Sunny Spain – Part II

When we left off our previous post, we were still enjoying the beautiful city of Granada. The food, markets and architecture were amazing. Before leaving and continuing our trip through Spain, we saved the best part for last – the Alhambra!

Granada, the Alhambra

The Alhambra, a UNESCO Heritage Site, is a palace and fortress complex built by the Moors during the 14th century featuring stunning examples of Islamic art and architecture, including intricate geometric patterns, ornate tilework, and beautiful gardens. Without question it is one of the most popular places to visit, not just in Granada, but in all of Spain, which makes advanced ticket purchase a must at any time of the year.

We didn’t know this until just a few days before our visit, so when we found out and went online, there were only two time slots left, 8:30 am and 3:30 pm. Our friends Bob and Aleja had visited a couple of days before, and already warned us we needed several hours to do the place justice. So, reluctantly, we chose the early time slot. What a fantastic decision that turned out to be!

We arrived by taxi and when we got there, we were among the first to go into the complex. After the initial rush, everyone fanned out so it felt like we practically had the place to ourselves. By the time we circled back around to the entrance area around 11:30, the place was packed! So if you ever get the chance to visit the Alhambra, go early!

The photos below speak for themselves. I think you’ll agree it’s simply breathtaking…

Highlights of the Alhambra include the Nasrid Palace, the Court of the Lions, and the Generalife gardens, all of which are considered some of the most impressive examples of Islamic architecture in the world.
After spending about four hours touring the Alhambra, we made our way down to the city and followed the river through the beautiful and vibrant neighborhoods.

Doña Mencía & Zuheros

After a few days in Granada, we moved on to the little village of Doña Mencía. The only reason I even knew about this place was because a few years ago I had read a couple of posts about it from Jay and Julie on their Our Tour blog. I have no idea why this place in particular stuck in my mind, but when we had the chance to go there, I put it on the calendar. Steven wasn’t as excited about it as I was, so there was a little back and forth about how long we would stay.

My main reason for wanting to be there is because the municipal aire is right along the Via Verde, a network of more than 2,600 kilometers of former railway lines that have been converted into cycling and hiking trails. Given that the start date for the Camino Portuguese is fast approaching, I wanted the opportunity to get in some serious walking with my full backpack. As much as I enjoy walking around beautiful towns, it just isn’t the same as a good hiking and biking trail for training purposes.

The aire in Doña Mencía used to be free, but now it costs a whopping €3 per night. And, if needed, many sites also have electricity. We opted out on that and decided to rough it.

Bijou parked up right on the Via Verde. The trees are encircled with white rocks, which I think look like piles of snow.

Another thing I learned from reading Jay and Julie’s blog about this place was that there was good medical care in the town, not far from the aire. When staying here in 2019, Julie had a running accident that required medical attention, and they were quite impressed with the quality of care she received. I didn’t know it at the time I read their blog, of course, but we would also need to avail of that medical care too!

Not long after we arrived, we sat down to enjoy lunch when Steven started to experience pain in his chest. This wasn’t the first time this had happened, so he knew it was gas that had gotten trapped in his chest and not a heart attack. But this episode was incredibly painful and there wasn’t much he could do to relieve the discomfort. But because Steven is the most stubborn person I have ever met, there was no convincing him to seek medical attention until he had suffered for at least three hours. Finally, he gave in.

There is a bike shop right at the entrance of the aire and the guy working there closed up shop and drove us to the medical facility. When we got there, the place looked like Life After People, even though it is open 24 hours a day. We walked through the door and one nurse, one EMT and one doctor came to help. Only the nurse spoke a little bit of English, but Steven was able to describe what was going on. At the direction of the doctor, the EMT gave him some kind of injection. We have no idea what it was. Then they gave him three prescriptions, something to make him throw up, then something to drink to make sure he didn’t get dehydrated and a pain reliever. Then they sent us on our merry way.

We have never seen an emergency clinic so empty. The ambulance was parked outside, so I guess no one gets sick in this town except for the visitors! Here, Steven is trying to explain his symptoms.

We filled the prescriptions and walked back to Bijou. Steven took one dose of the first medication and promptly threw up. After that, he was back to normal and hasn’t experienced any more symptoms or pain.

The cost for this medical care was as follows:
Nurse, EMT, Doctor, Facility, Injection – €0
Three prescriptions: €10

The first time Steven experienced this was in Seattle, just a couple of months before we moved to Europe. We had just ordered dinner at a restaurant when he started to feel chest pains, and since this was a new experience, he thought he was having a heart attack. Off we went to the hospital. They gave him some kind of medicine cocktail that immediately relieved all the pressure and pain. All was well. Except, just to be on the safe side, they decided to run a few tests. $18,000 later, he was declared healthy!

Luckily for us this current episode happened the day we arrived in Doña Mencía. Once Steven was feeling better, we still had a couple of days to explore and that’s when we found Zuheros, a charming town with narrow streets, whitewashed houses, and a picturesque central square. Not only was this a great place to explore, it made for great training as getting into the town was a strenuous uphill walk.

Finally I was able to do some walking with my pack and sticks! It felt really great, like putting on a familiar uniform. 🙂
Walking on the Via Verde up the hill to Zuheros. It was only about 11 kilometers round trip, including walking all around town, but we went up a lot of stairs!
Zuheros is famous for its olive oil. It is situated on a hill overlooking the valley of the River Anzur, and it is surrounded by stunning natural landscapes, including the Sierras Subbéticas Natural Park.
Zuheros is also famous for its Moorish castle, which was built in the 9th century and later reconstructed in the 13th century. The castle is situated on a rocky hill and provides gorgeous panoramic views of the surrounding countryside.
The charming streets of Zuheros.
The streets are very narrow with homes close together. When there is room for a little garden, residents maximize the space with beautiful flowerpots. Many of the streets have deep blue pots filled with red flowers, as in the photo at the top of this post.

