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Updated the blog, had showers, had a late brekky and headed off on the bikes around midday…

Whilst crossing one of the many bridges over the Guadalquivir River (that Seville is built upon) we took a selfie (first piccie below) and behind us “Torre del Oro” (The Tower of Gold or Golden Tower of Seville). Constructed in the 13th century, when ships entered Seville via the river, they could discharge their gold here PLUS the middle part was a prison… It is dodecagonal (i.e. has 12 sides originating from the Greek dodeka meaning twelve and gon – the Greek for corner – bit of triv for the day !!!)

We’d decided the best way to see the city was on a hop-on / hop-off sightseeing bus tour so we locked up the bikes, bought the 2 x 24 hour tickets (€25 each) and this included maps (with a bar code to scan which downloaded an APP (!!!) so you could see exactly where you were) plus 2 sets of earphones to plug into the side of the bus to access the audio guide…

The guy had advised us it was an hour and a quarter to do all 14 stops and that we should do the FULL tour first and THEN go back and decide what we wanted to hop on/off to see – which was good advice 👍 and he advised that the buses went every half hour…

We sat upstairs (open-top bus) at the front and didn’t take any photos as we wanted to concentrate on the audio & the map and thought we’d take photos when we went round again.

It WAS a good way to see the city and if we were there for a week, we would have got off and spent half a day at each of the 14 stops exploring – but as it was – we didn’t want to get stranded hanging about for the return bus journey so we got off at the end – grabbed our bikes and headed to La Plaza de España (“Spain Square”).  This was built in 1928 and is a huge half-circle; the buildings are accessible by four bridges over the moat (which represent the ancient kingdoms of Spain) and in the centre is the Vicente Traver fountain (see me in front with rainbow 🌈 below !!!)

There are many tiled alcoves around the plaza – each representing a different province of Spain (see Dave sat in front of Huesca).  If we thought there was detail on the cathedral – then THIS was a whole different level – truly everywhere you looked it was tiled and detailed and it was just phenomenal…

We were also fortunate to hear music so we investigated and under the main central canopy there was a guitarist, a singer & 3 ladies doing flamenco dancing 💃🏻. I was struck – whilst listening – how Arabic the music sounded and I’ve just asked Mr Google why; he never lets me down and informs me that “Spanish guitar and Flamenco come to mind when someone brings up Spanish music. Both are deeply rooted in Arabic culture and traditions.”

We watched this for a while & then heard MORE music and 2 old guys with electric-acoustic guitars & a speaker were playing Spanish traditional music – another treat… 🎵

So Monday morning dawned and this guy in a high vis jacket & satchel turned up in the car park and started collecting €1 from everyone.  Dave popped out and told him that we’d already paid €5 to a guy the night before and he said it was nothing to do with him…

The previous evening (on our return from Sherry & Tapas) a guy had knocked at the door and said “Parking” (or something) and I said “OK – €1 ?” and I picked up the word “Noche” and €5 so I thought “OK – overnight charge”, gave him €5 and he gave me a keyring !!!  (See below a huge wooden circle with a flamingo and a rusty ring attached) – so I DID wonder then if I’d been “had” and I had 😂  !!!  {Oh well, he probably needed the €5 more than we did…}

Anyway with hindsight I NOW think we should have probably stayed an extra day in Jerez and done a sherry tasting tour (although the Tio Pepe Bodega was closed on Mondays but there were several others) but we’d had a nice afternoon at San Pablo the day before and then (as it was Sunday) Jerez had looked pretty desolate with it’s no-water fountains – so we decided to head off a day early to Sevilla !!!

It wasn’t far and we arrived around lunchtime in this place where it fits 100 motorhomes (and again most of the pitches were taken) but the electric is a bit dodgy – and the fridge kept reverting to gas.  Dave thought it was overloaded so when he bumped into people, he said the electric was rubbish and not to bother.  I reckon they took him at his word because now our’s is stable and powering the fridge fine 😂 !!!

