Costa Brava 👏

Wednesday, 14.08.19 & Thursday 15.08.19

On Wednesday, we slept in and started the day with a relaxed breakfast. Since we originally planned to stay in the Alicante area for a few days but couldn't find a free campsite there, we drove around aimlessly and arrived in a very small town in the Cabo de Gata Nijar Natural Park in the early evening. We had ended up in the middle of nowhere and were a bit panicked when we saw a sign at the entrance gate of the small campsite with 25 spots, which indicated that the place was completely full. Fortunately, the German employee of the campsite recognized our desperation from afar and offered us an emergency pitch. And as fate would have it, a proper spot became available shortly after and we were able to settle in comfortably. By the way, this was the first time on our trip that we had another German couple at the campsite.

After we finished setting up everything, which consisted of raising the roof, putting up the window shades, and extending the awning, we went to the beach, which was about 200 meters away. We were surprised to see the crowds of people that we didn't expect in this remote location. Nevertheless, we made ourselves comfortable in the sand and enjoyed the last hours of sunshine. We headed back around 7:30 pm, but walked along the beach for a while to find the town center. Here, too, we were surprised as we suddenly found ourselves in a small but lovely town with several restaurants and nice shops.

When we got back to our pitch, we wanted to toast to the evening with a beer and noticed when we opened our cooler box that it was set to heat instead of cool 🙅🏽‍♂️🤦🏽‍♂️. Our cheese had melted, the sausages were curled, the butter was liquid, and our beer was warm 😏 As if that wasn't enough for one day, I (Lara) had a special experience while showering: since there were no more hooks available to hang up my towel, I placed it on a bench in front of the shower. A Spanish woman was next to me in the shower with her children, and I was already worried during the shower that someone might accidentally throw my towel on the floor of the public washroom (nightmare!!!). So I always had an eye on my towel. When I got out of the shower, the Spanish woman from the neighboring shower actually used my towel to dry her children 🤯 When I looked at her in confusion, she seemingly realized that she had mixed up blue and brown and handed me the soaking wet towel. Long story short: I didn't want to use the towel anymore and hurried back to the van naked and wet to get a new towel 🤦🏻‍♀️

After I had overcome the "shock" and we had cleaned up the mess in our cooler box, we drank our warm beer and got a pizza from the town to eat at the campsite.

Considering that it was just a campground, we were really comfortable and we were glad to eat "at home" today. To end the day, we had a glass of red wine and went to bed with anticipation for the next day. This time our destination was clear: the Costa Brava. We had picked out three campsites that all seemed to be very good and still had spaces available for several days. However, we still had 900 km ahead of us, so it was clear that the next day would be exhausting.

For our standards, we got up early on Thursday and got everything ready to go. Without breakfast, we set off via Alicante, Valencia, and Barcelona (please pronounce in Spanish when reading 😉) towards Girona. Surprisingly, the day in the car flew by and we arrived in the evening at the first campsite on our list. It was disappointing when we saw the area and we were surprised by the differences between the Google images and reviews and the reality. The campground was clean but not beautiful at all and didn't invite to stay. We turned around on our heels and had to catch our breath as we had hoped for more after the long journey. So we entered the next campsite on our list into the GPS and were somewhat surprised that we had to drive another 60 km. The route went through the mountains and was very curvy and narrow and felt like an eternity. We just wanted to arrive somewhere! We were not in the mood anymore and due to the time of day, we were also worried that the last available spots at the new campsite would be taken. So we decided to call quickly. The employee told us that they only had a spot left in the parking lot for that night but we could move to a "dog area" on Friday. When we heard the prices, we were also quite surprised. Despite our desperation, we still drove there to see for ourselves, as we had learned by now that the pictures online don't always match reality. When we arrived at the campsite, we were pleasantly surprised. The small town was very nice and the surroundings were great. Although it seemed to be a huge campground, we quickly became very impressed. Only the terms "parking lot" and "dog area" bothered us a bit. We parked the car and went to the reception. The employee with whom we had spoken on the phone checked again in the system to see what exactly she could offer us now. After a brief but delighted "oh", she told us that a super nice pitch had become available and we could rent it as planned for three nights. That's what you call fate 🥳 after such a day, we were just lucky! We didn't hesitate and booked it without seeing the pitch again.

When we later arrived at our pitch E48😍, we could hardly believe it. The pitch is perfect and despite its size, the campground is truly a dream. Because everything is well laid out, you don't even realize how many people are here and each "lane" is cozy and private. The washrooms were renovated last year and we immediately felt comfortable. So comfortable that we decided to extend our stay for another night and call this place home until Monday. In the evening, we explored the campground more closely and realized what is offered here. When we wanted to quickly shop for breakfast at the campground's "minimarket" shortly before 9 pm, we were actually disappointed that there wasn't a bottle of wine. Somewhat bewildered, we paid for our groceries and left the store, only to be surprised when we saw the campsite's own wine market right outside 💁🏻‍♀️ There really is everything here. You could endure and relax here, and we are overjoyed to have ended up here. It is certainly something special and not for every day on such a trip, but it is perfect for relaxing for 4 days.