What a great day; what a great 6 weeks; adios Spain, grassy arse …

A nice ride today, a mix of tracks and road. We passed through lots of orange orchards and olive groves over rolling hills. Even a crop of sunflowers, one was open. Strawberries were even amongst the fruit bowl. Ayamonte was an easy 60km, weather warm but not scorching.

Passing through the little town of Lepe, John says, ‘do you want a cool drink or something.’ … it was 11.40am a beer later and a hand full of olives … we are acting like locals.

We are staying at a hotel on a golf course today, the room is lovely, a nice pool, what more could a girl ask for. The pool is refreshing … do we take the afternoon off and relax? Of course not, there are things to see. We are on an island … sort of the river and the sea and a bridge over.

With map in hand we go exploring on our bikes to the beach at 5pm. We are surprised at the number of beachgoers and swimmers. The beach is sandy, our bikes are the star attraction as we ride along the beach. Then up on the bikes path to the end where the river joins the sea, passing through upper end hotels.

A small marina and fishing village. It’s 9pm we stay and have a local type of paella ‘arroz de marisco’ delicious. a seafood broth rice, John was most impressed. That’s enough for the day, we head home at 9.30pm and sneak in another swim.

Transformation …

It’s Saturday, stepping out the hotel into the Cafe chairs only steps away under the trees … what a life!  Apparently the hotel was originally a private mansion in the 19th century. 

A slight cool breeze, very quiet at 9.30am, I was told yesterday that Seville has long days, they take advantage to escape the heat so night time is more active into the wee hours  … we are adjusting slowly.  The Saturday markets are just setting up.   Elsewhere in Europe the markets are in full swing with sellers and buyers at this time. A 42C day and 44C for next 3 days … in the heat of summer here it is typically 50C+ … ouch.  Reason for moving on to the coast.  Lots more to see but little towns tick my boxes.

The bus is full, looks like people going to the coast for the weekend … the autovia is also busy …it’s a direct highway to Huelva, a nice drive through the country lots olive groves, vineyards, almonds and sunflowers.  No milk run today.

I’m playing spotto today from the , on the lookout for Toyota CH-R they are very popular here in Spain they are all the hybrid models …Rav4 hybrid are also around. John points out a stork nest on a big power pole … then more we spot at least 20 nests now it’s spotto for storks.

We are soon at Huelva and unwrapped the bikes … we keep the travellers amused for at least 10 minutes seeing us wrap or unwrap the bikes.  We have time to have a quick beer and tapas outside the markets.  Less is more, a paella and croquettes … sufficient.  They have the spray mist jets keeping things cool.

We have booked a room in an apartment … never again … trying make contact with landlord … we had half the neighbourhood involved … well … 3 obliging men … a fruiterer in a shop and two others … plus google translate.  A frustrating time and we are very apologic 45 minutes later we are in the room.  This will be an interesting review.

What does this place offer … we go down to the riverside … lovely manicured lawns by a wide paved promenade, great cycle path along the river also a board walk. A long covered wooden jetty. The Rio Tinto Pier (Spanish: Muelle de Rio Tinto) was a commercial pier formerly used for the trade of material from the mines of the Rio Tinto Company in Andalusia, Spain. It is situated on the River Odiel in the city of Huelva. An estimated 150 million tons of ore were shipped from the pier over its life. Closed in 1975, it is now a popular tourist attraction and fishing spot. The pier is 1165 meters long, although part of that is built on reclaimed marshland. Not a person in sight!!

Except for some fishers Huelva is deserted, we ride through some streets, shop are closed, tables and chairs are out, where are the people. It’s hot but not that hot, back for a siesta and admin … we emerge into the streets at 8pm, I map a restaurant I found with a good review on google, a little despondent we start a walk straight down the road only minutes away. People are one the move, bars are starting to show signs of life, the shopping malls are alive and vibrant. So many bars and restaurants the transformation since earlier today or did we just not see this part of the city. We had a lovely meal, staff were very friendly and restored my faith in this town.

I always feel better after a bike ride, no siesta today.

