Heading back

To break up the journey back to the ferry in Santander, we'd booked a couple of nights in Palencia. Just a local town with a Marriott hotel that was offering rather good rates. The Captain is still one of the Marriott gold card holders thanks to many many nights staying with the hotel chain in Munich, America etc whilst working. After a gentle drive there, we found the hotel easily and it looked fine from the outside (borrowed picture): .

Indeed, inside were very friendly staff and a lovely room too. Only to park the car we found that the hotel's description of their parking facilities was a little over-egged: We should have done an AI search earlier:

The three exterior parking spaces were tiny, after squeezing into one we realised that we were in for lots of dents from other folks doors so we opted to pay and use the underground parking area. Oh dear. The entrance had an evil up and over door that was simply timed, no sensors, so it wanted to close on top of the car if you took too long. The ramp was very narrow and had an equally evil 90 degree bend. We had to back up and take two goes at getting round it. Once inside, there was plenty of space - wonder why!?!  In fact no other car parked there!

Needing lunch, we ventured across the road to Restaurante La Balastera and partook of their wildly expensive (yes, 14 whole Euros) menu of the day:

That delivered a truck load of bread, a bottle of water, a bottle of white wine, a large plate of a vegetable / meat stew as a starter (it was good!) then grilled fish and potato, then a dessert. We went big and ordered a coffee too. 32 Euros later we waddled back to the hotel. The restaurant staff spoke no English, were very patient with our attempts at translation, friendly and happy. Such a contrast to the one grumpy man in Madrid. Yes, normal service had been resumed.

The town itself was a strange mix. Some great buildings with interesting decor:

(that was a post box built into the post office). The main drag was filled with prosperous looking upscale shops and was busy. However, we saw the first signs of the same blight that has impacted the UK high streets here - many closed shops on the other roads and as soon as you left the bustling central thoroughfare, things looked very different. A shame as the town itself was pretty, some amazing old churches (one of which was huge) but the same issue that hits many more rural locations - closed shops and not enough employment locally.

As the ferry to Portsmouth was due to leave on the following day, we did the obligatory weather check since February can be a bit fruity in the Bay of Biscay. Sure enough, it promised to be so:

You can guess that deep red is not a good colour for predicted wave heights. The ferry timing worked well though and we "only" had around 5 metre high waves which the ferry stabilisers laughed off. It would have been a  little bit different in the Nordhavn, quite a bumpy tiring ride. 

The hardest part was escaping from the horrible parking area under the hotel. Getting back up the 90 degree bend was unamusing. The concrete walls and posts had been wrapped in some foam protection stuff and we saw why at first hand. The crew climbed out to hit the button to open the evil sadistic door, only by the time we had made the first attempt at the bend (failed dismally) the door had closed again. Backup, try a different angle for the ramp, open door, same thing happened.It took 4 attempts to get round, with a 2cm gap between the front bumper and the wall and around 1cm between the rear wheel arch and the post before we made it. A nice lady from the hotel had come out and was keeping the door open for us whilst the crew watched the front of the car and got suitably stressed. 

Hint, never ever use that car park! Especially in a car that measures around 5m long and 2m wide. It is bad for your stress levels. Very bad indeed. We so needed rear wheel steer (an option not fitted to our car). After all that fun, things seemed pretty simple. A gentle drive to the ferry port, stopping off to fill up for the last ime with nice cheaper Spanish diesel before we hit the UK prices again. The usual queueing thing in the port itself, then the rather good service we've come to expect from Brittany Ferries in their club cabins and lounge. A happy trip that got nice and calm once we had crossed Biscay and started heading up the English Channel:

Our welcome back to the UK was tempered by the fact that the ship docked late evening and we were told that disembarking would be delayed thanks to ramp problems in Portsmouth port. A rather rapid reminder of the decaying infrastructure here. Still, we finally escaped, had a chat with a very friendly border control guy as he checked our passports and spent the night in a most upmarket Portsmouth Premier Inn. Rather after the Lord Mayor's show really. 

The following day was manic. Drive to Hythe, empty out the car, drive to Sunningdale and collect our new Brompton bikes plus one old one that had been there for service. Bring them back to Hythe then to a hotel in Southampton for the night (we don't like to stay in Toddlerville after travelling just in case we've picked up some nasty lurgy thingy). That evening, we had a visit from Anne and the goddog:

She clearly had a bad fur day going on. That didn't stop her getting massive amounts of fuss from everyone who passed by the hotel bar area of course. It was a lovely welcome home.

