Welcome to Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex, England

Two Clots Travel Bites

Welcome to ‘Travel Bites’ a series of mini resort impressions on some of the places we have visited over the years. We, Steve & Linda, love to travel and enjoy writing.

To find out more about us, and our new book, ‘Two Clots in a Camper’ please pay a visit to our website www.twoclots.com, where there are a variety of travel related features, including hints and tips that we have picked up over the years.

Please remember, these are only OUR impressions of the destinations, Along with our thoughts at that time, resorts may have changed since then.

Any prices mentioned are what we paid at that time.

We are happy to email a copy of any of the featured ‘Travel Bites’ to any reader if you would like, or offer any help or advice if possible.

"Two Clots in a Camper" - ISBN No 1-4137-4718-3

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Choose from the following destinations

Tavira	Prien am Chiemsee, Bavaria	Changing Spain
Lake Grundlsee, Austria	Touring Western France
Benalmadena, Costa del Sol	Zell am See, Austria

Tavira

Usually we holiday close to Linda’s birthday in June, when the weather is often excellent in Southern Europe. In 2004 we decided to go away around my birthday in mid April. I had been browsing through Expedia.com, as one does, and found a rather nice looking resort on the eastern end of Portugal’s Algarve coast. So as usual, I talked Linda into letting me book it. I always book holidays waaaay in advance, on the assumption that my chosen itinerary may have sold out at a later date. I must get out of this habit, often when the holiday draws near, we find we could have got it cheaper or gone somewhere hotter/colder if we had a change of mind.

I had booked everything with Expedia, flights, hotel and car hire, very reasonable as it turned out (but if we had waited we could have had a British Airways flight for a few pounds less, cest’ la vie!).

Tavira, an ancient town spanning the river Gilao, a wide tidal flow with a picturesque Roman bridge in the towns centre and a modern busy road bridge on the southern fringes of the city. It is from the high vantage point in the middle of this bridge that you can best view the towns main attractions.

A forty minute drive from the airport at Faro, Tavira is situated about a mile inland from where the Atlantic meets the river mouth. Beautiful sandy beaches are to be found on a long, 7 mile, but thin, 550 yards, island that runs east to west a couple of hundred yards from the river estuary. These beaches can be reached by a brief and thankfully, cheap, ferry crossing from the mainland.

Surveying the landscape facing south from the modern bridge, a broad expanse of water meanders down to greet the sea, try to see the views at high tide though, as mud flats are not quite so scenic! To the right at the foot of the bridge was the wonderful municipal market, a place that assaults all ones senses when you enter. Fresh glistening fish and seafood, misshapen, still muddy vegetables, plump fruits and exotic blooms and the heady aroma of newly baked bread. When we travel self-catering, it is these wonderful establishments we try to track down. Back to the bridge, south-east was the sister hotel to our chosen city centre one, set in the dunes of the Parque Natural da Ria Formosa, as the name implies, a nature reserve. Directly south was the small port where you could catch the beach ferries or take water taxi rides upriver.

Carefully crossing the dual carriageway and now looking north, this is where the Ahh factor comes in, a truly grandstand view of this ancient river township. Looking to the right, the riverbank is more commercialised than the west bank, midway towards the Roman bridge is a later iron span, leading the eye onto the very pretty Roman bridge.

A single-track cobbled road runs up the centre of the stone bridge, which has large buttresses every few yards, built into which are handy, cool to the touch, stone benches. These seats are the most wonderful places for just sitting and watching the world go by, while the waters of the river Gilao rush by below.

On a small rise to the left of the bridge, sits a Moorish castle, whose ramparts you can walk around for a different view of the town and river.

The west bank is much more tourist orientated with a flower gardens and a bandstand that has a unique ‘moat’ around it. This moat is filled with a variety of fish and strangely, terrapins. A chugging ‘tourist train’ has its base by these gardens and for a couple of Euros, takes you on a 30-minute tour. Best value trip in town, the clanking little train goes up to the castle through the narrow streets, all the way down to the port and back up the east bank before coming to rest back by the gardens.

At the foot of the road bridge on the west bank is the fisherman’s wharf, flanked by a row of charming fish restaurants. Local fishermen can be seen unloading the night’s catch and taking it to the nearby municipal market. Between here and the gardens lies a covered market cum exhibition centre, with bars and cafes on its riverside edge, providing a great setting to enjoy an early evening bottle of crisp chilled Vinho Verde.

Our hotel, the 5 star Vila Gale Tavira, sits just behind the row of fish restaurants, and not a hundred yards from the municipal market. The town centre location was why we had chosen it, so often when we holiday in timeshare complexes, they are so far out of town that you are tied to the place in the evenings.

Most nights our pre dinner stroll would be a circuit of the riverbanks. We would cross the road bridge and walk up the east bank, crossing and pausing on the Roman bridge before wending our way towards the fisherman’s wharf via the gardens. Enjoying, of course, a pre-diner bottle of wine, at one of the bars overlooking the beautiful river.

The fish and seafood of the area is excellent, with the ever-present grilled sardines making a very tasty lunchtime snack. Most seafood is very reasonable, however we were charged £60 for a very poor lunchtime snack of fried prawns and chips ugh! So always check out the prices before ordering.

Most of our other meals in town were great value and very tasty, Sea bass being particularly good value.
Tavira’s beaches are another good source of wonderful eateries, a dozen or so grouped together ensure keen competition and good prices. Eating here also means you enjoy the superb sea views. Further west on the beach island you can cross from the mainland via a pontoon bridge, just outside Santa Luzia. On crossing the bridge a sweet little train with take you the short journey to another well run, clean beach complex, with bars and cafes. When we snacked here, dozens of birds joined us, begging for crumbs from our generous club sandwiches. On this stretch of beach you will see an unusual sight, a field of old iron anchors, arranged flower like, in the dunes, hundreds of them, quite a sight. Had it been later in the year these dune backed sandy beaches would have been a swimmers paradise.

The Vila Gale Albacora, based in the dunes was a very pleasant surprise, we popped in to scout around for possible future stays. It has a normal hotel section with traditional rooms, but also boasts rows of cottages set in the fragrant gardens around the huge outdoor pool. Both hotels have indoor and outdoor pools, however you are required to wear swimming caps at the indoor ones. Please get you own before leaving home, we bought ours from reception, however being in the hotel chains colours, deep green, we looked like a pair of sprouts bobbing in a saucepan!

This hotel is right on the mouth of the estuary, and in summer has its own dock and ferry to take guests to the beaches, wonderful. Also in one of the old buildings, next to the chapel is a quaint fishing museum, here they tell the story of the towns past fishing industry. They used miles of anchored nets to channel the fish into shore to be harvested, now we know where the dune ‘field’ of anchors came from. All this is in the hotel grounds, wonderful. The downside is though that it is about 3 miles from town. With hindsight the best thing would have been to split our stay between the two resort hotels, each with its own charming advantages. To sum up, Tavira is an historic and interesting town for the traveller who wants to escape mass tourism out of peak season, April was perhaps a tad early, the evenings being a bit chilly. All in all though we had a wonderful time and will rate this town along with Lagos in the west as being among the best places to visit on the Algarve, for those seeking the real Portugal.

