Cala Pirata is definitely one of our favourite spots on the Spanish Mediterranean coast. Here, we may be standing in a very small space between the gentle surf and the rugged rocks, but with a panoramic view from sunrise to sunset, the whole world seems to be ours. The glitter of the sea in the winter sun also brightens our spirits and warms our hearts. We are simply happy in places like this, or rather, even happier than usual ;-)
above: Romantic morning and evening moods by the sea
below: This surrounding makes cooking bacon and eggs so much fun
The Christmas days in the Spanish warmth felt more like a hint of spring. And that's the keyword for our onward journey. In three days, our ferry leaves for the islands of eternal spring. We really want to get there and bridge the winter days, which are far too cold in our part of the world. In particular, however, we want to rediscover new things, broaden our horizons and restore a balance between the bad and evil that we are told, or rather made to believe, every day and real life. Because real life is out there and not on the news or on the internet. These people, who we meet on our travels and who share their old and new stories with great pride and passion, know all about the real life.
I have mentioned this many times before and will certainly do so again and again. After all, our travels should not only be our own pleasure, but also an inspiration for all those who have decided to travel with us via blog, YouTube or Instagram, to escape everyday life for a few minutes and at least enjoy the beautiful or question the unpleasant with their thoughts. The latter is actually still possible. Even if it is often no longer desired, neither by our personal environment, society or even politics. So it seems all the more important to me to do it with vigour, to critically question reports, news or the increasingly frequent rules and regulations. Let me guess: I suspect that you too have heard more than once in the recent past from a service provider, salesperson, waiter or office worker: ‘I'm sorry, but I'm just following the rules here’. It's not as if we often ask someone to break the rules for us these days. But it does indeed seem that there is a rule for everything and anything, which unfortunately too often seems to prevent a sensible solution. It wasn't so long ago that your common sense told you what was feasible and what was not. Recently, however, we have been drilled to adhere to a plethora of rules. People are no longer trained to be solution-orientated, but only to enforce rules. Like the cashier at the grocery shop, for example, who took the second pack of eggs off the conveyor belt with the words ‘only one carton per purchase’. Excuse me? Eggs are now rationed to six? But we are two people, so please, at least one six-pack per person. ‘No!’ Came the dry reply ‘One per purchase, that's the rule. I didn't make them I just follow them’ Bingo! There we have it again, the loyal employee who couldn't explain to us why eggs are rationed to one pack per purchase in this shop (Tesco in the north of Scotland). He had no objection to the suggestion that I could just queue again to get the second carton through the tills. Presumably a scenario he wasn't ‘programmed’ for. Yes, it sounds really unbelievable, but probably humans will actually slowly move closer to AI by just as carelessly stopping questioning and, like their colleague, AI, simply allowing themselves to be programmed somehow to stay ‘in business’. Like so many things, programming works with fear. Fear of criticism, losses or even dismissal. Leverage with fear always works. Incidentally, this example is actually a little over a year old, but for me it's a classic. Since then, we have unfortunately heard the phrase ‘I'm just following "the rules"’ far too often. No critical thinking allowed, no questions tollerated!
Why did I bring up the subject of following the rules at Cala Pirata? Maybe it's just a pirate prank or a tactic to instil fear, but there are always those who want to spoil things for others, especially in the beautiful places of this world. Interestingly, it has never been the authorities, but supposed adventurer colleagues who want to scare others away from enjoying nature with rules and regulations. Our travel experience makes us smile about this today, but somehow the scaremongers always find open ears and thus work in opposition to our intention to motivate those not (yet) travelling.
We enjoy the two public holidays by swimming, reading and taking photos and are always delighted by the glittering sea and the wonderful morning and evening moods. We cover the remaining 500 kilometres to the ferry port of Cadiz in two stages. The first takes us initially along the coast and finally into the driest region of Spain, the semi-desert of Tabernas. This is another short stretch that we already know and have already described in detail in our blog 2.3 ‘Andalusia surprises, WOW!’. After Guadix, however, we are already in new territory again, travelling steadily westwards on a plateau well over 1,000 metres above sea level. As far as Campillos, our last overnight stop before the harbour, the route continues strictly along the Sierra Nevada. Of course, there is already snow on the mountain peaks. The name seems to be a commitment. However, the motorway beneath our wheels is rather more boring at this stage.
