Text: Peter Johansson
Editing: Christer Lundstedt
Photos: Christer Lundstedt, Peter Johansson
Videos: Christer Lundstedt
Monday 3rd of January
08.36 It's a new week and a normal weekday again here at Hotel Universal Murcia (https://universal-pacoche.es). It's a day when we should pack our things and move on to a new city.
10.01 We have enjoyed the best breakfast of the trip so far. Again we were at the neighbouring Hotel Pacoche to eat it. I hope that the next breakfast will be in the same building that we sleep in.
10.32 Now we have given a new arrival time to our next hotel. A change of plans and new bus tickets means that we will arrive earlier than we expected. According to the original plan we would travel in the evening but now it will be during the day instead.
11.21 After a walk with a bench stop halfway we are now at the bus station, Estación de Autobuses Murcia. A small information screen assisted us when the big one failed. Now we know the right platform for our bus. Now all that remains is for it to arrive as well.
11.34 The bus showed up and now our journey towards Andalusia has begun. It should take about three hours. Again we travel with ALSA (https://www.alsa.es). It feels familiar and safe.
11.43 Once again we roll over asphalt. New Spanish soil is to be seen. When did I get used to the face mask? Before I go home?
13.01 We are now in Vera and the upcoming accommodation in Almería has accepted the changed time for our check-in. We travel through the driest area of Spain. It is visible through the bus window.
14.01 Our bus trip has been fast. We roll into Almería significantly earlier than the timetable says. Recently we saw Estadio Municipal de los Juegos Mediterráneos, a sports arena where the Mediterranean Games took place in 2005. It is a sporting event for countries in Europe, Asia and Africa that have coasts towards the Mediterranean Sea. Nowadays the stadium is used by the football team UD Almería who have good opportunities to step up in the top league La Liga. At the moment they are at the top of La Liga 2.
16.49 We have walked through the city and seen quite a lot. In addition to beautiful buildings and some churches, we have seen a branch of Carl's Jr, a hamburger chain that delighted and fed us in California two years ago. We have it as a reserve option in case we don't find any good dinner restaurant tonight. Now we are in the square of Almería Cathedral. The square is called Plaza de la Catedral and the official name of the cathedral is Catedral de la Encarnación de Almería. Built in the 16th century, the cathedral was used both as a religious building and as a fortification. One could take shelter there when pirates attacked the city.
21.12 We may eat the good meat later in another place. Now the priority is that we find a dinner meal in the appropriate distance from the hotel. Time to go out for a while.
Tuesday 4th of January
At the bus station in Murcia.
We are on our way to Almería.
Ohtels Gran Hotel Almería.
Plaza de las Velas with its Ferris wheel.
Majestic views from our balcony.
View of the port in Almería. From here there are ferries to Morocco and Algeria.
From our apartment floor we have this beautiful view of western Almería.
Christer is heading to Café Colombia.
Late lunch or just a coffee stop at Café Colombia.
Calle Navarro Rodrigo, Almería.
Educational sign in Almería.
A parking sign destroys the image of the church Parroquia de San Pedro Apóstol.
Catedral de la Encarnación de Almería.
Nicolás Salmerón Park. Here the tree roots control urban planning.
Craft Specialty Coffee in Almería.
Coffee and Tortita at Craft.
Peter is having dinner at La Gran Muralla.
It is night in Almería.
00.17 It is already Tuesday but we are still sitting here on our balcony. A warm jacket is needed but it is peaceful to sit here and look at the view towards the city. We have talked a bit about possible future trips and enjoyed our tasteful beers. It is now, however, time to sleep.
09.01 I'm late with the first journal note this morning. It is vacation, so what? It's a cloudy morning in sunny Spain. We are getting ready for yet another regrouping. 10.04 We are back from a great breakfast room with a wide range. There was excessive efficiency on the part of the staff. They were quick to remove plates and cutlery. Christer's knife disappeared before he finished eating. 10.38 The bus tickets for tomorrow were booked and paid for. Now it will be a little rest before today's tickets are to be used. 11.10 We have checked out from Ohtels Gran Hotel Almería and moved a bit on foot. Once again we are at a bus station waiting for a transport. The name of this transport hub is Estación Intermodal de Buses y Trenes. Out there, the sun has found its way from behind the clouds, but there is still no heat to write about. 11.29 It's +13˚C out there. Inside the bus it is warmer, but not hot at all. People of different ages, genders and ethnicities are present. However, I have no idea what it is like with their sexual orientation and alcohol habits.
