First impressions

Our winter home, Aguadulce marina

Aguadulce beach and marina

With our boat troubles hopefully behind us it was time to get to know our new winter home. We rather like Aguadulce. The marina is situated on the edge of this small, relaxed, resort town on the Costa de Almeria, Spain. The origin of the name, "sweet water" refers to freshwater springs that flowed close to the marina. Sadly due to building works these water sources no longer exist and we are firmly sticking to bottled water. Aguadulce benefits from the micro climate of the Costa Almeria due to shelter from the high mountain ranges of the Sierra Nevada behind it. The area reportedly has the record for the highest sunshine hours and least rainfall for the entire Mediterranean coast of Europe! It has rained non stop for the past couple of days so we are yet to be convinced. Next to the marina is a long broad sandy beach with a palm tree lined promenade. For bright lights and everything else we may need the nearby provincial capital, the city of Almeria, is only a 10km bus journey away with a handy bus stop just outside the marina.

Almeria from the Alcazaba

Almeria from the Alcazaba

Yacht Club pool with a view!

Before exploring further afield we promptly joined the Yacht Club which is located just outside our pontoon. It offers a range of facilities including an outdoor pool, tennis and squash courts, a sauna and great gym with picture windows looking out to sea. Absolutely no excuses now.

The Alcazaba, Almeria

The Alcazaba walls

The Alcazaba gardens

Arrow slits, Alcazaba

Aguadulce has all we need for day to day living but in search of a little bit more we hopped on the bus for the 15 minute journey to Almeria. We picked a beautiful day as we weren't just after some retail therapy, we also wanted to visit the Alcazaba. It is the largest of the citadels built by the Arabs in Spain and dates back to the 10th century. The hilltop Alcazaba's massive walls and towers dominate the city and command magnificent views over the old town below. We spent a long morning exploring the three compounds that make up this huge walled fortification. Not surprisingly it has been used to film various movies including Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Never Say Never Again and Game of Thrones. We walked back down to town via the splendid cathedral and joined the locals in a street cafe to sample Chocolate con Churros. It is a Spanish self-indulgence of hot thick melted chocolate in which you dip fingers of deep-fried choux pastry.....time to head back to the gym!

The Alcazaba

View from the Alcazaba

Hallelujah!

New engine finally arrives

Shiny new Volvo D1-30 engine

Finally, after nearly three months, we received the email from Volvo Spain we'd been patiently waiting for: "If you wanna go organizing space in the boat it is a good time. According hear, in the distance, engine installation is imminent." My mum, rather conveniently for me, was in need of some help so the Captain was left alone to deal with the chaos that ensued. He took them at their word and got to work. Both back cabins had to be completely cleared and soon the saloon had disappeared into a sea of bags, cushions, bedding, clutter etc. An hour later the lads arrived to start the job of dismantling the existing engine. The following morning the boat was towed to the superyacht harbour and moored alongside the quay ready to take delivery of our shiny new Volvo D1-30 engine. The old engine was lifted out by crane and the new one squeezed into place. We were towed back to our berth in the afternoon and the next few days the boys either turned up to continue with the installation or frustratingly didn't as is the  case  with  tradesmen  the  world  over.

Old engine waiting to be taken away

Of course the three day job turned into a two week marathon but at long last we were ready to leave Valencia. I returned just in time to pick up diesel and fill up with water before setting sail for Aguadulce, just west of Almeria, which was to be our winter destination on the Costa del Sol.

Ride of a Lifetime patiently waiting next to the crane for the engine to arrive

...and the new engine is lowered in

The old engine is lifted out...

Red sky at night...

Approaching Aguadulce by the light of the supermoon...

We had originally hoped to cruise slowly down the Spanish coast but it was now mid November and the weather was not on our side. The nights were becoming chilly and the winter gales were starting to show themselves rather too frequently for our liking. We needed to head south as quickly as possible. No time for a leisurely hop down the coast but instead we decided to break the 250 mile journey in two. A small weather window appeared with favourable winds to help us on the 150 mile overnight passage to Cartagena. As soon as we arrived the winds changed direction and we had to wait a couple of days before embarking on our last passage of the season to Aguadulce. Another gale was brewing but we just had time for the final 100 mile journey. We had fair winds, following seas, and the night was lit the entire way by the spectacular November supermoon, the biggest since 1948.

Ride of a Lifetime finally in her winter base, Aguadulce

Escape to Cartagena

Cartagena harbour and the tail of a whale!

The engine saga continues. It took a long frustrating month for it to arrive in Spain. Surely nothing else could hold us up now? Wrong again. Having just taken delivery of the engine, Volvo Spain told us they would not be able to install it for another two weeks as the technicians were now all on holiday! With steam coming out of every orifice it was time to leave the boat and have a mini break. We had hoped we would be in southern Spain by now and heading off on a road tour. It was too far to do it from Valencia so we opted for a few days in Cartagena instead.

