15 December ’05, Thursday.
Driving from the Seville area and heading south we travel through low rolling farm lands that have just been plowed, then into the mountain areas of South Spain that make poor “Bumble Bee” get down and dig, pass areas of sand dunes that are whipped about by the wind, white hill top villages that seem to hold on by sheer guts, herds of sheep, cattle, and the prized “fighting bulls”. As we got closer to the coast, we came upon millions of the huge windmills twirling to generate the electrical power that is demanded of them. You could even hear the “hum” in the distance. We are now paying about $4 US dollars a gallon for gas, and feeling it is a bargain. The food costs seem to bounce back and forth from being “reasonable” to pretty expensive. The camp site costs are pretty good, by averaging less than $18 Euro a night. If we eat a “Dinner” out (our lunch, but a heavier one), it will about $28 average…3 or 4 courses with wine, beer, or a coke. When we do eat out like that, we tend not to have any thing but “treats” for the rest of the night… That probably isn’t the best, but … The sun has been with us for quite some time now, with today being the exception…it rained pretty good earlier morning/afternoon as we were pulling into Marbella. Marbella is a coast town with the mountains right at the back side. When the rain comes, the torrents of rain rush down the hills and right into the Med and making the green/blue water look like it is “dirt brown” for a while. This campground is about 100 yards off the beach, and about 6 miles from Marbella to the west. This is the first campground that we have been in that is definitely a “winter” home for a lot of Europeans. I think the campground can hold about 400 campers, and right now it is about 95 percent full. Most of them seem to be from Germany and Great Britain. Tonight Louise and I went out for a walk around the site to see all the Christmas decorations that they have put out around their “pitch”. Some are pretty elaborate, while others have stayed pretty simple if any thing at all. Some of those that make this their 2nd home, have their camper/caravan, plus one to 3 out buildings as well. Most of the “out buildings” are tents like the bigger one that we use once in awhile, and others have built wooden structures...
The grocery store here on site is one of the best we have had, and the prices are very reasonable. The restaurant/bar is nice, but so far we have only seen a couple of people use it. Our plan is to stay a couple of days, head up to Gibraltar for a day, and then a few days in Ronda for Christmas
Driving from the Seville area and heading south we travel through low rolling farm lands that have just been plowed, then into the mountain areas of South Spain that make poor “Bumble Bee” get down and dig, pass areas of sand dunes that are whipped about by the wind, white hill top villages that seem to hold on by sheer guts, herds of sheep, cattle, and the prized “fighting bulls”. As we got closer to the coast, we came upon millions of the huge windmills twirling to generate the electrical power that is demanded of them. You could even hear the “hum” in the distance. We are now paying about $4 US dollars a gallon for gas, and feeling it is a bargain. The food costs seem to bounce back and forth from being “reasonable” to pretty expensive. The camp site costs are pretty good, by averaging less than $18 Euro a night. If we eat a “Dinner” out (our lunch, but a heavier one), it will about $28 average…3 or 4 courses with wine, beer, or a coke. When we do eat out like that, we tend not to have any thing but “treats” for the rest of the night… That probably isn’t the best, but … The sun has been with us for quite some time now, with today being the exception…it rained pretty good earlier morning/afternoon as we were pulling into Marbella. Marbella is a coast town with the mountains right at the back side. When the rain comes, the torrents of rain rush down the hills and right into the Med and making the green/blue water look like it is “dirt brown” for a while. This campground is about 100 yards off the beach, and about 6 miles from Marbella to the west. This is the first campground that we have been in that is definitely a “winter” home for a lot of Europeans. I think the campground can hold about 400 campers, and right now it is about 95 percent full. Most of them seem to be from Germany and Great Britain. Tonight Louise and I went out for a walk around the site to see all the Christmas decorations that they have put out around their “pitch”. Some are pretty elaborate, while others have stayed pretty simple if any thing at all. Some of those that make this their 2nd home, have their camper/caravan, plus one to 3 out buildings as well. Most of the “out buildings” are tents like the bigger one that we use once in awhile, and others have built wooden structures...
The grocery store here on site is one of the best we have had, and the prices are very reasonable. The restaurant/bar is nice, but so far we have only seen a couple of people use it. Our plan is to stay a couple of days, head up to Gibraltar for a day, and then a few days in Ronda for Christmas