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You may remember, we enjoyed a memorable stay in Valencia some months earlier. However, with the lure of the fresh food market and everything else the old town had to offer, we didn’t get to visit the Port area which had been extensively redeveloped for the 2007 America’s Cup and was also the site of the picturesque ‘Valencia Street Circuit’ that hosted the Formula One Grand Prix from 2008 to 2012

We had booked a hotel right on Valencia beach. It was brilliant drawing the curtains in the morning to be greeted by a golden sandy beach and the glistening Mediterranean Sea on a sunny winter’s day. There were many restaurants and cafes along the promenade – we were back in the land of Tapas, cold beer, Tinto de Verano and good coffee: Happy days!

I was particularly interested in walking what remained of the Grand Prix track. It was a big shame the race did not continue beyond 2012, it was such a glamorous event that presented impeccably on television. I remember sitting up late watching the lead up to the race and the overhead shots of the stunning venue wishing I would one day be there. Well here I am, but where’s the bloody race? Sadly it’s not likely to be reinstated either.

Thieves have stripped all the expensive electrical control equipment, fences have been torn down and there are parts of the track that resemble a ghost town film set. It is estimated that more than 200 million Euro had been spent on the event but it all became embroiled in a political mess and is now just a memory.

Funnily enough, Linda was not particularly interested in the race track, she was just happy to recline and relax while enjoying the sunshine and lapping waves after what had been a long, frustrating battle to earn the right to stay in the EU so we could continue to enjoy our adventures.

Almoradi is a small town, not too far from Alicante and closer to the beachside city of Torrevieja. We arrived the day before Mark, our host, had to fly out so we had time to learn about caring for Buddie and Skye including Bud’s intensive medication program!

We were also shown around the weekly fresh food street market and which bars and restaurants to go to. There was, as in most of Spain, a fair expat population and some bars and cafes were run by them. My favourite became the open air kiosk/cafe/bar in the main Plaza where you could sit and watch weddings and funerals at the church, which was the focal part of the Square, and seeing everyone going about their daily business.

The Plaza was particularly interesting in December as there were many events, displays and decorations for the upcoming Christmas festivities. One in particular was a large nativity scene. Spaniards love their nativity scenes. We never found out if it was just a local thing but we were tipped off that amongst the human figures in the scene, there was a ‘shitting man’! We didn’t quite believe it until we walked around several times and spotted it ourselves!! Those crazy Spaniards.

I particularly enjoyed the long morning walks Almoradi. I’m sure I have mentioned in previous blogs that Linda is not a morning person so it was just the dogs and myself. We would walk to the outskirts of town along the aqueduct past orange orchards and fields and fields of artichokes that were about to come into season. Some mornings would be icy but if the sun was shining it was a real delight, the day would just get warmer and warmer. The walk would normally finish at the Plaza El Kiosko where we would sit to enjoy tomato tostada and coffee. I was happy to read the morning news and watch the world go by but the pooches would soon let me know when they had had enough and wanted to go home.

Even though we had everything we needed in Almoradi we did drive into Torrevieja occasionally for Linda to satisfy her retail therapy needs at the large shopping malls and to visit the surrounding beachside towns. We went to a ‘carols by candlelight’ event there one evening organized by the British expat community. We did get into the local culture as well and became quite adept at singing Felitz Navida!

One of the major events back at the Plaza in Almoradi was the celebration of the artichoke harvest. They are quite fond of the tasty vegetable and amongst displays by manufacturers of farming equipment a group of enthusiastic people cooked up a huge pot of a tasty artichoke dish for everyone to sample.

Because we were mainly enjoying home cooked meals with the abundance of fresh food available, when we did dine out it was usually to enjoy Tapas. So we hadn’t eaten at many nice restaurants, but as there was a ‘Michelin Rated’ restaurant just down the road from where we were staying we thought we’d try to get a table there and treat it as our ‘Christmas Lunch’. A tall order as Christmas was just days away and the place was heavily booked but they did manage to squeeze us in. It turned into one of those relaxing long lunches and we blended into the well dressed crowd, much better than we had back in Guadix!! The restaurant specialized in steak and seasonal local produce so there was no doubting that artichokes were on the menu and the steak was good, but boy we are spoilt in Australia with good steak and it’s hard to beat – even at Michelin rated restaurants!

Christmas Day was a little odd not being around family to enjoy it with. We had a quiet day and went to the Plaza with the dogs for a drink in the evening. None of the restaurants were open as everyone was at home with family so it was just as well we had our nice lunch a few days prior because we wouldn’t even have each other’s company for New Years! For a combination of reasons, our house sits clashed by a couple of days so Linda had to fly to Barcelona ahead of me to start the sit in Castelldefels while I stayed behind to look after Buddie and Skye until Mark and Jackie returned. I wasn’t totally alone though, Jackie’s sister and husband lived in a nearby town and we caught up for dinner one night, but NYE was just me and the dogos. Very depressing especially as nothing was going on in town at all. Like Christmas, all the restaurants were closed, but this time all the bars were closed as well because NYE is very much a time to spend with family in Spain. I couldn’t accept that nothing would be happening so I took the dogs to the Plaza just before midnight hoping to find at least the El Kiosko to be open, but there was nothing, not a single sole on the streets. Only yours truly and two dogs that just wanted to go back home. So home we went and fortunately I had a bottle of Scotch to toast the New Year in, by myself!

Linda, on the other hand still had our new hosts Bob and Gina for company, but apparently they had gone to bed not long after dusk so Linda followed suit shortly afterwards.

A very different way of welcoming in 2019. At least I didn’t have a hangover to deal with the next day!

We continued our trek north to Valencia for our flight to Malta, but we made a slight detour to Almoradi to meet our new house sit host, and leave the bulk of our luggage so it wouldn’t have to sit in the car at the airport, or risk being stolen.

