France, Spain and Portugal

Overnight stops (in date order): Chantilly (x5); Reugny (x2); Poitiers (x2); Bordeaux; Fargues sur Ourboise (x2); San Sebastian (x3); Sopeña – Cantabria (x2); Foz; A Coruña; Santiago de Compostela; Viana do Costelo; Praia de Vagueira; Coimbra; Lisbon (x2); Madrid (x4); Lisbon (x3); Armação de Pêra (x22!!); Cordoba; Cheste; Villasar de Mar; Pélissanne 

 

 

After five nights in Chantilly, we headed south through France, spending time in Amboise,

where Leonardo da Vinci lived the last few years of his life,

and Tours, en route to Fargues sur Ourboise in Gascony, to spend New Year’s Eve with our old friend, Jacqui.

And then on to San Sebastian, in the Basque region of Spain,

and an afternoon in the Guggenheim, Bilbao.

We enjoyed the rugged coastline of northern Spain,

the fishing harbours,

the food

and the characterful villages.

They made the cold mornings bearable.

We visited the Roman lighthouse at A Coruña,

spent a day in a misty Santiago de Compostela,

with St James and his pilgrims,

and another in Viana do Costelo.

January is not the time to enjoy the beaches of the west coast of Spain,

but the cold, clear weather has its compensations.

On our way to Lisbon, we stopped in Coimbra,

famous for its university,

and as one of the homes of Fado music,

and Batalha, with its ludicrously large monastery – built to commemorate a victory over the Castillians in the 14th Century.

Before seeing Lisbon, we flew to Madrid for a four-day ‘holiday’. We overdosed on art at the Prado and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, saw a little Spanish pageantry,

visited the palace,

and enjoyed the grandeur of the city.

Back in Lisbon,

the Mosteiro dos Jeronimos

is the (final) burial place of Vasco da Gama – who discovered the sea route to India and, for his troubles, died there from malaria.

The Torre de Belém,

the Castelo de São Jorge

and the empty Palacio de Ajuda (the last King of Portugal was exiled in 1910)

attest Portugal’s imperial past. However, we will best remember the wonderful Museu Calouste Gulbenkian and, in particuar, its spectacular collection of Lalique jewelry.

RVs from all over northern Europe swarm to the Algarve in the winter – making it a good place to have a couple of glitches with the truck fixed. We sorted the troubling smell of gas, fixed the dodgy internal lights and sent the Eberspacher back to the UK to be serviced and repaired.  The latter provides us with heat and hot water when we are parked up.

Spring comes early in the Algarve,

and there are worse places to be stuck for a fortnight in January.

The sun shone on most days and we had temperatures in the 60s.  Warm enough to enjoy the Algarve’s dramatic coastline with its weathered sandstone cliffs,

stacks

and sea caves

and (often deserted) beaches.

Many Birds also winter in the Algarve.

 

Days became weeks as we waited on the Eberspacher’s return from the UK.  We were in danger of becoming permanent members of the Algarve’s ex-pat retirement community. We visited more beaches, took walks

enjoyed the Spring flowers

and fruits,

and saw more of the sights – including Silves, the ancient capital of the Algarve; with its Moorish castle –

and Faro, the ‘new’ capital of the region.

Finally, after visiting – thanks to the courier company (do not use DPD!) –  the UK (twice), Madrid (twice) and Lisbon, our much travelled Eberspacher returned home to us!

We had it refitted the next day and, after 22 days (the longest time we had spent in one place on any of our travels so far), we finally escaped Armacao de Pera and the Algarve.

Travelling as fast as our over-sized wheels would carry us, we stopped over in Cordoba – sampling the sublime (La Mezquita)

and the ridiculous (a night in the car park outside of the football stadium),

Valencia and Pélissanne  (in Provence)

Before saying a final good-bye to France with a distant view of the casino at Monte Carlo.