Spain - Barcelona.

After a night surrounded by Olive trees we're waking up, making breakfast, folding up the bedding before heading further East.

On the road again heading towards Barcelona.

Barcelona Maritime Museum.

Christopher Columbus Memorial above in 1969, today from Google Maps.

Cathedral La seu, Barcelona... undergoing restoration now.

Barcelona train above in 1969 and below today a Barcelona-Madrid train.

Spain - Alicante - Valencia.

 Why am I sitting in the cabin like this -  backwards?

 Beautiful Alicante, early in the morning just after the one mile long mosaic pavement had been hosed down.

 I'd forgotten it was this colourful... that's the problem with black and white photos isn't it.  From Google Maps today.

Trams in Alicante.

 A Religious procession right near the Valencia Cathedral.

 From Google Maps above the same spot as those black and white photos of ours and below showing just how beautiful the Valencia Cathedral is.

Spain - La Garrofa.

The next night we found a beaut camping site at La Garrofa which is still there and is the beach where we enjoyed our first swim in the Mediterranean.

We met our first South African couple camping here at La Garrofa and we heard our first South African accent.  We'd met many young people in the Youth Hostels we'd stayed in but never a South African and we didn't meet any more, many Aussies, many Americans but not many from other countries. That first meeting sticks in my mind for some reason.

Also we learnt how to impress obnoxious Americans at this camping site, we only wanted to impress/annoy  the obnoxious ones not the majority who were just delightful.  David had an Uncle who lived in Carmel, California and we were planning to visit him sometime, all we knew of California was a little of L.A. and San Francisco,  we knew nothing of Carmel but we discovered if we dropped the 'Carmel' word those obnoxious ones eyes shot up and they were impressed... very impressed, impressed enough to shut up and to stop boasting about how much better everything was in the US :-)  So we were now armed with a powerful weapon  LOL  and dear reader I have to tell you... we used it whenever necessary.  (Of course it was almost two years before we found ourselves in Carmel to find out what all the fuss was about... if you haven't been there, it is indeed a beautiful classy and expensive part of California.)

 

Checking oil and water before leaving La Garrofa.
Below from Google Maps... it looks just the same as I remember except for the motorway maybe, actually there isn't much room for expansion here, not like most of the other towns near the sea.

Spain - Santiponce - Antequera - Motril.

Italica Ampitheatre near Santiponce.  See below just how enormous this Ampitheatre is, Wiki tells me it was built in 1AD and seated 25,000 people which it appears isn't large for an Ampitheatre.

Somewhere around Santiponce we had more trouble with 'Tabitha',  a blockage in the fuel line which was probably stirred up with the repairs of the fuel tank in Castro Verde.

David's notes say:-  'Breakdown fr. airlock in line, Fr. gent & birds to rescue.'

My translation is:-  'Tabitha' broke down because of an airlock in the fuel line, thankfully a French gentleman with a couple of ladies on board stopped and helped us.'  :-)

Antequera on route to Malaga.   Just look at my plaits!!  What am I?  a 16 year old?  I do remember my long hair was causing problems as bathing was at it's minimal because we spent most nights camped beside the road... plaits it was.

 

Malaga was a bit of a surprise, it was the first time we were truly on the Mediterranean Sea, it was warming up and we were really looking forward to a swim but Malaga had been discovered by the English Tourist and we found it hard to find real Spanish food because so many Cafe's advertised Fish and Chips, Fried Eggs and Chips and so on.  Very funny really but not our type of town so we continued along coast heading East.

One night we settled down for the night well off the coast road in the middle of nowhere.  There was hardly any traffic and no houses around.  The weather was warmer so we kept our windows open but closed the curtains and we were soon asleep.  Around 2am we were both woken by the sound of motor bikes surrounding us, they stopped, David and I froze I didn't know if he was awake, he didn't know if I was awake.  Male voices were heard then a curtain was lifted and torches shone in, we stayed frozen, then a torch was shone in the cabin.  David sat up and said 'Hoy!'  

The men turned out to belong to the Spanish Guardia. David, who is good at languages kept saying... Mañana Valencia :-)  he did say a little more as well,  they soon got the message and left us alone. 

