Sandals n socks Archives - Sandals N Socks

Cadiz

Grant Williams — Mon, 03 Dec 2018 17:47:20 +0000

On the way to Cadiz I had a rest break at Praia do Barril, great little place, a vast nature reserve, fantastic beach and home to the ‘Anchor Graveyard’

Lunch and a walk and it was onward to Cadiz.

Cadiz is somewhere I think most people have heard of, I always remember it cropping up in old movies with pirates or adventurers, but I didn’t really know where it was, well not when I was younger. Parking was on the mainland side of the, rather impressive, bridge linking Cadiz with the rest of Spain, and believe it or not you can walk over the bridge: seemed silly not to.

The bridge is 3km long and the walk is along the service road, like having a two lane road all to yourself, I only saw 2 bikes.

Cadiz has a modern shopping area, a very large port and a fantastic old town. Apparently it’s the oldest inhabited city in europe and the place just drips history. The narrow winding streets open out into squares and public spaces, and little shops fronts and street vendors are everywhere.

The market hall.

In the middle of the old town is the public market building which was full of life. I was there on a Sunday, so not sure if it’s always so busy, I should imagine so, The market has wine merchants selling wine obviously, bars, cafes and deli counters, what seemed to be happening was one person went off and got wine or beer or perhaps coffee, another went along the deli counters getting olives, cheese or cured meats, they then got together at a table and that was lunch sorted, such a fantastic atmosphere.

The ‘seaward’ side of the city has a great promenade and beaches. A real must visit place.
The view from my parking spot

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Madrid

willis — Wed, 29 Nov 2017 10:08:59 +0000

Madrid

Because Dom wanted to catch an early coach to Benidorm we set off for Madrid from Segovia around 8am, apparently Dom didn’t realise there was an 8 in the morning as well! Not the fastest train but we were soon there, we just needed to find the coach station now! It turned out not to be a problem, the main route through the city would take us there, unfortunately it was on the other side of the city, oops!

We decided to walk and take in the sights on the way.

It probably wont surprise you to find out it’s a really busy city and not just around the attractions, there are cars and people everywhere, but surprisingly not in the parks and gardens, and there’s plenty of green space.

There are the obvious places to visit, museums etc, but there are little things to find all over the place; most roundabouts (and there are lots) seem to have a statue or fountain on, winding back streets lead to small squares full of people sitting outside the bars and cafes chatting and generally watching the world go by.

Some of the sculptures are a bit bewildering, but there seemed to something new at every turn.

I’m not sure if this poor lady had drunk too much wine or had forgotten where she’d parked!

Why? this has got to be one of the strangest ones I saw, and this is the polite angle!

Even the buildings have a style of their own.

Cat wanted to get in on the action

They’ve even got a football team, who knew?

There are loads more things to see and do, if I told you everything we got up to it’d get boring,!

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Portugal, Vila Nova De Cerveira

willis — Sun, 29 Oct 2017 14:45:25 +0000

Portugal, Vila Nova De Cerveira

A quick drive from Tui and we were over the border exploring Portugal and ended up in Vila Nova De Cerveira. It’s a really pretty little town right on the river Minho, which creates part of the border with Spain.

There’s a nice town square with a couple of bars and a medieval castle to explore.

You can’t quite see in the picture above that the wall was covered in giant spiders, luckily for Dom they weren’t real, but they did have an even bigger mother

The town lies at the foot of some hills, and on the ridge of one there’s a ‘statue’ of a stag, closer inspection needed! Around 5k, all uphill reaching 200m in the beautiful Portuguese sun and we were there, worth every step just for the view.

Not a long walk, but a knackering one, I’m sure it’s hotter on this side of the border! The views were mostly of Spain, just a stones throw across the river, well if you’re good at throwing stones that is.

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Tui

willis — Sun, 29 Oct 2017 10:54:39 +0000

Tui

Until I saw it on the map I never realised there was a place called Tui, I just thought it was a travel firm! It turns out to be a very old and important city at one of the crossing points into Portugal. The main city is the usual collection of modern and old buildings, a couple of squares and was full of life. The old town lies around the cathedral, which itself sits on a hill.

As with most of our adventures there was no plan to visit the cathedral, but we did anyway, and we were very glad we did.

It was consecrated in 1225 AD during the monarchy of King Alfonso, although building work actually started over a century earlier. It was surrounded by a protective wall, offering a safe haven should the city be under threat.

Once your up close you can’t really see the size of the cathedral as it’s surrounded by other buildings, but the main entrance is still quite impressive, and once inside you start to appreciate the beauty of, not only the interior decoration but also the actual building itself.

Ornately carved alters, a stunning pipe organ and artworks all add to the splendour, and luckily the admission ticket (4 euro) includes an audio tour so you can really appreciate what you’re seeing.

The next best thing in Tui was a great bakery we found, Panadaria Progreso https://www.facebook.com/PanaderiaCafeteriaOProgreso/ Cakes to die for and with each beer a slice of homemade pizza. You’ve got to love Spain, beer in a cake shop!

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Monte De Facho

willis — Sat, 28 Oct 2017 09:30:10 +0000

Monte De Facho

With no particular destination in mind we went exploring the coast road around the peninsula between the estuary’s of Ria De Pontevedra and Ria De Vigo. Dom was in charge of navigation and decided we’d visit a lighthouse, well t was something to do.

30 minutes of great, scenic roads later we arrived at a parking area, right on a headland overlooking the Illas Cies (Cies islands) what a view, the drive was worth it just for that. On a notice board in the car park there was something (in Spanish) about some archaeological site and it seemed silly not to investigate.