The old fortress La Alcazaba de Almería could be seen from our hotel.
The sun is trying to get through the clouds in Almería.
Today's bus is ready to take us west.
"The plastic sea" west of Almería.
Plaza Cantarero, Nerja.
Hostal La Ermita in Nerja. We will stay one night here.
11.38 We are on our way again. Guess which bus company? Yes, of course, it is ALSA who drives us today. The journey goes straight west along the Costa del Sol, The Sun Coast.
12.09 We update ourselves among news and sports results. The final resultat in the women's Tour de Ski in cross-country skiing is Natalia Nepreajeva, Russia in first place. Ebba Andersson, Sweden, will be second and Heidi Weng, Norway, third. We ourselves have reached the bus station in El Ejido. 12.18 El Ejido is the capital of the area known as "the plastic Sea". Satellite images show that the area is completely white. The white is plastic greenhouses and here is the largest concentration of greenhouses in the world, 26,000 hectares. Millions of tons of vegetables are exported from here to other European countries and other parts of the world. 13.30 The bus now makes a stop in Motril. We have traveled along the Mediterranean to get here. 14.17 We are in the cozy little town of Almuñecar. It is hard for the bus to get here. The Costa del Sol has many lovely little resorts to stay in or to visit. 14.46 The bus stopped along the way in the town of Nerja. We had to unload our backpacks standing in the middle of the street. Now it's off to the accommodation here in town. How many times have we not done just that? Nerja is a popular tourist destination along the Costa del Sol. There are 21,018 inhabitants here. 15.27 After a lot of waiting we finally got to check in at Hostal La Ermita (https://www.hostallaermita.es). Christer called for attention several times and spoke several times with the staff at the bar in the restaurant belonging to the guesthouse. However, it took time before an elderly lady appeared. Breakfast tomorrow starts late, only at half past eight. Then we are in the bus or at least ready to go there. In other words, we have to buy our own breakfast for tomorrow morning.
Peter is waiting to check in at La Ermita.
Nice to have our own balcony.
Signs of Sweden in Nerja.
Christer at Café Paris in Nerja.
Ayuntamiento de Nerja, the town hall.
The church Parroquia El Salvador in central Nerja.
16.16 We have left our room and our guesthouse. Now we are out to look around the town. There will be a late lunch at Café Paris. Haven't we been to a Café Paris before? We have been in many places over the years. The Swedish bank, Swedbank has an office for its real estate agency in the city. There are many Swedes who have houses and apartments here on the Costa del Sol.
16.49 We have, via Via Calle Granada approached the central parts of the city. Nerja is a quiet and cozy town with low buildings. 17.02 In the Plaza de España square there are a number of bouncy castles in different shapes and designs. One with a Christmas theme has two moose painted on it. Otherwise, it is Christmas themed with Santa Claus and music on the same theme here on the square. Maybe Santa in Spain isn't drawn by a reindeer, but by an elk? Who knows? 17.10 We left Plaza de España via the town hall and have now reached the heart of the city, Casco Antiguo (Old Town). There are a lot of people moving around here, most of them of foreign origin. A special carriage with costumed people has just rolled away. We didn't really get to see what it was all about but it could be connected to the upcoming twelfth night. 17.17 Here at the beautiful viewpoint Balcón de Europa there are other Swedish speakers. We are on an artificial cape, like a pier into the sea. 18.01 On the way home we passed crowds of tourists and several possible dinner restaurants and a supermarket. In one of the previous ones we will probably have dinner. In one of the latter we will buy tomorrow's breakfast. The men's Tour de Ski was won by Johannes Hösflot Kläbo from Norway. With the victory in the entire tour, Kläbo now has a total of 47 World Cup victories. That's more than any other male skier of all time. That's impressive for a 25-year-old.
A Christmas tree has been undressed at the Balcón de Europa.
