Road trip Iberian Peninsula - Summer 2022

Friday, 07/15
Start at home a little after five in the morning. Long day of driving via Luxembourg 🇱🇺 to France 🇫🇷. Overnight on the pitch in Saint-Prim, south of Lyon.

Free, small parking space of the municipality of Saint-Prim. Water, sewage, toilet disposal available. Arrival, since there are no toll roads, around 7 p.m.

Saturday 16.07.
Continue to Blanes on the Costa Brava.

The planned travel time was significantly extended by traffic jams, so that we only arrived at around half past four and a family member with migraines at the El Pinar campsite. We liked the place under the pine trees.

We cycled to the main beach of the city on the Costa Brava and went swimming.

On the way back we unfortunately found a flat tire. So it was time to change hoses before a late dinner at the El Pinar campsite settled us down for the day. 🥘

Sunday, July 17th:

Today the Womo stops for the first day. We cycled to the train station in Blanes and from there took the 9:25 train to Barcelona, where we arrived about an hour and a quarter later.

We walked (at about 34 degrees) through the city, past the Arc de Triomf and with a detour to the Parc de la ciutadella, before redeeming our pre-booked tickets for the Sagrada Familia at 12:30 p.m. and the beautiful church (for the second times) visited. Then we went to the old town and the harbor for tapas. Unfortunately, the lady of the house developed circulatory problems due to the heat, which unfortunately accelerated the way home and made it a bit difficult.

Monday, 07/18/2022

We have divided today's route into two parts. With the Slagharen annual pass you can enter the Aquapark Aquopolis Costa Dourada for free. The pubescent loves slides and water fun and the adults look forward to a bit of rest and cooling off.

Then in the afternoon we continue to the Nomadic Valencia Camping Car pitch in an industrial area north of Valencia.

Tuesday, July 19, 2022: Another long day of driving is ahead of us before we take it easy.

We skip the planned visit to the Alhambra when the outside temperature is up to 39 degrees. Instead, at half past eleven we make our way to Marbella, where we finally arrive around 7:30 p.m. The plastic greenhouse deserts on the way are really frightening. You might think about buying locally more often.

The Bugainville campsite still has a place for us upon request by email. We check in, put the camper on the somewhat uneven pitch and make our way to the beach, for a quick swim and then a delicious dinner at the "Captain Cook".

Wednesday, 07/20/2022:
On our way to Gibraltar today we call Firmm Whale Watching to book a tour for Thursday. Because of the strong wind to be expected, none would take place, only today at 3 p.m. So after a short discussion there is a small change of plan: Today Tarifa, tomorrow Gibraltar.

Just in time for the introduction, we arrive at the Firmm office around 2:00 p.m. and receive an introduction in German. Then we go on the water for about two hours and we can observe many dolphins and pilot whales with a view of Morocco. A great experience and an institution worth supporting.

Dinner in the old town and a visit to the southernmost point of mainland Europe, where the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic meet, and a visit to the beach round off a great day.

Overnight caravan parking space Tarifa 8 €

Thursday, 07/21/2022. Drive to Gibraltar. Parking in front of the airport and border crossing on foot. It is interesting to walk over the runway.

Gibraltar itself doesn't blow our minds. We walk to the cable car, which is still okay. For about 150€ we then buy cable car tickets and tickets for the nature reserve to see the monkeys. A visit to the toilet of the cable car station does not necessarily inspire confidence. A door frame has broken out, the cistern handle is broken, the soap dispenser falls off the wall towards the woman in front of me. We survive the cable car ride anyway, but feel that a lot of what we still see has come down. The monkeys don't help either. Arrived back down we eat still almost unseasoned British food in a bar: At least authentic. 😉 The parking lot also costs 25€. Goodbye Gibraltar. One visit is enough...

We continue to Jerez de la Frontera, with a blazing heat of 39 degrees. The Morada del Sur parking space is the parking lot of a WoMo dealer, who greets us directly with a sherry. The downside is little shade. In the evening we make our way to the city center (by bus), which is very busy and offers many restaurants. We find an outside table in the brewery 'La Frontera de Jerez' and for a total of incredible €26 we eat three tapas (6 chicken thighs, three ham croquettes and six salmon), drink two sherries, a coke and four beers. 😂😳 At half past ten another concert starts on the square. We have to go here again sometime!

Overnight €15/ La Morada del Sur

Friday July 22nd
After we bought sherry at Lustau and also tried it at Tio Pepe, but couldn't find a parking space suitable for a motorhome, we drove on to Portugal.

At the border we were briefly stopped to register the electronic toll before continuing our journey.

Portugal was immediately greener than Spain and made us excited for the coming days. When we arrived in Lagos, we first shopped in the large Intermarche, which offered a great selection, and then drove to our campsite Turiscampo, which will be our permanent base until next Thursday.

The pool (unfortunately only open until 7 p.m.) was tested directly at 39 degrees, at least after
a load of laundry ended up in the machine.