The walk wasn’t long but the path was really uneven, made up of large boulders, and was uphill! my favourite!!

It turned out to be a really cool dig site exploring an iron age village, although no excavations had been done for a few years it was still a work in progress.

Plenty to explore here, they’ve even recreated what one of the ‘houses’ would have looked like.

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Road Trip Sound Track

willis — Sun, 22 Oct 2017 15:09:10 +0000

Road Trip Sound Track

Well we’re a month in and have done well over 1,000 miles, but still loads to go. A part of being on a road trip like this is the lack of distractions like tv. We’ve watched all of Game Of Thrones, only because I hadn’t seen any of it and was feeling a bit left out, a few movies but not much else.

One of the best things is having the time to revisit all that music you’ve not heard for years, but still think is great. As I write this we’re listening to ‘Hotter Than July’ not played it since the late 80’s, it’s even better than I remember!!

Artists on our play list range from Dire Straits and the Eagles through absolutely everyone from the 80’s right to Hendrix and the Beatles, we’ve even got Christine and the Queens amongst other up to date stuff. Dom seems to be enjoying listening to artists he’s never even heard of, even if they’re not quite up his street.

So remember if you’re planning a long road trip take plenty of music, including stuff you don’t know.

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Santiago De Compostela

willis — Sun, 22 Oct 2017 14:03:00 +0000

Santiago De Compostela

Santiago De Compostela is the main destination for pilgrims walking the way of St. James (Camino De Santiago).

There are 2 main routes, one starting in Lisbon, Portugal and the other in the french town of St. Jean Pied De Port (620k and 800k) but to qualify for a certificate modern day pilgrims only need to walk the last couple of hundred k.

The pilgrimage to visit the relics of St. James in the cathedral of Santiago De Compostela is undertaken by 1,000’s of pilgrims each year and has been followed since early christian times.

Santiago De Compostela itself is a city of 2 halves, the old and the new. The old town is a warren of narrow streets weaving their way to the cathedral at the heart of the town, all lined with shops selling every conceivable item that it’s possible to print some reference to the pilgrimage on. The new town on the other hand has wide avenues, long pedestrian shopping streets and seemingly no mention of the pilgrimage that brings most people here.

After spending time in A Coruna we were a little disappointed with Santiago, it just seemed a little ‘flat’, perhaps because most pilgrims are in groups that stick together. Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of life in the city, loads of bars etc, but there wasn’t that ‘spanish’ feel we’re becoming used to, but do visit and decide for yourself.

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Cabo Fisterra

willis — Sun, 22 Oct 2017 13:18:07 +0000

Cabo Fisterra

Cabo Fisterra, or Finisterre if you’ve ever listened to the shipping forecast, is the one of most Westerly points in Spain, and was once considered as the end of the world by the Romans, today it’s the final point for many pilgrims walking the way of St. James.

Even Cat wanted to get in on the act, but it was a bit windy!

We didn’t stay long as the wind and rain were really closing in, but you can appreciate why the Romans thought it was the end of the world, especially on a day like we had.

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Caion

willis — Sun, 22 Oct 2017 13:06:52 +0000

Caion

After our time in the city of A Coruna we needed some quiet time so headed off for Caion. It’s a great aire, set amongst the pine trees and literally on the beach.

I found a nice spot on one of the rocks and was so chilled I ended up sitting there for hours watching the tide coming in. what a way to recharge your batteries!

Watching the tide come in

While watching the tide you notice all sorts of things:

Unfortunately on day 2 the weather changed and we had rain, and the forecast said it was going to be with us for a couple of days. So not being a fan of sitting on a rock in the rain we decided to find something more interesting to do.

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A Coruna

willis — Sun, 22 Oct 2017 12:46:08 +0000

A Coruna

We were parked up around 6k from A Coruna in a nice little fishing harbour, and having driven through the city on our way here thought it would be a good idea to walk in, luckily there was a path.

The city sits on a headland and has 2 ‘shores’; believe it or not a West and North shore! and at the tip of the headland the ‘Pillar of Hercules’, a large lighthouse open to the public.

It soon became obvious that this is a really busy place, and not just with tourists. The West shore has a great, sandy beach a couple of k long, popular with the locals for the usual beach stuff, and it’s only a few meters from the city.

Wandering through the streets is a treat, with old and new buildings, narrow streets and wide avenues and of course squares to sit and rest your feet in.

The main square, or ‘Plaza Mayor’ has bars and cafes on three sides and the official building on the other, but most of the space was cordoned off, we weren’t absolutely sure what for but this should have given us a clue.

A 2 minute walk from the square brings you to the North shore which is the main marina and port, and what a place, you really need to visit to get the true feel of the place. There’s a wide promenade lined with bars, cafes and restaurants, loads of general relaxing space, and the whole place just ‘buzzed’

The day we were visiting there was a cruise ship moored at one of the docks, about 100m from the prom, what a sight. I’ve seen cruise ships in cities before, but not literally in the middle of everything, it must have been great waking up on-board and realising where you were.

Just along from the cruise liner was the reason for the Plaza Mayor being cordoned off; a rally. It was marshalling day so cars were coming and going, some stopping for spectators to ogle at, but most just coming in for the checks and then going for a spin around the town, and that went on well into the night.

Some more wandering and we found our way to the lighthouse, originally built by the Romans, but it’s had some work done since then!

To appreciate A Coruna fully you need to visit, we were blessed with great weather, especially for October, but even on a dull day it’s well worth the time.

Just a few pictures of A Coruna

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