Lake Grundlsee, Austria

After two extended tours of Iberia and several normal sun and beach holidays, we were looking for a change of both temperature and scene for some of our future holidays. Linda, being an avid (if not fanatical) Sound of Music lover, came up with Austria as our next destination, clever girl!
We usually fly into Munich in Bavaria, Southern Germany, because it has more flight options and can be considerably cheaper than Salzburg or Innsbruck, car hire is also much less expensive than in Austria.

An hour’s drive (VW Golf tdi this time and don’t forget to buy your motorway toll card as soon as you cross the border!) will get you down to the Austrian border, and a further half hour into magical Salzburg. The contrast of rolling green meadows, huge lakes and quirky, stunning castles set against a backdrop of grey snow capped Alps is mesmerising! That’s why we often combine a stay in Austria with a second week, or at least a few days in Bavaria, best of both worlds.

June 2003 saw us booked into Diessen at a lakeside hotel, followed by a week in Oberstaufen, close to lake Constance (beautiful) before crossing into Austria, for a week by Lake Grundlsee. This was our main holiday and we wanted a good long break.

A 90 minute drive south from Salzburg, we headed for Grundlsee on good roads alongside scenic blue or green lakes encased for eons by towering crags. The deep clean waters change colour with the angle of the sun, pretty colourful villages perch on the precious stretches of level land before the rolling alpine meadows start. And the air, wow! You realise you can actually taste real fresh air.

Our accommodation was a very plush timeshare resort complex (not as expensive as you might think, see our website for travel hints and tips). The complex sat on a small hillock at the western end of the crooked finger shaped lake. Imagine looking along a banana, so that from our resort we could not see the far end of the lake around the bend.
After a bit of haggling with the receptionist, at first they offered us a studio with a sofa bed (no good when you are 17 stone + like me), we ended up with the best view in town!

As always in these features we like to find the A (ahh) spot in town to best describe the view, well this time it was from our lounge picture window. We looked out to the east, through to the bend in the lake, at about 150 metres above the lake surface we could survey our surroundings unobserved. The village of Grundlsee sat on the left foreground, rising away to the meadows and mountains behind. A road ran the length of the crystal lake to the small settlement and campsite at Gossl, unseen around the bend at the eastern end.

A second small pretty lake, Toplitzsee laid a few hundred metres further on up a track, with a café and bar for visitors. Small elegant passenger boats ferried people from the village of Grundlsee to Gossl, there to wander the track to the Toplitzsee.

More intrepid visitors could walk the ‘Geo Trail’ through the woods on the right hand lakeside to reach Gossl. Alas when we were there instead of the normal 20 degrees of June it was a 30 + heat wave. Wilting with every step, we never managed to walk the length of the lake, still that’s what Golf tdi’s and air conditioning are for!

The apartment, lovely as it was, did not lend itself to be cool, so it was a couple of days later I purchased the last electric fan in the area for the exorbitant price of £35 (never have told Linda the true price to this day!). Of course the next day the heavens opened and temperatures plummeted, right now, sitting here by my computer I am looking at the worlds dearest fan, awaiting our English summer heat, I’ll get my moneys worth!

Anyhow, the pictures show our beautiful view better than I can ever describe, so I’ll let them speak. You will understand why most of our evenings were spent sitting in our lounge, a bottle or two of wine. Watching the changing shadows and hues of this inspiring lake.

Our second day, Sunday, we drove to Gossl for a wander around, a leisurely lunch and of course a sample of the excellent Austrian beer. We found that a large glass of ‘Radler’ (shandy) slipped down a treat. The village was a lot busier than expected, a display by the local model flying club was in progress. These wonderful smooth lakes make for a variety of water based flying machines, lifelike flying boats, seaplanes and float equipped helicopters. Buzzed and hummed over the lake in aerial ballet as we sipped (well gulped actually) our lager shandies in the shimmering heat.

There is, as usual, not enough space here to go into great detail, but we try to give you a ‘feel’ for the area and Austria in general. Our greatest impression of the country is that it is so, well, civilised, the way 1950s Britain used to be. No litter, little if any graffiti, civic pride may sum it up, we love it. Even when shopping, minimal wrapping on everything, all plastic bottles have a deposit on them, and the thing is, people do return them! We didn’t see one abandoned car wreck, or witness a single ‘incident’. Maybe we were lucky, all I can relate is what we actually experienced and our views, so please bear that in mind.

The complex has a leisure centre, pools, whirlpool, gym sauna all the usual knobs and whistles, a bar/restaurant that has a terrace with ‘to die for’ views, our two weeks timeshare on the Costa del Sol were paying huge dividends (see travel hint and tips on our website). The town itself has a few bars and restaurants, and Grundlsee is only a 5 minute drive from Bad Aussee, a large (ish) town with full amenities. One thing to bear in mind, if self catering, don’t expect supermarkets to be open Saturday afternoons or Sundays, I told you it was civilised, although it did catch us out first time around!

Speaking of being ‘caught out’, we are not too well up on the German language, and we had a comical experience one night down in the town. There is one restaurant that has a circular terrace jutting out on to the lake. We dined there a few times, that first night we both fancied the same things, soup followed by ‘Woodcutters’ pork steak platter, mmm, great. I ordered, “zwie suppe, und zwie ‘Woodcutters” pointing to both items on the menu and of course “zwie Radler bitte”. 10 minutes later the young waitress placed a bowl of soup in front of me, another 5 minutes and nothing arrived for Lin, so we shared the soup.

5 minutes later, the girl cleared away, we laughed and made a mental note to ensure we only paid for one soup! Then a single plate of main course was put in front of me. Again we waited! 3 minutes later I called the waitress, ”where is the other meal, zwie, zwie!” I said pointing at us, and the single plate of food. She scooped up the plate and ran for the kitchen.

The girl returned and was carrying two plates. Hooray, turned to arghhh! As she set the plates down it was obvious that the single portion had been halved, even the lonely lettuce leaf garnish was neatly divided and put onto two hot plates. We folded up with laughter, then at last the penny dropped and she realised what we had wanted originally! We said not to worry and waived her attempts aside to remove the plates. It was worth the laugh to have just half a meal, she even got a good tip. Maybe it is common practice for men to feed wives scraps from their plate, I said they were civilised! Joke, joke, honest!

There is even a photo of the meal on our website, on the Travel Bites page. Food is quite hearty and filling in this part of the world, of course there are the higher priced restaurants, but the mainstream is meat and vegetables. Coffee and cake, now that is a different matter, the amazing variety of wonderful cakes available for morning and afternoon treats, not a place for dieters, although its easy to walk all those calories off!

What to do, well for people like us, just sitting and taking in the views is enough, we did hire electric boats on the lake a couple of times, great fun. Within a few miles there are many attractions, ice caves, waterfalls, gorges, scenic mountains drives, where beautiful birds (feathered) pinch your lunch from the table when you stop to eat (see website photo). Winter of course brings a different wonderland, cross country skiing, sleigh rides and the scenery (we have yet to do a winter trip). The best thing about Grundlsee is that we see it every day, at home and at work (as a screensaver) they have a wonderful ‘daily photo’ website at;

Grundlsee daily picture

Benalmadena, Costa del Sol

This charming resort has something for everyone, a modern thriving marina, quaint old town, wonderful beaches and Tivoli World amusement park.

Benalmadena sits on the coast between bustling Fuengirola to the west and it’s immediate eastern neighbour Torremolinos, with its high rise hotels and discos.