What a wonderFULL day … the operative ‘full’ . Started with a google search ‘breakfast near me’ it is one of the first searches that come up on my google history. ‘John, 80m and there is breakfast’ we were going on a city bike ride for 10.30am and we slept in … had to do my Wordle at least, quaordle, octordle and sedecordle can wait.

We are just out of the hotel and next door is the Cafe … perfect! 20 steps! We are both like locals today, freshly squeezed OJ, coffee, tostada. John ham and cheese, me smashed tomato (this is soooo Spanish comes with everything in a jar just use as much as you like, same as olive oil. And avocado … the bread rolls are toasted and very yummy.

Now our bike tour a quick ride to the markets … we are early … surprisingly very quiet … at 10am it is early here for the markets, a few fish mongers open filleting, slicing. Bakers prepping their wares.

10.30am and off we go … lovely group and the guide also nice young Spaniard uni student. We get a bit of history, culture while we ride for 3hrs and always happy with the company.

On our guide’s recommendation we go to a tapas bar not far away for lunch … it’s hot so we go inside, what a menagerie of beasts displayed on the walls. This is a real treat for the eyes great little place and good tapas … beer is welcome.

Now off to the Bullfighting Ring … there was a fight last night! We visit the museum and sit in the stands of the ring … we reflect on when John got bailed up in hospital in France near Bastille Day and we had to stay in a very little town Maussane-les-Alpilles and saw their local festivities in the street and arena … such fun we had.

Back to today … the Real Alcazar aka the palace … no queue it’s too hot, shiny faces everywhere and hand fans. It’s the best place to be on a 42°C day … the exhibitions in the old buildings are cool … a lot of information about ceramic tiles dating back forever. There was no audio apart from phone if you had mobile coverage but all signage was in English (tick, tick). We could relate again to the Alhambra in Granada, the gardens were lovely again good for a hot day.

We get back from our day out at 6.30pm it’s 39°C … time for admin and drink before venturing into the heat for an evening meal.

Good one 99

A quick walk to bus station to see our options … many buses but only one company open … 11am bus to Seville.

A flyby look at the food market … the surrounds are full of cafes … it’s 9.30am and the locals are in full force drinking, eating, shopping.  A churros cafe doing a roaring trade as people dip the tasty pastry in their hot chocolate or coffee.  Beer is also on the table for some.  The markets is predominantly seafood and lesser fruit and vegetables. Outside with the cafe’s the clothing stalls all enjoying the shade of the Plaza while the sun is low. The markets and stalls will all disappear around noon.

The bus is only 9€ and 1hr 15mins, nice country, corn crops, sunflowers, grain.  Lots of sunflowers in full bloom today adding contrast to the stark fields of baled hay.

Here we are in Seville, quick bike assembly and off through the streets to the hotel at 1pm, we are lucky the room is ready. Smiles on our dials … The entrance to the hotel has devil’s ivy draped over an arch at the entry to the rooms, we are on the ground floor potted plants everywhere and draping from the balconies above … seriously this is special. Can I stay for a week to ride out the heatwave? (Mind the pun)

0ut the front of the hotel is a large number of tapas bars under shady trees. Tapas for lunch … we have learned that just one dish each, small but sufficient, croquettes and spring rolls both delicious.

As it turns out, the park in front of the hotel is Alameda de Hercules was the oldest public park in Spain and Europe. Once a down-and-out district that was best avoided, La Alameda has now turned into one of Seville’s hippest and trendiest barrios. Situated around the long thin Plaza Alameda de Hércules, lying to the north of the center, it’s now home to funky art gallery cafés, chic bars, restaurants, and vintage boutiques.

It is very hot, a siesta and a walk around, the old town is amazingly compact we get to the Bullfighting Ring just as it is closing … goodness it’s 6.50pm. We book a city cycling tour for tomorrow morning. Pass through the shopping mall and duck into a few shops just to get out of the heat, despite we are shaded by buildings, it’s still 38C.

We leave the air conditioned room and head out to eat at 9.30pm, whew a very warm breeze still very hot. Tables are filling up under the trees near the many cafes, John had a giggle, ‘even those young guys are fanning themselves’ as I look over and see some guys enjoying a drink waving the menus to keep cool.