Sevilla

Zuheros was a great place for training, and I wish we had longer to stay, but I had been in cahoots with Chris Ratay to meet up with him and Erin (and their pup Mr. Cool, of course!) in Sevilla. Chris wanted to keep our gathering a surprise for Erin, so she had no idea we would be there! We left Doña Mencía and made our way to Sevilla to get ourselves set up and presentable and to give Bijou a thorough clean.

This is not the most beautiful place we’ve ever stayed, but you can’t beat the convenience! Everything we wanted to see was walkable from here!
Chris and Erin are traveling in their new VW T6.1 California Ocean. You can’t see it in this photo, but they are also pulling a motorcycle on a trailer behind the van. A couple of days after this visit, they headed to Morocco while we continued our journey into Portugal. At the end of this month, we will meet up again in Porto and begin our walk on the Camino Portuguese! Erin has this neat little scale thingy that we used to weigh our backpacks, and so far, we are both keeping it light! I don’t know what the final tally will be, we will have to wait and see what last minute things we toss into our packs.
Walking around Sevilla is a real treat, there is always something going on, including flamenco dancing. These folks are incredible to watch.
This entertainer was staying in the same place as us. In the mornings he would roll all these costumes on a trolley from his little motorhome into one of the squares in the city and then do his routine. The crowds loved him. In the photo on the left, his life-sized puppets are dancing, and on the right, he pops out from underneath!
We moseyed all over town and Mr. Cool got a little tired. He is one spoiled pup!
For lunch we decided to order multiple plates of tapas. This is the same restaurant we went to when we visited Sevilla in 2019, but the food wasn’t as good this time around. Actually, the food was fine there just wasn’t the huge selection as before.
The Plaza de Espana. This is where we come to watch the flamenco dancers, they perform at the top of the stairs under the arches. You can’t miss them because they draw the largest crowd.

El Rocio

After a wonderful stay in Seville and enjoyable visit with Chris and Erin, we had one more stop before saying goodbye to Spain and heading into Portugal, and that was the town of El Rocio.

El Rocío is a small town located in the Andalusian province of Huelva, in southern Spain. It is best known for its annual pilgrimage, which attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year, making it one of the largest and most important religious festivals in Spain.

As much as we appreciate a good pilgrimage, we were not interested in visiting when the place was overrun with people. When we arrived, it was mid-week and nearly empty. Perfect!

During the pilgrimage, people from all over Spain and beyond come to pay their respects to the Virgin of El Rocío, who is the patron saint of Almonte, a nearby town. The pilgrimage involves a procession of people on foot, horseback, or in decorated wagons, accompanied by traditional music and dance. The town of El Rocío itself has a unique character, featuring traditional Andalusian architecture and a vibrant atmosphere. In the shoulder season, as when we were there, much of this activity takes place on the weekends, and it is fairly quiet during the weekdays. That suited us just fine.

Just like in an old western movie, the streets of El Rocio are not paved, but covered in sand. In front of every building there is a place to tie up your horse.
These are Andalusian horses, also known as Pure Spanish Horses, they are known for their muscular build and elegant movement.
The Hermitage of Our Lady of El Rocio is where pilgrims gather each year. With all those people, I imagine the dust is flying everywhere!

And that’s a wrap on Spain! We had a really wonderful trip, the weather was great and we enjoyed every stop we made. Now, we say adios, Espana and hello, Portugal!


Up next: Birthday celebration in Lisbon!

Previous Post
Next Post

16 Comments

  1. A James

    Fabulous post & pics as usual- sure don’t disappoint ; can’ wait for the Portugal segment.Still in shock over the US medical bill but so glad Steven OK.All the best in Portugal & the trek.

    1. 2chouters

      Thank you for your kind words. And yeah, we are also still in shock over the medical bills in the U.S. The experiences could not have been different! And this is not the first time Steven was given free medical care in the ER in Europe! Is it any wonder why we are so happy over here?

    1. 2chouters

      Hey, Vern, so good to hear from you! For RV travelers in Europe, Spain is like our Arizona. Dry desert, lots of sunshine and warm temps, great food and lots to do and see! And also, very social! We have met up with more folks on this trip than we have in the past couple of years! 🙂

  2. Man, I kinda keep putting Spain on the back burner because it’s relatively close to us and I feel like our first European trips should be a bit farther afield, but this post is making me re-think that whole plan. The Alhambra is absolutely astonishing – and may even get me out of bed early in the morning – and Seville looks postcard perfect. So much beauty there!

    I’m glad things worked out with Steven’s medical situation. Even though it’s happened before, I’m sure it was still scary and painful. Thankfully you were in a good place when it happened and it was resolved quickly and with no vomit-inducing bills to pay afterwards. Yay socialized medicine!!

    1. 2chouters

      We are still choking up over those U.S. medical bills, and just when we thought it was all paid, another bill for $2k came in THREE YEARS after the fact!! Like, what is up with medical billing? In Europe, when we see a doctor, we literally hand them €25 and go on our merry way! It is incredible! I’m never going home. 🙂

    1. 2chouters

      There are some pretty tight regulations on what can be called an Andalusian horse, but I imagine they are all over the U.S. at this point. They sure are pretty! Hope you guys are doing well!

    1. 2chouters

      It was really spectacular, but mighty dusty! Steven is way better, thankfully, but I’m not going to let him wait so long and suffer if there is a next time. I suffered just watching him suffer!!

    1. 2chouters

      Isn’t it so painful? The first time it happened we thought sure it was a heart attack, thankfully not. I see you guys are back home now after a windy stay in Q! I think it has been windy and chilly everywhere this year!

Comments are closed.