We have stayed in both hotels and timeshare apartments in this town, at opposing ends of the seafront. Both were great holidays, it is such a nice seafront that we believe there no bad place to stay in Benalmadena, location wise anyway!

As you know by now, we like to start these ‘Bites’ with a description of the resort from what we call the ‘ahh’ spot, that is the best place in town to take in the view. This time it was from the private roof terrace of our penthouse suite in the Sunset Beach timeshare resort hotel. No we haven’t won the lottery, we complained!

Our first week there was in a pretty ordinary ‘studio’ apartment, come the second week they wanted to move us to an apartment in the basement with a view of the main road at eye level. “Not on your nelly!” I told the receptionist, not that she understood me. The only other vacant apartment was the showplace penthouse suite, and that’s what we got! Sunset beach is one of the few buildings on the beach side of the main road, situated on the western end of town. Our 8th floor seaward corner suite had commanding views out over the whole town and countryside.

The high sierra mountain sweeps down to the sea with just a few hundred yards of level ground before the beaches. Benalmadena Alto, as the old town is called, perches midway up this steep slope, above it the main coastal motorway is carved into the rock face. Tivoli World is up in the old town, the enterprising owners have built an alpine cable car that takes you from the car park right up, over the motorway to the top of the sierra. The view is stunning, even Africa can be seen on a good day. From our terrace we could just make out the swaying cable cars as they jigged upwards.

Looking along the coast road, there are three roundabouts, each with its own distinctive feature, designed like old-fashioned clipper ship sailing masts. One bedecked with little windmills, another with flags and the final one with little sails, very striking. The promenade runs through to the modern marina on two levels. The upper being alongside the busy road, with small gardens and palm trees. Whilst the lower is backed by a variety of tourist shops, bars and restaurants, from cheap ‘chips with everything Brit bars’ to lovely seafood bistros.

Tourist laden pleasure ferries bob in the turquoise waters as they convey sunburned tourists between the marina and its counterpart in Fuengirola. Jet skis and millionaires yachts race about in the offshore seas, attracting the attention of all the walkers on the promenade. The golden sandy beaches are raked clean every morning, wooden boardwalks lead to the rows of sunbeds and umbrellas for hire. Fresh water showers abound to rinse away the clinging sand, all these things make a day on the beach a very pleasant experience.

The modern stylish marina is the new centre of town, apartment blocks are built in the centre of the structure, surrounded by boat moorings, underground residents car parks and great sea views. The swish apartments are an enviable place to live (where’s that lottery win!) they are built in an eastern style, a bit like Antoni Gaudi meets the Brighton Pavilion!

Bars, café’s and restaurants of all standards and prices abound in this massive site. Shops, stalls and even an indoor ‘flea market’ are there to browse around. The Sealife Centre caters for the odd rainy day, various boat rides or fishing trips can be had most of the year. No self respecting resort would be complete without the great little ‘Tourist Train’ that plies, bell clanging, around the pathways of the marina, scattering children and adults alike from it’s path.

The eastern side of the marina meets directly with the beaches and promenade of Torremolinos, here bars and café’s sit directly on the sands and can be seen leading off in ranks to the town centre.

There is plenty in the area to see and explore if sunbathing gets too much! Marbella is just a few minutes drive along the coast, with its famous ‘Orange Square’ where you can sit beneath fragrant trees and be waited on from a number of café’s that surround the square.

Millionaires playground, Puerto Banus, Marbella’s famous marina. Where an overpriced beer will buy you hours of great people watching. The boats here range from small speedboats to huge transatlantic yachts, some with their own helicopters!

Head off into the hills for a couple of hours and explore Rhonda, a wonderful ancient town clinging to the sides of a massive gorge, the bridge and bullring are ‘must sees’ in the area.
Mijas is a famous ‘White Village’ just north of Fuengirola, a tad touristy, but very beautiful none the less. Sombrero hatted donkeys pull carts of visitors around the whitewashed streets. The views out over the sea are exceptional, there is a bullring and a good range of bars and café’s to keep the visitor occupied.
For the serious shopper Fuengirola has a vast range of stores, but for a real retail experience try the ‘El Corte Ingles’ a massive modern shopping mall that is close to the entrance to Puerto Banus marina.
Dining out in Benalmadena can be very reasonable, we became regulars at one in particular, Bar Kon-Tiki, not far from the sunset beach complex. For about £2.50p each we used to have steak, eggs, chips with a side salad. Bottles of house white plonk at £2.00 and cheap beers, we would spend hours just sitting on their terrace overlooking the main road and promenade. Wonderful.

Take the cable car up to the peaks in time for a spectacular sunset, the 4 seater cars climb out over Tivoli World, giving great views of the attractions. Up over the residential area, allowing you to snoop into peoples gardens and swimming pools, Lurch up over the 4 lane motorway (a bit scary). Then finally up to the summit, as you get off a photographer snaps you, which they then of course try to sell to you. There are little rocky trails to viewing points to explore, capture the sunset on camera. But don’t do what we did and leave the camera in the taxi on the way back to town!

To sum up, Benalmadena is a great place for some summer sun, it’s close to the airport with good rail and bus links. Loads to do and see with reasonably priced bars and restaurants. The best entertainment though is just walking along the prom to the marina, and that’s free!

Prien am Chiemsee, Bavaria

We returned from this stunning part of the world last month and you will be surprised to learn that I actually had nothing to moan about! This was our best holiday ever. From the moment we stepped on the plane at Gatwick and got upgraded to business class (yes it does happen, thanks B A & Judith) to our last glimpse of the lake before leaving for home, a wonderful 12 days.

Munich was our port of arrival, we would have 2 nights in Prien on lake Chiemsee before travelling through for a week in a timeshare apartment in Zell am See, Austria. We would then return to Prien for a final 2 nights. This worked out wonderfully. It is an easy 60 mile drive to our hotel on the lakeside from the airport, so makes a good base for either side of our main week. So impressed were we with this area and our hotel, the wonderful Luitpold am See, that we will certainly be returning for long weekends now and again.

Luitpold am See Hotel

The hotel, www.luitpold-am-see.de is in a great situation, sitting alongside the docks where a paddle steamer and various craft ply back and forth to the islands. Laden with tourists and visitors to the grand palace on the main island. As you know by now, in these Travel Bites, we try to find the ‘ahh’ spot in the resort, where it is best to sit and watch the world go by or survey the scenery.

For this trip, the Luitpold’s outside restaurant terrace overlooking the ferries coming and going, was where we spent many an hour. The restaurant, personally overseen by the hotel’s owner, Herr Wulf, was like the rest of the establishment, superb, friendly attentive staff, waited to serve us delicious meals or copious glasses of ‘Radler’ (lager shandy).

Right, let’s set the scene, from the terrace looking out over this huge lake, the main ferry berth is immediately beside us on the right. To the east directly in front of us is the largest of the islands, Herreninsel, which is home to the Schloss Herrenchiemsee, built by King Ludwig ll. Behind and slightly to the left of the main island is Fraueninsel, with its picturesque water front homes and the old convent. To the left of the hotel is a lakeside walk around a little peninsula, with boat hire companies dotted around the waterfront.

