Where to Begin....

Town of Alicante just down the coast from Valencia. Great castle overlooking the city.

Evening at the hotel. All of the guests and owner are pictured (except aub). Old guy on the right is Miguel the owner. He calls himself padre/Don Corleon/El Capitan. Very fun evening.

View from atop the castle in Alicante

Small town in Cabo De Gata Natural Park. We slept in the car just above town.

Definately off the beaten path. Endless pristine beaches. Our Toyota Aygo (aka Home Sweet Home). Sporty little bugger!

Another beach we stumbled upon. Warm water and soft sand.

Huge fields of Sunflowers everywhere. We think they use them for Biodiesel.

Aub finally got her Paella. Very tasty. Decent setting, lounging on the beach.

The highlight of the three day drive. Town of Olvera. Picture taken through the window of the castle looking at the Moorish Cathedral.

Same view of Olvera with town in background.

Olvera - City view from below.

Inside the cathedral in Sevilla. Very decorated cathedral.

Small portion of the exterior of Cathedral in Sevilla (3rd largest in the world)

Hope everyone is doing well. Sure are missing people alot right now. Seems like we have been doing a lot lately and are very excited to share.

We picked up the car in Alicante about midday. Somehow we successfully made it out of the city basically pure luck. Unfortunately they gave us a really nice car with only a tiny sratch on the back bumper. Minimal insurance on the car and 3 days of navigating some crazy places. Only hit a couple curbs and never got honked at!

Headed down the beach with freedom on our minds. It was a great feeling to stop at any beach or go where we pleased. Spent the first night in the car overlooking the sea in Cabo de Gata Natural Park. Hung out in the park most of the next day and then slept on the beach in a town called Calahonda. Up early (not a very comfortable beach) to roar into Granada. Thought we would take a driving tour of the city (mistake). Aub was the navigator and did an excellent job. Only a little lost which was a miracle. Somehow we escaped without causing a wreck. The final full day was spent heading toward Sevilla. During the drive we came over a ridge and Aub spotted an amazing town in the distance. The town was Olvera with an awesome castle and Cathedral. Walked up to the castle payed a guy 4 euro and he unlocked the front door and said enjoy. We had the castle all to ourselves to explore. By far the best castle we have seen; very well preserved. The town was almost completely deserted. We think this was our first undiscovered find. Slept in the car again in Utrera and headed for Sevilla the next morning. Aub was on the ball and got us through the town and to the drop off location without a problem. While the drive was fun it was surprisingly nice to be on foot again.

Yesterday we were so glad to get to the hostel and get a shower. Felt a little disgusting after only one shower on the beach in three days. If you ever hear spaniards complain that Americans stink it is our fault. We had our own herd of flies that followed everywhere we went. Not pretty.

The hostel is very nice. Took in the cathedral while mass was going on. Couldn´t understand much of what was happening. There was a massive organ and we were lucky enough to hear it being played. Last night the hostel had a free tapas (appetizers) tour. We hit two places before they dropped us off with a crappy map that had an ¨X¨marked where we were so we could find our way back. Probably wouldn´t have had the last few drinks if we knew we had to get ourselves home. They left us at a bar that was having a Flamenco show. Very exhuberant dance with great guitar and singing. Great experience. Spent a couple more hours chatting (yelling) with an old guy from the UK. He was a wild man. We collapsed into bed in exhaustion. Feeling so happy to actually have a bed.

We were both really tired when we arrived in Sevilla and we both were contemplating how much longer we could travel. After a great day in Sevilla we got our answer, as long as it takes. It seems that when we have gotten bogged down the travel gods have always thrown us a great day. Now we´re well rested and heading to Portugal tomorrow for the Algarve Coast. Small town of Lagos. Suppose to be some of the most beautiful beaches in Europe. We will let you know if this is true.