Anyway after lunch I felt overwhelmingly tired and (never do this but) had a lay down and slept for about an hour so I clearly needed it.  I got up then DAVE went for a snooze !!!  So I got ready then updated the blog by which time he’d woken up, got the bikes out and we headed into Sevilla Centro – about 2km away.

Seville is a city – with 6-lane-wide roads & mad traffic but (luckily) there are a lot of cycle paths at the sides so off we trundled and I’m getting a BIT more confident on the bike and Dave doesn’t leave me SO far behind anymore…

It was still lovely in the sun but pretty cold in the shade and once in the centre we came upon the cathedral – which started life as a mosque in 1172 but is now the largest Gothic cathedral in the world !!!  It really is vast and the detail in the architecture is amazing – see photies below…

We had a cycle around then came across a little bar (with heaters) and asked for 2 medium sherries but they weren’t like the nectar we’d drunk at San Pablo the day before – these were much drier and it was a hard job but SOMEBODY had to drink them 😂 !!!

We had another little wander then locked up our bikes (to go and have dinner) and there was a little souvenir shop with these little embroidered sheer jackets hung up outside – which I NOW know are called toreritas (which in Spanish I looked up and actually means “bullfighter”) and they were only €12 (£10.50) – I tried one on and couldn’t make my mind up between the red or the white so I bought them both – bargain 🛍️ !!!

Then Dave fancied a steak so had “entrecôte” at this place (which again had heaters) and I had lasagne – and it was very average…. The most exciting thing was that I drank my first glass of red wine 🍷 in over 25 years (as I went off it in pregnancy with Holly) – as Dave had ordered a bottle and needed a bit of help !!!

Then we cycled back and it was all very vibrant – shops still open and fountains – not only with water but lit up too (see piccie) !!!

• Location: 37° 21′ 39.79″ N 5° 59′ 41.56″ W

We bid a fond farewell to Gibraltar having decided to make our way to Jerez on Sunday.

It wasn’t far and we arrived early afternoon.

I would have like to have booked a sherry-tasting session but there didn’t seem to be any that day.  Howver whilst Googling, I found a place called Tabanco San Pablo which dates back to 1934 and had excellent reviews so we thought we’d pop that into Google Maps & set off on the bikes.

“Tabanco” traditionally was half tavern where you could have a drink or eat some tapas, but also half wine shop, as they used to sell wine in bulk as well.

We arrived and it was busy – full of locals – and we were lucky to get the last inside table.  The wooden stools were smaller than usual – like being at an infant school !  They didn’t speak English so Dave translated the menu (with an APP ON HIS PHONE !!!) and it provided some insight as to what was on the menu.

So we started off with 2 medium sherries (and they were SO drinkable – like a really nice version of Harvey’s Bristol Cream !!!) plus:-

• Pork Cheeks
• Meatballs
• “Dress” Potatoes (that could have been Dave’s APP not coping too well 😂)
• Some spicy chorizo-type sausage

The dishes arrived sporadically which is why there are individual photos of them rather than all of them at once…

We carried on with the sherries (plus Dave had a beer) and then ordered:-

• MORE Pork Cheeks (that was Dave !!!)
• Russian Salad
• Dish of the Day (the waiter recommended it & we had no idea but which was sort of like a warm, tomato-ey hummus – really tasty 😋)

… and right at the end they brought us bread !!!  Which would have been nice earlier to mop up the lovely sauces that the meatballs, sausage, etc. were sitting in.

Fabulous place – would highly recommend – it was really authentic plus our waiter was lovely and looked after us really well 😊

As it was Sunday late afternoon by then, a lot of places were closed but we had a cycle round in the sunshine and there were LOTS of fountains (with no water !!!) and Dave picked 2 oranges from one of the many trees everywhere (but later tried one and said it wasn’t nice 🥵) and bibbed back to The Van to cuddle up & watch a film (The Hitman’s Bodyguard – Ryan Reynolds & Samuel L Jackson – very watchable (clearly) as neither of fell asleep – for a change !!!)

