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Off to the South 2021/22
  • Gina Steiner
  • Gina Steiner

Off to the South 2021/22

Ein 52-Tage Abenteuer von Gina Weiterlesen
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  • Beginn der Reise
    23. Dezember 2021
    Gina SteinerOff to the South 2021/22Reisender

    Reinbek, Germany

    7. Dezember 2021 in Deutschland ⋅ ☁️ 1 °C

    yesterday we decided on the destination of our next trip - i need to see some sun ☀️. our first idea was the canary island but due to the recent rise in incidence rates we do not want to go by ferry or fly. so we will go by car 🚌 and stay on the european mainland. we will not take the big red „don’t panic“ fire truck but the ordinary vw bus. first we will go to my hometown in black forest, then to france and then direction costa del sol in spain.
    we will leave right before x-mas and do not know when we will return - maybe end of january, maybe end of febuary - we will see…
    so: same procedure as every trip, it starts with drawing the postcard 🤪 - i think it turned out pretty well…    Weiterlesen

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  • Gina SteinerOff to the South 2021/22Reisender

    Reinbek, Germany

    23. Dezember 2021 in Deutschland ⋅ ❄️ 0 °C

    actually we planned to leave today but since it is such a nice snowy ❄️ day today and i had my booster shot 💉yesterday, and my brother needs another day for his mother-in-law, we decided to slow down, pack our stuff veeeeeeery slowly, watch the snow falling on the trees 🌲, drink some tee 🫖 and sit by the fire 🔥. so we will enjoy a last day of snow today, before we leave for the south tomorrow morning.
    i‘m glad that we decided to avoid anything with humans 🤪, so our own bus 🚌 and our own apartment 🏠 at the sea it is…. fortunately it is veeeeeery well equipped, so we can bring our grain and bake our fresh full grain sourdough bread as usually - well and deploy my hammock for sure 🙃.    Weiterlesen

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  • Gina SteinerOff to the South 2021/22Reisender

    Markgräflerland, Germany

    25. Dezember 2021 in Deutschland ⋅ 🌧 8 °C

    first stop „markgräflerland“ - my home area… it’s a region in the southwest of germany, in the south of baden-württemberg, located between the breisgau in the north and the black forest in the east; adjacent to west with france and in the south with switzerland.
    we stay at my brothers place and today is about chilling, chatting, making music, cooking wild bore and enjoying time with my wonderful brother and sister in law. i love them very much and we are best friends. in fact my sister in law and i used to be best friend since and when we where young - until she met me brother at least 🤪. i’m so grateful that i have this easy going family situation… another thing which i love when i’m here is, that i can speak my native language. if you’re interested in more information about the markgräflerland have a look here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markgräflerland    Weiterlesen

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  • Gina SteinerOff to the South 2021/22Reisender

    Kreuzeiche, Ottwangen, Germany

    29. Dezember 2021 in Deutschland ⋅ 🌧 7 °C

    the last 5 days where quite an odyssey ⛵️🗺… we went back to hamburg because my brother tested positive on covid and we put ourselves in quarantine for 5 days. since we’re still negative we’re now on the road again - ❤️ thanx to our booster 💉! (thanx to my family doctor, who managed to get a lot of vaccines organized before x-mas and thanx to lauterbach, who orders vaccines like a maniac…)
    so tonight was our last night in germany and we picked a place i know since i was a child 👧 . it’s named after a very old oak 🪵 - now dead, only the stump is left. it’s a great place to start hikes and if you are around and need a place to stay over night with your caravan 🚌 (and maybe want to enjoy hiking in the very south of black forest 🌲) - i definitely recommend this place! but we only enjoyed the calm forest over night and our daily tea 🍵 routine in the morning before we left direction france. but for sure we passed by my favorite italian store for some arancini, cannoli, cartocci and a good coffee ☕️❤️. so now we’re already in france and soon i will start to look for croissants 🥐 🤪.    Weiterlesen

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  • Gina SteinerOff to the South 2021/22Reisender
    2

    Lavaur, France

    30. Dezember 2021 in Frankreich ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    first information first… my appetite for croissant is satisfied for the time being 🤪 - and since we drive along country roads, we can easily stop for coffee ☕️ , croissants 🥐 and all the other wonderful french stuff ❤️ (what we did of course). it’s quite a while ago i drove along rhone valley ⛰ and once again i thought: what a wonderful world, which i immediately discarded as we passed through clermont-ferrand during rush hour. what a disaster… usually the french really know how to build roundabouts but i guess in clermont-ferrand they gave the job of road planning obviously to a surrealist. i went down on my knees and thanked the spaghetti 🍝 monster when we finally managed to get through and found a nice place at a lake to stay over night.
    the next morning i was really looking forward to the next section of the route, because i know this area pretty well from cave diving, wonderful hills, valleys and clouds - but have a look yourself.    Weiterlesen

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  • Gina SteinerOff to the South 2021/22Reisender

