Seldom does it happen that we almost simultaneously meet up with two sets of friends on the road but so it was this past week. First, the Hunter family ( whose path we knew we would inevitably cross), in Cala Llevado, and then this week, having driven south through Barcelona and onto the small seaside city of Sitges, where we connected with good friends, Andy and Kim.  They were wrapping up their own European tour and chose Sitges for a few last days of relaxation by the sea – very nice to catch up with them, spend some time wandering the city and its famous sights, and also to enjoy some of Sitges’ notable culinary offerings.

Much smaller and less well known than its big brother, Barcelona( just 50 km away) but well-known to all the Spanish and recommended to us by many of them, Sitges was an excellent spot just to unwind in a low-key environment with friends. Sitges, described as “a coastal town, southwest of Barcelona, backed by the mountainous Parc Natural del Garraf. It is known for its Mediterranean beaches and seafront promenade lined with grand mansions. The compact old town and surrounding streets are filled with shops, restaurants, and many gay bars and nightclubs”. I’d say that, based on our time there, it’s a pretty apt description ! Indeed, lazy days by the pool, long beachside walks, and evenings spent wandering Sitges’ tourist-filled labyrinthine back streets filled all our days there.

With much more of Spain’s Mediterranean coast still to explore we pointed our rig southwest and continued on – no real destination in mind, but rather to simply explore and settle for a few beachside days when we found somewhere appealing. Roaming around Spain so far we had been fortunate to come across a nice mix of good, safe freecamps, the occasional fully appointed conventional campground ( such as in Sitges and Cala Llevado), and more recently, what are known in Spain as “camper parks” ( there are thousands in France, called “Aires” ). The concept is explained here https://pro.campingcarpark.com/en/ .  So it was that in searching through this site and our trusted park4night app that we came across an excellent camper park close to downtown Peniscola, just a few hours away from Sitges. In this case, it was the campsite that we were looking for, not so much the town itself, but upon arriving in Peniscola, we realized it is also a thriving beachside community with an impressive castle sitting on a high promontory overlooking the beach and the town itself.

Probably a little more touristy than we generally like, but beggars can’t be choosers as they say, so we parked up here for a few nights, enjoyed the town, the beach ( the water still incredibly warm, even though we were well into the shoulder season ) and picked up some end of season bargains at the multitude of tourist stalls lining the steep walk to the castle.  

As relaxing, as it is to enjoy these places, and we have been enjoying them, there is some pretty impressive sightseeing on our route ahead and this good weather won’t hold up forever.  From here the plan is to push on to Valencia, before heading inland towards Madrid, then across to northern Portugal, south along the Portuguese coast and ultimately back into southern Spain to explore the many attractions of Andalusia. Time to move on !

Till next week…