Saturday dawned beautifully sunny, we got ready, had a bit of brekky & bibbed off on the bikes across the border again (and got ANOTHER stamp !!!) 

Basically all of the sites to see were up on the rock, you can’t cycle and it would take too long to walk all the way up and back down so we opted for a mini-bus tour.  

We struck gold with a lovely guy in his late 60’s / early 70’s who had been born in Gibraltar and who had been running these tours for the last 40 years.  We locked up the bikes & hopped in with an Irish couple from Kilkenny in the front, us in the middle and three German / Dutch guys in the back (who ate snacks & chatted) whilst the guide literally threw SO much knowledge at us from the second we got into the car until the second we said goodbye (see selfie of the three of us below).

{As an aside – if I thought the drive up to Kevin’s place was a bit lairy 😳 – it was NOTHING compared to this – he kept on chatting as he motored speedily around hairpin bends, etc. and eventually I got used it it !!!}

We stopped at a few strategic photo-opportunity points e.g. The Pillars of Hercules – which marks the entrance to the Straights of Gibraltar and it was lovely & clear & we could see all the way over to Morocco !!!

OK – so let’s start with the fact there are 2 entries for Gibraltar in the Guinness Book of Records:-

1.  For being the smallest colony in the world – 5km long by 1.2km wide

2.  For having the shortest inter-continental flight – to Tangier – 43 miles taking less than 25 minutes

… and some other stuff he mentioned:-

3.  Population of 30,000 and 15,000 additional peeps cross the border every day to come to work and Gibraltar has ZERO unemployment !!!

4.  English is the official language, the pound £ is the official currency and there are red (working) telephone boxes and red post boxes (see piccie below)

5.  The only place Europe to have wild monkeys is the Rock of Gibraltar – home to the Barbary Macaques – see piccies below – especially one sitting on MY HANDS (courtesy of the guide) and he called the monkey “Harry” !!!  Definitely the highlight of the tour…

6.  Although 78% of the population is Catholic, Gibraltar has a significant population of Muslims, Jews & Hindus

7.  Gibraltar was captured for the British in 1704 during the War of Spanish Succession and Spain formally conceded it to Britain in 1713

8.  The name “Gibraltar” is derived from Arabic – in the 8th century there was an Arabic military leader named Tariq ibn Ziyad and he named the rock “Mount of Tariq” – which is what Gibraltar means in Arabic

9. Below you’ll see a shot I took of a commemorative plaque that states Queen Elizabeth II & Prince Phillip came over in May 1954 & stood there looking out over Gibraltar. That was THE ONLY TIME that any British royal has EVER visited. Shame on The Royals – that’s what I say 😐

He probably told us LOADS more but that’s all I can recall at this moment…

He dropped us back & we had lunch at a lovely little place watching the world go by then a little bib around the shops (and I bought my obligatory Christmas ornament – see below) then cycled off to Ocean Village – which is a resort built around a marina with lots of cool bars & restaurants (and Dave really liked it) so we had a cocktail there… (bit of a crap photo but there you go…)

Had it not clouded over, we might have stayed for more and again – like yesterday – after we crossed the border & came back – the sun came out & it was lovely out there but La Linea (the town on THIS side of the border) is a bit run down & has none of the charm of Gibraltar so we headed back to The Van…

On the way the main street (Winston Churchill Avenue) was closed as it bisects the runway !!! And a plane was landing (see BA plane below…) This apparently happens 2 to 7 times a day – each time the road being closed for 10 minutes. They are apparently planning to build a tunnel underneath…

So Dave had spoken to our son Marcus on our arrival in Nerja on Monday afternoon & then informed me that we were due to collect him from Malaga airport 3 days later at 8:40pm on Thursday evening, that he would be staying 4 nights and would be returning to the UK on Monday.

