Nov 30, 2012 - Cartagena

The next day we were in Cartgena, Spain, and again we struck out on our own (without Rick Steves this time!)It has the beautiful architecture that we also noted in Barcelona and is a delight to walk around. It is a quaint little Medieval city, complete with a fair. It also has excavated ruins from Roman times. These ruins were only discovered a few years ago, so they are in the middle of the city, and you have to walk around or under modern buildings to get to the various parts that have been excavated! We also walked to a medieval castle...

Oct 23, 2012 - Entry 13

10-23-12 Gibraltar, Great Britain note: the blog does not recognize Gibraltar as a city, therefore it still lists as in Spain Unfortunately, I was unable to se the monkeys here, but I did go provisioning. It was insane and took five hours at a local supermarket. We put an order in for 120 chicken breasts and the people behind the meat department looked at us like we were stupid. Britt is in charge of all of the food, so it was really cool see what she does and how she plans everything. We bought about 150 packs of flour, which we will use...

Oct 17, 2012 - Entry 12

10/17 Cartagena, Spain The sail here was rough. It was the choppiest the waves have been yet on the trip. I’ve yet to be sick, but came close to it on this voyage, especially because I was head chef two days ago, and trying to keep the galley 40-40 while cooking and trying not to be ill was hard. I, along with my sous chefs had to set up a grid on the stovetop to keep the pots from sliding. Hot water still managed to slosh out though. We had cutting boards slide, and pretty much anything else we were cooking. The galley looked like a war...

May 28, 2012 - Murcia again

Back again. This time here to see the other major citrus company based in Murcia. Back on my old friends Ryanair (LyingAir), they are the control freaks of aviation making you queue for a minimum of 3 separate times just to board their flying market-stalls. Flight was packed so for once having made Britvic pay for priority boarding was worth it - until my bag was taken from the overhead locker by the market trader, sorry, flight attendant, and asked whose it was. When I said it was mine she insisted that I put it under the seat in front...

May 3, 2012 - Murcia

Very brief trip to see some citrus production. Arrived late afternoon but had time for a couple of hours walk before I had to get back to the hotel to get freshened up before being taken out by the suppliers. Newcastle were playing tonight and I was very impressed that they had managed to agree for a bar to show the game and provide some food and drink. An unexpected win against Chelsea with two great Cisse goals made it a great night out. All day factory visit but again I had time to explore the city afterwards before heading back to...

May 3, 2012 - Cartagena to Mar Menor

We sailed from near Cartagena to the Mar Menor which is a large lagoon (12 miles long by 6 miles wide and only about 5-6 metres deep), just round Cape Palos, separated from the Mediterranean by a narrow band of land called La Manga. We got to the entrance after 26 nautical miles in 6 hours 45 minutes and then had to anchor outside for about an hour waiting for the road bridge to be raised so that we could get into the lagoon – it’s raised once every two hours. We berthed in a very large marina at the edge of the lagoon so that we could...

Apr 30, 2012 - Lovely anchorages on the way to Cartagena - SE coast of Spain

We had a great sail east along the coast with about 22 knots of wind, which seemed a breeze after our last sail! The coast is incredibly barren with jagged peaks inland and some spectacular headlands with sheer cliffs to the sea. As a result it isn’t very developed so there are very few high rise buildings, but it’s marred wherever there is flat land because it’s covered with acres of plastic for growing fruit and veg, mainly using hydroponics given the lack of rainfall. We found some fabulous anchorages over the next few days –...

Sep 3, 2011 - Cartagena

We are now heading for the coast and crossed over some mountain ranges where the air was cool and refreshing before descending to the heat and desolation of an area that resembled the badlands of South Dakota in America. We spent the night in Cartagena a port town on the Mediterranean coast. It had been a Roman and Carthaginian port and has numerous reminders of its past. These days it is also known for its Modernista architecture and we loved the pastel coloured facades and ornate balconies of the buildings. We toured the Castillo de la...

Jul 15, 2011 - La Hermita

Today me and the chicas got taken to a "Mirador" (like a view point) in the centre of Abarán called La Hermita. It's basically a cliff that overlooks most of Abarán and the surrounding mountains (Sierra de Oro etc) with a charming little cathedral that's apparently the oldest in Abarán. It has a small park/ pavement behind it so whilst the parents went to for a beer, I looked after the girls as they rollerbladed round the area. I wish I had brought my camera with me as the view really was spectacular. In the distance, there's a place called...

Jul 9, 2011 - More alcohol, sorry dad.

Has it really been a week since I last updated? Um.. soz. It's so quiet in the house right now... I think people are actually sleeping (which is probs what I should be doing as well but whatevs I can deal.) ANYWAY last night we went out for dinner. Maybe it's a Friday night thing in Spain? But anyway, it was a restaurant in the middle of this maaassive park somewhere in Abarán. When we (las chicas, the parents and Raquel) arrived, Jesús and his wife were already sat at the table with two litre bottles of Murcian beer. Lovely. The girls...

Jul 2, 2011 - El Carríl

In a quick summary of yesterday, I attempted to give the girls painting lessons, which as you can imagine, ended up with me with paint all over. Trying to explain how to mix and blend colours to four children under nine years old in a different language... well, you get the idea. Anyway, today I went with Antonio and Aurora into Abarán, sat outside a small café in an alleyway "para tomar una cerveza"- basically jugs of cold beer are brought to the table along with a few plates of food. The highlight of this had to be when Antonio pronounced...

Jun 30, 2011 - Queso, queso!

Today, both of the parents are at work, leaving the girls (and Raquel, their cousin, who is more or less a permanent part of the family, who still can't believe that an English person can speak Spanish. Every time she considers it, she mutters "Ay, how strange", but obvs in Spanish) in the house with me. Luckily, They seem to be entranced by the Spanish Disney channel, so that's fine for the moment as it gives me a chance to finish the movie I started watching last night. Mmm, Fassbender. Talking of the Disney Channel, I was subjected to...