After last years trip to Portugal and Spain we decided to do the other side of Spain this year. Drove from Bray to Rosslare to get the ferry to Bilbao. Its two nights on the ferry with not much to do but the crossing was ok, bit rough in Biscay. From Bilbao we went to Huesca but stopped off at Tirolinapirineos, to do the zipline. Great fun. Huesca is lovely. Then to a little town called Calomocha, nice place but kip of a hotel. From there we went to Albacarrin which is an old town built on a hill. Not for anyone with bad knees. Steep hill, steps and old cobbled streets. Next place was on the coast, beautiful Altea. Lovely beach and an old town, again on a hill. After that we went to Valencia. Beautiful city, easy to get around and so much to see. Went to the sealife centre, well worth the visit, also spent the day on the beach. Spent 3 nights here. Then another coastal stop, Alcossabre. Lovely beach. We had a pool here so spent time just relaxing beside it. Then we went to a place inland in the mountains called Herbers. Very small place, perfect if you like hiking, we dont. Unfortunetly the only bar and restaurant was closed so we ended up eating with the locals at a swimming pool that had a bar. Very friendly people. Its places and experiences like this that make these trips so special and completly different from a two week package holiday. After this we went to Tarragona. What a city, full of old Roman ruins including an amphitheatre. We arrived during a festival which we didnt know about. It was fantastic, they were doing the human towers, parades, fireworks, great food and drink. Really enjoyed it. We were there for 3 nights but could easily have stayed more. Next we had booked 2 nights inland but when we got to the "village" it was tiny and remote. I had researched it but didnt realise it was so small and out of the way. So we decided to skip that and headed to a place called Pals.This was another small town and it had an old town beside it. Really nice place with very friendly and helpful locals. Its out of the way but we still managed to meet a couple from Cork. Next was Besalu with a fantastic old bridge into the old town. The hotel was right on the bridge and we had 2 balconys and fantastic views. The only thing was there was an aul lad playing the acordian all day, nice for a couple of minutes as you pass by but not when you are sitting on the balcony trying to enjoy a glass of wine. After this we went up to Cadaques. Great mountain roads approaching it and then around a corner the town below appears, beautiful. Have to admit there was a car in front of me not moving quite fast enough for me. So I over took him, well my wife turned the air blue but I enjoyed the manouvere. Needless to say the car caught up with us in traffic into the town.Cadaques is lovely, the beachs are stony but the water is clear. We hired a little motor boat in a place called Empuriabrava about 40 minutes away. We had a great time in it along the coast. Empuiiabrava is built on canals and the houses all have boats outside. Really nice place with a great beach. After that it was 3 nights in St. Julia de Lora a few km from Andorra la Vella. Andorra is beautiful, spent the time driving in the mountains to small villages and towns one of which was La Massana, we got a cable car up the mountain where in winter they ski but in summer its a dirt bike paradise. Andorra the town is ok, lots of cheap drink, clothes, perfume etc. So we stocked up on it. Next stop was over the mountainous roads, only overtaking a few cars due to my passengers screams, to Boltana. Lovely town and area. Visited Ainsa which was beautiful with a big main square and castle. Then it was on to Olite for our last 2 nights. Its an old walled town with a fairytale castle. There was a hunters moon,full moon and super moon that night. It looked fantastic over the castle. Then it was into Bilbao for some food and shopping before getting the ferry back home.
This was a fantastic trip. We visited so many lovely and interesting places and met some really nice people. We relaxed by pools or on the beach.We spent the time exploring old towns with narrow cobbled streets as well as modern cities. We had some great meals and one not so good. We spent hours in old squares drinking beer or wine or my new favourite coffee, cafe bombon, just people watching and talking to locals.
The places we stayed in were hotels, apartments, houses all booked before hand (except Pals). Driving was never more that 4 hours from one place to another, usually 2 hours,stopping in villages for meals, coffee etc. We covered 3543.5km, on motorways, secondary and mountain roads, door to door in 5 weeks. Car behaves well with no problems. Left the spare wheel and shelf at home again so we could have more room in the boot.

Next year we want to do southern Portugal, Southern Spain and the Med coast and in land as well. Dont know if we will make it as we would like to go in Sept / Oct when its not too hot but we have a wedding in the middle of Sept so might have to leave it till the year after.