It is Boxing Day today and it is already quite obvious on the roads that it is no longer a public holiday here in Andalusia. The lorries are speeding along the country roads at breakneck speed and there is no sign of the tranquil Christmas period. We reach our destination quite early, but there's no point in travelling any further today, as we won't make it to Cadiz anyway. What's more, tomorrow, the day before the ferry, we have to go grocery shopping one more time.
In Campillos we are once again parked on a public car park on the outskirts of the town. The site is really okay and the main reason why we want to stop here is the availability of drinking water from the tap. We had already filled up with water here on our last journey to Portugal less than two years ago. However, we quickly remember why we actually prefer to avoid such places. As soon as it's dark, a yoghurt cup snuggles up alongside us and starts making a fire right next to us to cook dinner for his family. I can no longer contain myself as the embers finally fly under our 250 litre diesel tank and onto the studded tyres. My dear chap, the space is so big, why so close within cuddling or sparking distance?
As already mentioned, Andalusia surprised us on our first visit and surprised us again the next day. The route between Campillos via the A384 national road to the motorway near Acros de la Frontera is very different. Lovely hills with scattered trees are reminiscent of our favourite screensavers, the structured and extremely well-tended fields seem almost surreal for Spain. The landscape is hilly, the roads winding and the vegetation much greener, in stark contrast to the dry canyons of the previous day. We make a mental note of this region and don't rule out passing through again on the return journey to experience the area in detail. For today, however, it's off to Carrefour and Aldi so that we can get on the ferry tomorrow with full supplies and into eternal spring.
top/bottom: unexpected for the extreme south of Spain: cultivated fertile fields & lovely hills
The harbour town of Cadiz also seems a little special to us. We reach it from the south via a lagoon and not via the imposing Pepa Bridge, which connects the harbour town with Puerto Real, the mainland. As our destination is the harbour of Cadiz, we believe that both Cadiz and its harbour should be specially signposted somehow. Nothing of the sort. Cadiz as a harbour town is hardly visible on the main route coming from the northeast. The same goes for its harbour, which is not exactly small. The city itself is like a pearl on a string. A long straight main traffic axis with small roads branching off at right angles to the left and right. At the moment everything is still sparkling with Christmas decorations. According to the GPS, we have now arrived at the harbour area and are looking eagerly for a ‘Puerto’ sign or the name of our shipping company. This is FRAME's 16th ferry crossing, so we're not completely inexperienced in this business. Nevertheless, we are somehow unsure whether we are really in the right part of the harbour or even in the right Cadiz. Luckily, from our elevated trucker's seat we spot a few mighty ships above the vans travelling in front of us. We forget about the lack of signalling and mute our GPS, as it has already reached its destination. A few minutes later, very close to the large vessels, we are finally waved into a line of vehicles. Of course, I wonder how the good man knows where we are actually going. The assumption that there is probably only one ferry being processed this morning is obvious. Nevertheless, we can see various destinations behind the windscreens of the numerous vehicles in our row. ‘Las Palmas’, “Fuerteventura” and here, finally, someone who wants to go to “Lanzarote” like us. So the ship is heading for several harbours on the Canary Islands, we realise. Let's hope they've got a handle on sorting the vehicles in the belly of the ferry, because that takes some skill and organisational talent on a ship of this size. There hasn't been much evidence of this so far....
We ask our way through the queue and soon get our destination slip for our windscreen at the ticket counter. FRAME's place on the cutter seems secure and we should be at our destination in around a day. Loading the estimated well over a hundred vehicles takes a little patience. Lorries and trailers without vehicles keep arriving on the access ramp. Finally, we are the second last vehicle to be processed. We reverse up the ramp and the chute is being closed right away. We've made it, pack our seven things for the next 28 hours of the crossing and set off again on a new search. All we need to find now is our outside cabin and then it's time to put our feet up and enjoy the journey. The weather forecast is almost perfect and promises a calm crossing. We are very happy about this, as we are not the most seaworthy of passengers. FRAME doesn't exactly love the rocking either, as his box starts to sway quite a bit on the three-point bearing. Our vehicle doesn't mind, but the surroundings, be it the ship's side walls or the lorry next to it, usually don't like FRAME's advances.