It’s sort of too hot to eat so we settle for tapas … John doesn’t want to walk around tonight early night … it’s 10.45pm the kids are still playing in the local playground.

John has certainly pick a great hotel for our next 2 nights before we head coastal again.

“It looks like we are in the country” she said.  “Lost in the country’ he said. That said … we wouldn’t have seen the old viaduct and the fish farm (which I think it was)

This is the way to start the day, 9.30am breakfast in the town square people watching. No time constraints, we left Cadiz around 10.30am a different cruise ship has come in overnight. We pass through the new town which is more modern, taller buildings. 

Tipuana trees are in full bloom, yellow blossom everywhere, memories of the years of joy the kids and their friends had with the tipuana tree we once had in the first build of our house.  It was always blooming for Christmas, today we are in the northern hemisphere so the blooming is June.

No bridges for us we are on the reclaimed land that just accommodates a road, train and cycle path although unsealed it’s a great soft ride.  We ride around the peninsula through the Parc Natura; a breeding ground for birds, it’s a wetland and a maze of waterways. We can see the new bridge over to Cadiz for some time in our sights it’s 3km long and quite  spectacular.

I am a little tentative with today’s route I have mapped, I tried to plagiarise a bike tour companies from Cadiz to Seville. So instead of the direct way on busy roads I’m going by what I guess maybe their route.

I half nailed it, they definitely wouldn’t be on a major road, we go on the side of the highway … all’s good for a few kms … we are amongst rivers and small tributaries with a sign no entry, we proceed and try to make sense of it all, can we get over the river? … this is clearly a fish farm, large fish can been seen in the pools and water filters from the river. 

‘John,we will have to go back to the railway line and go this other way on the quiet road.’  Back on track we are on a quiet country road headed in the right direction.  Sunflowers, wind farms, solar farms and market gardens are all part of the landscape on flat roads and a tailwind.  It’s hot I saw 35°C on my garmin, we have many water stops and only 3kms to go it’s 3.30pm.  We have some uphill while we walkour bikes. Now the oasis; the old town on the flat and looking very grand, at least in my eyes, I need a shower and food, a beer as well.   All the above completed and to add to it 500g of cherries.  The streets are a little deserted, shops closed apart from the small supermarkets and bars.  And why not they are sensible, they will open later when it cools down … this is siesta time … for us as well … 20 minutes power nap.  News is that we are coming to another heat wave in the next few days … up to 38C tomorrow and on the road will be much warmer. We have made an executive decision … although I was looking forward to the ride to Seville, we will bus there tomorrow – the heatwave is expected to hang around for a week, Seville is expected to reach 44°C on Sunday.

We had a lovely meal on such a balmy night at about 9.30pm … the town has come alive again. Walking back to the hotel, little kids are playing in a playground … it’s 10.55pm.

We realised that we missed the Torro de Plaza (Bullfighting Ring) yesterday … it was only 500m from the hotel. Never mind, however there is significant to this bullring, it the first of modern bullfights in Spain. 

We are on the milk run again this morning although on a different route.  The little villages are more frequent, oleanders are in full bloom, various shades of pink and white, growing wild along the road and bordering village streets.  The roads are narrower … we are off the main highway.  This is the place for the outdoor seeker, we see hikers on paths, road bikers and mountain bikers on tracks all out enjoying the clear morning as we weave up and down through the hills.

First fields of sunflowers today amongst olive groves, asparagus, grass being baled … it’s all happening in country Spain. I’m so excited …I just love sunflowers … fields and fields covering the hills … some out but most a beautiful dark green waiting to bloom.  ¹

A solar farm hill … someone’s cashed in their sunflower crops or olives for solar energy, thinking outside the box … lots of sun here. Over every hill brings another surprise, a village, a lake, crops all so beautiful … and we’re not sweating it out.

The country roads and landscape soon give way to the coast and more densely populated area.  We are in Cadiz, originally an island but now part of the mainland via narrow stretch of land and some bridges.

The old town is walled and we are staying right above a busy street full of restaurants.   The morning markets are just closing, however there are little stalls on the boundary of the market precinct that are serving a variety of tapas and drinks.  Each stall has a number I saw 115.  The place is humming with people eating and drinking under the patio umbrellas. This must be the place for lunch.

