Tips through Spain

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Hi everyone,

We are planning our trip to Spain, starting at Perpignan (France) at the beginning of April, heading towards Montserrat and eventually to Seville and Cadiz. We are not keen on busy resorts but more interested in scenery, history, rusticness, markets food and wine and some out of the way places. Any tips/pointers would be much appreciated. We plan to meander end be away for about 2 months.

Thanking you in advance,
Regards Lou and Terri

:drive::drive::drive::wave::wave::wave:
 
loulou said:
Hi everyone,

We are planning our trip to Spain, starting at Perpignan (France) at the beginning of April, heading towards Montserrat and eventually to Seville and Cadiz. We are not keen on busy resorts but more interested in scenery, history, rusticness, markets food and wine and some out of the way places. Any tips/pointers would be much appreciated. We plan to meander end be away for about 2 months.

Thanking you in advance,
Regards Lou and Terri

:drive::drive::drive::wave::wave::wave:
Click to expand...
Make sure your stickers are prominante front and back as we are away much the same time on the same route and we will give you a wave.
 
Hi

If you are coming from the direction of Perpignan and ending up in Cadiz, the following would be worth a look:

1. The French Pyrenees - superb scenery and some very good passes that take you into Spain. Take your pick really but if you can, have a look at St Jean Pied de Port - lovely little medieval village and a start point for the Santiago de Compostella pilgrims.

2. The Basque country - best food in Spain and probably the best wine too (Rioja area) as well as fabulous scenery and some interesting stuff to see in Bilbao.

3. The Picos de Europa - superb scenery again and few crowds.

3. Head south to Salamanca - great architecture.

4. Through Extramadura - wide open plains, excellent game-based menus, great medieval towns (try Caceres, Trujillo and/or Guadeloupe).

5. Monfrague National Park - more vultures than you can shake a stick at (whatever that means!)

6. Cordoba and Seville for the Morrish architecture

7. Ronda and the pueblos blancos - cliff-hugging white villages and spectacular scenery

8. Cadiz itself is a lovely town and to the north there are lots of sherry-producing areas (between Xerz and the sea).

Also, take a look at the Spain forum on this site, where I have posted some good stopovers that we used last year (and lots of others have posted other very useful information).

Have a great trip - and one thing is for sure: you will leave wanting to see more :)
 
I cannot talk about John H route, but if, as you say, you want to see Montserrat (you can even sleep in the parking if you ask them and are willing to spend the night in solitude), then I can recommend some places:

- if you can, while still in France, Colliure is worth a visit
- Once in Catalonia, you have multiplie options. If you want to see the Costa Brava without lots and lots of people, now it is the season to do so (but I wouldn't have a bath with the current temperatures :scared: Cadaqués is a pretty village but anti-motorhomes, if you want to visit it this is the time of the year when you are least un-welcome. Port de la Selva and Pals are supposed to be motorhome-friendly.
- Medieval villages: Peratallada and Ullastrell, near the Costa Brava, and, wildcamping friendly, Besalú.
- The old quarter of Girona, with the jew part, and the cathedral, is worth a visit.
- Barcelona.... you have a lot to see there... there are a couple of parkings (not cheap, at about 20 euro/day), one of them almost on the beach.
- Tarragona old quarters, with the Roman amphitheater (sp?), the walls, cathedral... and you can wildcamp along the Platja del Miracle (Miracle beach), just don't park too close to the port building, because of the night bars and the possible noise. The beach on your window at night... beautiful. There are a couple of pics in my blog, if you search for Tarragona. Well, there are also trips to several of these locations... autocaravanning.blogspot.com (sorry for the double n, but the correct word was already used and at that moment I didn't have anymore working grey cells...)
- Not far from Tarragona, inland, you have two important monateries, if you are into it: Santes Creus and Poblet.
- While you are there, a typical meal from Valls (can be found anywhere, around Catalonia), is the calçotada. Not the most exquisite of the meals (though I love it!), but one of the funniest! You peal something similar to an onion (in fact, it IS an onion, cultivated in a special way, but it does not taste like onion) with your hands (the fact that it is burned in flames to cook it, gives you an idea of the "tidyness" of the operation...), then soak it in a special sauce, then let it hang over you and catch it with your mouth... After the calçots, they will serve grilled meat and sausages, then orange and maybe a typical cake. This is seasonal, and ends beginning of March.
- If you are interested in Picasso, he spent some time in Horta de Sant Joan. There is a smallish exhibition.
- Delta of the Ebre river is a very nice area. Free area for motorhomes, there's some info in an online magazine (onroadmagazine.com), in Spanish. You can download it in PDF and maybe copy and paste the text into translate.google.com

From now on, you are out of Catalonia, I can only recomment Morella (I have not been there but I had good reports), Valencia (but you MUST leave the M/H in the Odissea Camper Park, there are LOTS and LOTS of broken in and even stolen M/H around the touristic parts of the city). From there, I'm lost.