So the previous day I thought I’d give him a call to advise NOT to only pack shorts and sunglasses as it IS winter over here and you DO need a broader selection of attire !  At the end of the conversation, I said “OK sweetheart – so we’ll see you tonight” at which point he announced that he had booked his flight for the FOLLOWING Thursday (i.e. the day we were leaving Nerja 😐…)

In the end (given the lovely Pizza & Wine Day at Kevin & Helen’s) it all worked out for the best BUT we had never planned to stay for TWO and a half weeks in Nerja so we looked at the map and on the Friday morning headed for Gibraltar !!! (and will pick up Marcus NEXT Thursday returning to Nerja for another week…)

We arrived mid-afternoon, had a late lunch in The Van and then trundled off on the bikes (with our passports !!!) 2 minutes up the road to Border Control…

And a couple of stamps later we were suddenly in a different country !!! As you come out of Border Control, the road is called “Winston Churchill Avenue” so Dave got a selfie with that in the background & also one of me with the Gibraltar sign… And one with the famous Rock of Gibraltar behind us. We took the shot (& it looks very cloudy) but 5 minutes later all the clouds had dispersed and it was azure blue skies & sunshine…

We had a bit of a cycle around and it was strange seeing shops like Mothercare and Early Learning Centre that have long disappeared from the UK – to still be thriving over there… We then had a beer & a wine in Casemates Square but it wasn’t as vibrant as it had been in Cartagena the previous Friday so we popped to the supermarket for a few snacks & returned to The Van to plan our “proper” tour the following day…

… and got pulled up by the Border Control guy as we weren’t wearing cycle helmets 😳

{I’ve since looked it up on t’internet and apparently it ISN’T compulsory to wear a helmet in the UK and it’s ONLY compulsory to wear a helmet if you’re UNDER 16 !!! I know I was a child-bride 😂 but sadly it’s been a LONG time since either of us could pass for under-16 !!! As ever – Spanish bureaucracy at it’s best 😐}

Dave’s brother Kevin & his wife Helen (so there are TWO Helen Millers !!!) had earmarked Thursday for a “Pizza Afternoon” up at his place in the hills…

Updated the blog in the morning, got ready & then at 12:30pm Kevin kindly came to collect Dave, myself, Paul & Sue and drive like Stirling Moss on the windy dirt-track-cliff-edge roads 😳 back to his place & dropped us off with Helen (who was an excellent hostess & immediately plied us with wine before putting Dave’s t-shirts in her washing machine !!!)

Meanwhile Kevin then bombed back to town to do another run, plus a couple of peeps drove themselves so there were about 14 of us in total.

Kevin has a pizza oven built into the wall in the outside space and it took a couple of hours to warm up and then the pizzas 🍕 kept on coming (accompanied by salads & some French sausages we’d brought that needed eating…) – as did the wine 🍷 🥴

We’d met one couple the night before & a couple of ladies on a previous visit but all of the peeps were lovely, the weather was gorgeous (as was the outside space to enjoy it) and it was just a wonderful day… ❤️ (Check out the views from his veranda in the photies below where we have the Dave on his own, the 3 sister-in-laws, the 3 brothers and then Dave wandered out holding a glass of whiskey announcing the glass had been a wedding present to Kevin & Helen 30-odd years ago… After the amount of alcohol he had consumed by then, I’m amazed it lasted the rest of the day 😂 )

Kevin, by comparison, was very measured in his alcohol intake and even dropped us all back at Los Arcos to carry on (which might not have been the best plan as neither Dave or I can remember going to bed 😳🥴😐… but magically the clean, dry t-shirts managed to accompany us !!!)

Had another chilled morning on the laptop whilst the rain ☔️ cleared and Dave did “blue jobs” (like topping up The Van with water and emptying the 🚾) and then had a shower and set off to town with…

WASHING !!!

We’ve been away for 2 weeks now and we were totally out of pants 🩲 !!! 😂

€4.5 including washing liquid & softener for a 30 minute wash & whilst it was doing it’s thing, we went off to have lunch in the main town square (Plaza de Balcon de Europa) opting for Chicken Caesar Salad (me) and some meat salad with spicy sauce (Dave).