A very quaint town with little streets, lots of plazas, churches, there are two cruise ships at the port, lots of tourist shops.  A short walk to the beach it’s very busy, there is a castle in the sea a promenade leads to the castle it’s closed though but its a nice stroll to see the beaches.

Half way day … into our 6th week …

Very early start to get the 9am bus. We have nailed down wrapping the bikes now.  We are on the milk run stopping at lots of beachside towns picking up passengers 3hrs to do 100km.  From Malaga we are the only passengers so our bikes are quite comfortable … hoping it stays that way. It appears most passengers are daytrippers.

At one stop a man with an electric bikes was refused … he quickly locked his bike across the road and boarded, not sure if it was because the bike wasn’t wrapped or 2 bikes were the limit.  The bus driver appears grumpy.

To matters worse, we were 200m from the last pick up in Marbella and the driver side swiped a car on a roundabout.  The usual exchange of details and off again. 

The beachside towns are amazing, fully of apartments and hotels … today no wind and the glimpses of the sea is serene.  We leave the coast and head to the mountains for the last 50km.  We are thankful we are on the bus … a very steep climb.

Weaving around the mountains catching views of the coast, way below and little towns nestled between mountains. The mountains are a mixture of forest and rocky, then out of the blue we see pastures of different colours like patchwork. John noticed one cyclist. We contemplate if we were to consider riding here, John said we would have been crying.

Time to hit the town running, the hills haven’t gone away, the old town and new town are separated by stone bridges, we head for the smaller of the two which spans across a deep 120m gorge. Up river not far is the ‘new bridge’ also stone and very old despite it being coined as the ‘new’ bridge. The old town is spectacular as you wander the small cobbled streets but not before many steps and walking on the castle wall to get amazing views of the valley below and the gorge.

It’s quite hot, it’s the heat of the day, as we trudge up and down stone steps, there are many walking trails and lookouts offering different vantage points.

A great place to do trekking. We consider the route to cycle back to the coast … no way … we will bus it tomorrow then set ourselves up for a few days cycling.

John has finally worked out how the key card works on our door … time to move on .. 😉

Not bad for a Sunday … up for an early start to go to the castle (Castillo de Gibralfaro) and the Alcazaba. The streets were not too busy this morning as we walked through the Old Town for breakfast … not as much to choose from today, the markets are closed and things are looking a little quiet at 8.45am. We make our way to the start of our climb to the castle. A lot of museums and entries are free on Sunday … we soon learn that is from 2pm. The top is a good 20 minutes steep walk, we pay our money and adventure around the castle wall, still intact and the internal grounds. There is an audio available however we don’t have mobile coverage just wifi which isn’t provided on this site. Note to Self!! So while others are stopped listening to the audio … we just walk on as though we know it all. Now when the grandies build block castles we will show them to make room for the internal grounds.

It’s not all about the castle either, we are very high up and as expected the view is amazing 360° views of the port, beaches where we rode yesterday, the city and the mountains. The cathedral looks minuscule.

Back down the hill towards the Alcazaba, again audio tour if we had mobile coverage, however our complete history lesson in Granada paid off as we see similar shapes, columns, ceilings, water fountains as the Alhambra and we can relate. We can appreciate that the Alhambra in Granada is the best preserved in Spain and UNESCO listed.

The cathedral is chiming and it’s coming towards midday, the bars are busy it’s quite hot, however the malls are half shaded by the buildings and the marble paving is cool. A group of teens with beach towels slung over their shoulders carrying beach umbrellas off to the beach … it’s not far although the sea breeze is in … that doesn’t stop the Spaniards.

We watch the mens final of French Open. Nadal is too good for Ruud however such a nice guy … looking forward to seeing more of him in future tennis. We have just about exhausted our adventures of Malaga and off tomorrow on the bus.

A lovely meal at the Recycle Bike Cafe … it just hit the spot.

Food glorious food …

The day started with a trip to the markets for cherries, munching as we walked finding a place for breakfast.  It didn’t take long; few steps as we saw a cafe full of tables spreading up the alleys, waiters toing and froing serving, taking orders and delivering churros … yes for breakfast. This looks like the place to be so we found a table and watched the staff hard working to satisfy their clientele.

