Adventures With Harvey

It's much warmer in Spain!

Happy New Year one and all - Adventures With Harvey is back for 2023 with more exciting tales of travels and exploration. We've covered quite a few km since our last update, thankfully we now find ourselves in the south of Spain and have left the snow and cold far behind us!

The last edition finished up in Basel & from that point there was only one direction for Harvey's nose; South! First stop was Lyon where we stayed at a vineyard with some retired winemakers - it can be quite hilarious when neither of you speaks the other's language however Google Translate means you can get by much easier than would have been the case only a few years ago. The highlight of Lyon for your author was watching the Football World Cup final in a pub surrounded by fanatical locals. We were very fortunate to find a spot indoors just off the main square because it seemed like the whole town was in town looking for somewhere to watch the game. The atmosphere was convivial & party-like with a couple of flares being lit outside at one stage. For a neutral it was one of the best games of football ever however, sadly we were not destined to experience a world cup winning party in town. In fact the pub completely cleared out within 5 minutes of the final whistle and it was just the 2 of us sitting at the bar finishing our drinks.

The trip back to Harvey was a little fraught with traffic jams and groups of riot police to avoid, however there was no serious trouble and we made the last bus home just in time.

Before this adventure, our last visit to France was 6 years ago and there was one particular piece of unfinished business from that trip. Back in 2016 we visited Avignon but arrived quite late in the day meaning we were too late for entry to Palais des Papes. "One day" I said to myself "we'll come back and see the inside"

It's very hard to explain just how impressive this place is - yes, we're talking the largest gothic palace in the world and the seat of papal power for 70 or so years around the 15th century. Simply immense, awe-inspiring and oozing with history!

After the Palace we wandered through the streets which were heaving with pre-Christmas shoppers and ended up finding a Christmas craft market located in another old church. Anita was happy!

Next day heading south-west we stopped overnight in Perpignan before crossing the border into Spain and ticked over to 20 countries visited on this adventure! We had read that overnighting in Barcelona itself was a bad idea due to the high occurrence of motorhome break-ins so we spent our few days over Christmas just to the north where it felt much safer. Around 90 minutes into town by public transport, it was probably just a bit far out to be comfortable however we still went into town & enjoyed exploring the Catalan Capital including Anita's final Christmas market.

If one name is synonymous with Barcelona it's the famous architect Gaudi. He seems to pop up everywhere, most famously in the (almost finished) Sagrada Familia Cathedral. Your author has no idea of the number of churches visited on this trip but it's a lot, however none will live in the memory quite like this one. Why? A few reasons in no particular order...

Firstly, it's newer than anything else we've seen, they only started building it around 100 years ago whereas most others are many hundreds of years old, sometimes even 1000 years old or more. The architecture of Sagrada Familia is truly unique, there are no straight lines and the massive internal columns branch out at irregular angles as they approach the ceiling making you wonder how the roof actually stays up! The outside is also a thing of great beauty and uniqueness, there is little symmetry & the towers seem to rise from the ground in a haphazard fashion. The carvings are prolific, ornate and have different themes from one elevation to the other. But somehow it all works and overall is the most memorable place of worship that we have visited by some margin.

Later in the week we also visited Park Guell, another piece of Gaudi's handywork. Initially planned as a residential subdivision for the rich & famous, it was never completed & is now a huge park occupying a piece of prime real estate atop a hill in the middle of the city. Much of the planned infrastructure for the complex was built so you have gatehouses, viaducts, marketplaces, boulevards and many other pieces of Gaudi creativity. The view from up there is also amazing; the aforementioned cathedral of course, but also other aspects of the city, port and coastline.

As you drive the coast between Barcelona and Valencia you see a lot of one thing - oranges. Yes, named after the town itself you pass mile after mile of citrus-laden trees. But that's not Spain's top horticultural export, no that would be olives & associated byproducts and of course there is plenty of wine also produced. And while we're on the topic of commercial greenery, once you get into the Almeria area (do you like what I did there? 😊) to the south, orange trees morph into greenhouses as far as the eye can see producing off-season tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and melons for pretty much the whole of Europe.

Your faithful correspondent has a (now well documented) inner 3 year old that likes to giggle at rude-sounding place names. Can you imagine his delight when we stopped for the night at Peniscola?!! While the place name might cause a chuckle or 2, the town itself was an absolute delight. Riding our bikes for the 4km or so between our parking spot and the castle, we were able to walk up the hill & stop for a beverage overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Although at the start there weren't many people around, by the time we walked over the top & down the other side, there was a beautiful little Christmas market inside the castle walls. Beautifully lit up, there were street performers, many families out and the most convivial atmosphere ever. We loved Peniscola! Anita's new favourite thing is churros con chocolat - hot chocolate so thick you spoon stands up & long skinny donuts for dipping. Our order at the bar therefore lately consists of un churros con chocolat y una cerveza grande 😊

New Years eve in Valencia was great, huge crowds there to see the laser light show on the town hall facade, fireworks displays and plenty else besides. It was warm enough for us to park up at an outdoor bar for a couple of hours of people watching before joining the surging crowd back to the city centre for the big countdown. It's a local tradition to eat 12 grapes, one on each stroke of the midnight bells. Whilst we didn't have any, it was more difficult than we thought and hilarious to watch. There were also impressive fireworks off the town hall roof. Such fun to be in amongst it all!!

Stooging our way down the coast we decided to stop for a couple of days at Benidorm, a coastal resort town that would remind you a little of Surfers Paradise. A beautiful beach and a load of high-rise apartments & hotels, and all pretty much targeted at the cheaper end of the British tourist market. So although there was plenty of tacky to be seen, there was also good quality evening entertainment, well priced food & beverage and everything in English.

However sadly we'll remember Benidorm for the wrong reasons... On our second day we popped up to a motorway services a few km out of town to refill water and dump waste. While there we were tricked by a couple of pros, one distracted us while the other snuck into the unlocked door on the other side and helped himself to my cellphone and Anita's laptop. You hear of this type of thing and always assume you'll be smart enough not to be conned however it all happened so quickly and was just so brazen.

Although the cellphone was replaced quite quickly there's no way to recover the couple of weeks of un-backed-up photos and it will take a while longer to get a new laptop delivered. One or two people have asked about the delay between editions of AWH - it's because I didn't fancy writing it on my cellphone (although that's how this has indeed been written) and also we're pretty skinny on photos as mentioned above (which your author is still a little filthy about). However after a few days of glumness the Travelling Woodies are back into it again, we've made it to Sevilla where it was our absolute delight to meet brother Steve and his wife Kelly last night - they're here with us for the next 6 days so it'll be brilliant to share some of our adventures with some company other than each other 😊.

With that we shall bid you all a fond and cheery farewell... this is Adventures With Harvey signing off for another edition.