Barcelo Jerez Jerez De La Frontera

... say that we didn't make the mistake of forgetting this rule and had to go fishing in the toilet! She took the girls upstairs to the terrace - where we would be sleeping in hammocks under the stars. It wasn't until the next morning when everyone woke up with mosquito bites all over that we realized why this seemingly tranquil accomodation was so cheap!
We left our stuff at the hostel and made our way down to the beach. I am happy to say that I ...

So today we didn't have an excursion because we had our own private tour guides in Rachel's host family from three years ago. They met us at the pier and were so happy to see Rachel it was great! They took us on a walking tour of historic Cadiz and we had breakfast at one of their places they like and we had churros an coffee with milk. Loly knew everyone we walked by it seemed and although they spoke no English and we speak little Spanish we were ...

... set up a little ladder so that the mice could drink the sherry out of a wine glass!


Then we went to the horse show. Very similar to what the Lippanzaner Stallions do. It was…an experience…but I don’t think I’ll ever go watch something like that again. But I can at least say that I've seen it.

... something to see. After the show we headed to another white village town called Arcos de la Frontera. This was another cobble stoned hillside town set among 2 churches and a convent. We had a nice lunch and walked around the town. The streets were narrow and tiny and mike did a great job of navigating through the narrow roads (he's getting much better)...we left and started our 2.5 hour drive from there to Nerja our destination for the next 7 days ...

... br> Next stop was the most southern town on the Iberian peninsula, Terifa. This is the windsurfing capital of Europe that attracts sailboarders from all over the continent in VW vans. The area has miles of beach, strong constant winds, and lots of bars. We stopped for lunch and checked out a Moorish castle ruin right outside the “Closest European Restaurant to Africa”. I guess it was ...

... farly uneasy to see a million of trains packed with dressed up, stoned and half-conscious people; they were shouting, dancing and staggering on the station, dashing towards the city centre. When our train finally arrived, delayed over 2 hours, it was stinking so much of sweat and alcohol that its windows were steamy and everything was sticky. I considered thanking God for the air-condition that helped to sort it out.

I was back home almost at midnight.

... donker, ondanks de halve maan en gevolgd door 14.00 uur overdag. We kiezen voor de optie van het laatste, het uur voor en het eerste uur na laagwater (006-008 uur in de ochtend), waarna we een tijstop maken en gaan rond 12 uur verder. Hierop wordt de wekker gezet. Om 006 uur is het nog erg donker ondanks de halve maan die in de rivier reflecteert. Om 06.15 u. gaat het anker uit de prut en gaan we aan de slag. Onderweg zien we in de verte de Spanjaarden naar hun werk ...

A whole lot of energy went into getting to Spain. To leave Albufeira we took a bus to the bus station where we were suppose to catch another bus to the train station but the bus didn`t come until it would be too late to catch the train so we had to take a taxi to the train station. We caught our train and rode it for an hour before we had to transfer trains in Faro and then continued by train to Vila Real De Santo Antonio where we walked ...

... as i look out the window to see what the weather is like, a little cloudy but warm (20 degrees) as usual already. i have my breakfast in my room, yogurt and muesli that i brought last night from the super market, a little bit to be a cheap **** and also to be healthy as here in spain breaky at a cafe consists of pastries and coffee. i will definatly go for a coffee soon though. once i get ready for the day, guide book check, camera check, water bottle check ...

This week there were two national holidays in España, the perfect time to enjoy a week long trip to the southern part of the country. Although getting there was a bit exhausting (more than 15 hours travelling by bus), it was certainly worth it! First, I travelled to Madrid and waited there for 3 hours before taking the next bus to Cádiz. Once in Cádiz, Miranda and I checked into our hostal...which was a very interesting place, to say the ...