    Reus, Spain

    31. Dezember 2021 in Spanien ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    yesterday we passed through some awesome landscapes and around montpellier we hit „summer“ ☀️, so i threw away my shoes and pulled out my flip flops and my dress 👗 - shortly after that we reached the mediterranean sea. it was a great feeling driving barefoot overlooking the snow-capped peaks of the pyrenees, not to mention to pass through them near the coast - did i already tell you, that i love driving country roads - ❤️ serpentines ❤️❤️❤️.
    the funny thing was, that right after we passed the spanish border, it started to stink - smoke all over. i have to research this, but it looks like everybody is burning 🔥 their garden waist between xmas and new year - literally *everybody* and the valleys were filled with smoke. i did not mind the wonderful clouds filling the valleys (luckily i didn't have to go to), not to mention the wonderful orange sunset 🌅, painting a beautiful silhouette on the dark orange sky for over an hour… BUT for over 3 hours spain stank… 🤮.

    in the evening we found a very calm place to stay over night. on the way there the cooler water started to boil and we recognized that both 50 amp fuses of the radiator fan broke down. the ones in the engine compartment… i did not even know that there are 50 amp fuses there… and they look very archaic.
    we bridged them with wire, checked the engine and after that…
    …grilled our merguez and enjoyed some red wine and gin tonic. aaaaaand this morning the sun ☀️ woke us up ❤️❤️❤️.

    so now we‘re driving next to orange 🍊 plantations and we already have 3 kilos in our trunk - i’m happy that we bought a juicer 🧃on the way. before sunset 🌅 we will arrive at our apartment and we also have some shrimps 🦐 in the trunk - ready for our new years eve dinner…    Weiterlesen

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  • Gina SteinerOff to the South 2021/22Reisender

    So this is 2022, Spain

    1. Januar 2022 in Spanien ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    so this is how the new year feels like... scampi-mania 🦐 , yoga 🧘, walking along the beach ⛱️, sitting in the sun 🌞 and listening to the birds 🐦. hmmmm... i think this sounds kind of ok-ish... 😜 for the next 2 days. after that i think i'm going to keep at least the yoga and the sun 😁.Weiterlesen

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  • Gina SteinerOff to the South 2021/22Reisender

    Zombieland, San Javier, Spain

    2. Januar 2022 in Spanien ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    in the morning, especially yesterday on the 1st of january, this area feels like in an apocalyptic zombie movie. fog all over and empty abandoned houses. when you walk between them you have this queasy feeling, a zombie would stagger out between the houses, hands raised and "brain" stammering. fortunately, the fog soon clears and the few other people (mostly spanish) who are also here, turn up the music, sit in the sun or go fishing. in short: we did not meet a zombie yet... but who knows, we still have some weeks left over...Weiterlesen

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  • Gina SteinerOff to the South 2021/22Reisender

    Parque Regional de Calblanque, Spain

    3. Januar 2022 in Spanien ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    calblanque regional park is a regional park in the south-east of spain, near murcia. it is part of sierra minera, a mountain chain in the baetic system. it is one of the best preserved areas in the mediterranean littoral in spite of human activities and interactions.
    in regards of its geology: there are the most ancient rocks in the region of murcia and the most recent ones, which are altered by sundry erosion processes. there are plants like cistus heterophyllus (close to hoary rockrose), asparagus macrorrhizus (close to blue funnel-lilies), lotus creticus, sea hollies and pallenis maritimae (close to common cudweeds). there are also a lot of different birds, fish and reptiles.
    today we visited the beach and checked the situation since we plan to come back for some hikes…    Weiterlesen

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  • Gina SteinerOff to the South 2021/22Reisender
    2

    Las Encañizadas, Spain

    4. Januar 2022 in Spanien ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    this morning we went for a short hike in the parque natural de las salinas and found "las encañizadas". the "encañizada de la torre" and the "encañizada del ventorrillo" are located next to the islets of the same name in the municipality of san javier.
    encañizada is a way of artisanal fishing used in coastal lagoons. it is based on the migration habits of some fish. they travel between the mediterranean sea and its lagoons. the art of this way of fishing consists of forming circular labyrinths in which the fish enter but do not leave; these labyrinths are built with rods and nets. in this way it is possible to capture some species such as gilthead seabream, mullet and (in lesser quantities) sand steenbras and sole. it's a system that is very localized and selective with the species. this form of fishing is quite old, there is already evidence of its use by the arabs in the middle ages.
    "las encañizadas" lay on the limits of the natural area of salinas and arenales de san pedro del pinatar, between the mar menor and the mediterranean sea. they are the only two that remain installed in spain. in the mediterranean sea there are others - in the bardawil lagoon, off the coast of egypt.
    and not only we detected this art of fishing, but read more in the next entry...    Weiterlesen

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  • Gina SteinerOff to the South 2021/22Reisender
    2

