El Puerto de Santa María, Andalusia, Spain and Canary IslandsEl Puerto de Santa Maria
La Guidana International Bridge
- It crosses the Guidana river and connects Andalusia and Spain and is 666m long: it is the 3rd longest bridge of Portugal and one of the longest in Spain
After a half hour driving we
drove over the bridge – and as it is all in the EU: it’s no borders – except
the Sign Spain. Right after the bridge we turned off to a little sideroad and
found a beautiful viewpoint with benches and palm trees so we could admire the
bridge.
On Spain’s Autobahn
Today we are driving a lot of
Autobahn: that means for another 2 hours. We didn’t fill up gas in Portugal,
as Gine read that the gas is cheaper in
Spain. That means once we came to a gas station we pulled out and the lady told
us, that they have a problem with the pump, so no gas. We saw a lot of RV’s
today from the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Sweden, France…. Guess everyone
is busy RVing. Even we are not so sure – if this is the perfect country for
RVing..
Once we came close to Seville –
driving got a bit more fun: as suddenly there were a lot of cars, there were a
lot of turn offs, electronic message boards: you know you nearly feel like you
are in busy Europe here.
A windy Highway: as we drove
south – the trees and shrubs along the Highway were blowing in the wind: it was
super windy!!! Unbelievable….
Monasterio
de la Cartuja de Santa Maria de la Defension
Gine planned on leaving so early,
that if anything comes we are still on time, as all went well, we have spare
time and Gine said we stop here at this monastery right near the Autobahn. We
stopped and walked into the courtyard it looked really old with lot of orange
trees: lots of oranges on the ground because of the wind. The main church was
actually closed – so it was really a fast visit: but the outside was looking
super nice.
Checking out where we will
stay
As we are here early, like an
hour, we decided to drive by the apartment so we know where it is. We didn’t
want to sit around for an hour, so first we drove towards the beach: ok it is
not windy – it is stormy: if you would walk on the beach – you would be sand
blasted!!! Gine went up on the boardwalk and you nearly were blown away – Let’s
say: without the wind it would be beautiful to walk along here. Afterwards we
drove around the “Valdelagrana” area and here is literally one white apartment
building near the next: this is clearly a holiday resort town. In between some
parks – lots of parking. We did check out the supermarkets and decided to be at
our apartment early.
We are late even we are early
Once we arrived we thought we
were early – that is when we discovered that we are actually an hour late:
because Spain is one hour ahead of Portugal. So we felt a bit bad, that our
host had to wait nearly an hour. This is actually a super cool place: you have
a wireless entry to the main complex – the wireless entry to our Building #3
and then wireless entry to our apartment: which is beautiful: and we have nice
view on the Typical Apartment buildings. As it is so windy and then it also
started to rain – we decided we in a perfect place to have a relaxing afternoon
(except leaving to get something to cook supper).
Is it really time to get up?
This morning when the alarm went
off – we felt it was still very early – but then we had yesterday the time
change: and so we decided to sleep another half hour. And as you do on
vacation: we did have a relaxing morning – and optimistic were looking forward
to a mainly sunny day.
Parking problems in El Puerte
de Santa Maria
For the morning Gine said: let’s
check out the town:
- Sheltered from the Atlantic winds and waves – this was the port from which Columbus left with the ship named Santa Maria – guess were the towns name comes from. It also became an important trading center between America and Europe
- It is known as the city of Palaces owned by traders who got rich – some are still there (what they didn’t plan was wide streets)
It didn’t sounded very complicated as per
google map: reality was a different issue – as where in Portugal so far all
streets were dead and no people – here were lots of cars everywhere, lots of
people crossing at zebra crossing no waiting only walking – so you better be
prepared to always stop. Parking in the town was like nil – the parking spot
outside of town was in our opinion to far to walk through nothing (especially
after we made the decision not to walk). Gine decided maybe it is not so
important to see that town today and only to stop at the bullring: where there
is a lot of parking: no way – even there they have guides to help you find a
spot because everywhere it’s full!!!!
The largest bullring in
Spain??
The plaza de Toros is one
gigantic round buildings with a lot of doors opening to the outside – and in
case you wonder what it is for: there is a big bull in front of it. Gine read
that is is one of the most famous bull rings in spain and also one of the
largest in Spain. Ok we seen it and decided to continue on:
Playa de la Puntilla
The beach along the river: and
here we had the whole (small) parking lot for ourselves: and there is this huge
beach sand – sand and more sand with some little palm trees dotted in between –
we thought it was quite pretty… you know if only the sun would be out… let’s not forget that it is so windy, that
the wind even covers part of the stairs.
Playa de la Muralla
We continued on to this playa
which is at the Atlantic: we are now in a beautiful neighbourhood – not a lot
of parking but super nice steps going down to the sandy beach and the most
amazing thing here is the huge thick wall on the side: which was at one time
part of the coastline defense system. Sand dunes going through we could walk
through the gap behind it. It was a lot of fun to walk along the cliffs and the
wall and look up at the super cool cactuses – this is one remarkable beautiful
playa. The view to town as well over the
bridge and to Cadiz is also gorgeous.
Underneath the traffic circle
The purpose of the traffic
circle is to not have traffic lights and everyone goes in and then out –
correct. No we discovered something new: this town has a bypass to the circle
and you literally drive underneath the circle… how cool is that.
Playa de Valdelagana &
the Sand dunes
After a coffee we headed to our
beach: prepared with our kindles we planned on enjoying the sunshine: Paul
decided to relax on the bench and Gine started to check out the sand dunes…. I
may should mention it was very windy. The Sand dunes are super cool to look at
it and then on the way back with the wind in the back it started to rain!!! So
much for beach time: we headed back.
In and out – or in?
Should we stay inside or go back
to the beach? Sun is out we went to the cool boardwalk: and then 5 Min later
the sun is gone it’s windy and cold. We head back – barely in: it started to
rain. And then the sun comes out with blue sky? So back out – maybe not as 2 Min
later the grey cloud took the sun away again… Gine found the perfect solution:
if the sun is out you sit on the balcony – as soon as it vanished you come
inside – that means a lot of in and out and in and out….
That is called a lazy vacation
day.
2025-05-22