We woke on Sunday, at the beginning of the long journey back to Granada. We had decided to fulfill two goals on the way back, one to go to Portugal, and the second to camp in the mountains. Therefore, we left Santiago shortly after first light, and headed south into the land of the Portuguese.
We met some problems along this part of our trip, as all roads were of the tolling type, and we were charged the outrageous price of 8 euros per hour of time on the toll road. Eventually we reached our first stopping point of the day, Porto. Porto, (sometimes Oporto) is a beautiful city on the river Douro in northern Portugal. It is very large, the second largest city in Portugal, and it is built on hills around the river, within sight of the Atlantic Ocean. We were only in Porto for two hours, but I decided when I was there, that I have to go back some day. The city has many things to offer, boat tours, beautiful beaches within a close proximity, a very cool old and new city, and great views.
In two hours we were able to do a short walking tour and it left a big impression on me. Before we left the city I had one of the highlights of my trip as I spoke to a man, where our common language was Spanish, as he natively spoke Portuguese, and myself English, but we met with the Spanish. I was able to find out what types of meats that he was selling that were good to eat without cooking, and he received my business at his grocery.
After this we went back to our car, and on the way it finally hit me that it was fall. In Granada, we have only had a few “cold” days so far in these first five weeks. Most of these cold days being around 75-80 degrees. Then as I traveled to Galicia the weather was cold and rainy, but it seemed more like the climate, not the season, as everything was still vividly green. Porto though, it seemed like it was October. The leaves were just starting to change on some trees that I saw, and the weather had a crisp feel about it, although it was still very warm out. I just finally realized, summer no more.
Anyways, after this realization, we left the city, and headed south and then west over the mountains and back to Spain. As we headed west away from the coast, it was incredible to see how soon after the mountains the area changed from lush green to arid and brown, much like the rest of central Spain. Along this time I had my second great experience in Portugal as I spoke to another man in Spanish to find a gas station, as we were running low. We did get screwed over though, as gas in Portugal was 1.40 euros a liter, while in Spain it is 1.12 a liter (about $6 a gallon). After entering Spain, I once more used my cartography skills to cut off a large chunk of driving time so we could reach the city of Bejar and camp. This cut, was to go over the mountains, on a very squiggly road. The road turned out to be very turn turn turn, and less fun than we had both hoped, but we arrived in Bejar about an hour later, just as the sun was setting. We then headed up the mountain looking for a campground, but we could not find any, and eventually I had the idea to follow a trail and camp off of it. The trail ended a little early, and eventually we just decided to camp in a clearing. All was well, and the tent was up before dusk came over the area. Just as all was settled and as I sat in the tent ready to fall asleep, I heard a dog bark in the distance. Then another. Then another. It seemed that there was an all dog alert going on that night, or some kind of twilight bark, because the dogs kept barking for the next three hours as I tried to sleep. I feel like I heard at least 200 different dogs bark. These dogs were close and far in distance, and some seemed to come closer and closer as time went on. This definitely didn’t help ease my mind at all, but eventually I fell asleep. Then a few hours later, I woke up to dogs barking again. Then I went back to sleep, and woke up at dawn. All was well. We packed up the tent and headed back to the car. I felt happy that we had made it through the night, not that they were wild dogs, but after a while, you never know. 
We headed out of town early, and then drove south, stopping a few hours later for food.
After the stop, I, yes, I took over at the wheel, my first time driving on the open roads of Spain. I can’t say that I am really what you would call good at driving a Manual, but I can get the job done. I do have some problems going into first gear, and then going from second gear to first, but once I get out and driving on interstates, I am in my prime. So for two hours I was great, then we hit the city of Sevilla, and traffic came to a standstill. Then, I stalled the car a few times as traffic picked back up. This frustration from the horns of the other cars caused me to tell Shawn that a Chinese Fire Drill was necessary, and so he took over at the wheel, and we headed out of town. Once we got out of town, I took back over, and we headed towards Granada. This section of the road, and of Andalucia was all very similar, with low mountains, plains and olive tree after olive tree. It is beautiful and yet repetitious. Near Granada, in the large valley that is supposedly next to the city, I failed to see any flatness, as we passed hill after hill before reaching the area near the city. These hills were far bigger than anything that the Midwest has to offer, and it showed me what I really know about reading maps.
As we reached Granada, Shawn took the wheel once more, and we headed for the rent-a-car locale, only to find that it was closed for another 45 minutes for lunch. The time was 415 to put it in perspective. At 445 an employee returned, and we were able to hand back over our baby, the picanto. We then went separate ways, after what had been quite an adventure. Six days on the road. Five of these days we had been driving. One day on a hostel floor. Three days in a bucket seat, two reclined. One day on a mountain, in a tent. No showers.
One reason why I speak so highly of the Picanto is because we averaged 38 mpg during the trip, which was awesome. In total I only spent $285. Of that almost 160 had gone to gas, the car rental, and tolls. Most of the rest was split between the hostel we had to pay for and food. The food that we ate on a day to day basis was a Spanish baguette, then salami/ham/chicken as the meat of the sandwich, cheese, and then some vegetable, fruits including oranges, yogurt, and other things that were really inexpensive. I really can’t say why we spent so little on this trip, but sometimes I think it is necessary to see a different way of living, although I don’t see myself doing it again. Now I have more money for a future trip, and I find that very satisfying. It was a trip I will never forget. I have trips planned to Sevilla, Barcelona, and Paris in the next few weeks, but I can already tell that a few of the cities we visited on this trip are some of my favorite I have ever been to, in particular Salamanca and Porto.
It was a journey there and back. Along the way I learned how to survive, in a car, but much more than survive, I learned how to take to the road in Europe, something that I will always remember.
Epilogue: The weather is now fluctuating in Granada on a daily basis. At first it was much colder and it seemed that fall had taken root here as well. The trees though are not changing colors at all, but the elements were difficult for all of us, as we were expecting much warmer weather for at least a few more weeks. After these few days of terrible weather, we are now back to highs in the 80s and plenty of sun. I now know that you can never underestimate the weather of Granada. Second, there is snow on the mountaintops. It is a beautiful view as I go on rides to look up and see mountains dusted with snow. Lastly, I must confess that my computer died after I had finished writing this 4 part report, and I lost most of what I had originally written, which caused some frustration. This is a much more condensed version, so think about that one. I can also say that I would have had this up much sooner, but I had many other errors with my computer. Thank you for reading about the trip.
Here is a map of the trip:
2 comments:
the map puts it in pretty good perspective. I did not realize you traveled so far. What was your total milage?
-spunky
2400 - 2500 kilometers. so like 1500 miles probably. maybe more. we drove probably 12-13 hours both ways i would say.
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