San Sabastian to Lisbon 18 / 09 / 11

The first stop after San Sebastian was Santillana which was a beautiful medieval  town up on the northern part of Spain . It was rainning a bit and not that warm but it was really worth the stay for the night .

The drive to Santillana was very hilly and a lot of bush cover , but nothing to write home about .

Next we were off all the coast to Ribadeo , A small fishing village with a of charm . Above is the only picture that I have , so it couldn't have been that great .
Below is just out side of Ribadeo , a few rocks on the beach that they thought were pretty good .

Next about 200 kms down the coast heading for Portugal, we stayed out at a small beach village called  Proba , this was really pretty and we really enjoyed it there .

Above is the  little hotel on the beach at Proba that we stayed in , below a beer on the beach

The weather here was warm during the day cold at night

Above and below Viana do Castelo Portugal , we had to turn our clocks back 1 hr

This would have to be one of the best Towns since leaving S Sebastian , it had a great feel and the people were really friendly . One thing we have noticed is that the towns are usually a little away from the beaches . Viana had a long history going back to the stone ages 

Then  to Peniche approx 300kms , on the way we stopped in the small seaside village of Nazare  (below)for lunch . Because it is getting out of season , all these little villages are quite empty of people (which just suits us down to the ground )

The dog is Guarding the Chicken in Peniche 

Peniche just another small fishing village out on a point , again very nice 

The old Walls of Peniche

I actually never took any pictures of the Peniche village , sorry 

just videos , I will have to smarten up my act . When you have been to so many villages I guess they start to look all the same anyway . 

Above  photos of the Peniches wall built back in the 1500s .

 In saying that I really like being there and our little hotel was one of the best so far .

Nothing out of the ordinary has happened , so not a lot to report , I will say though that the Portuguese people are a lot friendlier than in Spain and they seem a lot happier .
But the Spanish have it all over Portuguese when it comes to Pastels . The pastels in Spain are the best ever ,  even better than Italy .  I also think that the Spainish have the best Coffee in the World as well

We are now in Lisbon , but more about that in the next post in a few days

San Sebastian And the Lost Chicken

The trip from Madrid to San Sebastian (approx 450kms)was pretty uneventful and the country side pretty much the same all the way until about 20kms from San Sebastian , then we entered the mountains and some very beautiful scenery , very much like Switzerland or Northern Italy.

Once we were in San Sebastian and parked we were off to the Information Center to find somewhere to stay .


Next the Story of the Lost Chicken


We were in the Information Center and I say to Ruth I'm off to put some money in the parking meter . Well I arrive to where I think we left it and it's gone ( I can tell you I was gutted , I even thought about crying ) . I run up and down the street looking and was completely beside myself with worry  (thinking , what about all the motor bike gear , and everything all our clothes etc what now!! ). So off I go almost running ,  back to Ruth (with my bottom lip quivering ) . I get there ,  throw my hands up and say its gone , she says no way , I say yes its bloody gone I tell you . So Ruth say I will go have a look ( well I think , go all you bloody like  , its gone and we are screwed ) . I rush back into the Information Center and say to the staff , our car is gone . They all look at me with such concern , and say are you sure , I say yeah its bloody gone . Next they are on the phone ringing the Police , Car Tow Companies , Army , Air Force the bloody lot . After a little while they come back and say sorry its not at any of the Car Tow Companies , and we can't get the Police . I go back out side (still beside myself with worry) and wait for Ruth to come back  , from her wasted trip ( it was bloody gone , shit I had looked every where ) .
Two minutes later Ruth comes back ,  I say well i told you so ,  she says well it's right where we left it . I said are you sure ,  she says yeah right where we left it . Well I have never been so happy in my life,  even though I have just made a complete idiot of myself .  I had to go back and tell the ladies , to call off da Police and Army (which had been put on Red alert ) and that all was good . The Chicken has been found , right where we had left it  .

So the Chicken was found and all was well . Apart from my Pride, what a bloody idiot !!!!!!!

