The Simpson's Spanish Raid

[Barriesimpson]

Van food lunch was a Lomo alto madurado that we bought some time ago, together with my world famous air fryer roasties, with carrots too and some flat green beans that we had in the fridge. The plonk was rather special today, one we bought in the Protos Bodegas a couple of days ago, and was rather nice.

 

[Mr porky]

Van food lunch was a Lomo alto madurado that we bought some time ago, together with my world famous air fryer roasties, with carrots too and some flat green beans that we had in the fridge. The plonk was rather special today, one we bought in the Protos Bodegas a couple of days ago, and was rather nice.
View attachment 967841View attachment 967842

Lovely

 

[Peavy]

For lunch we found a little gem in the narrow streets close to La Plaza de España, La Taberna de Amy where we had a selection of tapas and a bottle of local wine and it was wonderful.
View attachment 966923View attachment 966924View attachment 966925View attachment 966926View attachment 966927View attachment 966928View attachment 966929View attachment 966930

These are fried olives, an original dish from Amy, I had never eaten fried olives before nor seen them on a menu. Fantastic dish, crunchy and olivey (don't think that is a real word, but how else to describe it?), nice innovation.
View attachment 966931
View attachment 966949
Then back to the van for a coffee and a whisky.

Those tapas look really good. Great presentation. I'll try to remember that place

 

[Barriesimpson]

Valencia Camper Park. €14 a night with no electricity and if you want fresh water it's another 50 cents for 40 litres which seems a bit over the top considering we already paid. The bar/shop doesn't open on Mondays....???? and the 'free' WIFI drops out every 10 minutes. The laundry room is awful, people are using the same machines for washing dog blankets or whatever so they are full of hairs and who knows what else, and the place stinks. So we gave that a miss. The places are spacious but not level, so another failure, however, the place itself is quite nice and peaceful. All in all, it's fine for a stopover but no more.

A positive point was that we were able to get the awning out and dried off finally, as it was put away when in Galicia after all the rain we had and I was getting worried it might be going mouldy. Luckily all was well and it is now as good as new again.

Van food was skinless sausages (who would have thought they even existed) that we bought in Mercadona the other day and potatoes with chimichurri sauce. Because we had the awning out we ate outside in the 23ºC heat, which made a change.

 

[Barriesimpson]

Another paid camping area, Ohana Beach Tavernes, only €15 this time. Swimming pool, washing machines, bbq area, water services and electricity. A nice quiet place, only half full and the pitches are spacious and level too.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Barriesimpson]

Chinese food for lunch today as we fancied a change. It certainly was not the best we have ever eaten but it was good and we enjoyed it.

We washed it down with a bottle of Protos Roble from 2022, lovely

 

[Barriesimpson]

The rain has now caught up with us and it is absolutely pi**ing down as we speak. No barbeque tonight then

 

[Barriesimpson]

Benidorm, the original sin city in Spain for drunken British tourists. These days it seems more like an old peoples home . Thanks to P4N we arrived at a public car park where motorhomes are permitted. No services at all, but we came prepared so no problem. There is quite a nice view between the towers and it is level and quiet. 2 other vans here at the moment.

Some beautiful cumulous clouds up there, not yet nimbus but could develop, so we may be in for more rain later. Meanwhile the solar panel has recharged the batteries after the onslaught of using the air fryer to make lunch. All is good right now.

 

[MichaelT]

Benidorm, the original sin city in Spain for drunken British tourists. These days it seems more like an old peoples home . Thanks to P4N we arrived at a public car park where motorhomes are permitted. No services at all, but we came prepared so no problem. There is quite a nice view between the towers and it is level and quiet. 2 other vans here at the moment.
View attachment 969322View attachment 969323View attachment 969324
Some beautiful cumulous clouds up there, not yet nimbus but could develop, so we may be in for more rain later. Meanwhile the solar panel has recharged the batteries after the onslaught of using the air fryer to make lunch. All is good right now.
View attachment 969325

Where is that Barriesimpson please if you can post the P4N link.

 

[Barriesimpson]

Where is that Barriesimpson please if you can post the P4N link.

(03502) Benidorm - 36 Avinguda de la Vila Joiosa​

N 38°32’6.9288” W 0°9’37.4976”

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[MichaelT]

(03502) Benidorm - 36 Avinguda de la Vila Joiosa​

N 38°32’6.9288” W 0°9’37.4976”

Thanks, strange it doesn't come up on my app but I don't pay for it so maybe that's why?

 

[Barriesimpson]

Thanks, strange it doesn't come up on my app but I don't pay for it so maybe that's why?

Yes, maybe. I found it on the app and am here as we speak, so it does exist

 

[Barriesimpson]

We decided to stay another day so we could look around the place. Benidorm is but a shadow of it's former self and is showing it's age. We seem to be the youngest couple here to be honest.

We managed to find a hairdressers that could take us without appointments, so we both got our hair 'done' and we are now even more beautiful than before . We then celebrated this fact with a lunch in a restaurant which was good but not excellent.

Alicante tomorrow to see a great friend of ours who recently moved there from Gran Canaria.

 

[MichaelT]

We decided to stay another day so we could look around the place. Benidorm is but a shadow of it's former self and is showing it's age. We seem to be the youngest couple here to be honest.

View attachment 969733View attachment 969734

We managed to find a hairdressers that could take us without appointments, so we both got our hair 'done' and we are now even more beautiful than before . We then celebrated this fact with a lunch in a restaurant which was good but not excellent.

View attachment 969735View attachment 969736View attachment 969737View attachment 969738View attachment 969739View attachment 969740View attachment 969741
View attachment 969745
Alicante tomorrow to see a great friend of ours who recently moved there from Gran Canaria.

