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Diapers & Detours
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  • Marnie Elisabeth
  • Nickels

Diapers & Detours

Our first trip as parents.
The apartment is rented out for the next three to four months and we’re back in our home on wheels. Let’s see where those wheels will take us! Read more
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  • Diapers & Detours
    No ugly street lamps in Spain!Was steeper than it looks

    Granada

    May 11–13 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    We like you!
    Granada seems to be a nice city we could spend so much more time in. We explored everything by foot as the city has quite some steep hills*. The first day we spent walking around the old town and then up the hill to the Alhambra. Since you have to have tickets weeks in advance we “only” walked through the parts available to the public; but I think that was just the right amount. We made our way back to the van and went to a nice overnight stop just north of Granada.
    The next day we decided to spend some more time here Nick and Jaro explored the old quarters of Albaicin and Sacromonte while I worked for a bit.
    Unfortunately (here comes the *) our beloved Cruise (🚐 ) had some trouble while parking im the morning (we’re still not 100 % sure what it was) and luckily he magically fixed himself while we were out to explore. And yes, we were super nervous the whole day. The street we parked in was super steep and all three of us were relieved once we got back to driving.    Read more

  • Diapers & Detours

    Damn!

    May 10–11 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    We arrived late, stopped here and had a beautiful spot to wake up. Nick and Jaro went for a walk along the damn while I worked a bit. Then we made our way into the city of Granada.

  • Diapers & Detours
    Just before the highest too accessible by car - only 10°C and windy

    Sierra Nevada

    May 10 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 5 °C

    For some reason I never think of mountains when hearing “Sierra Nevada”. I hope from now on I will remember; since this is the highest mountain range in Spain (just some meters above the altitude of the Pyrenees).
    We decided to take a detour from Cabo de Gata to Granada and took the scenic route.
    Hidden behind one of the first hills a valleys appears which is obviously part of the “mar del plastico”; so many vegetable farms! We got a little more curious to when we saw them last and got to know that most of them are actually small private farms making it look a lot more “patchy”. Many people work here during harvest season coming not only from Europe, but also Africa and Asia. Already yesterday driving through the first bit of farm land we wondered if there is enough water for all these plants and - surprise! - there is not. But this is a whole other story.
    Back to more natural scenery.
    It’s so astonishing: all those flowers in quite dry landscapes and then, just behind the other mountain it is lush green. All of this crowned in the background by snowy peaks of the Sierra Nevada. We drove through the Alpujarra, a picturesque region with a some pretty white towns, unfortunately known their smoked ham) to the highest point reachable by car - Jaros first time ever > 2.000 m above sea level. We were in the clouds!
    And although it is only a three hour drive it took us nearly a day. But! We went for a little hike eventually just at the end. There was some rain recently and some landslides, but we managed and it felt great to move after all this driving. Ending the day in Pampameira - a cute little town within the mountains - we were super happy we took this detour.    Read more

  • Diapers & Detours
    There were so many of these - it liked like a agave-forrest!
    22Beginning of the "mar plastico"All the grey in the back is vegetable farms

    Another surprise

    May 8 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    And another recommendation! A friend of ours traveled around here just last year and told me “go to Cabo de Gata”. Little did I know it was a whole national park (I thought of it as a town on the sea - which it also is). So while driving towards the town along the coastline we stumbled upon the entry of this national park! I already found some interesting looking beaches on google maps before that I thought we might stop, but wasn’t aware of them being in the park.
    While driving there we took some back roads leading us through beautiful scenery, but also (as we got to know later) the first of many large vegetable fields. It sounds way more romantic that it is, because all of them are in, well, not growing houses, but some plastic-fabric-constructions to keep bugs out, maybe some humidity in. This area is also known as “mar de plastico” which says a lot I think.
    Seeing this makes me way more aware of where my capsicum comes from and how romanticised food production is. It also makes me value our own veggi garden even more.    Read more

  • Diapers & Detours

    Sea view overnight stop

    May 7–8 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    First, it rained. Then the sun came out and we loved it.

    I got a recommendation by a colleague to stop in Mojácar. The town itself is on a mountain, but spreads out down to the sea. It was beautiful to drive though and find a spot for us to a bit further south to spend the afternoon, night and morning.Read more

  • Diapers & Detours

    Granja La Carmela

    May 5–7 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    After stopping in Elx we went to a campground called Granja La Carmela. It is comparably small, within the mountains, lots of people from the Netherlands (it seemed as if there was some sort of “camper reunion” from some people stopping there every year) and so much mosaic pieces and painted stones (we forgot to take pictures) - very lovely!
    We stayed two nights, relaxed, went shopping at a market and got to know another family from Berlin traveling with their one-year-old. It seemed for both kids super exciting to have another baby / toddler around. 🥰    Read more

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    Elx (pronounced Él-che)