It was a Sunday when we left Sierra Nevada and it happened to be the running of the final Formula One race for the season so I was pretty keen on watching it. I needed a cafe or bar with Wi-Fi to stream the race so I asked Linda to look on the GPS for a sizeable town on our way that was reachable within half an hour. She spotted ‘Guadix’ and it became a race for us to get there in time which, we did but I had to drive around the town a couple of times to find somewhere suitable. All we could find open was a restaurant that was a little too upmarket for what I was hoping for, but it had to do. We asked the waiter for a table for two and the Wi-Fi password. We must have been an odd sight, most of the patrons were well dressed families enjoying a Sunday lunch when this strange couple barge in speaking a foreign language wearing snow gear and setting up an iPad on the table while donning a large pair of headphones. Linda embarrassingly took care of the ordering and I’m sure she was hoping for a mild race because ‘loud cheering’ would have been just too much!

Linda spent the time during the race looking up what Guadix had to offer and as it turned out, it’s quite an interesting place. Many of the buildings are carved into the hills which provides natural insulation from the harsh cold winters and scorching summers. We were so impressed with this we drove around the town to check it out thoroughly. It was late afternoon by now and we didn’t want to drive any further so Linda found us an old farmhouse on the Internet that was dug into the side of a hill. It was incredibly late notice but a woman met us at the four bedroom house, showed us how everything worked, including the fireplace, so we had a comfortable night in by the open fire, then drove on to Almoradi the next day.

Our new hosts, Jackie and Mark were from the UK but had lived in Spain for some time. Their elderly dogs, Skye and Buddie were well behaved which was just as well because they live in a small apartment close to the main plaza. Jackie had already flown out ahead so we only got to meet Mark who would be joining Jackie in India when we returned from Malta to look after Skye and Buddie for a month.

Poor old Buddie suffered from dementia as well as arthritis and was on a host of medications including cannabis oil, which is legal and readily available in Spain. He was a really good natured dog and apparently his condition has improved since he had been put on the cannabis oil. Skye was not as old and is just a fun loving, funny dog that was happier sitting in front of a heater than anything else but they both loved their long walks, which we did three times a day.

We enjoyed a smooth two hour drive to Valencia airport which was surprisingly smaller than I expected. We were able to walk to the terminal from the long term car park and our Ryanair flight was faultless, arriving in Malta on time. 

We were trying new accommodation, this time in Floriana, just outside the capital of Valletta. It was not as expensive as staying in the centre but just as practical. The check in process was fully automated, we just punched in a code provided in our booking confirmation and the front door opened. Once inside the foyer there was a key safe where we once again entered the provided code to access the apartment key. The term ‘apartment’ is used loosely as the overall space was not much larger that the box we got the key from. It was a nice old house with typical Maltese balconies but it had been divided into individual apartments – a few too many, we thought! The space was so tight that the shower was in the same room as the kitchen – or the kitchen sink and microwave were in the same room as the shower. Whichever way you look at it, it was small! But we had things to do and we only needed a convenient place to sleep. 

Our first port of call was the citizenship office. If I can take you back to our previous visit two months earlier, we were told that the citizenship application was approved but the documents – despite us issuing numerous concerns and asking that this does happen, were sent to Australia where we had originally lodged the application. We were left with no time to get a passport or residence card before we flew back to Spain!

This time we had all bases covered. We had more paperwork than we wanted to carry but we weren’t going to let them beat us. We were applying for a passport and paying for the express service but just in case that went foul we continued our plight to obtain a residence card. It wasn’t all smooth sailing and we were pushed from department to department. I’m not going to detail it all because I’m sure you will have as much trouble believing it as we did! We had to call on the assistance of a gentleman we met earlier in the piece. Even though it didn’t relate directly to his department he used his expertise and experience gained working outside the government environment to diplomatically persuade other ‘Department Heads’ to use some common sense and to stop putting ridiculous barriers in front of us.

We were in and out of the office just about every day of our seven day stay and on the day before we were due to fly out, Linda emerged from an office with a Maltese passport in hand and a huge smile on her face – Phew!

It wasn’t all frustration. We moved out of the shoebox in Floriana midweek and found a really nice place in Valletta enjoying some nice meals including a celebratory dinner at our favorite restaurant, Palazzo Preca.

We even managed a quick visit to my Aunty, at a care facility, on the way to the airport and then it was back to Valencia where we were staying in the harbour area for a couple of nights before going back to Almoradi.

We were heading north to a town called Almoradi in the Province of Alicante where we had a month long house sit looking after two dogs. We had a fair bit of time up our sleeves, enough in fact for a few days in Granada, an overnight stay in the ski resort of Sierra Nevada and a quick flight back to Malta to continue our  quest to finalise Linda’s citizenship application.

Granada  came with many recommendations. It is not far inland from Almunecar where we had recently spent a month and could have easily gone there for a day trip but from what we had heard, it deserved a few days. Linda had completed her due diligence yet again in finding  us the perfect apartment close to town that provided car parking. When we arrived at the pre-arranged meeting spot late in the afternoon of a very wet and cold day our host was late. The afternoon traffic was manic and I was having difficulty in finding a place to stop without annoying the anxious commuters. I managed to park ‘Spanish style’ on the sidewalk when we noticed a crazy woman standing on a concrete barrier that divided the road, frantically waving her arms! The flamboyant woman ran to my window and broke into a long rant in machine gun Spanish that didn’t sound like good news. The only word I caught hold of was ‘problema’! It was in fact, the woman we were waiting for- Was this going to be our first accommodation stitch up?

We managed to work out that the apartment we had paid for had some sort of plumbing issue which meant we could not stay there. She offered us the use of their more ‘premium’ apartment that was located in the centre of the old town. We were to follow her and her  husband through the busy streets to our alternative apartment. Linda kept track of our movement on the gps to make sure we were not being led to the boondocks, but as the streets narrowed in the medieval town we felt assured that we were not being led astray. I was seriously beginning to doubt we were going to have a parking space and had the annoying thoughts of driving out of town to park and get a taxi back, but my worries were negated when we arrived at the building in a lane way that was not much wider than  the car. I was instructed to do a twenty odd point turn into a lift that took us to the basement of the building where I had to wrestle with the steering wheel again to put it into our designated space. At this point I was not the slightest bit concerned about  what the apartment was like. I was adamant the car was not moving until we were ready to leave town. As it turned out, they were not exaggerating about it being a premium apartment, it was very nice indeed and the central heating was most welcoming.

