Explore europe in a campervan

We’re back in Tarifa after spending a few days stationary in Quarteira. The spot we were free-camping in was great; some vans and their occupants had been parked there for several weeks with no problems. It’s about 35 metres from the sea and is almost as sandy as the beach so you have to be a bit careful where you park and how you drive out. The promenade stretches along the beach from the car park right up to the port and it’s lined with shops, bars and restaurants. The town wasn’t terribly busy during our stay, but I can imagine it’s very popular with tourists at high season. There are several English bars that give away the nationality of many of the visitors! It still has the feel of a practical town for locals though, rather than an over-developed resort.

After getting a little bit too much sun on our last day in Albufeira we’ve been taking refuge under the awning and inside the van. I’m starting to understand why we’ve read that many people travel to Portugal and southern Spain in the winter, and return to the UK in the summer - the temperature has been reaching 35º. The coolest place is under the shade of the awning, but that’s too bright for using a laptop and we need to be inside the van for the power supply. While we’ve been working on some databases and other projects the roof-fan has been working overtime trying to keep some air moving. No complaints though!

On Saturday there was a big stage erected at the end of the promenade near to the parking spot. We’d seen a poster for what appeared to be a ‘battle of the bands’ style competition and as they soundchecked in the afternoon we realised it would be a loud night, so we may as well go along rather than struggle to sleep with the bass booming from the PA. There was a reasonable turnout for an event of it’s kind and the bands turned out to be pretty good. We were also treated to a show of fire-breathing and juggling while the headlining Portuguese band, Dealema set up (they were like a Portuguese version of Goldie Lookin’ Chain if that rings any bells!). The van was close enough that we could pop back for drinks, so a merry night was had!

Before we left for Tarifa we went to look at the markets - Quarteira has separate buildings for fruit and veg sellers and the fish market. We came away with some of the tastiest cherries I’ve ever had, some tiny, sweet cherry tomatoes and some onions. But not any fish, although we’d have liked some. Unfortunately it’s not really practical to buy unpackaged fish to keep for any length of time in a fridge that’s not always as cold as we’d like it to be. Imagine the smell! I’m still waiting for Simon to bring home a catch we can immediately bbq for dinner. His only attempt in Quarteira was somewhat hampered by the waves crashing onto the big rocks that formed the pier.

So, stocked up on sardine pate (an Algarve speciality) and piri piri sauce we crossed the border back into Spain. Happily our diesel lasted until the crossing as it’s peaking at €1.50 in Portugal now and only (?!) €1.32 in Spain. Though we only saw the sights of the journey two weeks ago we were still in awe of the many, huge storks with nests on top of telegraph poles and the fields upon fields of bright sunflowers against green foliage. Tarifa is as we left it - with many of the same vans parked at our spot near to Lidl. We’ve got some chores to do at the campsite, but the wind should be up for a couple of days after that to keep us busy until Sarah and Dave arrive at Malaga airport at the weekend.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 18th, 2008 at 10:24 am and is filed under Diary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.