Overlooking this are the rest of the lakeside hotels in this marvellous resort, with outside bars and cafes competing for trade. We preferred the relative tranquillity of the Luitpold's sunny terrace. Just past the other hotels is the best swimming complex we have ever visited, Prienavera, www.prienavera.de/ this complex is comprised of various pools, spas, steam rooms, sun lounging areas and a truly great outside pool on a wooden boardwalk/ sun-terrace that juts out into the lake!

To the right of our hotel, behind the docks is a large yard with kiosks and toilets for the day-trippers and home of the Chiemseebahn. This elderly train was built in 1886 and now conveys tourists from the town centre mainline station a couple of kilometres away down to the docks. With a whistle and a toot, off it chugs to collect the next load of boat passengers, great. Beyond this yard are all the car and coach car parks, with a lakeside road heading south and the town centre up the hill to the west.

Arriving at the hotel at about 2pm the friendly receptionist guessed our name (not hard to spot a Brit abroad) and handed us the key to our lovely room. Spacious and meticulously clean, with a great balcony overlooking the little train and the docks. We also had, by using the airport’s online hotel booking service, a complimentary fruit basket, chocolates and mineral water, it’s the little touches that show the difference, very nice.
The first thing we did after the, relative chore, of unpacking was to sample a couple of ½ litres of Radler, weak lager shandy on Herr Wulf’s great terrace. We only found out about Radler on our last trip to Austria, in a heatwave, we were drinking large volumes of cold beer (lovely, but strong) to keep cool and then having to have an afternoon siesta to be ready for the evening!

We eventually found a helpful, very good English speaking waitress who suggested Radler, instead of beer when we arrived hot and bothered at her establishment. Deserves a medal, she does, a 30/70 shandy is a very refreshing drink on a hot day, and we always seem to arrive during an unseasonable heat wave! Enough digression!

Sitting on this terrace is a wonderful experience, the paddle steamer ‘Ludwig Fessler’ comes charging into the dock alongside your table. You think he is going too fast and will ram the dock, suddenly the great paddle wheels churn into reverse and the boat stops on a sixpence amid a turmoil of foam!.......I’m sure the captain does it for effect!

That afternoon we caught the little train up to the main town, about a 20 minute walk up the slight hill, for €3 euros each, return it was well worth the money. The town was fairly quiet in May, but it was pleasant to stroll around and see the maypole and it’s carvings, and roam its streets admiring the many traditionally painted houses and the old church.
The evening was spent in the Luitpold’s traditional restaurant, where the food was so good, well presented and served, we ate there at every meal. We did of course peruse other menus but were very happy with the variety of Herr Wulf’s selections. As the heat of the un-expected fierce May sun increased the mixed local lake fish and grilled meats of the ‘Salad Land & Sea’ was a very tasty but light evening meal, washed down with a carafe or 3 of some delicate local white wines. The restaurant was happy to supply a carafe and glasses to take back to the room to sit on the balcony and watch the moon rise over the lake. If you are looking for nightlife, not here my friend, thank goodness.
But, in the main summer season there are concerts and shows on stages set into the lake, and also at the Schloss Herrenchiemsee palace on the island, they must be memorable occassions.

Friday, after a typical German ‘pig woman breakfast’, I named it that after our first trip to a buffet breakfast in these parts. Linda came back with her plate so laden with cold meats, cheeses and assorted breads, that I called her ‘Pig Woman’, it sort of stuck, and yes, she did eat it all!

That day we took the Paddle steamer over to Herreninsel to visit Ludwig’s fabulous but sadly unfinished palace. He was infatuated with the French King Louis XIV, and this was a miniature version of the Palace of Versailles. Even down to the superb fountains and the hall of mirrors, with it’s thousands of candles in vast crystal chandeliers that took teams of servants ages to light. There is a museum, hotel and restaurant on a slightly elevated position on the island, reasonably priced, the terrace has great views over the lake to Frauninsel island and it’s convent.

The ferries offer a variety of excursions to these two islands, or longer trips to other lakeside towns. There is lots to see and do in the area, within half an hours drive there are cable cars, castles, a summer toboggan run, bike and dingy hire, even a motor museum. Not forgetting, the cute little electric boats that you can hire to create your own adventure.

After another good nights dining, Saturday saw us setting of to Zell am See for our week in the mountains of Austria, we would be back next week for another 2 nights to round off the trip.

Whizz, that week flew by, Gabrielle our super helpful receptionist checked us in to another superb balcony room, where we would look down on the little train ferrying its load of tourists back to town. We sat on the terrace with a seasonal asparagus salad, a carafe of wine and watched the world go by.

There was a sailing regatta on the lake, alas no wind, very hot though. They had set up a marquee on the peninsula by the hotels, beer tent and barbequed lake fish. Now had we a bit more knowledge of the language we may have joined in the banter of the beer tent. As it was we settled for hiring a small 2 speed electric boat for an hours exploration on the lake. At €12 for the boat, we thought it very reasonable, and we even caught a breeze to cool off.
Sunday dawned even hotter, so following a light breakfast of fruit salad and muesli, too hot for ‘pig woman’ feasts. We opted for a 3 speeder craft for a 2-hour electric boat ride, to do a full tour of the 2 islands. It would keep us cool under the boats little canopy and take us through to lunchtime.

It was a joy, this boat would reach nearly 15kph, not exactly speeding but great fun. If you waited till one of the big ferries or the ‘Ludwig Fessler’ to go by you could turn in to cross their wake and have a thoroughly good time bouncing about in the waves! In the course of 2 hours we pottered around the islands, taking in the waterfront views. People swam in the lake from their own craft, from yachts, to pedaloes, everyone was out enjoying the heat.

On our first visit the lake was a chilly 13degrees c, now a week later the water was up to a balmy 24 degrees, quite amazing really. After a couple of cooling iced coffees, yes coffees, made with Alpine milk and a dollop of ice cream topped with whipped cream, mmm (sorry Weight Watchers!). We had another salad variation for lunch before spending the afternoon in Prienavera.

Oh what an experience, had we known we would have gone there for a couple of hours every day we were here! The spotlessly clean complex houses a wealth of features, childrens pools with fountains and rapids. A cooler large pool for real swimmers, sauna, steam room and 2 Jacuzzis! A café and sun terraces indoor and out. Next-door was the lakeside swimming centre, where a section of the lake is sealed off and diving boards and platforms are provided by a large grass area.

But the ultimate experience was the outside all year round pool. Made in stainless steel and entered from a feeder channel from the main building, the water kept heated to least 27 degrees all year round. The circular pool sits on a boardwalk jutting out into the edge of the lake. There are many different spa effects around the circumference of the pool that come on at different time intervals. You can lie on your stomach, looking out over the lake while a myriad of warm bubbles tickle your tummy. Wonderful!

To sum up, Prien am Chiemsee is a great destination in it’s own right, but for us it comes into its own as a jumping off point for travels to Austria or Salzburg. Allowing the convenient use of the cheaper flights and car hire in Munich than it’s dearer Austrian neighbour. And we will visit Munich and the marvellous Hotel Luitpold am See many more times in the future.

