Barcelona by van #vanlife

La Rambla Barcelona 0700am

I’d been looking forward to Barcelona since we crossed into Spain, I think I’ve only spoken to one person who didn’t like the city or have positive things to say about it, it’s well known for having a lot of vegan options, nice beaches a beautiful city and lots of history! We were only planning a day there and ended up spending 3 days exploring, in this blog I’ll tell you where we parked and what we did. If you have any questions about visiting the city put them in the comments below and I’ll do my best to answer.

As usual we looked on the Park4Night app before visiting the city and found one 3km outside the city up the hill, this made for a exhilarating ride down into town but a lengthy workout on the way back up, not such a bad thing after stuffing our faces with vegan cake and coffee? On the second day I found a free walking tour in Barcelona that left from Placa de Catlunya, you can’t miss it! It’s at the end of La Rambla and the tours leave every day in Spanish and English from 10/11 & 1500. I can highly recommend the tour we joined, the guide was very informative and friendly like they usually are, as everyone who’s been on one before “free tours” are free however, if you like the tour and the guide you would leave a tip, you give what you can afford or what you thought the tour was worth.

Vanlife Barcelona

Click HERE the link will take you to the google map location where we parked outside the city, if you’re not taking your bikes then you can take the bus into town I believe they run around every 15 minutes from the top of the hill into town, close by is a lovely park from which you will hear thousands of frogs croaking under the moonlit sky at night, the park shuts around 2200 so you can’t go in after then. Don’t be alarmed if you park in the same location I’ve linked above, as you get closer to the parking places you will see local vans sprayed from top to bottom by local “artists” these are local vans, as with other cities in Spain and Portugal tagging vans seems to be common practice but I’ve only ever seen local vans tagged.

If you like vegan food and you’re looking for an amazing small cafe for breakfast, lunch or lots of delicious cakes then look no further than Santorini’s, it’s a small family run business and even if you’re not vegan you will appreciate the food and the cakes! Unfortunately we only found Santorini’s on our last day in Barcelona, previously to this we found a city chain called Chok reading blog posts and Google reviews it seemed like the place to be, it wasn’t! The cakes were presented beautifully but unfortunately the taste didn’t match their decoration! Or their price tag. Check out the photos below to see Santorini’s.

Santorini vegan cafe Barcelona

On our last day in the city of Barcelona we decided to get up at 0615 and head into town to see the city before it was packed with tourists, it was well worth it! This was suggested by our tour guide the previous day and to be honest I was dubious when he told us we needed to be in town before 0700 to see the city at the best time but it didn’t disappoint! We took a bike ride around before the sidewalks were full or the shops open, afterwards we went and enjoyed breakfast at Santorini’s followed by a swim at the beach.

Breakfast treats Santorini’s Barcelona Vegan Food

I hope you enjoy Barcelona as much as we did if you get a chance to visit! If you have any questions or tips you would like to share then please leave them in the comments below! Ciao for now, Adam – @aboutavan

Hot springs close to Alhama de Murcia

If you’re in the Granada region you’ll most definitely be looking for some hot springs, the area is littered with them! Here’s my recent find, they’re free to use.

Access would be especially hard in wet conditions and I wouldn’t attempt it unless you have a 4×4, even then I’d advise caution.

You can park here for the night without any issues and the locals are friendly.

There are 4 pools in total, two smaller ones at the colder end of the set and two larger ones closer to the source.

The springs are fed by a water outlet rather than individually filled.

These photos are unedited, it’s a lovely spring to relax in for the night, I hope you enjoy as much as I have! I’ll attach the location below.

(37.6612848, -1.3499920) coordinates

Google Map location: CLICK HERE

If you can see this you’re in the right place. The hot springs are located behind the wall.

Please take your rubbish with you and treat the area with respect, enjoy! @aboutavan

Hotsprings Alhama de Granada

If you’re in the Granada region you’ll be wanting to stop at some of the hot springs, this is one of may in the area, it can be a little tricky to find as it’s so simple to find! In this short blog I’ll give you some photos and a map location.

Here’s the drive down to the hotel, you can’t park here but you can park just outside the hotel gates, follow this drive down until you come to the bridge.

Once you’re on the bridge look to the left and there you have it! FREE HOTSPRINGS in Alhama de Granada.

The pools are around 40 degrees C, as you can see there’s a shallow river beside to cool off in between soaks, these pools can get busy, especially on the weekend.

Here is the google map location for the hotel entrance, you can park outside on the road or you can park where we did, I’ll include that link too!

