're tired, its worth your trouble". (sorry for the poor translation, but you get the idea).

On the right: one of the paintings displayed on the terrace (which seemingly doubled up as an art gallery) of the Coyote Bar.

On our third day, we drove the last 600 km to Algeciras where we were due to take a ferry to Ceuta (Spanish territory in Morocco) early the next morning. We'd been told horrors about this town, as its a passing place for thousands of people every year as well as an industrial port. Well, as long as you don't go too close to the port, it is a rather pleasant place to stop in (provided your hotel has a garage for peace of mind). Plus, we found a little restaurant that did the most delicious lamb kebabs and tapas. What more could you ask for?

Vision of Andalucia

Plaza Alta, Algeciras

<< 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 >>