Did you treat yourselves to hiring a double mobility scooter

 

[Barriesimpson]

Did you treat yourselves to hiring a double mobility scooter

NO, we saw them all over the place, ridden by extremely overweight people, I wonder why

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Mr porky]

If you get chance on tapas alley in benidorm there's a little French bar that does fabulous oysters with nice wines, cheese and foi gras as well yum yum.
Very small but fast turnover so no issues, wait a while and you can get in.

 

[Barriesimpson]

If you get chance on tapas alley in benidorm there's a little French bar that does fabulous oysters with nice wines, cheese and foi gras as well yum yum.
Very small but fast turnover so no issues, wait a while and you can get in.

Thanks for the info, but we are on our way tomorrow so will miss it this time.

 

[Jo662]

Thanks for the info, but we are on our way tomorrow so will miss it this time.

Only two nights in Beni

 

[Barriesimpson]

Only two nights in Beni

More than enough to be honest.

 

[Barriesimpson]

Rojales, Alicante today. We are visiting some old friends of ours so we are parked up in a street next to a commercial centre which is not very pretty, so no photos today

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Barriesimpson]

Our original intention was to arrive at Cartagena today, but it didn't happen so we have stopped in a motorhome camping in La Ribera in San Javier. €15 the night with all services including EHU. They even have an LPG tank for refilling your system which I thought was cool. So we stay the night, the missus can do some ironing (she wants to do it, nobody is forcing her) without worrying about power, and we had some lunch in the bar/cafetería on site which was rather good and economical.

Our Van looks like a Mini Cooper amongst these giants

 

[Barriesimpson]

We got to Cartagena today and it's been raining all day long. So we went to a motorhome camping area and we will stay tonight and tomorrow so we have time to visit the city. There are many very interesting places to visit here, would be a shame to miss them. Meanwhile I prepared some van food for lunch and we had a little siesta.

 

[Nigel Crompton]

If it's a nice day tomorrow and you fancy a walk (uphill) go park here
37.5958469, -0.8247846
Then walk to here
37.5791075, -0.8228477
About 6km there and back on a good gravel surface.

 

[Barriesimpson]

The rain held off for most of the morning today so we went to the city. We had to get a taxi because the bus drivers are on strike, but the site has a deal with the cabbies and it only cost €10 each way. We saw a lot of nice buildings and some ancient Roman sites too. All in all Cartagena is another beautiful Spanish city. We found a nice place for some tapas and vino too, albeit it started raining again, but we remained on the terrace under the 'sun shades' and had an enjoyable lunch.

Cruise ships stop over here it would seem and the city was teeming with tourists, many of them Brits.

Croquetas de gamba.

Alcachofas con parmesano y virutas de jamón ibérico.

Pimientos de piquillo rellenos de secreto ibérico.

Tosta de sobrasada con queso curado y miel.

And the obligatory wine, we do like Protos

Now back at the van and it is pi**ing down again

 

[cyberyacht]

The acoustics in the amphitheatre are brilliant. I tried a bit of Shakespeare and OH could hear me right from the top.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Barriesimpson]

The acoustics in the amphitheatre are brilliant. I tried a bit of Shakespeare and OH could hear me right from the top.

Yes, these 'Romans' seem to be pretty good at that stuff. I'm impressed

 

[Barriesimpson]

It rained all night last night with some thunder and lightening too. Today we set off to Mojácar around 120km further down the southern coast. We stopped at a parking lot off the main road and next to a nice looking restaurant which we might visit later tonight. No services except rubbish, but as we emptied and filled at the site in Cartagena, we're good for 2 or 3 days. The sun is out but it is extremely windy at 45kph albeit the forecast is that it will drop later. So I prepared the van food and we are now chilling for the afternoon.

 

[Jo662]

Our original intention was to arrive at Cartagena today, but it didn't happen so we have stopped in a motorhome camping in La Ribera in San Javier. €15 the night with all services including EHU. They even have an LPG tank for refilling your system which I thought was cool. So we stay the night, the missus can do some ironing (she wants to do it, nobody is forcing her) without worrying about power, and we had some lunch in the bar/cafetería on site which was rather good and economical.
View attachment 970596View attachment 970598
View attachment 970604View attachment 970605View attachment 970606

Our Van looks like a Mini Cooper amongst these giants

View attachment 970600
View attachment 970611View attachment 970612View attachment 970613View attachment 970614

We were there a few weeks ago,lovely place and lovely staff. And the food and drink in the cafe wasn’t bad either.
We explored the area in both directions on our bikes,highly recommend the area.

 

[Barriesimpson]

Arrived at Albrucena, Almeriá today, it's a nice little village that has recently opened a small motorhome area. Room for 8 with black, grey and fresh water services, all free of charge. There are several bar/restaurants nearby plus a couple of different shops. The views from the area are nice, but today we are still in the rain so you can't really appreciate them. We had lunch in Bar de María which was good, but we arrived quite late and were starving so we ate it all before I realised I had not taken photos

 

[MichaelT]

Arrived at Albrucena, Almeriá today, it's a nice little village that has recently opened a small motorhome area. Room for 8 with black, grey and fresh water services, all free of charge. There are several bar/restaurants nearby plus a couple of different shops. The views from the area are nice, but today we are still in the rain so you can't really appreciate them. We had lunch in Bar de María which was good, but we arrived quite late and were starving so we ate it all before I realised I had not taken photos
View attachment 972175View attachment 972176View attachment 972177View attachment 972178View attachment 972179View attachment 972180View attachment 972181View attachment 972182View attachment 972183View attachment 972184View attachment 972185View attachment 972187

Tut tut camping behaviour with awning out

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}