Granada certainly lived up to its recommendations. It is a beautiful medieval city that dates back to the Moorish occupation and on a few occasions we had to remind ourselves that we were not in Morocco! It was still raining as we were walking the streets looking  for somewhere to dine. We found a bar that was reasonably quiet and went in for some drinks and tapas. It became obvious that there were preparations going on for some sort of function and the bar was quickly filling up. It turned out to be the launch of an art exhibition complete with speeches. The crowd was a young ‘arty’ type that were enjoying their evening. A guy arrived with a dog that looked more like a horse and we loved the way the dog just mingled with the crowd (ourselves included) and no one was bothered about it in the slightest – even those that were dining.

The rain had eased the following morning which was good because we had a lot of walking planned including the ‘Alhambra’- a hilltop fortress complex that encompasses royal palaces from the Nasrid dynasty. It really is an amazing city and attracts visitors from all corners of the world. Unfortunately with crowds, come the gypsies. We were wise to them now and ignored their advances but when we saw a woman pulling the ‘rosemary’ scam on a young couple, we had to intervene by stepping in between and warning the couple to make sure they still had their valuables telling the woman to be on her way. She was not amused and was yelling what I wouldn’t mind betting were some pretty derogatory things about me but we were satisfied that we at least saved that couple from being fleeced. It was a nervous walk for the next block or two because they normally work in groups so I was keeping an eye over my shoulder for a while.

We needed to do some shopping as well. We had booked a two week trip to Iceland for January as we had a block of no house sits, so we had to get some suitable snow attire. As Granada is located near Sierra Nevada there were many stores that catered to what we were looking for. We found some ski pants and snow boots that were so affordable it didn’t matter that we had to dump them after leaving Iceland, as we were flying to Morocco for a week afterwards. As I was celebrating our good fortune Linda bought some leather boots with the savings!

After a thoroughly enjoyable time in Granada, we squeezed the car out of the basement and headed up the hill to Sierra Nevada. We thought it would be a good opportunity to try out our new snow gear in preparation for Iceland, and because I just like saying ‘Sierra Nevada’. Neither of us have spent much time in the snow and I’m not a big fan – give me a sunny beach on the Mediterranean any day. As it was just an overnight stay I took control of the accommodation arrangements and found ourselves a guest house just down from the peak. I figured we could drive up to the top, check it out, have some lunch, come down to our accommodation and keep driving the next day. As we were driving up the hill we thought we would check-in and drop our bags off on the way. The approach to the building quickly reminded me why I leave the accommodation booking to Linda. It was a tired looking building with a messy garden and junk all around it with a couple of cars on bricks to complete the picture. While I was looking the property up on my phone to confirm we were at the right place (yes the picturesque view was identical) a woman came to the car to tell us that there was a mistake and it was not possible for us to stay! – we weren’t too upset, a bit relieved actually but we had already paid! I guess it had to happen eventually. 

We continued on our way to the ski resort and enjoyed a sunny sub zero day but faced the prospect of having to drive off the mountain to find accommodation. Fortunately, as it wasn’t peak season, we found an apartment that was pretty basic but served the purpose and the view was magnificent. We watched the clouds roll in across the valley and over the mountains, and saw the snow machines on the slopes which were working overtime. The convenient location allowed us to walk to a nearby restaurant in the now blizzard conditions to test our new kit!

Quite a nice visit after all, and after several emails and forwarding of documents to prove we had to stay elsewhere, booking.com refunded us for our unused stay at the “Hillbilly Lodge”.

It wasn’t a long drive from Almunecar to Malaga but the rain was so intense it seemed to take forever. Bit of a shame really because it’s a picturesque coastal road when there’s not sheets of rain coming down and you’re doing your best not to run into the car in front of you.                                  

Fortunately the rain had stopped as we arrived in the city centre to navigate our way through the narrow streets in the hope of finding the apartment we had booked for a few nights. We phoned our contact when we believed to be outside the property and began the nervous wait to find out if the person we paid hundreds of Euros to actually existed!! There is some risk in using internet booking sights but so far, luckily, we haven’t been stitched up. We have much preferred the experience of staying in apartments rather than conventional hotels. The experience of living like a local has more appeal to us and I doubt we could have traveled for as long as we have if we were paying hotel rates.

Our anxious wait was short lived as Eduardo appeared from around the corner, directed us to our parking spot under the building, showed us around the apartment and gave us some insider information on where to dine and get good coffee. We were located right in the thick of the beautiful city of Malaga amongst a bustling plaza and fresh food market. We wasted no time in putting our walking shoes on and exploring the parts of the city we had missed on a brief visit a few weeks prior. The old city has some incredible buildings with busy laneways now occupied by some trendy cafes and restaurants. It seemed to be populated largely by younger people but I guess the reality is, each year more and more people are younger than us! It didn’t stop us enjoying everything Malaga had to offer and the gen y’ers didn’t seem to be bothered by our presence. There are many streets without traffic that are tastefully decorated with artwork and numerous fashion stores – enough to set Linda into a frenzy.

We spent one day walking around the port area where ferries depart and arrive from numerous Mediterranean locations and is also a popular departure point for Morocco where many tourists go for day trips! Don’t know how much of Morocco you are going to see or experience on a day trip? The beaches looked good too but it’s hard to fully appreciate when it’s drizzling with a chilly breeze blowing. A cosy cafe and some sweet treats were more the order for the day.

It was as we were heading back to the old town, walking past a church, when a woman approached and offered me a bunch of fresh rosemary. I politely declined her kind offer and after several failed attempts to regain my attention she turned to Linda who couldn’t see any harm in accepting the rosemary as the persuasive woman was only asking for five cents. Linda fished a Euro coin out of her purse and offered it to the woman but she insisted she only wanted five cents. She kindly assisted Linda in finding a five cent coin in her purse. The transaction was complete, Linda was the proud owner of a fresh bunch of rosemary and the woman had walked off with her five cents. We had only walked about a dozen steps when Linda jokingly said, “I wonder how many Euro coins she helped herself to”, I suggested she check her notes and sure enough there was not a single note to be seen. You’ve got to hand it to them, they are good at what they do. I was initially not too bothered as I believed Linda had only had about twenty or thirty Euro in her purse but when she fess’d that she had fished fifty Euro out of my wallet while I was in the toilet of the cafe we had just been to, my mood had changed considerably. We turned back to the church but it was no surprise that there was no sign of her. There were two policemen walking past so we told them what had happened and while they were very sympathetic towards us, they confessed that even if they were to catch her she would have been taken to the local police station, charged for petty theft, possibly fined twenty five Euro and set free. The Policeman said we could report the theft at the station but in reality we would be wasting our time. They embarrassingly confessed that there was something wrong with the system that allowed the gypsies to continue targeting tourists. We decided to not let it bother us and not spoil the otherwise pleasant experience we had in Malaga. It was difficult to put out of our minds and I couldn’t help think what would have happened if we had come across the rosemary lady in a dark alley. I’d have been facing more than a twenty five Euro fine and Linda would have been on the phone to the Australian Embassy looking for help!!
“Write it off to experience, write it off to experience”, we kept telling ourselves!

