Marvao

One of those places you need to go before you die.





It has a medieval atmosphere with steep and narrow lanes and whitewashed houses, leading to a 13th century castle rising from the rock.




It was breath taking as we approached it and even more when we arrived. We booked into a little hotel at the very top which had the most impressive views







The view from our window.... Below.








Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Not Morrocco

Camping through Southern Spain and up through Portugal.


Our plans to visit Morocco went as far as this...... The view of North Africa from the southern most part of Spain....
Why?
Well....... Had a little car trouble, missed the boat and then we were told that the ticket was no longer valid! As it was the weekend could not get any more info and didn't until long into the week. By that time we decided to flag it and travel up the coast back into Portugal.

Which is what we did.

A few of the great spots we found.


Tarifa.... Just had a walk about.... About enough room to swing a cat.
Travelled up the coast and found....



Camping Torre de la Pena.

Camping on a hill in the pines over looking the ocean. Had a drink in a bar which was almost in the Atlantic.




On the way to Seville. Couldn't resist, they are everywhere.




Into Portugal and this is Alvora on the coast. A very small town that English appears to be the first language. It was absolutely packed with Brits. A beautiful place, we even looked at places to buy!?

Further north to Villa Nova de Milfontes.







The views left and right from the end of the road.

Found a great little camp near Sines. This was a beach near us. There were others that you had to climb down ladders to get to.
Ian was the only person in the ocean. It was fierce.



The temperatures were in the high 30's so we decided to have a break and headed for the hills......






Through Evora and on to through many kilometres of spectacular scenery and fortified towns with their castles perched high on hills to Marvao.

Gibraltar..... Little Britain

While waiting for parts for "Little Blue",our little car, we decided to visit Gibraltar. The camping ground was only a short taxi ride away from the border.

Gibraltar is tiny with an area of 6.8 square kilometres and of course borders with Andalusia, Spain. It has everything that comes with Britain .....red letters boxes, red telephone boxes, British Bobbies, H&M, Marks and Spencer's and of course the £ !


The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark, at it's foot is the densely populated city with more than 30,000 living there.
As you cross the border you walk across the runway of the air base.




Here's Ian directing traffic! Yes that day there were Euro fighters doing exercises and the traffic was held up as they took off in front of us!




The trip would not have been complete without visiting the famous apes. We didn't have to go far as they were waiting at the top as we left the cable car!




View from the top, it was sooo hot you couldn't touch the rail! Almost 40!



Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

What better way to spend the day!

Spent many a happy hour here at our local in Sant Pere de Ribes near Sitges in northern Catalonia.

Great owner... Here's to you Miguel. Learnt to love chilled red wine






Who is that man.... You may ask?






Just some guy hanging around.......

There was a huge celebration/fiesta the next night. Fireworks you wouldn't believe.
On our way south now. Gibraltar .... Morocco.



Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Monserrat ..... Spectacular

After leaving our Helpx we did a bit of the tourist stuff.


Caught the funicular up the mountain.....




The view from the top....




This is the monastery .... And below the church with the famous black Madonna.








It is one of the black Madonnas of Europe, its Catalan name, la Moreneta means "The little dark-skinned one". It is believed to have have been carved in Jerusalem in the early days of the church dated sometime in the late 12th century.

Legend has it that the Benedictine monks could not move the statue to construct their monastery, choosing to build around it. There is an altar of gold surrounding it.




A very impressive piece of contemporary sculpture also in the church. Life size made out of bronze.


Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Spain -in the hills near Suria

Spent a great 2 weeks here getting to grips with the huge garden Pat and Val, our helpx hosts had.
Check out the wild life we came across.



A harmless snake just basking in the sun..... All the same made me jumpy for the rest of the day. Every little thing that touched me unexpectedly made me leap!




- this little fellow was on our basin, two floors up. He then jumped off onto the floor and hopped to the window and sprang outside onto the vine. He certainly knew how to come in and out safely.





Some of the many butterflies in the garden. A bit of a distraction from all the weeds.







A lesser known garden inhabitant " strimmer Kiwanis " easily identified by the grey outer coating and the orange head!


Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Arras

House sitting job over and we have a week until we are expected in Spain for a helpx job.
So..... East we go. More or less following the front line from WW1 across France.

First stop Arras.
The Battle of Arras was a British offensive during the First World War. From 9 April to 16 May 1917, British, Canadian, New Zealand, Newfoundland, and Australian troops attacked German defences near the French city of Arras on the Western Front.




The memorial dedicated to the NZ tunnelers.



The Arras region is chalky and was easily excavated; under Arras itself is a vast network of caverns and underground quarries. They devised a plan to add new tunnels to this network so that troops could arrive at the battlefield in secrecy and in safety. The scale of this undertaking was enormous: in one sector alone four Tunnel Companies (of 500 men each) worked around the clock in 18-hour shifts for two months. Eventually, they constructed 20 kilometres of tunnels, graded as subways (foot traffic only); tramways (with rails for hand-drawn trolleys, for taking ammunition to the line and bringing casualties back from it); and railways (a light railway system).

The bulk of the work was done by New Zealanders. We visited the Carriere Museum and went down into one of the tunnels that is open to the public. Some are named after towns and cities from New Zealand. The one that was part of the tour was the Wellington Tunnel.







Just before the assault the tunnel system had grown big enough to conceal 24,000 men, with electric lighting provided by its own small powerhouse, as well as kitchens, latrines, and a medical centre with a fully equipped operating theatre.





Thousands of soldiers were billeted in the tunnels for eight days prior to the start of the Arras offensive on 9 April 1917. At 05:30 that morning, exits were dynamited to enable the troops to storm the German trenches. The Germans were taken by surprise and were pushed back 11 km. This counted as an extraordinary success by the standards of the time. However, the offensive soon bogged down and it was eventually called off after casualties reached 4,000 a day.

As you could imagine it was a very sobering place. The guides that were there the day we toured we're very interested that we came from New Zealand as they had just had several dignitaries from NZ there for the wreath laying ceremony commemorating the end of World War 1.





During World War II, the tunnels were re-opened to serve as air raid shelters. They were sealed again in 1945 and were largely forgotten until their rediscovery in 1990.