After a longer journey than we expected (this seems to be recurring problem) we eventually arrived at our campsite at about 3pm – it had been an easy journey as the roads were very quiet apart from the busy Seville ring road, just a long way and to be honest a bit boring. However we saw lots of storks nesting on lampposts and the Osborne bull signs soon reminded us we were back in Spain!
We settled in to our pitch and went to explore the local area – the weather was beautiful and we walked on the pathway alongside the beach to the marina. Lots of Spanish families were out too, picnicking under the trees, on the beach and in the beach bars, it was great to see them.
On Monday we decided to take the catamaran ferry to Cadiz which is just across the bay. What a fabulous way to travel and what a fantastic city when we got there! We picked up a map showing walks round the city, all very helpfully colour coded on the roads too. We chose the perimeter walk which basically follows the coastline all round the city, part of it on the ancient walls, and amazing views and gardens everywhere. We stopped for a coffee near the Castilo de Santa Catarina and met a lovely couple, John and Jackie, who had done similar trips to us when they were younger, but now fly and stay in cheap hotels as they still love exploring new places.
We carried on our walk, visiting the other castle, Castilo de San Sebastián, which can only be reached by the causeway, then walked in by the huge Cathedral to find somewhere for lunch. We came across a small cafe-bar in a back street and had a great lunch, we were the only non-Spanish in the place.
The next day we decided to cycle along the coastline towards Pueblo Sherry (yes it’s really a place Karen!) – we hadn’t cycled much in the Algarve as it was very hilly but there’s a great cycle path all round this area. We didn’t get too far before we stopped for breakfast at a cafe in Sherry overlooking the sea – beautiful views, great food and very quiet. Sherry is an odd place, developed using EU money, but in true Spanish fashion not finished. I think it must get much busier in the summer but for now we had all the benefit of a beautiful area almost to ourselves.
We’ve already mentioned in the last blog that the afternoon passed in a haze of alcohol and getting to know our neighbours, so the next morning we had to food shop and catch up on a few chores before our tapas lunch. As you will guess this is the area where sherry is produced so it’s good form to have an Oloroso with lunch.
Unfortunately I only had time for one as we’d decided to take the catamaran back to Cadiz to visit the cathedral and the Yacimiento Arqueologico Gadir, an amazing excavation below a theatre in the city centre. This is a free visit to an archaeological dig which shows buildings, streets, fish salting tanks and even human and animal bones dating back to Phoenician and Roman times. It was fascinating and very well presented.
Then back to the campsite by means of the catamaran just as the sun was setting, we’ve had a great time here and had the Easter holidays not been looming (Spain just about shuts down for the week before Easter) we would definitely have stayed longer. We’ll be back.