After a memorable stay, It was time to load the car and head to Granada. We didn’t let the gypsie experience dampen our thoughts of Malaga. We enjoyed our time there and because it was November it was relatively quiet and pleasant to walk around, as apparently the city is overrun by tourists in the warmer months. As we were driving out of town I was still keeping one eye out for the rosemary lady in the hope that she would be crossing the road in front of us – I guess I was having more trouble putting it out of my mind than Linda was!!!

We were to meet our new host at the petrol station in town so we could follow her to the house. This brought two thoughts to mind 1) was how small is this town if there is only one petrol station? and 2) how remote is this house if we need an escort? There was no need for concern on both accounts.

It was going be a great stay. We were kindly given a tour of the town that had a really traditional Spanish feel. Nice and local and not typically a tourist destination. We were advised that it was normal in the area for bars to supply tapas with every drink, gratis! There were several large supermarkets and a weekly fresh food market. We were sure we were going to enjoy our time there.

Our new hosts were a fabulous couple originally from Germany and they shared a nice house in the mountains overlooking a valley dotted with citrus, mango and avocado trees with the Mediterranean Sea in the distance, with their two dogs Zora and Luna. They were well settled in Spain and had just bought a house they would soon be moving into. They required us to look after their dogs while they went to Germany to visit relatives and acquire a number of items for the new house.

Almunecar is normally warm and sunny all year round but the first week we were there it rained and rained. So much so, the steep gravel track down to the road had eroded to the extent it was impassable. We had to leave the car down on the road and climb up, which kept us fit, especially when bringing the shopping home!

Zora and Luna were fine dogs. Zora was a street dog and had a litter of puppies shortly after our hosts rescued her. Luna was one of the puppies and she was about twelve months old. They were strong dogs and had to be walked on a lead because unfortunately one of the local farmers spooked them and due to their protective nature, had understandably become aggressive towards him. They were so strong we would be dragged up the steep hills on our walks which made it easy going up but we used to pray the nasty farmer wouldn’t turn up while we were going down!!

We set ourselves a mission to find the bar that offered the best tapas. It took a bit of doing and we sampled many but we eventually found ‘Bodega Francisco’ hosted by a barman with character and offering brilliant tapas – some of the best Serrano on fresh crusty bread I have had, the Tempranillo and Linda’s latest favourite, Tinto de Verano, all superb.

We were making it a regular lunch time treat. Three or four drinks usually provided us with enough tapas for lunch. One morning we drove into town and decided to do a bit of shopping beforehand. I was walking ahead of Linda when she caught a loop of plastic strapping with one foot and inadvertently directed the second foot in the same loop causing her to lunge forward face first into the pavement! The downhill nature of the surface aided her momentum skidding on the tactile paving (rippled surface to aid the blind). I caught the tail end of the fall and was unable to do anything about it. I immediately went to her aid assisted by several strangers which were very nice. One woman fished a bottle of water out of her shopping bag and offered it to Linda who was sporting some grazing on her forehead and the right side of her face. The supermarket security guy brought a chair out for her to sit on and told us he had called an ambulance. We were really humbled by the generosity of everyone. The wait for the ambulance was quite long but we thought it would be a good idea to be checked out because she was experiencing pain in her wrist and knee as well.

The ambulance experience was very different to home. It arrived with just the driver. He didn’t speak English so his aid was limited. He strapped Linda to an upright seat in the back of the ambulance and I climbed into the passenger seat. Fortunately it was a very short ride to the hospital. I got to thinking later that perhaps there was no ambulance crew available and they sent this random guy out to pick us up!

Once inside they were taking details and again we struggled to communicate but when we got to see the doctor it got a little better. He sent us to X-ray which Linda would normally refuse but reluctantly agreed to have her wrist x-rayed. To our relief nothing was broken, just badly strained. They dressed her up and I thought she was going to want to go home but to my delight she was happy to go to Bodega for a drink- what a trooper.

We did a day trip to Malaga on the edge of the Costa Del Sol. We liked what we saw of the city so much we decided to go back for a few days when we finished the house sit. Would have loved to go a bit further south to Marbella and even further to Gibraltar but we had to get home to the dogs. There is so much to see in Spain we decided that we had to go back and spend more time there at some point. With coffee at €1.20 and a beer costing a similar amount, the good food, the sunshine and the general low cost of living, why wouldn’t you?

Our hosts returned safely from Germany and it was time for us to move on again. We thoroughly enjoyed Almunecar and I am sure we will return sometime. The skies were full of rain and thunder again the day we headed off to Malaga as we endured a very wet drive.

Watch out for next blog where we encounter the gypsies of Malaga and enjoy the charm of Granada.

We were returning to Malta in a bid to complete Linda’s citizenship application. When we were last there some five months earlier, we had hit a snag by not having some original documents (even though we had provided them to the Maltese Consulate in Melbourne when making the initial application).

Meanwhile, my ferry sailed into the Port of Barcelona on time and on a pleasant evening. I made the short drive to the hotel where Linda was staying to be welcomed with a selection of deli items she had bought from a nearby supermarket. It was late in the evening so we stayed the night, heading off the next morning.