Maintenance News:

Whilst we were still away, Wayne the rather wonderful trimmer guy contacted us to say that he had the replacement foam backed vinyl and was ready to re-do the headlining in our forecabin. The original was failing - the glue was coming free in several places and it looked as though the headlining had blisters and in some area big boils. Not pretty. Left alone it would probably turn into the hanging gardens of Babylon, So, we asked the marina to release the spare key to him so that he could dismember the cabin, removing the overhead panels and taking them away to be recovered. The tricky bit would be the stuff stuck to the boat structure itself, around the inside of the Portuguese bridge area. Getting that off and replacing it tidily would be a real test of Wayne's skill. Little did we know how apt that comment would turn out to be....

Granada and Madrid enchant

Leaving the rather lovely apartment in Puerto Banus was hard to do. However, our mood perked up once we were in Granada quite a lot. We were staying at an OK hotel (bar the rather high temperature in the room - no aircon gets switched on during the winter!) with a great bus service into town from close by. All good.

Granada treated us to more stunning buildings, like the monastery of San Jeronimo which was impressive from the outside but truly amazing internally:

We, together with other visitors, walked around with our jaws sagging and eyeballs unable to handle the visual overload of the interior decorations:

As you can see, the altar area was rather overdone:

 - a small symphony of golden detail in reality.

We did the right thing and walked up the rather steep hill to the world famous Alhambra but all the tickets were sold out well in advance so we didn't get to see the inside areas. However, we felt very good about ourselves after the walk up there and consoled ourselves with views like these:

The locals had a few signs translated for the benefit of toursity types like us, sometimes quite literally as below:

No comment needed.

Some more sightseeing and some excellent food rounded off our couple of very full days there very nicely. Next trip, we will spend longer and make sure we have pre-booked the most popular tourist attractions if we want to see inside. Actually, we didn't feel as though we had missed out on anything, just walking around the place and soaking up the views and atmosphere was enough.

The next stopover was to be Madrid. Our longest daily drive of the entire trip along the wonderfully quiet Spanish motorways was so much simpler than an equivalent 300 mile trip along the UK's horribly congested and potholed main motorways. Apart from the expected madness of the ring road around Madrid it was stress free. The next day we got busy, starting off by getting a very cheap tourist metro / bus pass, using the metro to get into the city centre and then taking the crew to the Plaza de Espana - kind of a must do thing when in Madrid. The Captain had visited before on work trips, being shown around the city with the expert help of "native guides" from BMW Spain. This time, we had to manage ourselves.

The square had the regulation mounted police in attendance to allow the visitors to take lots of photos for their albums. We resisted and only took a couple: .  

The city is another overload of awesome buildings, sensory experiences and the opportunity to hop from landmark to landmark. The Cathedral was a must and we managed to time our walk around when a small service was underway. The music and singing fitted to the grand building so well and tempted us to linger inside longer than intended:

Next door is the royal palace - we opted to just gawp from the outside rather than join the masses queuing to get inside:

Purely by chance once more, we were around for the changing of the guard thing. They so looked like the apocryphal chocolate soldiers:

To keep the horses from getting bored, they did a lap of the grounds. This short video is evidence. You could tell the route they followed each time was very consistent by the trail of horse poo:

which we guess they have to clear up regularly. A job for the newest recruit perhaps?

We did break our normal "getting culture" routine by having a walk around the shopping area which was suitably busy with the weekend hordes. Madrid has what must be one of the biggest and poshest Primark stores going:

Compare it to the one in Cardiff shopping centre:

Sorry Cardiff, you lose hands down. The stuff in Madrid was cheaper too, despite the grand surroundings.

We had a great walk around the park near the palace where you get good views back to the rather imposing building:

and then down the river for a while, joining the locals who were getting their exercise too. One of the stranger things to do is to visit the main train station and see the indoor garden area:

Again, just so like the interior of Cardiff central station:

where the plant life is usually growing in the guttering. 

Being careful (mean?) souls, we had read that after a particular time in the evening, you can visit the renowned Prado museum / gallery for free. So, we arranged our walk around there to fit with freebie entrance time only it went very wrong - there was a queue of monster proportions waiting for the magical hour. We opted not to join it, next time we are in the city we will just go earlier with the normal paying public:

You can see a small part of the enormous queue in that picture.

On the way back to the hotel, we decided - with the help of Mr Google, to frequent a local restaurant that was reported as having good food, local clientele and only spanish speakers on the staff. The message was that struggling through the language issue was well worth it. Only when we walked in the owner treated us to the rudest "can't be bothered to serve you" approach we'd had during our entire stay. Such a contrast to all of the other  "purely local" places we had eaten in. So different to the rather wonderful "Mr Carrot Cake"  (have a look at weblink) which was close to the hotel and very handy for breakfast or a cheeky evening coffee and cake. Yes, their speciality cake was very good. We had to test it. Twice. 

