As lockdown started to ease, we have decided on the 1st
of June to leave Monte Gordo in Portugal and try our luck at the Spanish border.
So
after the usual washing, shopping and van re-fill, we have arrived to Castro
Marim, the southernmost border point between Portugal and Spain. We were
permitted to continue our journey and we have arrived to Arcos de la Frontera around
midnight.
We have friends here, who bought an old “finca” recently but
unfortunately, due to a serious and sudden illness in the family, have not been
able to progress with the renovation work as planned. We came to help.
We spent most of the following couple of weeks working;
weeding around the house, building planters from pallets, fixing cracks in the
walls etc. In the evenings we made dinner together and put the world to rights…
As restaurants have re-opened, we went out for an Indian meal
once – it was kinda odd…enter the restaurant – mask on, sit down – mask off, go
to the toilette – mask on, back to the table mask off, leaving the restaurant -
mask on; and we were given the takeaway menu instead of the normal one, so that
they are not touched by other guests. Food was nice though.
We also took one evening to walk around Arcos old town. There
are many very old houses there with large solid old wooden gates, representing
the families who built them. We saw some kids playing football right in front
of the portal of the church on the top of the stairs – the only flat area
around. As Arcos is on the top of the hill, the views are far reaching. The
streets are really narrow, and in certain parts of the town only residents are
allowed in by car. I guess they all know each other, as we were asked to turn around by a
local when we tried to drive in, lol.
On our last day our friends took us to Cadiz. We strolled
around the old town and stopped for a coffee before heading home.
June 2020 - Part 1 Map
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Border point
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At the Finca
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At the Finca - first thing first, build a path
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At the Finca - install new solar panels - (I was just checking the progress)
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At the Finca - New compost heap
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At the Finca - there was once a palett...
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At the Finca - more paletts - these bacame shelves
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At the Finca - taking a break
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At the Finca - palett master-class
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The local Gardening store - they sell anything, even plants!
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At the Finca - tomatoes, peppers, aubragines...
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At the Finca - this is Samy. Samy came to check our progress.
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Arcos de la Frontera
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Arcos de la Frontera
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Arcos de la Frontera
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Arcos de la Frontera - these are the Penitents
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Arcos de la Frontera - viewes from the old town
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Arcos de la Frontera - viewes from the old town
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Arcos de la Frontera
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Arcos de la Frontera
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Arcos de la Frontera
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Arcos de la Frontera
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Arcos de la Frontera
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Arcos de la Frontera
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Arcos de la Frontera
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Arcos de la Frontera - football pitch
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Arcos de la Frontera
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Arcos de la Fontera - the history of the house is displayed
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Arcos de la Frontera - you can drive down here, max 2m wide
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Arcos de la Frontera - another old entrance way
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Arcos de la Frontera
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Arcos de la Frontera - church
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Cādiz
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Cādiz - the cathedral has a golden dome too
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Cādiz - the golden dome is visible
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Cādiz
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Saying Goodbye
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