Girona was a comfortable hour and a half drive to the north. I had previously arranged, with the leasing company that we have the repairs, from the damaged sustained in Rome, done at a Renault Dealership in Girona during the two weeks we would be away in Malta. ‘Great idea’, I thought,  and it was easily organised over the phone with our lease car assistance company, however, when we got to the local repairers communication was very difficult as no one spoke English! We managed as we usually do and we were exceptionally pleased with the service of the leasing company. They originally offered us a rental car but when I told them we were flying to Malta for two weeks, not only did they organise a taxi to our hotel but another taxi to take us from the hotel in the morning to the airport, plus another taxi to take us back to the Renault dealership on our return!

There was not a lot happening in Girona but we did manage to find a nice bar to enjoy a couple of drinks and a serving of patatas bravas.

On arrival in Malta, as we were traveling light, we took the local bus to Senglea- one of the ‘Three Cities’. We booked an apartment in Senglea for the first week as it is where my father was from and thought it would be nice to spend some time there. It is also a short ferry ride into Valletta where we would be making frequent visits to the citizenship office, the first of which, would be early the next morning. We were armed with original certificates we had painfully organised to be shipped from Melbourne. Not just one copy but two, just in case one got lost! Our first step was to get our marriage registered in Malta. This was necessary to obtain Linda’s ‘residency card’ which could be used as a temporary passport as the whole process of the application was supposed take at least a year.

At that point in time Linda had overstayed her time in the European Union. Even though we had a letter stating she could stay in Malta until the application was complete, it was not ideal for traveling around the rest of Europe as we were and could have potentially caused major issues – it was important for us to get this card.

So there we were, all our ducks in a row, feeling confident but not cocky and presented all our docs and application to register our marriage. The receptionist at the department we had been frequenting was reasonably pleasant and seemed to be sympathetic to our cause. Maybe because she wanted it to be finalised so we wouldn’t be standing over her desk all the time!

“Good news”, she said after browsing her computer screen, the application for your citizenship has been processed, you will receive a call very soon!!

We could hardly believe our good fortune! We didn’t have to worry about a residency card now and proceeded to enjoy the rest of our stay in Malta while eagerly waiting for ‘that phone call’, but it never came. Yet another visit to the office. We were frustrated that we couldn’t talk directly to those that were supposed to call us. We were concerned that the documents were being sent to Australia. “No, I told them myself that you are collecting from here”, we were assured by our friend in the Citizensip office.

Needless to say, we boarded the plane to go back to Spain with no residency card, no citizenship papers and, I was sitting next to an illegal alien!!!!

Not long after we landed in Girona we were driven to the dealership to pick up our car which was all fixed and waiting for us. No charge to us, not even an excess/deductible! There really is no better way to get around Europe. We immediately headed south (bypassing Barcelona as we would be returning for a house sit there in a few months time) and stopped at the beachside town of Salou for the night. Driving out the next morning was a little difficult because of heavy traffic. It turned out a stage of the World Rally Championship was being held there. I couldn’t believe it. I used to be an avid supporter of the WRC and here I was in prime position to watch it but we had to keep moving. We needed to get to our booked accommodation in Valencia.

Valencia was a city we had heard so much about and were quite excited about spending some time there. In a similar fashion to our visit to Vienna, we booked an apartment on the outskirts of town and used their efficient transport system to get us to the centre of town.

Valencia did not disappoint at all, it was everything we heard, the architecture, the gargoyles, the citrus trees in the plaza’s. I particularly wanted to see the harbour area as well but we would get the opportunity to do that when we drove back up north. There was so much to see in the centre of town including the fresh food market, which was massive and had such mouth watering delicacies every direction we looked. What impressed me the most was the bar in the middle of it all – an excellent means of taking the ‘chore’ out of shopping!

It was time to continue our journey south. Almunecar is a small town on the south coast with Malaga a short drive to the south and Granada a similar distance inland and we were due there to look after two dogs for three weeks.

Read about it in the next blog.

It was time to hit the road again and make the relatively short drive to Rome. We originally accepted our house sit in the Abruzzo Mountains that we had just completed as it was on our way to Malta, where we had to go back to in order to complete Linda’s citizenship. In the meantime,we accepted a house sit in the south of Spain. Although we had enough time to complete our trip to Malta and drive back through Italy and France to Almunecar in Spain, it would have been a marathon and a bit too much- as regrettably we both had to accept we were not as young as we used to be. So we came up with the idea of finding a location along the way to Spain where we could economically park the car for two weeks and fly to Malta and back. After much research we found the city of Girona, just north of Barcelona, offered cheap airfares and reasonably priced long term parking.

Further research revealed that it would also be cheaper to put the car on the ferry from Rome to Barcelona compared to the combined highway toll and fuel costs of driving the whole distance! Only problem was, with Linda’s stomach’s aversion to floating craft, she was understandably not thrilled at the concept of a twenty hour ferry ride.But as per our usual, for every problem we found a solution: Ryanair offered cheap airfares from Rome to Barcelona and we found a hotel close to the Barcelona airport where she could spend the night and day waiting for me to arrive on the Ferry. Even with the added expense of a flight and accommodation, it was still cheaper than paying the exorbitant Autostrade costs!

The new arrangements allowed us a three day visit to Rome. Once again, a place we have had both been to previously but not spent enough time to really absorb everything the iconic city had to offer. It goes without saying, Linda had organised a great little apartment only meters away from the Vatican walls for us to base ourselves.
On our arrival at the apartment, not too dissimilar to our Venice experience, we were met by a very friendly and informative host who gave us the lowdown on where to, and not to, eat. She also advised us to not leave any luggage in our car which was parked on the street. The warning concerned us a little but we were grateful for it as during my morning walk the next day and subsequent inspection of the car, revealed the lock on the driver’s side had been wrenched out with a screwdriver! “Bugger, that’s going to put a dampener on our visit” I thought, expecting the interior to be trashed and having to waste time in finding a repairer. But to my surprise, it was not roughed up at all! The glove compartment and console were not left open, there was even a bottle of my wine left on the back seat! (Says a lot for my choice of wine!