Touring Western France

In September 2004, we took one of our ‘touring holidays’ trying, in vain, to recapture the excitement of our previous ‘Grand Tours’ in camper vans. Maybe, just maybe I tried to cram too big an area into a fortnight’s holiday. I had come across an interesting website www.interhotel.fr and ordered the catalogue which listed reasonable priced hotels across France. I spent many a lunchtime (in the pub, swift half only boss, promise!) deciding a route and choosing hotels to suit, and of course doing a cost analysis. So it was we left England in September on the Transmanche ferry from Newhaven to Dieppe, Now this is a very laid back friendly ferry company, with talkative amicable staff, a very refreshing experience to the usual crossings. The 4 hours passed very pleasantly, nice breakfast, a stroll around decks. After exploring the boat it was into the bar for my one (allowance before driving) pint of lager.

Our itinerary was, dash to The Loire for an overnight stop, a good meal, bottle of wine (of course) an early start and a longish run to the Bay of Arcachon, just south of Bordeaux. Whizz up to Royan . Then further up the coast to Sables D’Olonne, scene of Ellen MacAurthurs triumph. Before a dash to Dieppe for a last Moules et Frites before returning home. That was the plan, err, heres how it went.

We arrived in Dieppe, at around mid-day, we set off for the 185 miles journey to Auberge Maille D’Or in Beaugency on the Loire. We arrived at around 5pm and parked in the off road car park, an old out building really. Shown to our room, via a most beautiful garden, we were pleasantly surprised to discover we had a small studio on a single storey extension running alongside the garden. Very pleasant indeed, and more important, quiet. A two minute walk took us down to the mighty Loire, surprisingly the riverside was undeveloped no bars or cafes, not even a quayside. We walked back via the charming old town and it’s church, for a re-vitalising shower and a rather good 3-course dinner and wine in the hotel’s excellent restaurant.

Declining a breakfast, as we wanted to get a crack on with the 315 odd miles we had to go to get south of Bordeaux and reach Arcachon, our base for 3 nights. After an hour or so we stopped for a coffee and croissant in a small town before joining the toll motorway to clock up a few miles. These toll routes are a real pleasure to drive on, usually fairly quiet and with wonderful ‘Aires’ or services every 10 k’s. Which alternate between large garage, restaurant complexes and lovely small wooded stops with picnic areas and always with good toilet facilities, sometimes even showers.

It was great to open up ‘Hawkie’ (our silver car, “Siver Machine” by Hawkwind, yes I know we are sad!) and let her loose, a Nissan Primera 2ltr Gti does not often get a good run on our overcrowded roads. The tolls run out at about 8 pence a mile, but save you a lot of time, fuel is a bit cheaper (use supermarkets) so that counteracts the tolls.

Early afternoon found us searching the area where I thought the Hotel Le Nautic was to be found, in the central part of town opposite the popular beaches. Alas it turned out we were about a kilometre to the north, opposite the marina (working marina, not tourist unfortunately). I had thought it was on the actual seafront, but it was on the wrong side of the busy main road. The brochure photo had been cleverly taken from a pontoon in the marina, through a gap in the buildings to give the impression of a waterfront location. Second gripe coming up, having booked 8 months before, I naively expected to have a top room with a view of the marina (through said gap). Sure enough we had a back room with a view of the church (and it’s damn bells!) but it was a nice room.

I did not know it at the time, but if you book through some hotel chain’s websites, the discount you get is not covered by the parent company, but knocked off what they pay the actual hotel. So you never are going to get a top room, balcony and sea view, unless you pay a supplement! Live and learn.

After settling in we walked into town, well I led Linda actually, the narrow pavements and frequent obstacles are not well suited to partially sighted people. When we eventually got to the seafront it was wonderful, clean golden sands, numerous ferries plied across the Bassin d’Arcachon to Cap Ferret and it’s much visited lighthouse. Multi-coloured fishing houses sat on stilts in the centre of the huge bay, seabirds wheeling overhead. The beach is backed by a fine promenade, with a great variety of bars shops and café’s to mooch around. On the beach by one of the small piers, a large stage was erected and a string band played while a colourful troupe of dancers whirled energetically in the hot afternoon sun. We found a bar opposite and over a beer or two enjoyed the show.

It was too much of a chore to go into town more than once a day, so we adopted a pleasant little bistro near the hotel for our 3 nights, nice food, reasonable wine and most importantly, an English speaking hostess. Next morning we drove the 50 mile round trip to Cap Ferret, thinking it would be a scenic drive, but you could rarely see the bay due to all the waterfront buildings, now we knew why everyone used the ferries.

Next day we drove to the south of town to climb Europe’s biggest sand dune, at 2 miles long and 375ft high the Dune du Pilat is a magnificent vantage point. The drive was very pretty too, winding through pine woods with glimpses of sandy coves, which are typical of this stretch of coast all the way down to the Spanish border. A wooden stairway with rope banisters aided our ascent, at the top we breathlessly took our shoes off to enjoy the sensation of walking along the ridge of the dune. As expected the coastal views were superb, we came early, avoiding the climb in the hot noon sun.

Going down was great fun for younger fitter people, just run and if you fall, no matter. We settled for a fast stride, barefoot, hand in hand a most enjoyable experience.

Next morning Royan was a mere 125 mile hop on scenic back roads, The Hotel Miramar was much more to our liking on the seafront in one of the many small bays that make up the resort of Royan. We paid the extra few Euros for a seaview and were not disappointed. There was a small parade of shops and café’s just to the right of the hotel, opposite which was the towns casino. Lined along the sides of the bay are grand old houses, some of which look like they could be summer residences for the ‘Munsters’ or the ‘Addams Family’, one could just imagine ‘Uncle Fester’ going for an early morning swim with the ghastly children!

Dotted around the edge of the cove, past the low water mark are several ‘sheds’ clinging to the rockface. Each with a small crane and a square net waiting for the high tide, to be dipped into the sea and scoop up some form of sea creature, shrimps perhaps? The town casino, more often purely machine arcades for adults, can be a great place to eat, the gaming subsidising a normally excellent restaurant. So it was here, we enjoyed a good 3 course meal with wine, and the price was very reasonable, next evening we paid the same for a tasteless chicken dish in one of seaside cafés. At night the sands are lit by changing coloured spotlights, ah very pretty, we would sit in our room with a second bottle of wine watching the Atlantic swells roll in, that’s more like it.

Our 3 days here passed quickly, we visited the town centre and it’s marina, saw the huge concrete church, Eglise Notre-Dame, rebuilt after the bombings of WW2 and generally wandered around contentedly. There is a rather nice botanical garden on the outskirts of town, built on islands surrounded by little waterways. You can hire little electric boats and see the gardens from the water, how sweet. The orchid house and Bonsai exhibits are well worth a visit, as is the ‘gourd’ greenhouse, various huge squashes hang at head height waiting to catch out the less observant (Linda). Royan is a charming town we will put on our ‘must return to’ list.

The grand sounding Admiral’s Hotel in Les Sables d’Olonne was our next destination, a 100 miles up the coast. The seafront looked to be very nice, good assortment of shops and eateries, nice prom, massive marina. Then we tried to find our marina front hotel, it was in the heart of the commercial docklands at the back end of the marina, miles from the tourist centre. It would be impossible to lead Linda around this hazardous place. Having pre-booked and paid, we had to go in and explain, no problem. Now where to next, Brittany 180 miles to the north seemed a good idea, we know and love it well. We had the Interhotel book with us, and there was a place in Concale that looked nice.