Road parking: (37.0187131, -3.9846310) or Google maps

Where we slept for the night: (37.0213344, -3.9843782) or Google maps

Enjoy relaxing in the thermal pools! Adam @aboutavan

Camping in Gibraltar

A weekend camping in Gibraltar

Gibraltar, a piece of land spanning just 3 square miles in the south of Spain but still owned by the British, the 2 most common things that come to mind are monkeys & duty free. If you’re thinking about visiting Gibraltar in your van then carry on reading, I’ll list a good parking place along with other relevant information for a few nights in Gibraltar.

Bordering with Spain it would be rude not to visit if you’re passing, there’s lots to see and some great walking trails around “the rock” click below to see the Expedia youtube video, this will give you some tips & an over view of Gibraltar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnLsngMT5Eg

Expedia Advert for Gibraltar

As you can see from the video the views are breathtaking, unfortunately we didn’t hike on the best day of the year! Gibraltar see’s 300 days of sunshine and we hiked on a grey damp day, but it was still incredible, it was the first time I’ve ever seen monkeys in the wild! So what did I do? SELFIE of course!

We began our hike from Jews Gate. They advised us not to take the dog but then one of the men said it would be fine, we should just carry a stick & that’s what we did, monkeys don’t like dogs and they will try to attack the dog if you leave it alone, if you have the option to go without your dog then I’d highly recommend it! But if you can’t leave the dog then go, but be careful and carry a stick.

Here are some photos from the hike

It took us around 50-60 minutes to hike the Mediterranean steps, the man at the gate said we could do it in 20! I think you’d have to be running! It’s a beautiful walk up, surrounded by flowers with the odd bunker scattered along the way, the views would be amazing on a clear day although in the sun this would be an exhausting walk.

Cost for a walkers ticket: £5.00 each or €7.00 we took the walkers ticket as it gave us access to the main guns, skywalker and the apes den, as we started our hike late the other exhibitions would have been closing. You can do the tunnels for £8.00 or they’re included if you buy a full tourists ticket.

After all this hiking we ended up in the town center ready to head back to the van via bus, unfortunately the busses don’t give change and they don’t accept card either! I believe It costs £1.80 for a one way ticket or £2.50 for a days travel, they do accept euros but it has to be the correct amount.

Camping in Gibraltar

You may be advised upon entry that you’re no allowed to sleep in your van in Gibraltar, when entering I said I would be leaving later that day, the customs officer told me if I was found sleeping in my vehicle they would escort me back to Spain! You’re allowed to camp on private property with the land owners permission but when you visit you’ll realise that’s almost impossible!

We ended up parking at Europa point click HERE for the google map location. This is a totally free public car park, it’s listed on the Park4Night app.

The police passed us here several times and we were never asked to move, we were there over the weekend so perhaps they were too busy dealing with drink related issues or they just let people stay until it gets too crowded? Either way we had a trouble free stay in Gibraltar, I hope if you visit it’s the same for you!

Shopping & Fuel

The most exciting thing for me in Gibraltar was definitely seeing a Morrisons! I left the U.K. 6 months ago and since it’s been hard to get some of the vegan junk food I love, including their donuts! There are various “duty free”.

Diesel was around £0.93/L when I visited, this is still even cheaper than Spain!

Whilst in Gibraltar I decided to take advantage of the no VAT and had two new tyres fitted to the rear axle, I had these done at the Quick Fit service station very close to the border, not to be confused with KwikFit in the UK! This is a small family run tyre business, Nigel offers a good service with competitive rates, check them out on facebook or google! 

Leaving Gibraltar

This can be a lengthy process, my friends left Gibraltar around 5pm and it took them around 3 hours to get across the border, locals told me sometimes the Spanish just let it build up on purpose, there is a solution to this if you just want to visit the rock, you can park on the spanish side and walk across, this way you’ll have no issues! Or you can plan the time you leave, keep in mind if you want to leave with more than the standard allowance (200 cigarettes or 1 litre of Spirits) then it’s prohibited to leave between 2100-0700 I believe.

Have a great time in Gibraltar if you decide to stop and visit! Do your shopping and fill up your fuel tank at the same time!

Adam – @aboutavan

The Journey Begins

Thanks for joining me!

Welcome to my new dedicated #vanlife blog, in this I will be documenting many aspects of vanlife from building your van to traveling in your van or motorhome. I hope you find my posts useful, if you have any specific questions please contact me or comment on the blog posts and I’ll get back to you.