The only thing we noticed missing, were the empty jewellery boxes and carry bag from Linda’s San Marino spree. Poor bastards must have thought they hit the jackpot only to be disappointed to find empty boxes. Luckily, the car was still lockable with the remote so the urgency of finding a dealership immediately was not necessary. I just needed to obtain a police report as requested by the leasing company. That meant another visit to the local Carabinieri, “Oh fun and joy”, I thought. Fortunately our friendly host volunteered to come along with me and act as an interpreter which took a lot of drama out of the process and allowed us to get back to being tourists. It was raining heavily so it was fortunate Linda had booked and paid for tickets to the Sistine Chapel on the internet to avoid lining up for hours. I’m not a fan of pre-paying for things at the best of times so when they told us at the ticket office that there was no record of our booking and suggested we buy additional tickets my mood changed very quickly. A phone call to the agency in Paris confirmed that the problem was a computer failure and that we would receive a credit. Linda was still determined to go in so she bought an additional ticket. I had become very skeptical and grumpy so I refused to go muttering something like ‘no wonder the Catholic Church is so bloody rich.’ Anyway, I’d been before, albeit at the age of ten! I opted to walk home the long way circumnavigating the Vatican walls and spent the rest of the afternoon making phone calls organising the repairs to the car. Linda enjoyed her afternoon and the French agency did refund us several days later.

Our recommended restaurants were spot on again and thoroughly enjoyed. The following morning was nice and sunny and we got a lot of walking in. Spanish steps, Plaza Venezia, Colosseum and even though the Trevi Fountain had a temporary fence around it, there was still hordes of tourists flicking coins into it and taking ‘selfies’. We had walked so much we had to take the bus home. It was my fourth visit to the city and even though we had our car broken into and I thought the Catholic Church had ripped us off, I’d go back again.

On our final day, with the sun still shining, we drove to Fiumicino Beach, close to the airport. Being the tail end of the summer season it was not crowded and we easily managed a window table at a waterfront restaurant to enjoy a long lazy lunch. Linda was on a five pm flight so there was no rush at all. Driving up to the departure terminal and saying goodbye seemed a little strange, maybe because we had shared the same space twenty four-seven for several months! A commanding effort really, that we hadn’t killed each other!! And after all, it was only going to be little more than twenty four hours before we’d be reunited.

I had to drive about an hour north to Civitavecchia where I would roll onto a ferry for the twenty one hour journey to Barcelona. I use the word ‘ferry’ loosely as I thought it was more like a cruise ship! It was a long wait till eleven PM when we boarded. I was lined up with hundreds of cars and trucks with license plates from countries all over the European Union. It was a little boring. Once I had grabbed a snack at the kiosk there was not much else to do – until I remembered the bottle of wine that our Roman burglar thoughtfully left on the backseat was still there! Happy Days.

My cabin was shared by a Scotsman, a young Korean guy and a Spanish truck driver who insisted he was Catalanian. The Korean spoke English while the Spaniard spoke no English at all which was perfectly Ok but he spoke a lot, and he excitedly translated everything he said and showed us on his phone! It was going to be a long night. I escaped to the lounge bar to have a beer and when I returned to the cabin he was asleep, but snoring like a trooper!

The next day was spent soaking up the sun on the pool deck working away on the iPad writing my blog.

Life is good.

After leaving Venice, we drove south to the town of Rimini, a beachside location that would normally be bustling but being the end of the summer season, we found accomodation on the waterfront that was so reasonably priced we stayed for two nights. An excellent base to discover San Marino, just forty minutes up  the road.
Some of you will probably think you know what motivated me to want to visit San Marino. To visit the site of the San Marino Grand Prix maybe? Not the case. I learnt when we were here in 2014 that the San Marino Grand Prix was actually held in Imola! Some 100 km away. (We did go to the Imola circuit back then to pay homage to the late Ayrton Senna who was tragically killed there in 1994.)
This visit was all about learning more about the republic that is completely surrounded by north-central Italy. These small countries such as Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Vatican City, Monaco, Andorra etc. appeal to us so we like to visit them whenever the opportunity arises.
San Marino is a mountainous microstate and is among the world’s oldest republics dating back to the 11th century, so we were very curious to check it out.
The drive to the top was not too dissimilar to our drive up to Castle Mola in Sicily, a few months earlier- steep and windy. Fortunately we had a few more horsepower than our previous little Aygo had, which made for an effortless climb.
It  was immediately noticeable how grand the place was. The city retains much of its historic architecture and is known for its medieval walled old town and narrow cobblestone streets, all immaculately maintained and spotlessly clean. We walked for hours, found a restaurant with a view to the distant coastline, enjoyed the local cuisine, then walked some more. Linda was particularly interested in the ‘Tax Free’ aspect of the republic and set upon visiting every jewellery store in the State! Her hard work paid off in the form of matching earrings, necklace and ring which she assured me, was an absolute bargain!

We were lucky enough to witness the impeccably uniformed guards escort a royal motorcade through the central piazza. We assumed the King had some special guests that afternoon and wasn’t just trying to impress us!

Having had our fill of culture, one of the highlights of my afternoon was filling Dustie up with tax free Diesel just before we crossed the border back into Italy, at a considerably lesser price per litre than we had been paying. (I’m easily entertained.)
We needed one more stopover so as not to arrive at our next house sit too early. A quick look at the map and the town of ‘Fermo’ caught our attention. It has been described as an aristocratic and secretive city! That was enough for us to want to discover its secrets.
It no longer surprises me when Linda finds us a room in an old guest house that has been in the same family for numerous generations. The property had been restored to its former glory complete with wood burning cooker and large timber beams I had to sometimes duck to walk under.
We wasted no time in going for a walk through the ancient Roman colony with a renaissance style piazza. Once again, we were staggered by the amount of hidden gems in this country. We found a restaurant recommended by our host and perched ourselves at a table on the terrace that overlooked the piazza. The waitress asked us (we presume) if we were there for dinner. We responded with a ‘Si’ and what followed was not a menu but a procession of delicious dishes! We had no say in it but we weren’t bothered because we were not keen on guessing our way through a menu. The food was so delicious and plentiful, we began thinking it was going to be an expensive meal. It was as it turned out but when you enjoy a meal and an experience as we did that night, you don’t seem to mind so much.