Meanwhile John has learned to order a ‘tostada’ … ham and cheese.  The coffee is the usual high standard for Spain.  Plates upon plates of churros are distributed to the tables. I order 4 churros and chocolate. One of those things like fish and chips that you only have a couple of times a year. They are delicious as is the chocolate sauce. The bill was 4 x churros 0.50€ chocolate sauce 2.50€ … bargain.

A clear day, we get the bikes and set off along the port to the beaches … where does the day go it’s approaching midday. The port has an array of shops and lots of restaurants , however on the seaside of the spit is the beaches are enjoyed by many, beach umbrellas and chairs are on the dark sand, people swimming, a breeze keeps us cool and doesn’t hinder the beach goers. A lot of foot traffic as we weave through the continual beaches on the path.

The smell of barbecues fills the air, we are approaching the beachside bars/restaurants called Chiringuitos, this is something we had to try. The man at the tourist advised to try some at a nearby fishing village about 3km from the centre. Sure enough we came to Pedregalejo, a small beach and lively with sunseekers and people enjoying a drink. Small barbecues are alight … it’s about 1.30pm .. we are early for the Spanish; their lunch is around 3pm, so first cab off the rank and we have ordered 2 x espetos de sardines (barbecued sardines on a skewer) I looked totally touristy as I took pics of the process. The sardines arrived and were delicious along with a salad and fried calamari.

The sea breeze is quite strong but it doesn’t stop the tanning process for those on the beach as more people come with chairs and towels.

What a lovely atmosphere as we ride back to the city centre. Much better by bike.

Its 6pm the sun is still high I do a double take on the time; we wander through the endless malls and shopping areas … the shops are still open and bars and cafes are full … it’s quite a few hours before it gets dark.

John’s breakfast request had the shop owner and his staff laughing … but why? We soon found out. A sweet sugar coated pastry toasted with ham. It’s about time he learned to ask for a tostada with jamon. Luckily my request is usually a plain croissant. I judge the cafe’s by the croissants … if they have sugar on top it’s a no go. So far croissants have been 99% 5/5.

It’s so good when you have a clean out of your maps, old tickets etc, then John said as we are about to leave … ‘okay got the tickets?’ Oops … in the bin … lucky me!!! as I retrieve the bus tickets for Malaga … whew that could have been ugly!!

We are getting good at wrapping the bikes ready for bus travel. A great bus trip to Malaga and feeling glad we weren’t climbing the mountains. The country was picturesque it would have been nice to tackle the ride but we do have to get to Portugal some time. The mountains were a mass of olive groves all in their neat rows spread for kilometres. Weaving through the valleys numerous crops, grain and asparagus. Such pretty countryside.

Into Malaga by midday and a short 1.5km ride to the hotel situated just near the old town. We are fresh and off exploring map in hand with a list of monuments to find. First up the food market … I love browsing through these … we are back on the coast so seafood is a big seller here. We buy a cone full of cherries 1.80€ delicious as we walk and munch, crisp and sweet. A little later a Caesar salad and fried calamari … I love the way they say ‘calamaris’. … and a beer.

The old town is easy to get around and appears to be ‘new’ in comparison to Granada, cleanly painted buildings amongst the old, little alleys with tables and chairs outside cafes and restaurants. We see the Roman Theatre at the foot of the Alcazaba fortress. The Roman theatre is the oldest monument in Malaga City, I thought it looked special … John was not Inspired!! The Alcazaba towers above … that’s a tomorrow morning job says John.

We meander through lovely gardens towards the port. That’s given us ideas for tomorrow … watching the French Open to see Zverev Vs Nadal in a terrible catastrophe for Zverev.

We had a lovely dinner in the old town … Ican see the chef was passionate about his food so was the wait staff. Grilled tuna with salad was the special tonight … yes please … the wine when down equally as good. On paying a shot of some Spanish liqueur sealed the deal. It’s lovely roaming back through the wide mall, the shiny paving reflective in the street lights and shop windows. Great for pics.