Valencia/Murcia/Alicante/Granada/Malaga

Hello Followers!

Since last Monday, Sarah and I have been traveling together again through the history of the world. Or rather through Spain's rainy cold. Brrrrrhh. But let's rewind to the last blog.

After her vacation in Switzerland, Sarah spent five days exploring Alicante and Valencia on her own. During this time, I worked as a Workaway on a Spanish finca near Tortossa. The initial 27 degrees transformed into cool 10-15 degrees with very strong winds within a few days. The work itself was okay, although I personally felt that the working hours were at the upper limit. Five hours of work per day without a break, from 09:00 to 14:00, then you still have to cook lunch and dinner and do the dishes. In return, you get free food and "free" accommodation, but you have to consider that I slept in the van. If you take a closer look, I actually worked 5 hours a day for cornflakes in the morning, bread and cheese at lunchtime, and a vegetarian dinner in the evening. The experience would have been good overall, but unfortunately, there were some incidents in the second week that put the whole experience in a mixed light. I don't want to go into detail at this point, but to put it bluntly: some other Workaway volunteers, including Joey from England and I, no longer felt comfortable with our host. So Joey and I continued on after a total of 2 weeks on the finca - originally we had wanted to stay there for another week. Another Workaway couple also left shortly after us - I don't want to say more about the whole thing.

So Joey and I continued our journey last Wednesday and spent the night at a free parking space in Tortossa. Tortossa is a beautiful little town, maybe a little smaller than Luzern, in Spanish Catalonia. After two weeks on the lonely finca, we were happy to be around people again and spent the evening with tapas and beer in a bar.

The next day we continued to Peniscola. Yeah, cool name for a town, right? 😉 Peniscola is a city directly by the sea that has completely succumbed to tourism. Countless hotels line the coast, one souvenir shop after another. The highlight is the old town, which is located on an imposing rock and whose architecture reminds me more of Greece than Spain. Peniscola doesn't even have 8,000 inhabitants, but during the high season, up to 150,000 tourists live here. Luckily it was the low season and there were hardly any people, so we practically had the tourist town to ourselves. We parked 2 kilometers outside the town on a cliff right by the sea. A super beautiful place, but unfortunately, it couldn't hide the fact that it was only 5 degrees warm (or cold?). Yes damn it, even in Spain, you can freeze your ass off. Luckily, Joey is quite resistant to the cold, as she has been steering a tourist expedition boat for years. She sat outside in the cold for 30 minutes in the evening and cooked our dinner, and in the morning, she jumped into the sea for a few laps. Meanwhile, I snuggled into my sleeping bag in the van and turned the heating up full blast.

After two nights in Peniscola, we continued to Castellon de la Plana and parked in a huge shopping area. Joey and I needed a shower again. We found a super modern fitness center with a sauna and hammam nearby. And the best part: we could go in for free! Because the first day is considered a free "trial day". So we packed our gym clothes, worked out for over an hour, and then enjoyed the sauna, hammam, and a hot shower. In the evening, we continued to El Crao de Castallon and parked in a free parking lot near the beach and went to the small town for beer and tapas.

The next day was the big day: we met Sarah in Valencia! We changed our plans at short notice, and instead of meeting again in Malaga on Thursday, we met in Valencia tomorrow, Monday. The joy of reunion was huge! And she and Joey hit it off right away. Luckily, because our plan was to travel together for the next four days to Malaga. There, we would meet Sarah's sister and Joey's boyfriend, who would come to visit them for a few days.

We drove from Valencia to Murcia and parked in front of a hostel outside the city. Since the three of us couldn't sleep in the van, Joey slept in the hostel and Sarah and I in the van. - but only after plenty of tapas 😊

The next day we continued to Granada. We had rented an AirBnB for three nights. Unfortunately, the weather was not kind to us at all, and it rained every day. At least we were in an apartment! Honestly, we are a little apprehensive about the coming weeks and months. Traveling and freedom - all well and good, but living in a tiny space with temperatures close to freezing, where you also cook, change clothes, work, hang wet clothes, and go to the bathroom? Well... luckily we have saved a bit and can occasionally afford the luxury of a simple AirBnB. And the thing with Workaway is nice too - next time, however, we will definitely look for something where we don't have to sleep in the van but have a dry room with heating.

Arriving in Malaga, we dropped off Joey at the airport, where her boyfriend was already waiting for her. Sarah and I continued to Malaga City to pick up the keys for the AirBnB, where we would spend the next 7 days together with Sarah's sister. And it's a beautiful AirBnB! Looks like something out of an Ikea catalog.

It's already Tuesday now, and in two days, Miriam will be flying back to Switzerland. So far, we have spent relaxing days in Malaga, exploring different neighborhoods, eating lots of tapas, participating in a treasure hunt, and Sarah and Miriam went to Granada to visit the Alhambra. Of course, we also went out to dinner with Joey and her boyfriend before they flew back to England yesterday. We will probably visit Joey in Wales in April 😊 And since the weekend, the weather has been really nice again, around 20 degrees. It would be super nice if it stays like this!

Author: Stephanie Köllinger