Beautiful sea views in Nerja.
Christer by the Mediterranean.
Two men on Balcón de Europa.
The sun is hiding behind the clouds.
Beautiful street decorations on Calle Antonio Millón.
19.02 Now it's time to leave the room to go out and make provisions. We also need to find a place where we can get as far from hungry as possible.
19.17 A short walk has taken us to the Mercadona grocery store. Between the shop and our guest house we saw the beautifully lit church of the Ermita de Nuestra Señora de las Angustias. It was built in 1720. 20.23 Once again, an AC system has come to our rescue in a room. This time it doesn't cool us down, it warms us. Spanish stone houses can get really cold in wintertime. 21.02 Well, I guess we are ready to go out. Christer and I both have the feeling that we will fly home tomorrow. But we don't. It may be all the Swedes we have seen and heard that in some way influenced us mentally. 21.12 We don't have the stamina to go all the way to the restaurants we saw earlier tonight. Instead we head towards Parque Plaza de los Cangrejos down by the sea. There should be some good options there. 21.36 On our city walk we passed cars from Luxembourg, Poland, Spain and Sweden. The first restaurant, an Italian, L'Antica Nonna Mia was closed. Now we have instead ordered our dinners at the neighbouring Restaurant Bamboo Nerja (https://www.restaurantebamboonerja.com). Entering the restaurant, we heard The Scorpions "Still loving you". It's one of my absolute favourites. In addition, we, or more precisely I, got olives. Now we have ordered. 22.47 After coffee and payment we went home in a windy evening weather. Well, we had the dinners before. For me it was grilled entrecote, vegetables, 0.5 litres of beer and coffee for $24. Thank you. Christer chose a dish consisting of giant meatballs in almond sauce. 23.35 A day on the Costa del Sol has passed. Now sleep remains in a cool room before the next day begins.
Christer is eating meatballs at Bamboo Restaurant.
Restaurant Bamboo Nerja.
Wednesday 5th of January
06.37 Now we are scheduled for Covid test in Seville at 13.40 on the 7th of January. We have to show a negative test to be able to fly home with a connecting flight in Portugal. The consequences of the pandemic continue to plague us in various forms.
07.44 We have had the tests confirmed. Next thing connected to them is to fill in data in an app. We'll do that later today. We are not allowed to eat, drink or smoke 30 minutes before the tests. Next thing for us in this room in Nerja will be a bedside breakfast. In a little over an hour we will go by bus from here. 08.18 Now we are probably pretty ready to go. There are seats on a bus that we want. 08.44 It is a bit chilly today. We are back at the bus stop where we got off the bus that brought us here. 08.56 Now it's time to go by bus again. There will be no long distance bus this time. It looks more like a local bus. The destination of this trip is Málaga which we visited in December 2015. 09.53 There is varying speed on our bus. On the highway, the speed is OK. The bus slow down inside villages, towns, getting slightly slower. Now there are 34 kilometres left. 10.34 We are back at the bus station in Málaga. The city is Spain's sixth largest and Andalusia's second largest. It has a population of 571,026. It's been a couple of years since we last were here. In fact, it's almost on the day 6 years since then. We had spent some nights here. Here and around we will spend some time before the next trip begins. 11.17 We have walked to the nearby railway station Málaga Maria Zambrano. After a bit of searching in the station building for the café we wanted to visit, we realized that it seems to be adjacent to the railway track and is only possible to reach if you have a ticket and are going to go by train. We went to the Orient Express Café instead. Christer is ordering and then it's my turn. 11.55 After chewing, slurping and swallowing the purchased things, we are now out in the fresh air. Now it will be a shorter bench rest.
Peter is waiting for the bus in Nerja.
We have arrived to Málaga bus station.
A coffee stop at Orient Express.
Christer is eating a burger lunch at Carl´s Jr.
A guitarist and some other passengers are waiting for the bus from Comes to depart.
Through the bus windows, we can see Africa and the green hills near the southern tip of Spain.
12.35 Today's lunch will be at the hamburger chain Carl's Jr. It will be a kind of comeback. The chain was visited and greatly appreciated when we were in California two years ago. This branch is on the upper level of the train station and was completely empty of guests before we arrived. Despite this, there was a thorough check of Covid passport before we could come in and order.