    May 4–5 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    What a surprise you’ve been! We only stopped here because it was on the way and we needed a spot to rest and sleep. Turns out Elx is quite a nice city! We went to have some delicious coffee (at the ”Otherside” cafe), where we met two people being super happy to hear some German (one was a language teacher, the other one just learning German).
    We got to know that Elx is #2 in “highest palm-tree-density within a city” (#1 is supposedly some Arabic city).
    Was a stop - better than expected!    Read more

  • Diapers & Detours
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    Albufera

    May 4 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    Not to be mistaken with “Albufeira” (in Portugal), we spent our day here.
    Albufera means “lagoon” and it is just a bike ride south of Valencia. Jaro and I went be car, Nickels by bike. It is one of the places to escape from the city, especially in Valencia’s summer. Therefore all these small towns seem quite dead at the moment. A bit like “half ghost towns”. Nonetheless it was nice to park within the dunes and enjoy this emptiness.

    Around the lagoon is also where the rice is grown for the Spanish families paella-dish, which is typically consumed on Sundays for lunch (a bit like the “Sunday roast”). Well, we had it on a Monday for lunch - and as we learned on our walking tour: we made a reservation and pre-ordered and shared our paella (you order a paella for the table, not as a single dish). One thing that wasn’t as original as it could get: our paella was with seasonal vegetables instead of rabbit and duck.    Read more

  • Diapers & Detours
    Tallat coffee
    2Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciènces2Former Túria river, now a large park (Jardí seo Túria) around Valencia's old town1Puente de las FloresRoof the central market

    Valenciana, Valencia 🍊

    May 1–4 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    Dear Valencia,
    You grew on us!
    We got an overnight stop recommended by fellow travellers where we arrived around midday. I’m not sure if it was the weather or the big city, but somehow I was a bit sceptic on how we’ll feel here or if it was safe to park the van and leave it all by itself.
    Turns out: great spot to stay for a couple of nights and Valencia is a very enjoyable city!

    All three days we’ve been in Valencia we did a bike tour and as far as we know Jaro likes it (at least no complaints and he even sleeps in his carriage).

    The first tour wasn’t laid out to be that long: we went to get coffee at the Tallat coffee roastery. It didn’t seem far - just the other end of the city’s beach - but it was about 4 km. From there we saw a park on the map that seemed to have bike routes. So we took one of them to go into the old town and check that out a bit. Then we made our way back home. 20 km check!
    The second tour was only to get into old town for our walking tour through the cities most popular ancient sites (7 km there and later back again). The walking tour was worth its time and we really learned a lot about Valencia*!
    The third day we (again) went to have coffee (same place as the first day) and then took a closer look at the Ciutat de les Arts i Ciencias, which turned out to be again about 14 km.
    Valencia has great bike paths and we loved exploring it that way!

    *things we remember from our walking tour through Valencia’s old town
    - the Túria river got redirected to protect the city from flooding ; the former riverbed turned into the park we rode our bikes through the first day (Jardi Túria) - we guess it’s about 10 km park with separate walking-, jogging- and biking lanes & nice fauna
    - Agua de Valencia is far from agua (it contains vodka, gin, cava and orange juice)
    - Paella originates from south of Valencia (see next footprint)
    - Valencia was one end of the Silk Road —> this made the city flourish until around 1492, when “the americas were discovered” and the economic focus shifted west
    - Romans were everywhere —> Valencia was a retirement place for Roman soldiers
    - the Cathedral was originally a Mosque from the Moores, then turned into a church when the city became Christian (the king who turned it catholic didn’t have the money to make it more of a Christian church which is why he looked for investors and all seven families who sponsored the redesign have a picture of themselves a window above one entrance)
    - Valnecias Mercat Central is the biggest indoor market of Europe
    - more than 300 days of sun per year (and most of the rain in October)
    - there are some wild festivities one of them is I think in March when everyone turnes crazy about a week of all-day-fireworks    Read more

  • Diapers & Detours
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    Meereen - or Peñíscola

    Apr 29–May 1 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    Despite the fact that this town (regardless of English or German language) sounds really funny - it has more to offer than you might assume.
    Peñíscola is depicting the city of Meereen in Game of Thrones. It seems like it is built on a peninsula (oh, yes, maybe that’s where the name comes from?) and has a big fort in the middle. The fort and the city’s wall have the same stones and structure, whereas the houses around it look different.
    We arrived in the evening just south of Peñíscola at the entrance of a nature park and spent two beautiful nights at the sea.
    During the day we took our bikes (including the carriage for Jaro) and had a look around the old town. I think we’re (again) lucky to have seen all this during low season. ✨    Read more

  • Diapers & Detours
    Prades
    1Chapel on a rock (Abellera)112

    A small detour

    April 29 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    In Tarragona we met our friend Rike from
    home, who was there for work (what are the chances of that?!). She recommended before heading south to go for a hike in the Muntañes de Prades - so we headed a bit inland. And it was worth the stop!
    Since we were already there the evening before, we enjoyed the drive from Tarres to Prades. In Prades we started our hike - the first hike with Jaro! Around 8 km and 200 m of elevation. Nick had Jaro in the carrier and surprisingly he slept through the whole journey. It was good in a way, but he missed out on lots of beautiful nature views: lime stone mountains, a chapel built on a cliff, forest walks and a big rock with a big whole in it.
    This nature park has also some magnificent water holes and waterfalls which we didn’t get to see on our hike (different route) - and I think it’s more worth visiting after some rain cause it is quite dry here at the moment.