After this incident we decided to seek the Guardia out and ask where a good place to settle for the night would be. 

The next night we were near Motril and found two young lads who took us to this exposed pebble beach which wasn't ideal but we were happy enough. But then... we couldn't get rid of them.  We started setting up our beds and sleeping bags and they were amazed having never seen a sleeping bag before.  They stayed and stayed... eventually David gave them a packet of cigarettes each and said the words he'd learnt got rid of Guardia and that was...  Mañana - what ever the next town was and they reluctantly left us alone.

Below from Google Maps is similar to where we were camped for the night.

 I also found a photo of their funny shiny hats... :-)

Spain - Sevilla

View over Sevilla from the top of the Cathedral.

Sevilla Cathedral from Google

Orange trees in the centre of the Cathedral,  I couldn't believe how the streets and squares of Sevilla were lined with fruiting Orange Trees, I also couldn't believe why nobody was picking them and eating them so I very sneakily picked an Orange and tried to eat it... I then understood why nobody picked the Oranges... Oh so bitter!  Probably great for Marmalade.

From Google Maps

What a beautiful Cathedral.

Our photo above taken in 1969 and todays photo from Google Maps.

Spain - Avila.

 Avila is another of these wonderful walled towns in Spain, we've never seen anything like these in Australia of course but here they are every few kilometres apart.

Below from the same spot as above taken today from Google Maps.

Not a good photo but these Big Bull Billboards :-)  were a common sight along the county roads of Spain, I did a little Google and found out more about them.
 From Wiki.
The Osborne sherry company (founded by Thomas Osborne Mann in 1772) erected large images of bulls starting in 1956 to advertise their Brandy de Jerez. They were in black (with the brand "Veterano" in red on it) advertising hoardings located on sites near to major roads throughout Spain. The original image was smaller and in a slightly different design. It got bigger as a law barred publicity within 150 meters of a road.
Later on a new law was passed in 1994, this time prohibiting such advertising, and so the hoardings were to be removed. By this time the signs were nationally renowned, so although some campaigners wished them completely removed to fully comply with the intent of the law, public response resulted in the signs being retained, but completely blacked out to remove all reference to the original advertisers. The Court eventually allowed these signs to remain on the grounds that it has become a part of the landscape where it is present and its "aesthetic or cultural significance" thus turning it into a figure of public domain.

And below from Google Maps.

Spain - Segovia.

David collecting fresh drinking water from one of the pumps.

What a wonderful place Segovia is, standing high in the Sierra with castles, narrow lanes and churches all surrounded by stone walls and fed water by the beautiful Roman Aquaduct.

The Alcazar in 1969 and below - today via Google Maps.

Old Gate of Toledo in 1969 and below - today via Google Maps.

The beautiful Roman Aquaduct in 1969 taken from the west and below - today via Google Maps.

Above a scan from our Segovia Guide Leaflet of 1969 taken from the East and below - today via Google Maps.

Spain - Madrid

 Statue of Filipe 1V, Madrid Plaza de Oriente.

 Ventas Underground Railway, Ventas, Calle de Alcalá.

A Madrid London Taxi - note the drive is left hand.

 A change of scene but not far from all the hub bub of Madrid.

Spain - San Sebastian on the Bay of Biscay - January 1969

Just over the Spanish Border in Irun.

San Sebastian.  We'd been staying in Youth Hostels each night as it was a bit cold for camping.  The Youth Hostel in San Sebastian had big Dormitories, boys downstairs and girls upstairs.  There were no other girls booked in that night and as I was settling in a man walked in talking to me, I couldn't understand him and thought he worked there but he tried to grab me in a not very comfortable way so I escaped and leaving all my goods and chattels ran downstairs to try and find David which was difficult as a basketball team were checking in and it was bedlam in the boys Dormitory.  Anyway David and I made a big fuss and he told the management he would be sleeping with me... which he did although I didn't really have a good night.  Scarey Stuff!  The man didn't come back though and all my goods and chattels were safe.

Below from Google Maps the same spot as above,  no more angle parking, now its a bike path which is much better. 

Last night on Anthony Bordain's show he walked right along this path!  How magical is that :-)