The final leg of our journey to Arsita had us wondering what we had gotten ourselves into! Narrow winding tracks with cracks in the tarmac and rocks on the road from landslides. Our sat nav got confused and directed us into a dairy farm! It was when we drove past the milking sheds and were directed down a muddy track I suggested we switch the ‘Michelin Maps’ app off and turn the cars GPS on. Thankfully Dustie’s onboard Sat Nav got us to Arsita where we met Jennifer, a retired Northern Irish teacher who had been living in Italy for several years. We were to follow her to the track at the top of her property where she would park her car and then get into ours. The track leading to her house had fallen into such a state of disrepair it became impassable for her  little car and she was forced to leave it on the main road and walk the remaining four hundred meters. No problem for Dustie, the high clearance allowed us to navigate the ruts, potholes and cracks with relative ease.
As we entered the driveway we were greeted by Jennifer’s ‘gang’, five dogs and four cats. The dogs were from rescue shelters and were a mix of ‘bitsa’ breeds. All had their own personality, some needed plenty of attention and some were happy to do their own thing outdoors. Not a problem because Jennifer’s house was set on a large parcel of land with stunning views of the valley and mountains beyond. One dog in particular received immediate respect from me. He was a huge Abruzzo sheepdog named ‘Orso’ appropriately meaning ‘bear’ in Italian. I nicknamed him ‘Awesome’, because he was!

Linda befriended the two female dogs that were, what we thought, the only house dogs. Before we would go to bed each night, we would usher the non-house dogs outside to sleep under the house. Most nights this was done with relative ease except one cold night ‘Awesome’ wouldn’t budge so I had to give him a bit of ‘hip and shoulder’. The normally ‘gentle giant’ let out a bit of a growl and it wasn’t until Linda sternly ordered him out with her ‘teachers voice’ that he reluctantly walked outside, to my relief. “He could have easily taken us both out if he wanted to” I said to Linda.
Funny thing was, when Jennifer returned from her beachside holiday with her sister, I told her about the one night we had a bit of trouble getting Orso out. “Oh, he likes to stay in the house when its really cold outside” she said!! No wonder he was upset with us! Testament to his good nature I guess.

We were only there for just over a week but we got to see and enjoy a great deal of the area. An extremely active fault line runs through the Abruzzo mountains and they have experienced several major earthquakes over the years. The most recent, in 2017, evident by the damage to the roads and some buildings we came across on a drive to Pescara one day. Pescara is an inviting coastal city and we enjoyed a walk along waterfront and a tasty seafood lunch on a sunny Sunday.

Other places such as Penne, Atri and Bisenti were all nearby towns that we spent time discovering.
Another amazing experience that we would have not likely lived had it not been for the house sitting lifestyle we are enjoying.

See you in Rome.

With our mission in Czech complete, we needed to head south to Italy for our next house sit in the Abruzzo Mountains. Fortunately we had a generous time frame to get there, allowing a two day stopover in Vienna and a long weekend in Venice.

Not our first visit to Vienna but this stay was in a city apartment, affording us time to roam around the elegant city at a relaxed pace and take in all its charm.

Our apartment wasn’t right in the city but just a short U-Bahn ride delivered us right  into the centre of town.

The first thing that impressed me about Vienna was the train carriages provided a selection of current magazines attached to a cable for commuters to peruse! What impressed me further was that, not only was there no graffiti on the train, but no one has even ripped any pages out of the magazines!!

As we surfaced from the U-Bahn station, we were greeted by the bright sun of a perfect early autumn day and immediately confronted by the amazing gothic architecture of the Domkirche St.Stephan church and the stunning buildings surrounding it. For someone that has lapsed in ‘church going’ over the years, I have more than made up for it with the number of churches we have visited on this European trip!

We walked and walked, jumped on and off  trams, had wiener schnitzel and beer for lunch and sipped coffee at sidewalk cafes, and I even managed a snooze under a tree on the green lawn of a city park while Linda continued discovering the Austrian National Library and other hidden gems in the vicinity. A very enjoyable, relaxing day.

Our second day in Vienna was not as exciting, we had to do our laundry before continuing our road trip. Traveling around Europe, or anywhere for that matter, has become so much easier and affordable with the advent of the likes of ‘Airbnb’ and ‘Booking.com’. Rather than staying at crappy overpriced hotels as we used to, these booking sites provide the opportunity to stay in apartments at fantastic locations and we can usually find one with parking and a washing machine! I used to hate wasting time in laundromats, now we can wash and dry our clothes while watching Netflix! We haven’t been disappointed with a property so far. Mind you, Linda puts an enormous amount of time in screening the numerous properties listed with filters set to our minimum requirements and Linda’s self regulated minimum score of eight out of ten points from reviews of previous guests! I often have to remind her that we are not actually buying the place, just staying for a couple of nights, but I guess that’s why we have stayed at some amazing places on a sustainable budget.

Our six hour drive to Venice was broken up with an overnight stay in a town called Villach near the border of Austria and Italy. Linda found a recently restored property which was well fitted out with quality furnishings including leather recliners and a 65” smart television! Perfect for watching the practice sessions of the Singapore Grand Prix – there’s no doubt about her!

On a 2014 trip, we drove right past the Venice turn off on our way to Slovenia and Croatia with no interest in stopping there. We had both been before, albeit separately on our respective youthful European tours. Our memories of the overrun tourist hotspot were not bad but we were not interested in joining the hoards of people onto the island to pay exorbitant prices for average food and drinks. Linda came up with the idea of renting an apartment for two nights right in the thick of it! Her idea became reality in the form of a three bedroom typical Venetian apartment with a massive living area featuring large shuttered windows overlooking the bustling Grand Canal. We won’t discuss how much it cost, along with parking the car at the entrance of the city for three days, but it wasn’t as offensive as you would imagine – and it was worth every Euro! The girl that managed the property met us at the parking garage and walked us to the apartment. It was about a fifteen minute walk and she provided us with a treasure trove of information on how to live like a local in Venice: Restaurants, where to go, bars to go for Sunday lunch and numerous tips on how to avoid the tourist traps and enjoy our time in the iconic location.

She was spot on with her restaurant choices and the bar that was recommended for Sunday lunch was absolutely perfect. A local tapas bar in the back canals opposite a boat builders yard that offered a wide selection of mouth watering delicacies, cold beer and good coffee. It was packed to the rafters with locals who seemed to be regulars and even though it took a while to get to the counter to order, nobody seemed to be fussed.