The Nuit et Jour, a hotel and aparthotel, complete with heated covered pool was a jewel of a place. Sitting on the main road a couple minutes drive to the town square or harbour, and very well sited for the St Malo ferry port a few miles away. With a supermarket next door, we had a cute little 4 berth chalet, two of which though, in a mezzanine via a ladder, suitable only really for children. Television, fridge, hob and our own little garden and patio with furniture, and the cheapest rate yet! The weather was typical Brittany, blustery, but that is great here. The rugged coastline shines in gales and pounding surf. We had wonderful scenic drives and lunches of Moules et Frites, followed by strolls around the pretty seaside towns or harbours.

Returning to our well stocked fridge for a snack and wine in the evenings, followed by a DVD played on the laptop while laying on the bed holding hands, daft? Or romantic? We loved it anyway. Pre breakfast swims, fresh bread and croissants from the nearby baker, more scenery to take in, mussels & chips to eat, paradise. I even found my dream home, (lottery win granted) atop a small island only reachable via a causeway at low tide, that’ll keep the visitors out! Sadly our 3 days passed very quickly here, now it was time for the 220 mile trip to Dieppe and our final night in France.

Leaving early in the morning we took the little tourist coast road past the magnificence of the Mont St Michel, shrouded in swirling mists, then on to the main road into Normandy. The Hotel de la Plage’ is somewhere we often stay in Dieppe, when away for a weekend, a great place to spend a couple of days, more on Dieppe in a future article. It was absolutely pouring with rain that evening so instead of our usual harbour-side bistro, the Newhaven, we settled for a small café close to the hotel for our final culinary treat. Next morning we left the hotel at 6 am to catch the early morning ferry home. On board we whiled away the voyage downloading the hundreds of pictures we had taken onto the laptop. Over coffee, we reviewed the photos and recounted experiences, not a bad holiday. But perhaps we should have stuck to north and south Brittany and not driven so far?

If you’re curious on the prices, here’s what we paid in 2004;

Transmanche ferry to Dieppe £120
Beaugency €55 a night
Arcachon €58 a night
Royan €75 a night
Concale €48 a night
Dieppe €52 a night
Extra photos can be found on our website in the ‘Travel Bite’ section www.twoclots.com

Zell am See, Austria

In May we had a wonderful holiday, possibly the best yet, in Bavaria and Austria. Flying British Airways into Munich and collecting our hire car from Avis. We ended up with a Vauxhall Meriva, a small people carrier, which having high seating was ideal for sight seeing, not to mention easy for my creaking joints to get into!

We had booked into the marvellous Hotel Luitpold am See in Prien on lake Chiemsee, Bavaria for two nights either side of our main week in Austria. The Bavarian side of this trip was the subject of June’s ‘Travel Bite’ so I won’t recover old ground here, but it was wonderful.

Saturday morning saw us leaving Prien for the 70 mile drive down to the Hotel Neue Poste in the beautiful lakeside town of Zell am See. www.neuepost.at

Having all day to get there we travelled on the small roads between pretty alpine villages and towering mountains. Thundering rocky rivers ran alongside the roads, fed by the, still melting, snows on the peaks way above.
The hotel we were heading for is also part timeshare, I had booked this apartment nearly a year before, searching the Internet almost daily. It is rare to find a timeshare resort that is in the centre of a town, making for pleasant evening strolls without taking the car out, so I booked it as soon as I saw it!

We only had one task on this drive to the hotel, and that was to do a food shop before mid-day, we had been caught out before in Austria. Arriving at an apartment mid afternoon and then going shopping, only to find the supermarket closed at 12 Saturday, until Monday morning. Saalfelden, provided the opportunity, seeing a sign for a Spar, we pulled in. Not the small corner shops we are used to here, but a superstore mall, rooftop car park, glass lifts. The produce and range of meats, hams and cheeses was amazing, not to mention mouth-watering. We stocked up on cheeses, ham, tomatoes and cucumbers for breakfasts along with a toaster loaf and lots of drinks, soft and alcoholic!

We got to the hotel at 12.30, way too early for the 4pm check in, but I wanted to park up the car and explore the local area. However when I asked the friendly receptionist about disabled parking, besides pointing out a blue lined bay just over the square, also said our apartment was ready if we wanted it now. Result. We had only booked a studio, so we were not too sure how big the room would be, or if we had a view or not.

Taking Linda and the first of the bags up to the room, thankfully there was a lift, we both crossed our fingers hoping we would be able to see the scenery. Opening the door, we entered a transverse hallway, with a bath, shower toilet room on the right, at the left hand end a second toilet was next to the spacious bedroom. French windows, and a huge ‘Austria bed’ contained within, now those of you who have never experienced an ‘Austria bed’ will wonder what an earth I’m on about. Two single mattresses contained in a wood frame topped, usually by two separate down and feather quilts give you the best nights sleep you could wish for!

By the main bathroom was a lounge/diner/kitchenette, also with French windows, through which was a full-length balcony, complete with table and chairs. The view was stunning, a glimpse of the lake through the trees, the garden, patio, outdoor pool and spa below us. High snow capped peaks directly in front of us and a green hill with two cable cars was off to the right. We would be spending many hours here, just sitting, soaking in the panorama and savouring the clean mountain air.

Having unpacked we went off to explore the area, 30 yards away was a supermarket, open 7 till 7 six days a week, oh, how times have changed. We appeared to be two minutes walk from everything, the lake, train station, cable car station, high street and boat hire quays, super we had never been this central before in a timeshare resort. We walked down the slight incline, past the church to the lakeside, to our right were pretty gardens with benches, behind which was the railway station. At the bottom of the high street is the Grand Hotel, which juts out into the lake, with its surrounding gardens and restaurant, a wonderful place to sample a beer or coffee and kutchen (cake, big creamy creations). Either side of the ‘Grand’, electric boats can be hired to tour the lake, along with the regular tour and ferry boats that connect the lakeside villages. All this sits under the majesty of the high grey mountain peaks, Grossglockner, the tallest at 3700 metres and the nearer Kaprun glacier where you can ski all year round. Sun or rain the view is always captivating, watching the steaming clouds dancing across the snow-capped tips of these ancient grey giants.

Walking on northwards for a few minutes we found an excellent area for families, lake swimming is very popular in the summer months and this was the place to do it. A grass sunbathing area with diving boards and pontoons moored just offshore. A playground and wonderful toddlers paddling pool area and heated outdoor pool with slides, adjacent to a café complex with great first floor views over the lake. We spent an hour here most evenings with a pre-dinner drink. On the 21st May when we arrived the lake was a chilly 13 degrees, by the end of the week, thanks to the early season heatwave, it was up to a balmy 23 degrees. It should also be pointed out how clean the lake is, as is the whole town, the waters are in fact up to drinking quality, yep, straight out of the lake!

The main area of the old town is traffic free, making for good strolls to choose a lunchtime restaurant, of which there are many types, even, god forbid, a Mc Donalds. We used an Italian on a couple of occasions, nice pastas for Lin and the best snitzel (flattened pork fillet dipped in egg and breadcrumbs and fried) topped with cranberry jelly, that I had yet experienced. Lunchtimes we tended to drink Radler, weak lager shandy, very refreshing or gorgeous creamy iced coffee. The alpine milk and creams from this area are truly outstanding.

