Home Again... Sort of?

We arrived back in Fernie Tuesday afternoon after spending the evening at Lee's house in Calgary. A big thanks to Lee for picking us up from the airport and putting us up for the night.

Although we are back in Fernie, we really aren't "home".  We are staying with Ruth and Dan for a few nights before continuing in the Kaslo.  Both Linda and I have dentist appointments and Linda has doctor and chiropractic appointments. 

I would like to make a few general comments about Spain and our time there. 

Firstly, I would like to say we really liked what we saw and experienced. We had a very good time. Here are some of the reasons we enjoyed it.

The weather.  The countryside and culture.  Historically interesting towns and areas. The lack of crowds. Easy access to walking and cycling trails. Good quality, reasonably priced food in stores and restaurants.  Clean, economically price accommodation. Clean and organized.

Now to expand on a few of these....  

The weather was, for us, perfect.  Spain is a fairly dry country, so sunshine is the norm. We only experience 3 or 4 days with rain in two months. Temperatures were normally into the low to mid 20s during the day and mid to high teens at night.  We experienced high temperatures in the low 30s and cooler days where the high temperature only reached 17C.  Naturally September is warmer than November but the differences in temperature were minimal. Comfortable, for outdoor activity most every day.

At this time of year, accommodation is inexpensive, especially if you rent by the month.   An important factor, that added to our enjoyment, was the decision to rent a house for a month in the small village of Gaucin. We were in Gaucin for the month of October. This is the last month of the tourist season. At the end of October several of the restaurants, hotels and some stores close for the winter.  It was quiet but we were never bored. It was fun just walking and exploring the town and the surrounding country side.  We regularly shopped at the local grocery stores and prepared our own meals. There was a good selection of fresh reasonably priced food. During our stay we got to know some of the shop, bar / restaurant owners. Every few days we would take the motorcycle on day or overnight trip. It was nice not have to pack everything up and have a place to come home to. 

Most of Andalusia was part of the Roman and the Ottoman Empire, etc, etc.... so the history, architecture and culture is divergent from the Canadian culture. We find it interesting to observe and analyze the differences.  At one point someone asked us if Spain was like Mexico.  We answered.. yes, in a way...  Common language. Common heritage. Similar architecture.  But by comparison, Spain is organized, clean and safe.  Mexico, not so much!

Before leaving Canada, I mapped out a few day and overnight motorcycle trips from Gaucin.   Some were overly optimistic.  From Gaucin, in any direction, the roads are narrow and curvy. A 200K trip is a 5 hour drive.  So we didn't get to visit all the places we had planned.  We did see enough to make us want to go back and continue the exploration of Andalusia.

On two our overnight trips we went to Olvera. We decided that Olvera would be the location of our next longer term rental.  There are several reason.  One is location. It is located almost in the centre of Andalusia. It is at the cross roads of north/south and east/west 2 lane highways, so it has easy access to several points of interest.   1 1/2 hours to Seville, Jerez, Cordoba, Caminto del Rey and the Med. coast.  It is located in a very nice bicycling area. It is attractive but not touristy.  It is not expensive And last but not least... we met some very nice people there.


Till the next trip.....  hasta luego!