Chucked the smalls into the drier for another €3 and as the drum was SO big, everything was bone dry after 30 minutes – I was dead impressed (doesn’t take much…)

Had a wander onto the Balcon de Europa – which Nerja is famous for – and is a tree-lined walkway (almost like a pier) where musicians (& apparently painters & jugglers, etc. but we didn’t see any !!!) come to share their talents – and provides fabulous views over the Mediterranean… 

Then tried on another couple of leather jackets and have defs decided on the style now…

Wandered back to The Van for a little rest & a snack.  I said I’d make us scrambled eggs but when I came to crack the eggs into a bowl – they were already hard-boiled !!!  

So we NOW know that huevos COCIDOS is BOILED egg 😂

What made it funnier was that I’d given Dave a hard time the other day when I’d asked for a soft egg – and it was rock hard – as we then realised he’d unknowingly boiled an already hard-boiled egg !!!  Ah the Spanish 🇪🇸- you godda love their weird little ways…

Then set off to meet Kevin & a few of his friends at one of the local bars, put the world to rights for a bit then headed back.

The first piccie is at Capistrano Village where we are staying – it’s about a half an hour walk to town / the sea and speaking of walking – did a LOT yesterday – 16,973 steps – see my screenshot below !!!

Whilst we had been at Kevin’s the day before, a Spanish official (not The Policia) knocked at Paul & Sue’s & said we had to move The Van within 24 hours as it couldn’t stay parked outside their apartment (even though they explained who we were and even said we were staying in their place).

Dave (being Dave) has simply written a note & put it in the windscreen stating that we are staying at Paul & Sue’s and to ring his mobile if any issues…

Nobody has rung – YET 🤞

For the first time since we’d been in Spain, it rained ☔️ so we had a lazy morning updating the blog and answering guest queries then got ready and the sun was breaking through again as we wandered down the hill into Nerja centre in the afternoon. On the way, Dave made an appointment for Thursday at 4:30pm to have his hair cut (the salon is run by an English girl from Louth and apparently all the ex-Pats use her…)

So I’m in the market for a leather jacket and tried on a plethora yesterday – some cheap & nasty and some obviously better quality. I reckon I’m going to settle on a black one trimmed with a little bit of red and with a red lining – currently “50% off” so €149 rather than €295 – watch this space…

Then we went for a late lunch at Mena Garden (which sounds like a Chinese) but where I has an excellent chicken, bacon & cheese club sandwich with a few fries, Dave had chicken curry & we washed it down with a Tinto De Verano and a beer…

The “flowery” picture is taken outside but then the wind got up again & it looked a bit “black over Bill’s mother’s” so we went INSIDE and took another snap when the drinkies came but before the food…

Bobbed in the Mercadona (supermarket) on the way back then arranged to meet later and went for a little rest in The Van. Now although Dave had bought the unlimited Spanish SIM, when I went on ITVX to try and watch Coro, it told me I was outside of the UK and wouldn’t let me 😡

Luckily My Dave is such a ⭐️ that we downloaded some VPN-thingy to trick it into thinking we are in London so caught up with last Friday’s episode 🥳

We then all met at the bar which is on-site at Capistrano Villages – La Cueva (The Cave Bar) and again chatted to a few of the ex-Pats whilst enjoying the real fire 🔥 then (as we were still full from the late lunch) we came back & I munched on a few squares of Milka with a cup of tea & watched Monday’s episode before nodding off 😴

As Mick & Debs had arrived on a Sunday (when the shops are all closed) we arrived the following morning bearing gifts of croissants, jam, hotdogs, mustard & OJ and had brekky in the sunshine 😎 then bid them farewell and bobbed off to the massive shopping complex up the road called Gran Plaza to sort out the lack of mobile WiFi…

They still have “Orange” over there so we brought the device with us (to test it) and Dave settled on a Pay-As-You-Go 150GB SIM for €30 BUT he DID need his passport to buy the SIM and there seemed to an AWFUL lot of paperwork & fuss for one little SIM but anyway…

