23rd May 2014

Friday 23rd May

A50 Motorway Aire

Had a good night’s sleep in spite of the weather - more wind and rain all night! Drier morning but rain clouds threatening so decided to miss visiting Salamanca as we had been there last year and instead to head further south for Caceres where we hoped to stay on an aire situated a few minutes walk from the old town. Arrived early afternoon to find all the spaces full and one French motorhome already waiting to park. As we were parked up waiting in an area designated for coaches we were more than a little wary following our experience in Segovia! However Ken got chatting to a Spanish man who was already parked in the wire and when the motorhome next to his drove away he agreed to move his vehicle over and created sufficient space both for us and the French motorhome to park comfortably. Weather had picked up and was warm and sunny so we walked into Cacares which has an interesting medieval centre with lots of old churches and buildings. Returned early evening to the motorhome and booked a table at the local auberge situated next to the aire. This was full of teenagers on a cycling holiday and very noisy and the park outside was not much better as families had gathered to enjoy the good weather and the start of the weekend.

Caceres

Saturday 24th May

Next morning we realised that with the weekend coming up we might find difficulty getting a palace on the aire at Merida our next planned port of call so as we were close to Portugal we decided to return to Camping Alantejo and renew our acquaintance with the Dutch owner Seibo knowing it would be a nice quiet place for the weekend and where we would be guaranteed internet access. We headed across country to Badajoz stopping en route at a motorway service station which was heaving with Real Madrid and Athletico Madrid fans en route to Lisbon. Lots of coaches, fans, Guardia Civil, helicopters and TV cameras meant it was impossible to get anywhere near the cafe so we made our own coffee on board and continued on our way arriving at our destination at around lunch time.

Spent the evening in Evoramonte a small village close to the camp site where we had an “interesting “ meal at a Moldovan restaurant followed by drinks in a local bar which had the only wide screen TV in the village! Really enjoyed the match and the locals were all really friendly and rooting for Real as were we! 

Sunday 25th May

This morning thank goodness it is sunny once more.  Had booked the one and only washing machine (an important part of a camping holiday!) for l p.m. so left it running and went into Evoramonte for lunch at another local restaurant . Quite an experience as we didn’t have a clue what we were ordering as the menu was illegibly handwritten and completely in Portuguese! Returned to the site a bit late to find a rather stern lady waiting to use the machine for her load . Internet has been a problem all day and not sure when we will get it back to post this bit of the blog.

Monday 26th May

Today is sunny and fairly warm so decided to visit Estremoz a town a few miles from the site. As we have been there several times before we spent time drinking coffee in the sunshine and watching the locals. Internet was a problem again on the site and we hoped that we might be OK in the town but unfortunately it was just as patchy. Did some shopping and returned to the site for lunch and a lazy afternoon in the sun. I also managed to catch up on some French Open tennis!

At around 6pm the site owner came to tell us the wifi was fixed and we now seem to have a stable signal. It really has become so important for keeping in touch with everything and everyone!