Friday 22.07.
After we bought sherry at Lustau and also tried at Tio Pepe, but couldn't find a parking space suitable for motorhomes, we drove on to Portugal.

At the border we were briefly stopped to register the electronic toll before we continued our journey.

Portugal was directly greener than Spain and made us excited for the coming days. Arriving in Lagos, we first shopped in the large Intermarche, which offered a great selection, and then drove to our Turiscampo campsite, which will be our permanent base until next Thursday.

At 39 degrees, the pool (unfortunately only open until 7 p.m.) was tested directly, at least after
a load of laundry ended up in the machine:

Saturday 23.07.

Today we sleep in, do laundry, do some cleaning and use the pool area.

Towards the evening we still feel a little thirst for discovery and we start by bike to the beach in Luz (it was pretty hot 🥵). We go briefly into the sea and stroll through the place, which we like because of its small size and - despite tourism - preserved originality.

Sunday 24.07.

We sleep in, have breakfast in peace and then take the bus to Lagos at a little after one. It's 40 degrees again (hopefully it will be a bit cooler soon, the weather forecast gives hope) and we walk through the sun-warmed streets of the city. It smells like brackish water everywhere, it's hot, crowded, loud. Maybe that's why we don't 'warm' with this city. We flee to a beautiful, but hopelessly overcrowded, rocky beach where, to make matters worse, we sit next to a horde of drunk tourists. We are almost happy when the bus drives back shortly after 5 p.m.

We end the evening with Portuguese folklore on the Turiscampo.

Monday 25.07.

Around noon we cycle to the beach in Luz and spend a day at the beach there. It's a bit more bearable than yesterday, but still very hot.

The sea is fresh and serves to cool off, as does a drink round in a bar and a sofa ride. We have a delicious dinner at 'Endless Summer' before we battle our way back up the mountain to Turiscampo by bike.

Tuesday, 07/26

Today we take the bus to 'the end of the world', or at least what people used to think it was. The Cabo de Sao Vincente, on the extreme southwestern tip of the European mainland, is stormy and boasts great views from the steep coast down to the Atlantic.

Since the temperatures are a bit more pleasant (and the bus runs quite irregularly), we walk to Sagres via the Fishermen's Trail. The approximately 7.5 kilometers offer beautiful views.

In Sagres we have a snack on the beach and then take the bus back to the campsite.

Wednesday, 07/27

Today we 'chill the base' before we continue tomorrow. We play something, go to the pool and have a nice meal in the restaurant.

Thursday, 07/28

After shopping in the Intermarche, the trip goes to the dream city of surfers.

For lack of other alternatives, we stay overnight at Orbitur campsite, which doesn't really belong in the 'beautiful' category, even though it does have a pool.

We walk into the city, which doesn't really appeal to us. But we like the beach with its waves. It's (finally) gotten a little fresh.

Friday, 07/29/2022

Before we continue, let's take a look at the headland with the lighthouse this morning, where the infamous monster waves break in winter. The interesting, small exhibition shows the boards of the wave conquerors and how the waves are formed. We also pay a visit to the pilgrimage church of Nazaré.

That was probably nothing! Somehow Portugal seems a bit womounfriendly to us. We actually want to visit Porto. But there are only a few parking spaces and if there are, then nothing is available spontaneously. Postage is full. So we continue to Spain.

We land a little north of Santiago on the Lavacolla pitch.

Sat 07/30/2022

Our pitch is almost directly on the Camino and so we decided to walk the last six or seven kilometers to the tomb of the apostle James in the cathedral.

It is something special to see the many pilgrims and to look forward to your arrival with them on the main square of the cathedral. Many only ran the last 114 kilometers, but many also ran the entire 800km of the Camino Frances or even further.

Sun. 07/31/2022

In the morning we meet, quite spontaneously, with one of our friends' former exchange students for breakfast.

We then head north because we have a registration (required in summer) for Praia das catedrais, the cathedral beach. Since its impressive rock arches and formations are only accessible at low tide, we have to be there around 1 p.m., which we manage to do. We walk along the impressive beach and we also like the surroundings. The north, much greener than the south and east of Spain, is more scenic for us.

After a lunchtime snack in a nearby café, we drive a little further east because we want to be in France by Monday.

Overnight on a pitch near the beach.

Monday, 08/01/2022

The teenager wanted another night at a campsite with a great pool, so we stay one night at the Yelloh Sylvamar on the French Atlantic coast.

Tuesday 08/02/2022

It draws us home. We begin our return journey to Germany and spend one more night on the Loire on French soil.

Wednesday, 08/03/2022

The sat nav is set to 'home' and we get by pretty well. In the evening we reach Hamm again after almost 6500 km. Conclusion of our trip: We saw a lot of beautiful things and have become all the bigger fans of Europe. It's great that we can travel without restrictions on our continent and the similarities between the individual countries and people are greater than the differences. We're thankful! Because we wanted to see a lot and our travel time is limited, rest and relaxation were a bit too short due to the long travel times. In the coming year we will therefore drive a shorter total distance.