Puerto Banus time

After the port city feel of Cadiz, we went to the other end of the spectrum. Some folks who have a house in Hythe Marina near ours also own an apartment in Puerto Banus. They foolishly said that we could use it. Clearly they don't know us very well.

The drive from Cadiz was a shortish one and we arrived on a glorious day, found the reserved underground parking spot and went into the apartment to find this view from the terrace:

We kind of knew that it was going to be an excellent week....  After a quick wander around the marina (you just have to go and see the boats) we ate then returned for a very cosy evening in the impressive apartment, Breakfast the next day, and on subsequent days, was out on one of the terraces:

The marina is hardly shy and retiring about itself:

and there are some surprisingly open areas of water inside the big breakwater - it isn't totally crammed with berths:

The signpost directing you to the shops in the marina area give you a hint of the conspicuous wealth that you will encounter in the place:

as does the name of this shop -kind of an "if you've got it, flaunt it" thing we guess:

Ironically, that shop was closed and empty!  In the town you can indulge your passion for rather fast and exclusive cars should you so wish:

Mind you, some of the potholes in today's roads might prove painful in one of those and possibly very very expensive too. More for posing and track days than to drive around in. Talking of flashing the cash, some folks are clearly born with money and some taste as this is one of the nicest Rolls Royce colour and trim combinations in the humble opinion of the captain (remember that he used to be involved with the factory at Goodwood). Sadly the owner had to spoil it with a tacky registration plate:

This owner was more restrained:

Wall to wall AMG Mercedes G Wagens. Porsche - common. Range Rovers too. We did admire one guy who drove through the marina, past all the up-market shops and monster yachts in his Dacia. We think he was a cleaner.

The town has a great beach area too and we made the most of the promenade walk in both directions:

We loved the apartment and the people watching opportunities. The weather was great and the weekend market was thriving. Somehow this eatery didn't quite fit with the "playground of the wealthy" vibe:

and for the common folks, there were even some fast food places. A fascinating mix. On our last day we really did not want to leave this:

but Granada beckoned. Well, to be more precise we had booked a hotel there and pre-paid so we felt we should go.

Lovely Seville and surprisingly lovely Cadiz

Leaving Portugal and heading into Spain was easy enough. Finding the hotel in Seville was pretty simple too. We liked the cheaper fuel and food as well but the best bit was beautiful Seville. The buses were great for getting around, after trying to use the local train initially to discover that it had a three hour gap in services around lunchtime. Not a great start. Then one of the ticket machines liked taking our money but not printing a ticket. We finally made it to the main station (very grand) and opted for a bus ticket instead. We felt almost like locals with our two day passes going "boop" as we entered. We looked less local using Google maps to track the bus and figure out which stop to use.

As there had been some wind and rain beforehand, the streets were a little bit orange strewn when we arrived:

but as you can see the sun was out nicely for us:

and buildings like the cathedral above looked suitably radiant. Yes there are a few "tourist trap" things in the most popular areas but even those were pretty tastefully done:

The Plaza de Espana is simply stunning. A little bit busy of course with annoying tourists like us but stunning all the same:

The attention to detail on every part of it was mind blowing as you can see from a simple balustrade:

Back in the town you just wander around with views like this at each turn:

Having revelled in the glory that is Seville, we headed to a much less exalted place - an apartment in Cadiz.  The owner was lovely - she explained by WhatsApp that we would not be able to get our car close to the apartment as the square it is situated on was being used for some filming. So, we parked in the port car park (a space comes with the apartment, very important in the city) and walked back to the pretty square:

We had to duck under tape barriers and get escorted to the front door by some of the many folks they seem to need to shoot some film footage. The number of people just milling around and the number of trucks in the area was unreal. We happily settled in and then explored the square a little more once filming had stopped for the night. Here was the main film set, less than 100 metres from our door:

As you can see, a part of Cadiz had been turned into France:

together with gunshot noises, smoke etc - all for a Young Sherlock episode that will air on Amazon Prime it seems. Most amusing / interesting to watch. Cadiz really surprised us. The waterfront was good and we enjoyed the long promenade:. 

The civic buildings were, as you would expect, grand:

and the funeral procession and the practice run we witnessed were "different" to anything we'd seen before:

Cadiz had a great covered market, more lovely buildings and a rather good cafe that we had to check out a few times. It also had something that we recognise from other port towns - more folks sleeping on the streets than anywhere else we'd visited on this trip. Not a huge number but the contrast with the other cities was marked.

We had a very happy three days pottering around the place. Underrated location we reckon.