Running the World

Cartagena & Valencia, Spain Part 7

Cartagena and Valencia road trip: two nights in Cartagena and three days in Valencia made for a memorable final leg of our five weeks in Spain. Between Cartagena’s Roman history, Valencia’s atmospheric Old City and the distinctive culinary treasures of both, these two cities became unexpected highlights of our self-tailored* journey.

Ode to my Travel Agent

When I call this Cartagena and Valencia road trip self-tailored*, of course I mean Roy-tailored. As my inestimable travel agent, he makes sure to consult, confer and so on. But if we’re being honest, he’s in the driver’s seat… this time both literally and figuratively. Does that work for someone as bossy as me? Oh, yes. If anything goes wrong – as it rarely does – he knows that he is to blame and will be energetically motivated to fix it.

All this leaves me as a blogger free to explore the meaning of life, to reflect on the mind-expanding benefits of travel, and to seek out the next gin and tonic on this Spain road trip itinerary.

Cartagena and Valencia road trip; Spain road trip itinerary
Quenching our thirst in Cartagena – okay, it’s with beer – but you get the idea.

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Málaga and Nerja Road Trip: Gibraltar, Tapas and Friends

This Malaga and Nerja road trip post is Part 6 of my Spain road trip series – it started back here in Part 1 Barcelona – and I have just one more to go, Part 7!

We did this Málaga and Nerja road trip – with detours to Gibraltar and Torrox – two months before I fractured my left arm. Writing about it, however, has become a six-week sentence involving sickening self-pity, a thermoplastic wrist splint and painfully slow searches through old and semi-defunct hard drives.

I did eventually find some photographs from our 2009 visit to Nerja, as you will soon see.

Slowed down by a fractured ulna

(How did it happen? I slipped on our stairs at home and came down hard on my left arm. Verdict: fractured distal ulna into the wrist joint. Sentence: 6 weeks in a splint. For my final post on The House that Roy and Verne built, click here. You will even find a photo of the miscreant staircase.)

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Fabulous Cádiz & Tarifa: Spain Road Trip Part 5

2 NIGHTS IN CADIZ, 25-27 May

Cadiz & Tarifa: more than a breath of fresh air: Cádiz will blow you away; girt by sea (like Australia); dragging Roy out to catch the sunset; the heavenly Jesú, and the real meaning of well-equipped accommodation; a bitter reflection on Zara; lunch in La Viña; La Caleta beach at sunrise; walking/jogging Cádiz Old City; Roy’s key sleep goals; to market, to market; the Oyster Bitch; ode to Old Brown Sherry; El Faro de Cádiz; on to Tarifa

Kicking off our five days in Cadiz & Tarifa, two nights in Cádiz proved to be more than a breath of fresh air. You simply can’t escape the wind. If not literally blown away by the ferocious gales, you’ll be blown away by its wonderful ambience. That’s because Cádiz, with its gently decaying edifices, is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Europe and has a fascinating mix of historical and cultural influences.

Cadiz & Tarifa; Cadiz foreshore
Avenída Duque de Najéra, Cádiz

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Córdoba & Seville: Spain Road Trip Part 4

Córdoba and Seville road trip; one night in Córdoba; bleh B&B, perfect parking; Córdoba’s magnificent Mosque-Cathedral; 8th-century hypo-style mosque hall; 17th-century Renaissance cathedral; flamenco at El Pañuelo; running Córdoba: the irresistible Rïo Guadalquivir, the Puente Romana bridge and the romantic Roman Gate; a whole lot of bull on the way to Seville; perillous parking, delightful digs; el scorchio temperatures but Spanish brain freeze; Seville Cathedral and Reál Alcázar, closed on Sundays; trotting the Guadalquivir… again; El Burladero, Christina’s Bistro, Bar Alfalfa; what’s with the girly drinks, Roy?; Next up: Cadiz and Tarifa!

Plaza de España Seville
Plaza España, Seville – unmissable on any Córdoba and Seville road trip or Seville itinerary

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Madrid, Toledo & El Santo Reserve: Spain Road Trip Part 3

Madrid and Toledo itinerary; breakdown on a godforsaken highway; traditional English breakfast near Albacete; based in Pozuelo for Madrid and Toledo itinerary; wobbly bits and wrinkly knees at Museo Prado; G&T culture big in Spain; Zara closed! – gran sorrow on the Gran Via; triple hat-shop saga: in pursuit of a pointy Panama; birthday lunch on Plaza Mayor; day trip to Toledo; cobbled alleys, knights and swords in shiny Toledo steel; traditional menú del día in historic centre of Toledo; indescribably stunning El Santo Reserve, an exclusive reserve near Madrid; on to Córdoba!

As part of our Madrid and Toledo itinerary, we had planned to drive to Madrid so as to be in the capital for Roy’s birthday. Thank goodness Hertz was reasonably on the ball, and we didn’t end up spending his big day day sweltering on a dark desert highway.

Getting to Madrid by car … eventually!

