After 2 years of planning, we flew in to Malaga airport. Gonzalo was already there to meet us, load our bags and whisk us off to his immaculate garage, full of VW vans.
We found that we loved the freedom Carmela gave us. We were able to visit so many beautiful places. The scenery is stunning ranging from the white Andalusian villages, accessed via winding mountain roads, long sandy beaches, giant sand dunes and endless pine woods. Not to mention the Almond groves, just coming into blossom, the olive groves and the views from roads as we trundled along high viaducts, looking down to the blue sea in the distance.
We travelled from Malaga along the A7, thankfully straight past the endless apartment buildings and golf courses through to Tarifa , then up the coast to Almeria, through wonderful mountains and villages. We relaxed on beaches in the sun, visited Roman ruins and wildlife reserves.
Paddled in the Atlantic and Mediterranean and had lunch on the snowline, not all on the same day!.
Being a well kept VW Carmela managed the mountain roads with ease, behaved herself on the Autovia’s and still managed to squeeze though some very narrow village streets.
Even for 5 weeks she was very easy to live in, loads of storage space and everything we needed to cook, sleep and relax. Driving was a pleasure on the mountain roads and the motorways, although we did not venture into the bigger cities!
Then we headed from Tarifa across to Ronda, from Ronda to Humilladero; on to Pizarra and then across to Almeria. We explored the Alpujarras and drove up, through and down the Zafarraya pass.
We loved the lifestyle so much we hired Carmela for a further 8 days, when the time came to take her back we really didn’t want to return her to Gonzalo!.
We still have so much to see and are already planning our next trip. A big Thank You to Gonzalo.