The Modernista Town Hall

The Roman Theatre discovered by chance in 1987

Isaac Peral's submarine

The Military Museum - housing the largest collection
of artillery in Spain

We hopped on a bus for the 4.5 hour journey south, temporarily saying goodbye to our problems and checked into a nice hotel just inside the old city walls. Cartagena, surrounded by five hills with its fabulous natural harbour the third deepest in the world, was founded in 227 BC by the Carthaginian Hasdrubal, the brother of the more famous Hannibal. It is one of Spain's most historically fascinating places and to this day archeologists are continuing to find long buried Roman and Carthaginian ruins. It is not all ancient ruins though and the rise of mining activities in the early twentieth century attracted the bourgeousie and with them some wonderful art nouveau buildings. It is still an important naval port to this day and we had fun on our one wet day exploring the fascinating Naval Museum with Isaac Peral's prototype for the first electric battery powered submarine on display and some beautiful scale models of ships old and new. For a relatively small town there were a lot of museums to keep us busy. We also managed to fit in a visit to the Military Museum, the brand new Arqva or Museum of Underwater Archeology and the fascinating Roman Theatre Museum which tunnels under the modern day buildings.

The old artillery headquarters, now the Military Museum

A crowd of decorative flagpoles on Concepcion hill

View over Cartagena from Concepcion hill

Another empty shell

The old bullring

Cartagena, also a cruise ship port, has seen a lot of money in recent years spent on tarting up the town and making it a worthwhile stop. It is also a work in progress as wandering the streets many parts resemble a film set where only the frontage of the Modernista buildings remain standing. The bustling pedestrianised calle Mayor was great for tapas and people watching. For a wonderful panoramic view of the harbour from above we climbed the zig zagging path through Torres Park, accompanied by ducks and the occasional peacock, up to the 13th century Concepcion castle. It also afforded a great view of the old bullring, another restoration work in progress. With so much to see and do our mini break worked a treat. We didn't think about engines for the whole time we were away!

Cartagena harbour front

Killing Time

Valencia street

A month later and we are still in Valencia without an engine. We rejected the rebuild option and have gone for the hugely expensive sparkly new Volvo D1-30 engine. We are not sure why but it worked out thousands of euros cheaper to buy it from Volvo in the UK and have it shipped to Valencia where Volvo Spain would finally fit it. That decision, frustratingly, came with further delays but meant we had plenty of time to explore more of Valencia, Spain's third largest city.

The modernista Mercado Centrale

Inside the bustling Mercado Centrale

Valencia cathedral said to be the home of the true Holy Grail!

Anyone for a Jamon?! Mercado Centrale

La Lonja

Valencia has some of the most striking modern architecture in the country, adding to the wealth of elegant art nouveau and gothic buildings that line the streets of the city centre. First we hopped on a bus for a taste of the older Valencia. We put on our sightseeing legs and set about discovering the old town. We started with the colourful, bustling and very atmospheric Mercado Central, a vast Modernista covered market constructed in 1928. Across the way we visited, La Lonja, another architectural masterpiece. It is a 15th century Unesco World Heritage site and was originally Valencia's silk and commodity exchange. On the edge of the old town we climbed the Torres de Quart, the grand 15th century city gate which still displays the damage caused by French cannonballs during the 19th century Napoleonic invasion. We spent a morning in the Palacio del Marques de Dos Aguas which dates back to the 15th century with an over the top 18th century Baroque alabaster facade. The fascinating palace also houses the

Paella dishes for sale - Valencia is the home of Paella

National museum of Ceramics. We stopped for a well earned tapas lunch near the Cathedral which dates back to 1238. It is said to house the true Holy Grail but we decided to give it a miss! Away from the hustle and bustle we visited the Botanical gardens which have an important collection of palms and cacti. The rest of the gardens looked like they could have done with a spot of water but it was a nice peaceful escape from the tourist trail.

Inside the Palacio del Marques de Dos Aguas

Tiles by Salvador Dali, National Museum of Ceramics

Torres de Quart city gate

On top of the Torres de Quart 

Cacti in the Botanical Gardens

The Botanical Gardens looking a bit like something out of Jurassic Park!

The Umbracle - a huge open access garden

In 1956 Valencia diverted its flood-prone Turia river to the outskirts of town and converted the riverbed into a wonderful green ribbon of park winding through the city. In one area of the Turia park are the strikingly futuristic buildings of the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias designed by the local architect Santiago Calatrava. I'll let the photos do the talking!

The Umbracle

Opera house, 3D cinema and Science Museum

Opera house and 3D cinema

Science Museum, Assut D'or bridge and the Agora

Thatched farmer's cottage or Barraca

Heading towards the Albufera lake

For something completely different we took a bus trip to the Albufera Nature Park about 15km south of the city and home to the largest freshwater lake in Spain which is almost as big as Valencia itself. This nature reserve and national park is an oasis of tranquility nestling next to rice paddies and separated from the Mediterranean Sea by a narrow strip of sand. It supports a diverse ecosystem of birds, fish and plant life and is an important wetland that attracts tens of thousands of migratory birds. We hopped on a traditional flat bottomed boat and became twitchers (or is it birders?) for a morning. As well as spotting the odd heron we also saw the traditional thatched farmer's cottages, barracas, made from mud, reeds, cane and straw with a design that dates back hundreds of years.

A traditional boat on the Albufera lake

 

I spy with my little eye something beginning with H!

Inside the Bodega La Peseta bar

We are now running out of things to see! Fingers crossed the engine arrives soon...meanwhile we have found a rather wacky low tech retro bar to chill in and take our mind off engines. The Bodega La Peseta bar was once a chemist and they have kept the old display cabinets. It just happens to be on the 40 minute walk to the supermarket and provides a glass of wine and plate of tapas all for the princely sum of 1 euro!

 

Bodega La Peseta bar