We tended to have a lunch out when we were sightseeing and following an early evening stroll and lakeside drink, or two, we would retire to our balcony. The superb view we had meant we were happy to sit there for hours, with a meal and a couple of bottles of wine. It was both the asparagus and Italian strawberry season, so most evenings we started with tender spears drizzled in molten alpine butter, shake of Parmesan cheese, mmm, followed by luscious strawberries. On the subject of cost, shopping and eating out was very much on a par with home, except the quality and quantity of fresh foods here seemed much better. Maybe it was just because the supermarkets are a pleasure to shop in, no crowds, with polite, friendly and helpful staff all this encouraged you to linger and browse.

The town and lake is a major tourist haunt, being the destination of many coach package tours, and there are many day trippers in town, yet we never thought it crowded or busy, still it was only May, doubtless July and August would be very different.

For fitter people than us, it is possible to cycle or walk all the way around the lake, there are enough villages and cafes around to make it a pleasant days hike. There are many wonderful things to do in the immediate area, The Schmittenhoehe features heavily, being the highest peak close to town over 3,000 metres. We took the cable car up to its still snowy summit, a wonderful experience in the clear air.

The views were as stunning as we had dared hope, 360 degrees of unbroken mountain peaks. There were brave souls launching themselves off into space slung below paragliders, singly and in tandem (attached to some poor soul regretting his beer prompted booking from the day before!). Others opted to walk down one of the winding trails back to the lake, miles below. After crunching through the snow and a delicious mug of hot chocolate in the panoramic café, we, of course, caught the cable car back.

Schmittenhoehe is also the name of the new lake cruiser, you can even buy a combined ticket. This impressive new boat gives hourly lakes tour with food and drinks served by efficient waiting staff, we sampled a rather nice bottle of Riesling while enjoyed our commentated trip. On the north shore is an impressive lakeside campsite, I wish we had known of this in our motorhome owning years. On the shore opposite Zell am See is a small village with a little riverfront park where the ferry calls, we would some days sit there with a sandwich and bottle of water, yes water and watch the world sail by.

A light railway runs from the town out to the famous Krimml falls, we chose to drive. A spectacular sight, although to get to the upper levels it is a fair hike up steep tracks. We did the easy walk to the lower main fall, and between coach parties had the place to ourselves.

On leaving the car park we headed further west out of the village of Krimml, where the snaking road climbs way above the falls and lay-bys provide excellent photo stops, without the long trek!

There are many wonderful places to visit in this area, too many for just a week but the must-see has to be the Kaprun glacier. It was a hot day when we arrived in the car park, it was strange to see people putting on thick ski suits and boots when we had just got out of an air-conditioned car! It took 3 separate cable car rides to assualt the 3500 metres of the glacier, even on the 2nd level we walked on snow to the final stage up to the panoramic restaurant, as skiers and snow boarders glided past us. We climbed the stairs to the top roof terrace above the restaurant, Wow! Panorama is a word used a lot in this article, but it is the only one to describe the thrill of standing on top of the world and seeing snow topped peaks all around you. Bikini clad girls, soaked up the sunshine in deckchairs placed on the thick snow, crowded restaurant terraces filled with the beautiful people, then a pair of old bumbles like us, slipping and sliding in our summer deck shoes, we must have raised a smile! Tracked ‘piste busters’ threw out plumes of snow as they smoothed the slopes for the afternoon influx of skiers, sights we would never normally see. Well worth the 20 odd Euros each we paid for the cable car rides.

The Grossglockner high alpine toll road is another sight not to be missed, around 50 kms long it winds up hairpin bends (39 of them) through the mountains to the glacier. There is a visitor centre, restaurant and you can even take a walk on the actual glacier. If the weather is good Marmots, large rodent like creatures, can be seen grazing on the grasses alongside the paths. The Grossglockner mountain is also the highest peak in this part of Austria, and even at the end of May some parts of the road had 6 feet of snow on either side, quite thrilling and not for the nervous driver. We loved it.

Another of our favourites that we visit time and again is the Liechtensteinklamm, a narrow gorge with a white water river, topped off with a tumbling waterfall. They have built a wooden boardwalk all the way up to the falls, it is quite an adventure to climb beside the foaming tumble of cold mountain water. There are plenty of benches for the weary, namely us, where we would linger and take amazing photographs. All this for an astonishing 3 euros a head, great value, as things like this are out in Austria, even the Krimml falls was about this price, it helps to offset the expensive cable car rides.

Seeing and walking in the snow on both the glaciers was some thing we had always wanted to experience, even to the extent of trying to book a winter week in Austria. Now though we realise that whilst the snow looks great there would not actually be much for a non-skiing pair of bumbles to do, so we will stick with summer visits.

The second half of our week turned into a heatwave, the outdoor hotel pool saw a lot of use. We also used the indoor spa, until we found out that it was compulsory to be naked, not a pretty site, nor was the huge grossly overweight elderly fraulein who angrily complained about us being in swimming attire!

To sum up, Zell am See is a wonderful base for a holiday, lots to see and do in and around the area, we found it was no more expensive than here, the people are friendly and welcoming, the best holiday we have had for a long while.

Changing Spain

In October 2005 we returned, after an absence of 3 years to our own timeshare resort, Bena Vista. Situated between Marbella to the east and Estepona to the west, the white ‘pueblo’ style bougainvillea clad complex has been almost a second home to us during the last 10 years.

On our previous visit we could see 9 or 10 tower cranes from our balcony, we were anxious to see that our little area of the ‘Costas’ had not been spoiled.

I must at this point remind you that this article is purely based on our views and expectations of the trip and others may have different opinions to our view of Spain 2005, which is fair enough.

The flight on GB airways (the charter arm of BA) was a pleasure; we had a spacious 3 seat, (well 2 and a centre small child’s chair) row for just the two of us, close to the front (3 A & C if your interested).

A friend had in the business had told us that rows 1-6 always have a bit more leg-room as they are set up so that they can easily be used for 1st class if needed. Not being cramped ensured the 1 hour delay did not bother us too much.
Arriving at Malaga, the day deteriorated, rapidly!

By design or not, I cannot say, but it seemed that all the British flights were parked on the airport apron, while other nations airlines had the luxury of parking next to the terminal and using the connecting companionways. We were shoehorned into a bus and dropped outside the terminal in the road, by a locked door, after a little while another busload of Brits was dropped off behind us. Another few minutes later and a single door was opened a few metres down the building and the growing group was beckoned forward. The crowd, fed by more coaches every couple of minutes was mushrooming wildly, filling the road. Behind the door a snail trail led to a single Spanish passport control officer, who, of course, was checking every passport in detail!

I was livid, and quite uncomfortable. I like a lot of other people, expected to be in the terminal within 10 minutes of touchdown, and so had decided not to use the plane’s confined toilets, but to wait, by now cross-legged, muttering curses about Spanish in-efficiencies!

After enduring passport control, and being held up still further by an American, who did not understand how to queue, that had pushed through to the front expecting to be waved straight through. Of course the passport man held him (and us) up for ages, even making a phone call to check out the irritating yank. The delights of the baggage reclaim hall awaited. Now it seemed that all flights from other countries had a baggage reclaim carrousel to themselves. Whilst the one carrousel for British flights, permanently had 3 different planeloads of bags on it, pandemonium! As soon as the Manchester flights bags had gone, a Heathrow flight was added to our Gatwick and the Stanstead bags already on the conveyor! I was starting the think the locals may not really appreciate what we Brits are doing to their country (can’t say I blame them).