Lunch was well digested with a marathon of a walk. From St Mark’s Basilica, Rialto Bridge, we did it all. We even found a bar that had SkyTV to watch the race. The waiter, obviously an F1 fan, was quite excited that I had a ‘live timing app’ on my phone and made regular visits to our table for updates of the race progress with in-depth detail.

The tepid evening walk home was very pleasant. From St Mark’s Square where the gondolas are still very much in vogue, cruise ships blasting their horns as they depart to their next destination, past the Bridge of Sighs, across the numerous canals and of course, a gelato to top the day off.

Monday morning had arrived and the sun was still shining. We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Venice and decided we should have one more leisurely lunch before collecting our faithful ‘Dustie’ from the garage. We needed to head south along the Adriatic coast to our destination- the tiny village of Arsita, inland and up in the hills from Pescara. Along the way, we were tempted by one more intriguing place to visit ….The Republic of San Marino, but you will have to wait for the next blog to hear about it.

With our doggie handover in Hannover complete, we made the short drive to Bremen, the home town of Linda’s mother. The city has become very familiar to us with Linda visiting many times since she was fourteen and me visiting several times in the last seventeen years as well. We love Bremen, Linda has fond memories of walking around with her mother and Grandmother, who lived to the grand old age of one hundred and five! The first thing we always do in town is head for the Bratwurst kiosk- “Two bratties with mustard on the side”, I beckoned. Once Linda translated, two cooked bratwurst sausages were presented to us!

There are so many beautiful buildings in the city and we seem to discover more on every visit. No visit would be complete without lunch at the ‘Ratskeller’, but as Linda’s aunt Heidi wasn’t with us on this occasion we opted for a casual ‘Nordsea’, my favourite cured fish canteen – ‘Germany’s McDonalds’ I like to call it.

Linda’s cousin ‘Lutz’ kindly hosted us for our stay in Rotenburg (on the outskirts of Bremen) which allowed us to visit aunt Heidi, and fortunately Lutz’s daughter was in town as well so we enjoyed a pleasant afternoon in the tea rooms of a stately building in the woods with views of grazing cattle and the city beyond.

While there, we needed to discuss what was to happen to ‘Oma’s’ house in Hastedt. Oma was Lutz and Linda’s grandmother I mentioned earlier. Her ‘gingerbread house’ (as we called it), that was the family holiday home and residence during the war sat on approximately five acres of lush wooded land and was in a state of disrepair despite Lutz’s efforts in maintaining it over the years. Strict local government rules restrict what can be constructed and modified on the land which sadly, renders the property virtually worthless. If we were to invest in renovating it, local rules would not allow it to be used as a primary residence nor could it be rented out on a short term basis, so we are still at a bit of a stalemate as to what to do with it.

We only stayed a few days. Just enough time to enjoy some typical German breakfasts. Lutz would disappear early in the morning to collect some fresh bread and varied delicacies to have it spread out on the table ready by the time we came downstairs to the aroma of freshly brewed coffee. We could have stayed for weeks but we needed to get to the Czech Republic and Austria before arriving at our next house sit in Italy.

Nothing is very far in Europe but we don’t like driving for too many hours each day so we planned an overnight stop in Dresden on our way to Czech. Linda booked us into one of the nicest hotels we had stayed in for a long time – at a bargain price on booking.com. The room was so large and comfortable we decided not to go out opting to have a steam and a sauna in the hotels spa then enjoying a pizza delivered to our room for a quiet night in.

Our planned destination was a small town called ‘Ceska Trebova’, the home town of Linda’s father. Linda has little knowledge of her father’s background and we were hoping to gather some more on this visit. We had planned to drive directly from Dresden but our route had us driving past Prague. As we had spent a few days in Prague four years earlier we didn’t need to stop but as we approached the ‘Prague exit’, we made the impulsive decision to stop for lunch, as you do!!! Linda navigated us to a shopping centre which provided parking for us close to the centre of town and we enjoyed some local fare by the famous clocks, which sadly were boarded up for restoration! Lucky we had already seen them previously.

Our impulsive detour had us driving out of Prague at peak hour. It quickly became obvious that the Czech’s don’t have the same ‘driving etiquette’ as the Germans. There were cars zigzagging around us on the motorway out of town, like there was a prize to get home the earliest! Once we got past the city limits it calmed down and we found our booked accommodation in a tiny town about thirty minutes away from Ceska Trebova. It had a bar full of rowdy beer fueled Czechs and Russians and it didn’t take us long to realise that our room was directly above. A burly barman approached us asking what we assumed was ‘do you have a room booked?’ We were deep into the Czech Republic now and the use of the English language was zero. Even Linda’s limited German was not helping us but with a bit of mime and pointing we were directed to our room which was surprisingly comfortable. Fortunately the noise subsided at a reasonable hour which afforded us a good night sleep in preparation for our mission the next day.

We arrived at Trebova reasonably early but we weren’t really sure where to start. It was only believed Linda’s father (Rudi) was born in Ceska Trebova. Records were scarce and Rudi never had a birth certificate, we were only going by the late Rudi’s childhood memories. Rudi was vague about his past as it was obviously a painful one. He was interned in a war ‘work camp’ at some stage in Czechoslovakia and rarely spoke about it as he was obviously exposed to some heinous scenes, so we never pushed him. Eventually he made his way to Austria after the war, where his mother was born, and worked there until he migrated to Australia in the mid Fifties.

So, with next to no information, no local language skills, but a positive attitude we entered the city hall with google translate in hand. We were directed to the ‘Tourist Information Office’. We thought they sent us there because they just wanted to get rid of us but there was actually an office there specifically catering to the history of the region. The woman charged with looking after us was very obliging and asked Linda to leave her contact details with the limited information we had and they would contact us if they found anything! We weren’t very hopeful but at least we were a step closer than if we were sitting on our couch in Melbourne! Or were we?

With nothing left to do in Trebova we found a cafe in the city square, ate cake and charged our glasses to Rudi, who we hoped, had tread the cobblestones of the very square we were sitting in.

Our next destination was the Abruzzo Mountains in Italy to look after five dogs and four cats. The most direct way there was via Vienna. A good place to stay for a couple of nights and enjoy all the elegance the city has to offer – but, you will have to wait till the new year to read about it.

May you all have a Merry Christmas and a prosperous new year. We have a busy 2019 planned.