    Flamingos, Spain

    4. Januar 2022 in Spanien ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

    yesterday i saw flamingos from the street, which of course i had to get to the bottom of today...
    so we went for a short hike in "las encañizadas" (see other entry) this morning - and found the flamingos. of course they stay here because the fish in "las encañizadas" are presented as if they were on a buffet.
    flamingos are found in south, central and north america as well as europe, africa and southwest asia. the only representative of the order whose natural range extends to europe is the greater flamingo (rosaflamingo in german). it occurs on the atlantic coast of spain and portugal as well as along the coastal area of ​​the mediterranean and on some mediterranean islands. so these are "rosaflamingos" 🦩.
    fun fact: while flamingos require muscle strength to stand on two legs, they can balance on one leg with minimal effort. when one leg is lifted, the body's center of gravity shifts over the other leg. an additional "locking mechanism" provides the necessary stability so that balancing on one leg is possible even while sleeping. in theory, this mechanism also works when the bird is dead.
    i think i could use this for yoga... 🤔    Weiterlesen

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  • Gina SteinerOff to the South 2021/22Reisender
    32

    Cabo de Palos, Spain

    5. Januar 2022 in Spanien ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    today is a windy day so what else but to pay hommage to the weather gods. so we went to cabo de palos. it is a cape and part of the "reserva marina de cabo de palos e Islas hormigas". it is also part of a small range of volcanic mounts that form a small peninsula. the mediterranean islands of grosa and the group known as the hormigas islands are part of this range, as well as the islands in the mar menor. the name "palos" is derived from the latin word palus, meaning lagoon. its lighthouse began operating on January 31, 1865.
    this area has quite a history... according to pliny the elder (4 – 79 ad) and rufus festus avienus (4th century ad), there was once a temple dedicated to baal hammon (weather god and chief god of carthage) on the promontory of the cape, which later became associated with the cult of saturn.
    and now i know why we went there today, during this stormy weather...    Weiterlesen

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  • Gina SteinerOff to the South 2021/22Reisender

    Mar Menor, Spain

    6. Januar 2022 in Spanien ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    today we went to las encañizadas for a short hike, like the day before yesterday. this time i was more interested in the mar menor. it's an interesting place here, on one side the mediterranean sea, on the other side the mar menor and the land bridge between is only about 300 meters wide (at least where we stay). the mar menor is a coastal saltwater lagoon and means "smaller sea" - the mediterranean sea is also called mar mayor ("larger sea") in the region. with a surface area of 135 km2, a coastal length of 70 km and warm and clear water no more than 7 metres in depth, it is the largest lagoon in spain. there are five islets located within the lagoon, namely perdiguera islet, mayor or el barón islet, ciervo islet, redonda islet and del sujeto islet. my brother told me that there is a ferry over to the main land and now i have a new plan...Weiterlesen

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  • Gina SteinerOff to the South 2021/22Reisender

    Collados Beach, Spain

    8. Januar 2022 in Spanien ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    the collados beach club is located at the very end of the land bridge between mar menor and the mediterranean sea. three sides are surrounded by sand, dunes and/or ocean. it's closed in winter and it was a great adventure to stroll around the abandoned area. in summer it's a relax area during the day and a fun area at night. it has a great architecture and is characterized by round shapes which fit perfectly into the dunes. i would say: optically perfectly integrated into the environment. i also love that the beach around is not a perfect sand beach but more a wild beach ❤️. nevertheless i guess i would not go there in summer 😜.Weiterlesen

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  • Gina SteinerOff to the South 2021/22Reisender

    Market Cabo de Palos, Spain

    9. Januar 2022 in Spanien ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    today we went visiting the weekly market in cabo de palos - you might know i love markets! and i always buy too much fruit or vegetables. but since the bananas and mangos are soooooo tasty here i assume they won’t get old 🤪. it’s a really big market and apart from fresh meat and fresh fish you can buy everything there. like *everything*, you can also mix your own perfume there. but since we‘re mainly interested in the local food, this is what we go for…
    so remember when you are around here: every sunday from 8 to 14.    Weiterlesen

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  • Gina SteinerOff to the South 2021/22Reisender

    Churros, Cabo de Palos, Spain

    10. Januar 2022 in Spanien ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    yesterday at the market we ate churros, which are iberian pastries. these "long dognuts" or spritz bisquits with a star-shaped cross-section are made from choux pastry, deep-fried in hot oil and sprinkled with sugar. often served as chocolate con churros, they are common not only in spain and portugal, but also in latin america, the US southwest, and the philippines. the origin of the churros is said to go back to a chinese breakfast dish. portuguese traders are said to have imported it to europe, added sugar and given it its star-shaped cross-section. i like them best without anything 😋😋😋Weiterlesen

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  • Gina SteinerOff to the South 2021/22Reisender

    Morning Walk, Spain

    12. Januar 2022 in Spanien ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    every morning we go for a walk of round about 1 - 1,5 hours and i could really get used to it. although it's januay and not that warm in the shadow, it's warm in the sun ☀️ and wonderful to walk in the sea, listening to the waves 🌊. i'm so lucky ❤️❤️❤️Weiterlesen

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  • Gina SteinerOff to the South 2021/22Reisender

    Flower Power, Spain

    13. Januar 2022 in Spanien ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    i love flowers, i assume you might already know that. everywhere i stroll around i look for flowers (also for birds and all kind of animals). the bird-thing is an easy task here but wild flowers in january... this is not *that* easy... but i found some ❤️🌺🌻🌼Weiterlesen

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