Mountain Top Hotel and below the guard dog, making sure no one is going to steal da Chicken 

Anyway there was no accommodation in San Sebastian at all for Saturday night (there was football games and rowing competitions on , the town was full to the top ). So we booked a hotel out in the Mountains about 40kms from SSebastian  it was the best so far . Fantastic views for kms over the valley below , and so quite after the big noise of the Cities (we loved it).
Next day Sunday we were off back to S Sebastian for 2 nights , again a great place by the sea beautiful , with surf beaches and lots of people , but I could live there no problem very very nice .

View from our window 

Tomorrow we are off up the cost heading  East and who knows where , just the 3 of us Ruth , Me and the Chicken ( I love my Chicken ,remember its a VW Polo one L short of a Chicken )

San Sebastian , it is just a bit foggy I suppose from the heat , it was about 25 degs 

     

Cuenca to Madrid 8/ 9 /2011

Cuenca

Catedral De La Almudena 

Cuenca was a nice little hilltop village , we walked around and had a coffee and that was about it . But well worth a visit . We stayed in an old Monastery just out of town , but the problem was that they had very small single beds . The first night I fell out of bed 2 times the second time almost knocking myself out , poor Ruth got a huge fright when I hit the floor .

From Cuenca it was another great drive until we got to Madrid , then we hit the traffic . Our Apartment was right in centre of the city , it took us about an hour going round and around  a block trying to find the apartment  , with all the traffic it was not easy . It is just all the one way streets and the narrow lanes , but we got there in the end , and still talking to one another that was the most amazing part 

Madrid is a nice city , but just not for us . Just to may people and really not that much to see . Next we are going to head back up the country to San Sebastian (we got heaps of time and Doug and Wendy say it is the place to go ) 

Also to top things off the other day,I was eating a Ham sandwich and broke my front tooth , the same one I broke last year in Mexico . So now I hope to get it fixed in London .  

On the way to Madrid we stopped for lunch at a small country town , got a menu and of course not understanding a word of it ordered a couple of dishes . Well one was potatos covered in tomato sauce and sour cream ,  the other was a big bowl of Pig Fat deep fried . The guy looked at me when I ordered with a funny look , probably thought dumb tourists 

Over looking Madrid

Cuenca

  

Barcelona to Cuenca Spain 5/09/2011

Small Hill Top Village

Country Side

Guell Park Barcelona

Not the Gay Beach but close by in Sitges

After  3days in Barcelona it was time to get the hell out of there , just to many people for me , but all the same a great city . 

We picked up a car (VW Polo , just one L short of a chicken , for you people who aren't fluent in Spanish like me , chicken in Spanish  is a Pollo) up from the airport and were on our way south , first stop Sitges for lunch . A very nice beach resort until we parked and walked down to the beach and guess what . There were only men their and Ruth says "this is a gay beach" , well she was right ( I wonder way only Gay men go to da beach and no Gay women). They were all over one another and strutting around in there extra small speedos . I tell you some of them were packin some pretty serious lunches  ( Ruth loved it , I had trouble getting her away ) 

We had lunch with all our very gay friends , went back to the car and bugger me if we didn't have a bloody parking ticket 35eu (well what a good start ) .

We set the GSP for Valencia and off we go , arriving in Benicassim at about 4.00oclock . Now having paid $50eus in Tolls (can you believe that , we were pissed ), I have set the GPS so that we will not be on any Toll roads again (the Spainish Government can get stuffed if they think I'm going to single handly save there economy ) .

Benicassim was just a small beach side resort , nothing great but quite , for a good nights sleep .

Today being the 5th we set off for Cuenca ( the back way and about an extra 75kms just to miss da Tolls , rather pay for da extra gas ah ) . Well what a beautiful drive about 375kms , but not one bit boring . We went throught some of the most bueatiful hill  top towns you will ever see, just in idealic settings , straight out of the mags beautiful . The country side was fantasic as well , we went up mountians and through valleys of all excetional beautiful .

We are staying for two night here in Cuenca in an old Monastery about 6 kms out of town , its great and very quite , after the big city .  

     

Ares a Hill Top Village

Sorry about the pic all out of order