We then put Nerja in the SatNav and headed on our way but the closer we got, the more the wind got up and GOSH it was a bit of an unnerving journey as we were ascending up into the hills and there were huge bridges (with NOTHING underneath) and The Van was being swayed hither & thither 😳 (so I tried not to look and busied myself with answering guest queries and booking ferries for them…)

We arrived outside Paul & Sue’s apartment at Capistrano Villages (where Dave & I had flown & stayed at in January 2019 & 2020) and where Kevin was also waiting to greet us – and all went in and had tea and cake out on the balcony on a fabulous sunny afternoon overlooking Nerja (but sadly in all the excitement I forgot to take a photo 😔)…

Kevin then drove us about 15 minutes out of town (up & down bumpy, gravelly dirt-tracks and AGAIN unnervingly close to the edge of a cliff 😳) to show us where he lived – and which could have been another potential spot to park The Van… He and his wife Helen live in a great spot with fabulous views and they think the 15 minute journey into town is nothing but I don’t think I could drive it (even in a normal sized car) even once…

They have a huge outdoor living space (a lot of which is under cover) and I sat down out there and fussed Tigi (the brown one) & Romeo (the black one) – their 2 cute little dachshunds…

Kevin then drove us a teeny bit down the hill to an equestrian place where we caught up with Helen who had been out riding for the afternoon and was then at the stables with her beautiful 5 year old horse (and do you know horses live to 30 years old ? !!!).

Kevin then dropped us back at Paul’s, we had a little drink of sparkly 🥂 & a chat then went to get ready to meet the ex-Pat lot at one of the local hotels – Los Arcos. They meet up for Happy Hour at various local hotels & bars in the area every night between about 7pm & 9pm – very much a “drop-in” session if you fancy it – and we caught up with some of their friends that we’d met on previous visits.

We then went back to Paul & Sue’s who kindly knocked up dinner for us whilst chatting about the old days – then retired to The Van – and a good time was had by all 😊

After a quiet night (!!!) we woke & trundled back down the beach spaces and I did us a lovely brekky of Spanish oranges, (tinned !) pineapple and banana with peach yoghurt, some OJ and some croissants & Bonne Maman raspberry jam (I know, I know – lots of sugar… but it was yummy 😋)

We have mobile WiFi in the The Van and although it’s unlimited data in the UK, it is apparently capped at 19GB when roaming and when trying to update the blog and book guest ferries, I realised that we were out 😔

It was Sunday so nowhere was open to sort it (for those techies out there who are saying “Why didn’t Dave just top it up ?”, he didn’t know the phone number associated with the SIM (which you apparently need to know) and when I said “Why don’t you just give them a ring ?”, he announced he would end up speaking to “some muppet in India” 😂 and it would be too difficult so his plan was to purchase an unlimited Spanish SIM the following day…)

So I read my Psychologies magazine to “enrich my emotional lift” (!!!) for a bit then we trundled off on the bikes to do a reccy as we were due to go out for dinner with Mick & Debs so wanted to see what places were close to their apartment.

Excellent cycling paths along the promenade / coast road again and passed lots of families eating out in the sunshine 😎

Came back, popped the bikes back in the garage (see Dave’s “Helping Hand” from Benidorm market that he attached to the garage door which he is VERY happy with – and it hasn’t fallen off yet as I predicted it would !!!).

BUT what he ISN’T happy with is his 15 metre “Magic Hose” that he said was “about 3 metre” and thus not long enough when he last filled The Van up with water – ah well – you win some, you lose some !!! 

We then parked back up again at Mick’s place just as they arrived.

We then had a cup of tea ☕️ followed by drinkies in their apartment overlooking the sun-drenched golf course – on an empty tummy – all I’d had was my fruit salad & croissants !!! 

Dave had a lie down in The Van whilst the rest of us got ready and then not too far away we found a lovely little place (where they spoke no English at all – just how we like it) and I had a really nice chicken schnitzel with mushroom sauce – and LOTS more glasses of Vino Rosado and eventually wandered back to the apartment & Van 😴