Walking down the slope toward the on-aiport carhire, one of the queues could be seen stretching off into the distance, phew, not Avis, I think it was the local firm that is used by ‘Holiday Autos’, mental note never to book with them. Although I do remember using Hetz last year in Portugal, who also acted as Holiday Autos, also with huge queues, hence we were now heading for the Avis desk (virtually queue less). I had only booked a basic Opel Corsa for this trip, usually if we are doing big mileage I will pay for a better model, ideally a small MPV, we had a Meriva last time for our Germany / Austria tour. I collected the keys to our vehicle, which had supposedly been inspected and was unmarked. Guess what, they were out of Corsas, so we got a Meriva, at no extra cost! Typical, when you don’t need one, you get a free upgrade, bet it doesn’t happen next time we do need a bigger car!

In the dark and cramped conditions of the car park, as usual, checked out the car and discovered a dent or scrape on every corner of the vehicle, and it had less than 5,000ks on the clock! Finding a little man in an Avis jumper, I got him to sign the hire agreement with all the dents marked on it.

Driving out of the airport, at last, I noted the fuel tank was only 3/4s full, damn, fleeced again!
On arrival at our resort, I would photograph all the dents and scratches so they are date and time marked on our camera, just as a precaution.

The 50 minute drive to Bena Vista was un-eventful, tedious even; at one time you often glimpsed the sea or views to the coast or distant mountains, now it was tower cranes and building sites on every bit of spare land. Huge trucks roared onto the main road from every junction, plumes of chocking dust billowing in their wake, we were glad of the car upgrade and its air-conditioning to escape the dust.

Bena Vista reception was as usual, efficient; an email to Rebecca, the resort manager had ensured our apartment was ready to move into 2 hours before the normal 4pm check in time. A quick trip to the supermarket for essential supplies, mainly of the liquid variety, and by 3 pm we were venturing off to find our first beer and explore the resort. Bena Vista is a large complex of 1 to 3 bedroom apartments, adjacent to which is a commercial centre that sports a number of restaurants and shops. There used to be a great variety of restaurants, but as holidaymakers have given way to a growing number of ex-pats, the majority of eateries are poor imitations of English café’s, offering all day breakfasts, burgers and the like.

There are now 5 Chinese and 3 Thai restaurants within 500 metres of our apartment, we tried the original Chinese restaurant on our first night. It used to offer exceptional value and good food. This time we thought it was very expensive and the main courses, sadly lacking in meat and prawns, consisting of 90% vegetables.

We strolled around the other restaurants on Sunday morning, checking prices and menus. The ones that may have merited a visit were extremely expensive, i.e. a fillet or sirloin steak was €20 plus each vegetable was a separate additional item. The last 2 years we have had our main holiday in Austria and Bavaria, and were amazed to work out that it was much cheaper to eat out there, than here, in once cheap Spain. Our 2 bedroom apartment for this visit had a full kitchen, microwave etc, even a BBQ on the balcony, so we decided that we would eat in most evenings, and have a lunchtime snack while we were out.

At the super market on Sunday another price shock awaited us. We always found fruit and veg to be really cheap, not any more, prices were a lot dearer than at home. Strangely the large piece of fillet steak we bought was nearly half the price of a similar size piece of pork fillet, which was always the cheapest of meats in the past. Wine also, we were paying between €4.50 and €8.35 for Torres Vina Sol, a pretty nice white wine, a lot of the cheap wines are often corked and bitter. But I had bought the same wine at home for £3.50p a few weeks ago.

So it was we settled into a routine, we had come away for a total relax on this trip, to forget the nightmare of the summer. Lin’s eye surgery and the rebuilding of our dining room following the sewage leak were to become distant memories. We lay in bed reading until 9.30, breakfasted on ham, cheese, tomatoes and lovely knobbly cucumber with warm bread fresh from the bakers.

An 11am swim was followed by an outing for a couple of hours, before returning to the balcony for more reading. One day we tried laying on the sunbeds by the pool, but it ended in a flurry of flailing arms. Spain is in the grip of the worst drought for 150 years, with no rain expected until December, as such insects are thriving. So if you swim in a freshwater pool and then lay down, a swarm of flies descend for a drink from your wet body, hence the flailing arms.

Ants are another major problem at the moment, one morning I went to make the tea for our morning lay in and saw a double trail of ants marching cartoon like to the kitchen sink. We had lazily left the evenings washing up until the morning, the little critters had done it for us, scouring the plates clean, before returning to a minute crack in the marble wall tile! A squirt of insect spray meant we did not see them again, apparently they are a major problem all over the area at the moment. That’s without mentioning the bedroom Olympics with a rolled up copy of the Costa del Sol Friday Ad, yes Friday Ad, to swat the midnight, mozzie matt immune mosquitoes, ah the joys of a sunshine holiday!

Around 1pm we would drive to either Estapona or San Pedro to walk along the wonderful promenades and select a beach bar for a lunchtime snack and a couple of beers or a glass of wine and just watch the world go by for an hour or two.

The food went from one extreme to another, a wonderful mixed fried fish in San Pedro or a selection of mini ‘tapas’ in Estepona to a truly awful greasy brown stained pork chop from what was once a charming beachfront shack that used to serve all the local workers with regional dishes.

Early evening we would stroll down to the beach opposite our complex, a wooden beach bar did a roaring trade in cocktails and aperitifs (vodka and tonic for us) as we watched the red burst of fire descend into the sea behind Estepona in spectacular sunsets. Walking back at dusk we would stop for a final vodka & tonic at the ‘Chilli’ bar and watch the well dressed golfers assemble for the evening at the plush fish restaurant next door. They were welcome to it, sitting on the balcony, fillet steak, pan fried in butter and olive oil, a rich mushroom and pepper sauce, fresh mange tout and sugar snap peas with a delightful sweet potato mash, mm, wonderful. Crisp cool white wine, followed by fresh strawberries, rounded off by a coffee and a glass of Spanish brandy. The evening rounded off by an hour of UK Gold, One Foot in the Grave, or Mrs Bucket…bliss, sad, but bliss.

This was how the week progressed, and as such we really enjoyed it. On a drive down the new motorway to the west of Estepona, just to see what it was like, we realised the full extent of the building work going on all along the Costa del Sol. It seemed that every scrap of land, had a tower crane on it, whole new estates and townships were springing up.

When all these hundreds of thousands of properties are inhabited where will they get the water from, where will they park, where will they work? The current infrastructure cannot cope as it is, massive traffic jams, water shortages. And more to the point it is not a nice place to visit any more, oh sure there are isolated little oasis of paradise, a few beaches and the towns promenades are super.

But with building going on in the background how long before these tranquil places are overrun with all the extra residents also seeking their little bit of seaside space? Sorry, Spain, you have let your property developers run riot, you’ve blown it!

It will be a long time before we think of returning here again, which saddens me. I wonder how the local populace, the tradesmen, cleaners etc are coping with these escalating prices? Not to mention the huge number of ex-pats who came a long time ago on limited pensions or budgets, we know friends who used to boast of living well on £20 a week food bill 3 years ago, not any more, methinks!

On our way to the airport we stopped off at Benalmadena marina for a last lunch, and I must say prices here were as we remembered them, and the food was good, albeit a very touristy menu. So it seems to be that in areas of high competition and mass tourism, a bargain can still be found. But for us, the magic has gone.