Our ship, the ‘Volcan de Tinamar’ from the ‘Naviera Armas’ shipping line, is already at full speed when we finally find the reception desk to collect our room keys. On the way there from the belly of the ship, we realise that we are not in a Hilton. As an ex-hotelier and consultant in the hospitality industry, I naturally have a pronounced awareness of quality and efficiency, which is very much stimulated on a ferry. And when I give free rein to my thoughts here, I do so in particular for any imitators who would like to ship to the Canary Islands. Nothing is more important than embarking on such a journey with the right expectations and, as we know, these expectations are wide-ranging. Some people travel without any expectations and some expect a certain service for a certain price. Let's get straight to the point: Our main expectation - the non-negotiable - is to arrive safely and with dry feet in Lanzarote for the just over 2,200 euros we paid (return journey!). This expectation is fulfilled without any problems at least on this first leg. Thanks to the calm weather and apart from a nightly round of lightning, the crossing was safe and fearless. What we only learnt during the journey and which surprised us greatly was the fact that this ferry has just undergone a complete overhaul in 2023. In fact, the furniture in the public areas is still the best evidence of this investment. In the room, however, I would have guessed at least some 15 years. The window recesses are completely rusted through, as are numerous fittings in the bathroom, which are rather dilapidated anyway. The narrow bunks and small folding beds reminded us of the Turkish ferry to Cyprus and therefore more of a pirate ship. Of course, there is no use for the air conditioning in winter, but it cannot be switched off, which turns the ten square metre four-berth cabin into a refrigerator. Towelling in the bathroom is not to be expected for the room surcharge of well over 400 euros per trip(!). However, a tiny hand towel can be begged for at reception. We were given two, but then didn't know how to hang them up to dry on the one and only clothes hanger. On the positive side, the cabin was surprisingly quiet, with no creaking in the beams and no engine noise, only the monotonous rattling of the air conditioning lulled us to sleep.
We actually got used to the small, unsexy room pretty quickly. What we had much more trouble with was the cleanliness, the quality of the food and the poor motivation of the staff. Fortunately, the bed linen was still quite acceptable, but we would have liked to have done without the small roommates in the bathroom and we were not allowed to move the air conditioning vents if we weren't interested in rubbing the dust from the last few months off our faces. As a room guest, you are also entitled to three meals a day. When it comes to food distribution, things are once again military spartan. Don't you dare asking for two pieces of fruit. Even if you want to do without the cold bacon or your cereal, you are not allowed to swap. Almost everything is served to you in cardboard, one-way, hopefully not the way to the open sea. The portions are slammed into the box with a lot of vigour but little love, without emotion. You almost always have a choice between two different dishes, only one thing is the same with all of them, they are served cold. And if you're lucky enough for your benevolent scooper to delve a little deeper into the pan to fish out some lukewarm food from the underground, then rest assured that you'll be allowed to remain under the ventilation in the queue in front of the till long enough for the cashier to enter a complicated twelve-digit code from your key card into the system so that your ration is sure to arrive cold at the table this time too. It is difficult to understand how Naviera Armas can still work with such inefficient identification methods in the age of barcodes or QR codes. Let's hope that the ship's technology and navigation are at a more modern level.
Yes, those are the harsh words of a five-star hotelier. Mind you, our expectations are at the level of the possibilities and the price. If you consider that you can fly to the Canary Islands for a few hundred euros, then the ferry price and the service offered are not in any kind of healthy relationship. There is probably a lot more to it than that, dear CEO Sergio. But of course you, dear readers, are right, the Unimog would have no place on the plane. So what are we complaining about? We are happy that we are safely on our way to the islands of eternal spring and we would have been very reluctant to do without our cabin, so it's just fine.
Next blog: 5.3 Lanzarote Ahoy!
Comments