Land of Dreams Spain!

Good morning from Cadiz!

After Sarah's sister Miriam left us last Thursday, we continued driving along the coast to the south from Malaga. Along the way, we stopped at a car wash station where there was a kind of elevated platform for climbing - especially for people with motorhomes, so that the roof can be properly cleaned. Sarah initially grumbled when I drove into one of the car wash bays without hesitation. She had been feeling a bit sick for a few days and now we are supposed to stand outside and wash the car? Shortly after, she stood eagerly on the elevated platform, aiming the foam nozzle at the metal walls of our camper van. Yes, Sarah has washed a car in a car wash for the first time in her life - and contrary to all stereotypes, she loves it. She enthusiastically announced that we have to do it once a month from now on.

We continued on in our shiny camper van and parked on a large sandy parking lot right on the coast, about 30 minutes before Gibraltar. Apart from us, there were several other campers here. Among them, we spotted a well-known vanlife YouTube couple who captures their entire journey in videos. Funny enough, they had uploaded a video from Norway in midsummer just a few hours earlier. It seems they are a bit behind with editing their videos 😊

Sarah was definitely sick now. 38.5 degrees fever, sore throat, and cough. She stayed in the camper van for two days while I enjoyed the sun outside. 20 degrees and we were parked next to a beautiful beach. I went swimming in the sea twice (yes, it was cold!) and spent the rest of the time mostly reading (Charlotte Link - the last trail - exciting!).

On the third day, we had English neighbors next to us who turned up the bass of their music system to full volume at 10:00 in the morning. We were already fed up with the sea anyway - and drove to a nearby nature park; Parque Natural Los Alcornocales. Specifically, we went to Castillo de Castellar. It is a castle near the town of Castellar de la Frontera. And the special thing about it is: the castle is inhabited. About 50 people live within its walls. Only few of them are Spanish, the majority are foreigners from Australia, England, Germany, France, the Netherlands, etc. And the castle has only been "reinhabited" for a short time; it was rediscovered by young people, especially artists, around 1960. Today, many people here make a living from tourism, especially during the summer months. Sarah and I got lost in Castillo and found a quaint little restaurant with a charming courtyard. When I was sitting on the toilet there, I was surprised to find that there was a shower too. We asked the bartender and agreed that we could have a hot shower the next morning for a small fee. The next morning, it turned out that this bartender was the daughter of former world number one tennis star Lewis Hoad. She showed us a few pictures of him - with the English Queen, with the former James Bond, and other stars.

On the second day, Sarah still had to recover from her flu. Meanwhile, I went for a hike down to the lake with Filou and was surprised at how beautiful and lonely it was there. Many of the residents we had talked to the day before had said that they had fallen in love with nature here. Now I understood what they meant. Unfortunately, thick dark clouds rolled in behind the hills only a few hours later, and Filou and I hurried back.

The next day, Sarah finally felt better. We left in the morning and reached Gibraltar just 40 minutes later. For those who don't know where or what Gibraltar is; Gibraltar is one of the southernmost points of Spain, but funny enough, it does not belong to Spain but to England. So, for a few hours, we left Spanish soil, passed through customs and strolled through the English town - in pouring rain. Apparently, even the weather in Gibraltar is English! The highlight of this day was our visit to the Kasbar restaurant. It is a vegan restaurant and the food was fantastic!

Actually, we had planned to continue to Tarifa in the evening - the surf and hippie hotspot of Spain. But the weather forecast predicted rain there for the next two days. According to the weather forecast, the weather a bit north of Tarifa, in Cadiz, seemed to be much better. So, in the darkness, we spontaneously drove towards Cadiz and found a spot on Park4Night a few kilometers away right on the beach, including a toilet building and showers. Only the next day did we realize what a dreamlike place we had landed in. We were no longer on the Mediterranean, but on the Atlantic coast. We had never seen such a beautiful beach before. Very wide, very long, and very empty. A paradise! And the sun was actually shining here, at 18 degrees! We have been here for 3 days now, enjoying the spring-like temperatures and the beautiful surroundings. Last night, we spontaneously invited the couple in the neighboring camper van - Lisa and Marcel from Germany - for a beer at our place. It ended up being a spontaneous dinner on our bed and a few rounds of Exploding Kittens and Cards Against Humanity. And the two of them motivated us to do something: surfing! We will soon book a beginner's course and if we like it, we'll get a surfboard! (we just have to find a spot in the camper van... hihi)

By the way, Spain is the country we like the most so far. The temperatures are dreamlike, the people are very friendly, the nature is beautiful, it's affordable, and there are endless great places where you can easily camp for free (at least during the off-season).

See you next week!

Author: Stephanie Köllinger