    After hiking we continued our drive through the mountains back down to the coast.    Read more

  • Diapers & Detours
    Tarragona has a huge variety of outstandingly beautiful lanterns
    22Roman amphitheaterRoman aqueaduct Pont del Diable1

    On Ellys footprints

    April 26 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    I never thought about visiting Tarragona - and of anyone had asked I would not have been sure wether to place this town Spain or Australia (the name could be Australian). But my brain somehow remembered that my friend Elly spent a couple of months here while studying. So I asked her what to do. She told me a couple of cultural sights for us to see (which we did) and while wandering through those narrow streets of the old town Nick and I imagined being a student here, exploring the town (and of course night life!). We both decided it would have been something we liked.Read more

  • Diapers & Detours
    1This spot 💕2Breakfast in bed2Jaros first contact with sand2

    Two - or more - nights here

    Apr 23–28 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    This spot ended up to be better than expected.
    We’ve spent two nights at the campground, plus in total three more nights in this area (two on the parking lot next to Las Salinas Camping, one on Tarragona at the University).

    Since not only the campground, but also the parking lot was just at the beach, we went for a swim (or dip) every day. Even Jaro got to „touch“ the Mediterranean Sea for the first time. 🥰 What a moment!    Read more

  • Diapers & Detours

    Wine field stop

    Apr 22–23 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    Late arrival, we stayed for the night. It’s all wine country here 🍇

    We decided against visiting Barcelona for a day - the city just feels too big to visit for such a short time - and went a bit further down. Looking forward to see the sea again the next day. 🌊Read more

  • Diapers & Detours
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    Girona 🚲

    April 21 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    What a city! Maybe Girona caught us a bit by surprise, but this city is definitely better then expected! Nick, Jaro and I loved it! The size of Girona is not overwhelming - it feels like it all is within a walkable distance - the city seems to have great restaurants, cafés, small shops and bars plus so many people are on their bikes! (It’s worth mentioning that it is not like in the Netherlands, where bikes are used to get from A to B, but they’re all racing bikes, and people come with their racing bikes in full uniform into town after their tour to get coffee). The whole city’s tourism is also laid out for the biking community and every shop has some little (or big) bike-detail. It made even us think about trying out this crazy sport (so far we didn’t). 🚲
    Because we liked it so much we spent two days in Girona. 🧡    Read more

  • Diapers & Detours

    Nice place for two nights 🚐

    Apr 20–22 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    We found a nice spot to spend two nights. Super small, but well maintained town with a small castle. We also met another couple who’ve already spent a couple of nights there; so we enjoyed exchanging experiences, travel tips and spending some time with fellow travellers.
    They introduced us to Xuixo, a fried sugar-coated sweet dough filled with (typically) vanilla pudding - originally from Girona. And yes, we loved it.

    We also used the nearby water tap to wash some diapers but because we didn't want to put up a washing line in a parking lot, we hung them in the van and had them dry while visiting Girona. Good to have a fan on the roof 😅    Read more

  • Diapers & Detours
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    Castellfollit de la Roca

    April 20 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    After waking up with a mountain view we had two stops planned for the day. Both of them were recommended by the owner of a coffee shop in Roses: No. 1: Castellofollit de la Roca; a village built on a volcano cliff. Very impressive not only wandering through but also seeing it from the viewpoint. ◡̈Read more

  • Diapers & Detours
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    Overnight

    Apr 19–20 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    We went “back” a little further north, into the mountains. Only stayed for the night; but it's a beeautiful area - good for hiking, biking - and so many restaurants with outstanding google reviews. :D

  • Diapers & Detours
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    Dalís home

    April 18 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    The time in and around Roses feels good.
    We’re having time to do some improvements in and around our van, try biking with Jaro (not sure if he likes it; but so far I’m sure he does not dislike it) and see Cadaques! I’ve been here I think 19 years ago and only remember the drive there wasn’t my favorite thing on that trip. Today I was able to drive through this magical landscape, along the mountains seeing bays and just the sea, nice villages and Cadaques. A really beautiful white town, the place Dalí chose as his home (and I definitely can see why).Read more

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    First campground ⛺️

    Apr 15–19 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    Somehow - although we know traveling and we‘re fine with waking up seeing something different everytime we look outside - this felt a bit like „we’ve arrived“. It’s warm here, there is the Mediterranean Sea and we are here. Our first time with Jaro on a campsite (Camping Salatá) and our first time to re-organise, wash, fill up.Read more