Ask anything you want about the area, maybe I can help.
 
rockape said:
Make sure your stickers are prominante front and back as we are away much the same time on the same route and we will give you a wave.
Click to expand...

Got them on front and sides but not on rear, no rear window. We're leaving the UK 3rd April via Dover-Dunquerque DFDS, staying Tuesday night at Dover Parade.
Have fun and a great trip, cheers Lou & Terri

:wave::wave::boat::boat:
 
John H said:
Hi

If you are coming from the direction of Perpignan and ending up in Cadiz, the following would be worth a look:

1. The French Pyrenees - superb scenery and some very good passes that take you into Spain. Take your pick really but if you can, have a look at St Jean Pied de Port - lovely little medieval village and a start point for the Santiago de Compostella pilgrims.

2. The Basque country - best food in Spain and probably the best wine too (Rioja area) as well as fabulous scenery and some interesting stuff to see in Bilbao.

3. The Picos de Europa - superb scenery again and few crowds.

3. Head south to Salamanca - great architecture.

4. Through Extramadura - wide open plains, excellent game-based menus, great medieval towns (try Caceres, Trujillo and/or Guadeloupe).

5. Monfrague National Park - more vultures than you can shake a stick at (whatever that means!)

6. Cordoba and Seville for the Morrish architecture

7. Ronda and the pueblos blancos - cliff-hugging white villages and spectacular scenery

8. Cadiz itself is a lovely town and to the north there are lots of sherry-producing areas (between Xerz and the sea).

Also, take a look at the Spain forum on this site, where I have posted some good stopovers that we used last year (and lots of others have posted other very useful information).

Have a great trip - and one thing is for sure: you will leave wanting to see more :)
Click to expand...

Hi JohnH, thanks for your info, great help and we appreciate it. We'll be heading back to France via Portugal and the NW of Spain, so we'll use your suggestions in reverse order. We tried to visit Pico de Europa last year, unfortunately we were too early, in March and access was snowbound, the park info office advised against trying at that time. This year we shpould be there around May/June. Thanks again Lou & Terri
:wave::wave:
 
XaviZixxeR said:
I cannot talk about John H route, but if, as you say, you want to see Montserrat (you can even sleep in the parking if you ask them and are willing to spend the night in solitude), then I can recommend some places:

- if you can, while still in France, Colliure is worth a visit
- Once in Catalonia, you have multiplie options. If you want to see the Costa Brava without lots and lots of people, now it is the season to do so (but I wouldn't have a bath with the current temperatures :scared: Cadaqués is a pretty village but anti-motorhomes, if you want to visit it this is the time of the year when you are least un-welcome. Port de la Selva and Pals are supposed to be motorhome-friendly.
- Medieval villages: Peratallada and Ullastrell, near the Costa Brava, and, wildcamping friendly, Besalú.
- The old quarter of Girona, with the jew part, and the cathedral, is worth a visit.
- Barcelona.... you have a lot to see there... there are a couple of parkings (not cheap, at about 20 euro/day), one of them almost on the beach.
- Tarragona old quarters, with the Roman amphitheater (sp?), the walls, cathedral... and you can wildcamp along the Platja del Miracle (Miracle beach), just don't park too close to the port building, because of the night bars and the possible noise. The beach on your window at night... beautiful. There are a couple of pics in my blog, if you search for Tarragona. Well, there are also trips to several of these locations... autocaravanning.blogspot.com (sorry for the double n, but the correct word was already used and at that moment I didn't have anymore working grey cells...)
- Not far from Tarragona, inland, you have two important monateries, if you are into it: Santes Creus and Poblet.
- While you are there, a typical meal from Valls (can be found anywhere, around Catalonia), is the calçotada. Not the most exquisite of the meals (though I love it!), but one of the funniest! You peal something similar to an onion (in fact, it IS an onion, cultivated in a special way, but it does not taste like onion) with your hands (the fact that it is burned in flames to cook it, gives you an idea of the "tidyness" of the operation...), then soak it in a special sauce, then let it hang over you and catch it with your mouth... After the calçots, they will serve grilled meat and sausages, then orange and maybe a typical cake. This is seasonal, and ends beginning of March.
- If you are interested in Picasso, he spent some time in Horta de Sant Joan. There is a smallish exhibition.
- Delta of the Ebre river is a very nice area. Free area for motorhomes, there's some info in an online magazine (onroadmagazine.com), in Spanish. You can download it in PDF and maybe copy and paste the text into translate.google.com

From now on, you are out of Catalonia, I can only recomment Morella (I have not been there but I had good reports), Valencia (but you MUST leave the M/H in the Odissea Camper Park, there are LOTS and LOTS of broken in and even stolen M/H around the touristic parts of the city). From there, I'm lost.

Ask anything you want about the area, maybe I can help.
Click to expand...

Very useful info, especially about risky areas to avoid, many thanks indeed, regards Lou & Terri

:wave::wave:
 
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