Jane, Dave & Ruby’s Portugal & Spain adventure

Our next stop was Andujar in Cordoba province (the capital of Olive Oil) where it was lovely to meet up with Nina (an ex work colleague of Dave’s from Foodhall in Sheffield) and Ruari, Nina’s partner.- living in Spain for 8 months teaching English on a schools exchange programme. Great to see them and hear about their experiences of living and working in Spain, and in a bilingual school! We really enjoyed the lunch they prepared - a range of mixed and interesting salads - something we have missed recently 🤣 After a lovely walk we later opted for tapas at one of their favourite restaurants 😃 Couldn’t leave this region without visiting Cordoba, so as Nina and Ruari headed off to work in the morning we headed west. We wandered around the old city - saw the amazing Mosque-Cathedral, the latter being built within the walls of the mosque (a significant World Heritage Site); the old Alcazar, the magnificent Roman bridge, and the historic Jewish quarter. A bit of a flying visit as later we s...

Wow, what a treat was in store for us at Anne & Glyn’s charming Casa Rural, set within the stunning Las Sierras Subbetica National Park 😊  Feeling the need for a little treat outside of van life, we booked a couple of nights at Casa Rural Los Danzantes - situated in a lovely town Fuente-Tojar within the Subbetica  National Park. The area was completely unknown to us - but on our journey route north. What attracted us (apart from the stunning photographs and fabulous write up from Sawdays) was how dog friendly they were, and also that Glyn was a professional chef! How brilliant was that for us 🤣  Check out the website here  https://www.casadanzantes.es/  with all the beautiful photographs 😃 Both Anne and Glyn looked after us so well,  and spoiled us rotten - Ruby too 😃 Dinner each night was a delight - Glyn cooked us some of the best food I think we have ever eaten! Every course was absolutely delicious 🤤  This has got to be the most divine thi...

Having previously spent time around La Sierra Nevada, our plan was to revisit and explore some more. Arriving in Orgiva, the main town within the Alpujarra region, we found the newly opened motorhome Aire on the edge of the town - Another fantastic initiative to promote tourism and provide facilities for people on the move - run by a lovely welcoming Spanish couple. Sadly though we were really disappointed with orgiva itself - not sure if it was because we arrived on a Sunday (in January), but the whole town seemed extremely run down and uninviting, and many people obviously struggling and having a hard time - many people begging on the streets 😞 A real shame as we had really looked forward to spending time there and exploring, but the place felt quite uncomfortable. So after a short walk the following day we decided to leave and head a bit further north. But not before picking beautiful lemons, in fond memory of Chris Stewart's Driving over Lemons tale of life in the Alpujarra a...

Leaving Jerez we headed east to La Sierra de Grazalema, the first designated  Parque Natuaral within Andalucia where we based ourselves for the next week - not sure if we were brave or foolish knowing that the area is famous for being the rainiest place within Spain! A huge biosphere dominated by limestone mountains, verdant green valleys, and beautiful white villages - a great area for walking and mountain biking - both of us determined to take this opportunity to up our fitness levels and work off those excess calories from the festive season 🤣 We set out to explore! Arrived on New Years Eve, and as is typical within Spain, all bars and restaurants were buzzing late afternoon, but soon closed for the evening as people headed home to celebrate. We managed a couple of drinks out on the plaza, but also headed home early (not much different to being at home for us 🤣)  Grazalema is beautiful, and can see why it’s very popular. New Year's Eve - outside in the cold! Unfortunately...