Since January we’ve been travelling along the Costa del Sol, the Costa Tropical and into the Cabo de Gata in Spain, and are currently holed up in the Peradon family owned town house in Almeria for a couple of weeks, which is a real treat after spending the last six months in the bus (as much as we love it).
For a good few weeks, I felt I was repeating myself, talking about yet another lovely beach, more scenic walks, and, at the risk of sounding smug, basically another day in paradise, which might not be what friends and family in grey, cold England necessarily want to hear about! So, after a few weeks’ break, here’s a summary of our recent movements as well as some thoughts on how I think travelling has benefited us and improved our quality of life.
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| The Big yellow bus, Nerja |
After completing visiting the major Costa del Sol locations including Fuengirola, Torremolinos, Marbella and Malaga we moved on to slightly quieter, less flashy destinations, stopping next at Nerja, the last stop on the Costa del Sol, a charming place with beautiful beaches, though still a bit touristy for us, in the pretty town. The outskirts had a more ‘shanty’ feel and many travellers plot up there for winter - an assortment of nationalities, in all kinds of vehicles - such as the welcoming and friendly Polish couple we met, travelling in their huge old USA school bus, along with their son, English Bull Terrier and pet rat. Nerja was the first place in ages where we felt comfortable to send our drone up, since they’ve had such a bad press lately and we’ve unintentionally upset a few people in the past.
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| The Sierra Nevada Mountains |
After Nerja came the Costa Tropical which I had never previously been aware of. The main stop offs here were Herradura, Almunecar, Motril and Adra; all interesting and enjoyable in their own way - the first two places for their rugged and impressive coasts and beaches and the second two for their towns; The Costa Tropical, or Costa Granada as it is also known, is a gorgeous lush stretch of coastline with a pleasant micro climate thanks to its position nestled below the Sierra Nevada mountain range. We spent a couple of weeks thoroughly exploring the beaches, hillsides and towns, which included a number of nudist beaches *queue childish giggles*, still in full use. Friendly locals and a laid back attitude warmed us to this area, enough for us to consider it as a place we might want to ‘winter’ in the future. I love that phrase ‘…we are going to winter at [insert desired location] this year’!
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| In the Cabo de Gata |
After the Costa Tropical the landscape changed drastically as we entered the Cabo de Gata – Europe’s only desert. Despite visiting Spain many times over the last thirty years, I had never truly explored this region nor fully taken in it its startling and stunning beauty. The mountains and hills are awesome in the real sense of the word – the landscape is largely untouched, since hundreds of years, and although very popular with hikers, we had it to ourselves for a good portion of the time, with February being a quiet month for tourists in general. While exploring ‘the Cabo’, as its referred to by those in the know, we visited San Pedro a commune which has been active for some fifty years or so, supposedly even hosting Jim Morrison from The Doors and where he wrote Spanish Caravan in an acid haze. It still has a beautiful hippy vibe, and everyone is made very welcome there. It’s only reachable on foot, about an hour or so walk, around some dicey mountain passes, but well worth it.
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| Reunited with family :) |
After visiting San Jose, Las Negras and other small villages in the Cabo de Gata we arrived next at Agua Amaga, just down the road from my (late) Dad and step mum Julie’s house. It felt comfortable and reassuring to be on familiar turf and we settled in to catch up with the relatives, welcoming the arrival of my much missed cousin Tovey and hubby Mark from the UK, who were arriving to house sit for Julie as she headed off to Australia to spend time with my sister Karen who had a significant birthday this week!
After a boozy week catching up with the family we headed off to Almeria city, one of my fave places, where we’re lucky enough to have a ‘pied a terre’ in the heart of the old town. For the last week we have really kicked back and taken full advantage of spreading out across all three floors - a rare privilege. In the bus, though we love it to bits, we are constantly adjusting and manoeuvring to accommodate the smaller space we occupy. This week we can stretch out - be it in terms of doing yoga, cooking, having an actual bath - it feels absolutely luxurious.
Almeria is such a vibrant city - the tapas bars are amazing, there are a handful quirky pop up shops which weren’t here last time I visited and, culturally, it has tons to offer - a highlight for me was visiting the ‘Casa de Cine’ a fascinating and expertly curated museum, dedicated to informing visitors about the rich film history of the region - dozens of spaghetti westerns were filmed here, as well as Indiana Jones, Game of Thrones and Lawrence of Arabia to mention just a few. Almeria was also where John Lennon spent a summer, filming ‘How I won the War’, living in the house which has since been converted in to the museum, and where he wrote Strawberry Fields Forever –and where he began to wear his trademark wire rimmed glasses.
To put the cherry on the cake, during one of the informational videos on the tour at the museum, it showed Dad and Julie’s house, not once but twice, as it is located in a spot where a lot filming took place over the years; typically, the first time I missed it, I must’ve been tying my shoe lace or something, so Nick asked the guide to roll the tape again, which kindly they did. It was only us and one other couple on the tour and the lady of the couple completely got the wrong end of the stick and presumed we were in the film business and started asking us lots of questions, it was one of those awkward situations when you try to explain something and it gets lost in translation. Hey ho! A great visit though and highly recommended if you are ever in Almeria.
So that brings us about up to date in terms of our activities. In case you’re wondering about Nina - she’s been largely well behaved and we’ve not had a running off incident since Marbella - thank goodness. In the Cabo there were large areas where we could let her off and see her over a long distance so she could run about without getting into mischief. In the city we keep her on the lead, and she’s happy to just sniff every bollard, street corner and door step.
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| Sunset over the roofs in Almeria |
I have a few days work this week doing virtual note taking for an employment tribunal, which is handy, and keeps the wolf from the door. Being a virtual assistant is an ideal role for travellers and I’m thankful that it allows us to do what we do.
Finally, a few of the benefits of travelling that I have personally felt over the last six months are: it’s enabled me to live more in the moment, visit new places, worry less, meet and interact with new people, dare to converse in foreign languages, embrace different cultures, problem solve, reduce my outgoings, work less, have way more quality time, become more mindful, physically fitter and healthier.
I highly recommend the travelling lifestyle, maybe not forever, because I still hanker for somewhere to call home; it’s a big step to take but once you’ve leapt into the unknown, it’s pretty much plain sailing, with the odd catastrophe thrown in of course - wouldn’t it be boring otherwise?!
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