NOMADAMS Diary - April 2003

1st - 9th; April began with Mark having a flu 'bug', so we stayed at the Granada campsite for a few days longer than planned. We finally moved on to Seville on Thursday 3rd when Mark felt well enough.

Our new site was very convenient for access to Seville centre - and the airport, as it was virtually at the end of the runway! Friday we decided to research areas for our next site (after Seville) as we intended to stay there for a couple of weeks while Shelley and Russell visited and we also wanted to assess Huelva region for 'casa rurale' potential. We checked Mazagon, Isla Cristina and Punta Umbria which were all appealing undeveloped resorts, but chose 'Giralda' site at Isla Cristina due to its proximity to Portugal's border (for Faro airport). We stayed at Seville for the next 3 days, taking advantage of the local coach run to the city centre. We visited the Cathedral (Europe's largest, also housing the tomb of Christopher Columbus), climbed the Giralda tower (superb views), explored the Alcazar palaces and Santa Cruz 'old town' (enchanting narrow streets, white washed houses etc.).

Seville appears to have an awful lot more to offer, but we shall have to come back for this when we have more time. We also spent a day investigating some surrounding towns including Carmona, with its charming 'old quarter' built on a hill with a couple of surviving Moorish gateways. We spent ages taking photographs of nesting Storks on a church turret, only to discover later that virtually every church in every town also had Stork nests on their turrets! We continued through beautiful countryside (lush, not barren as earlier regions) passing several typical Andalucian 'white villages'.

We are definitely warming to this area (which is also warming up for us - up to 122°F on one day in Seville!). We then moved on to the Isla Cristina campsite where we spent a couple of days 'setting up' for a 2 week stay and to receive our first visitors from the UK!

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11th -17th; We set off early Thursday morning and drove for an hour to Faro airport, arriving the same time as we set out! (hadn't realised Portugal was GMT), so being very early for Shelley and Russell's flight arrival. Friday, we all departed for an excursion to Aracena to visit the 'Gruta de las Maravillas'. This was a long drive through scenic mountainous terrain (passing the Rio Tinto open cast mines - a strangely attractive scene), but a worthwhile journey as the 'Gruta' (an extensive underground cavern system) was a spectacular sight. We wandered for an hour and a half through deep caves with lakes reflecting beautifully lit stalagmites and stalactites and other weird and wonderful geological formations (unfortunately, no photographs allowed). The journey back saw storm clouds gathering, which released their torrential rain over the next few days. This restricted our planned activities, although we did manage to explore the coastline from Cartaya to Punta Umbria, stopping briefly at El Rompido and Lepe. Much of the area still seems to be quite undeveloped, probably as the Med 'Costas' were many years ago. Tuesday was still showery, but we managed a trip to Ayamonte, right against the Portuguese border, where we discovered a rather odd 'Zoo'. On the same theme, we stopped at a 'Crocodile Park' ('petting' style zoo) just outside Isla Cristina. Although rather tacky, it was extremely 'hands on', enabling exotic animals such as Emus, Wallabies, Reindeer, Llamas etc. to be hand fed within 'walk-in' enclosures. Shelley and Russell were able to handle a Crocodile, Python and Tarantula (Nicky passed on this bit though!). Wednesday saw the sun finally reappear, so this was a beach and pool day, where Shelley and Russell both tried to cram a weeks sunbathing into one day! The week passed very quickly for our first visitors and, Thursday morning, we set off back to Faro airport (with Shelley glowing red like 'radioactive girl') for their return flight to the UK, which finally departed after a 2 hour 40 minute delay!. We both really enjoyed their company and are looking forward to seeing them again (or their brother Colin!!) soon. Later that evening, we sat outside with a glass of wine wondering who will be our next visitors???

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18th - 24th; Just as we thought the weather had improved, it turned again with heavy rain and now thunderstorms over much of the long Easter weekend. During some brief dry spells we drove out to investigate more local villages, but still couldn't find inspiration in this area. Sunday, however, we drove West of Huelva firstly through Rociana del Condado where there appeared to be a public hanging (German tourists we hoped). It turned out to be a religious ritual where effigies of Judas were hung and then beaten to pieces with sticks (nice). We continued to Almonte (at last - a town we really liked!) and several other towns on a 'wine route', passing over the Rio Tinto (in full flood after the storms), ending up at Niebla (a town within Moorish walls with some interesting Almohad buildings). We decided this area needed further investigation so, after another thunderstorm on Tuesday, we set off on Wednesday to 'La Fontanilla', a coastal site near Mazagon. This was in a superb location (although the facilities left a lot to be desired), right on the Atlantic coastline with excellent views and just within the Doñana National Park boundary (even the Sun decided to come out again!). Thursday, we drove to Huelva city and finally found a decent supermarket (Carrefour -  French of course!) purchasing, amongst other things, an electric BBQ. That evening, the BBQ was christened with Sardines (bought, not caught!) and we were joined for supper by Dr. Henry (Henk) Beck, Europe's leading expert on Moth larvae (this is true!), who was camped on site for a field survey (you can imagine how much Nicky enjoyed the conversation). We later watched the first sunset we'd seen for many days.

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