Have you ever broken down on a remote highway? Were you far away from home, driving a rental car in a foreign country? Well, for us this was a first.

Rudely interrupting Roy’s carefully crafted Madrid and Toledo itinerary, the drive to Madrid was abruptly halted when the Skoda from Hertz broke down on the A-36. In the middle of nowhere. Within minutes, a traffic police vehicle arrived with a man who wanted to make sure we were okay and to put out half-a-dozen of those crucial cones.

ChatGPT kindly reconstructed the moment for us – stranded on a highway on the way to Madrid

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7 Days in Dénia, Costa Blanca: Spain Road Trip Part 2

7 days in Dénia on the Costa Blanca; why Dénia?; UNESCO City of Gastronomy; getting there, no thanks to Trevor the Twat; mostly about Wendy and a bit about Bob; the joys of jogging; smelly seagulls and civil servants at Dénia Castle; Els Magazinos market; grape-vine blight and toy factories; free vs paid museums; market bar vermut and tapas; mediocre menú del día; warding off scurvy at Origen; ode to aioli; Altea and Jávea; Jésus Pobre gastronomic and cultural market; pondering the plight of blight-benighted peasants; farewell to Wendy; on to Madrid!

Verne, Wendy and Roy at Café Opera, Altea

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7 Days in Barcelona: Spain Road Trip Part 1

7 Days in Barcelona; GPS Catch 22; Sant Adrià de Besòs apartment; cheap and easy trams and metro; cathedrals, churros and chocolate in the Old City; Sant Roy the Goody-Goody; no Gaudi at the history museum – nada!; Barceloneta beach and Port Vell; Roy the Spontaneous ascends Montjuic; La Sagrada Familia; Roy the Wanderer at Park Güell; solace at Bar Vell; menú del día at D’Ins; menu ouvrier flashback to 2019; pig’s feet and buttifara at Mussol; A Tale of Two Markets; Barceloneta Restaurant with the Gidlows; bitterly failed Zara expedition; pricey cocktails at speakeasy Paradiso; vermut with Jefferson; paella at Port Forum

How did anyone ever get anywhere without GPS? I remember the days of paper maps and I admit they weren’t pretty. But now it seems we need two or even three devices to help us do the job of a single paper map, albeit badly mis-folded and usually held upside down.

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Historic South of France, June 2024, Part 3: Arles and Béziers

Historic South of France; day trip from Marseillan to historic Béziers and those murderous Crusaders; one night in Arles; Arles Arena, the ancient Roman amphitheatre; Hotel de L’Amphitheatre; Van Gogh exhibition; currently kaput Van Gogh Café; two Arles restaurants – Gaudina and La Gueule du Loup; downtown Arles and the Rhône riverside 

A. Day Trip to Béziers

With so many day-tripping possibilities available from Marseillan (for examples, see Part 2 of this trilogy), we almost didn’t get to Béziers. I’m so glad we did!

Béziers City Centre

Parking is free at the open-air Parking du Vieux Pont. From there, you can walk over the old bridge and up the hill into the historic town centre, ascending either by several long flights of stairs, or three lifts.

Or a combination; I think we did two lifts and one set of stairs.

Béziers view: Roy with the triumphant look of a man who has climbed a lot of stairs and can now stop for coffee

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Marseillan Port Highlights, 2-29 June, Part 2 – Oysters & Noilly Prat

Marseillan port highlights: oysters and Noilly Prat; flashback to 2017… and 2023; aerial views of the Camargue; les huitres… shucking marvellous; meaning of concylicole; Le port concylicole des Mazet; les coquillages, especially Coqui Thau; cruise on L’Étang de Thau; Oyster Farming #101; Maison Noilly Prat; three more Marseillan restaurants; Father’s Day at home with Wendy

Oysters are synonymous with the Étang de Thau – a 22km-long lagoon fed by the Mediterranean Sea. You can enter it by boat from Le Canal du Rhône à Séte, which is how Roy and I got to Marseillan in July/August 2017 on our boat Karanja, while en route to the start of Le Canal du Midi. (For that story, plus scads of Boaty-McBoatface photos, click here.)

Flashback to August 2017…

Crossing LÉtang de Thau from Séte to Marseillan on Karanja, on a hazy day.

… and to mid-2023

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Marseillan Port, 2-29 June 2024, Part 1

A month in Marseillan port, a gorgeous spot in the South of France; avoiding confusion;  cassoulet at Marseillan Plage; Here Come the Campbells… the Baragwanaths and Wendy; out and about in Marseillan; running around L’Étang de Thau; two fêtes worse than death (not really); Marseillan Cheat Sheet; our favourite restaurants; best day-trips from Marseillan

A full year ago, Roy booked us a two-bedroom apartment in Résidence Farenc in the port town of Marseillan, right on the water, for almost the entire month of June. Four weeks might sound like a long time to be in the same place. But when the time came to leave, I felt I could have stayed another month. Roy said he felt the same way.

Marseillan port
One month later, and 4kg heavier: Our last oyster feast at Coqui Thau before leaving Marseillan at the end of June

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