High Noon in El Rocio - December 21

High Noon in El Rocio - December 21

We actually spend the last two days in Lagos. The weather is bad, but the big storm that is raging along the entire coast up to France passes by relatively harmlessly here. We spend most of the time in the bus and only briefly go outside with the dog. Fridays the same game, we actually wanted to continue, but the weather keeps us here. We laze around in the bus and visit the indoor pool in the afternoon, great, only two people inside... and then... 5 minutes after we swim through the pool, the Hurtigruten seems to have docked again... half of the campsite also wants to swim... great. We go back to the bus and wait for good weather. Saturday morning it is not really better, but we also don't feel like staying here anymore. We pack everything together and set off around 11 o'clock. Actually we wanted to make a stop at the Benagil cave, but it's not worth it, everything is gray and it's drizzling again and you can't see anything at the beach. Our Swiss friends are already in El Rocio, where they are also meeting friends. We are considering driving to Seville, or first making a stop in El Rocio and possibly celebrating Christmas there and then visiting the big city... we are quite undecided...! On the way to Andalusia we still make a stop at the Algarve Outlet and go for a stroll in the bad weather. It looks exactly like the outlet in Roermond, only the difference is that nothing is happening here, despite Saturday and Christmas time... very good! A quick coffee afterwards and we already pass the next border... Goodbye Portugal, it was really nice and absolutely worth a trip!

In the afternoon we reach El Rocio, a deserted western town. However, over a million people pilgrimage here at Pentecost, one of the most famous pilgrimage villages here. Currently it's dead here though. Before we check in on the square, we drive into town to do some shopping... and then we can hardly believe it, there are no real streets here, only sand paths with huge potholes...! And of course the supermarket is right in the middle...!!! We rumble through the streets and everything in the bus rattles, luckily the Sprinter is pretty high and jolts through the deepest craters...! Otherwise you can only see SUVs here and a lot of horses and carriages. A true western town, just right for us cowboys...! Here the teenagers don't zoom around on scooters, but instead sit on the horse cart playing with their smartphones...! A bit like in Phantasialand...!

Afterwards we drive to the campground and check in for two nights... we have to take a closer look here tomorrow. Here too there is sandy ground everywhere and it has also rained a lot in the last few days... mmmhhhh... the bus is happy from the inside! In addition, on the way here you could see well that the storm has caused more damage here, lots of fallen trees.

We eat something and then the day is already over...!

The weather the next morning is finally dry and we can have breakfast in the sun, it's still a bit chilly, but it's supposed to stay sunny and the temperatures will rise. Just behind the town the Coto de Doñana National Park begins and we walk there around noon. The sky is bright blue, the sun is shining, we wear a t-shirt and hike for 2.5 hours through a great national park.

We meet a few riders here and there and, hard to believe, the park ranger, who immediately points out to us that the dog has to be on a leash... great, somewhere in the middle of nowhere and the first warning!

In the meantime, we are considering whether we should celebrate Christmas here or go to Seville... we would like to celebrate with Switzerland, but we don't really want to stay a few more days here. After we get back, we eat first and arrange to meet Switzerland in the evening for a beer in the bar.

We do a little research on where to find accommodation in Seville, there are parking spaces and only one campground in Dos Hermanas, about 6 km outside. However, it seems that this one will be closed over the holidays, various websites don't really clarify that... mmmhhh... so we're not really any smarter!

In the evening we chat with Röbi and Silvia over a beer in the bar and tell them about our plans to spend Christmas in Seville. Then it's off to bed!

PS: We saw so many storks in the last few weeks, it's unimaginable... they're smart, frying in the sun here!