13.07 Once again we are very happy with what we were served at Carl's. However, we want to remember that the burgers were of even better quality in Los Angeles. Their strength is the simplicity of the burgers. There is good meat and not so much unnecessary ingredients in the burgers. Carl´s Jr is found in over 40 countries. When and where will the next visit be? 13.28 So, now we sit on another bus. We have received two tickets each but hope to avoid changing buses in Algeciras. Today we travel with the company Comes (https://www.tgcomes.es). However, the tickets were purchased from Avanza. Sometimes companies help each other on certain routes. 14.14 We roll into the bus station in Marbella. The journey flows comfortably and smoothly. 14.45 After a short while of slow driving, we have stopped in Estepona. 15.40 There was, thankfully, no bus change in Algeciras. The second ticket probably only applied to part two of our bus trip. Just before we got here to Algeciras we got to see the Gibraltar cliff again, this time in the sunshine. However, there will be no visit today. We were there just before New Year 2015. 15.51 We follow the coast. Here where it is the waters of the Atlantic that we can see, the grass is green and the Strait of Gibraltar is narrow. On the other side is Africa. It is the coast of Morocco that is clearly visible. 16.03 We have dropped off passengers in the town of Tarifa, a popular destination for surfers. The city is called Europe's wind capital. It has 18,169 inhabitants. 16.20 Wind turbines rise on both sides of the road. The green landscape continues. 16.45 Osborne, the legendary bull profile, has once again been captured in the image of Christer.17.17 The bus sneaks through the long, narrow city of Cádiz. I want to arrive. 17.39 We have arrived to Cádiz. After leaving the bus station, we passed a city wall and then observed closed streets waiting for someone or something. Cádiz with 114,244 inhabitants is the city in Europe that has been inhabited for the longest time uninterrupted. It is a port city built around the year 1100 BC. of the Phoenicians. They called the city Gadir which means fortress. The city has been a very important place in various periods. From here Columbus sailed on his second and fourth voyages and in the 18th century the city was the center of Spanish trade. 17.58 Finally a bench break again. Now we'll see where we´ll walk. We have already paid for the accommodation here. Right now we are along the Paseo de Canalejas.
Puertas de Tierra, Cádiz.
Some streets are closed in Cádiz.
Hotel Francia y París has a fantastic location in the oldest quarters.
Plaza San Francisco, Cádiz.
Peter is eating pizza at Mamma Pronto.
Calle Ancha, Cádiz.
18.22 Before entering our hotel, we have temporarily sat down on a bench. One at a time we´ll go into a small kiosk to buy drinks.
18.39 Here in Cádiz we will stay at the Hotel de Francia y París (https://www.hotelfrancia.com) at the cozy little square Plaza San Francisco. The mini bar is empty here in room 407. At check-in, a document was signed with a brand new pen. I was allowed to keep it. It will probably be in service in a future travel journal. 18.54 Now I will try to download the app https://bit.ly/HealthPW. It is recommended that we have it when we do our Covid test in two days. 19.28 Both Christer and I have downloaded the app and filled in some information. I misunderstood when a photo was to be taken. I thought the app was unhappy with the photo. What it said was that if I was dissatisfied with the photo, a new one would be taken. 20.02 Our bodies need rest. It has been a long day with a lot of hours on the bus. It will be a quiet evening. 21.03 Now that evening drinks and associated snacks have been purchased at the tiny little supermarket DIA Market, we will go and eat the evening's dinner. 21.26 At the small Italian restaurant Mamma Pronto we will drink wine and eat pizza. I have to be careful when I write. It's an unstable table. 22.33 There were good ingredients on a thin and hard-baked bottom, but it was at least a good wine. 23.41 Pictures from today's festivities around the three kings are shown on TV. So these are the ones we at home in Sweden call the three wise men. We drink an El Aguila beer and eat Spanish ham. A new day begins soon.
You can see 69 photos from January 3 in this photoalbum.
You can see 88 photos from January 4 in this photoalbum.
You can see 47 photos from January 5 in this photoalbum.