El Rocío, Spain - as well as Tavira, Huevla and Almonte

Travel day again today leaving Faro and heading towards El Rocío in Spain.

On the way, we stop in at Tavira for a ‘quick’ look. It’s quite pleasant along the river, across the bridge (complete with bag pipe playing busker?!?!), and into nice little town square. BUT where to find coffee (you know Decaf, Oat milk, Americano or something, take away, blessed by the whales etc) for the special one (aka me!), oh and a Coke for B (ok turns out had to scout around for that to find store with cold ones!). Our 30 year marriage is being tested but Bob perseveres - just! 😩

Lovely park in Tavira

Large square in Tavira

"River" in Tavira

Back on the road heading to Espanha. We cross over the border and Telstra tells us we've switched networks to Spain for roaming - but it "no worky". Luckily the signs are good so we make it to our campsite in El Rocio, Espanha. In Spain, we come across quite a few "interesting" road signs warning us not to drive to fast and crash into the car in front!

Interesting road signs in Spain

Another interesting road sign in Spain

Bob spends hours chatting to Telstra Bots/humans about the roaming thingy and hopefully sorted 🤞 We try to book in for a tour of the National Park Donana but we are told it's booked out for a couple of days.

Oh well, we have a day spare now so we decide to go for a drive to Huelva, a little town that we had decided not to look at on our way to El Rocio. Huelva has a lovely boulevard with a park through the middle which runs for about 2 kms. There's not a lot to see but nice little town. We have some "difficulty" finding a park for our van - but manage without getting a fine. Plus we end up driving down a pedestrian mall (oh dear!).

Park in Huevla

Bronze horses on roundabout in Huevla

Statue Huevla

We also investigate Almonte, which is near El Rocio - but has a supermarket for us to get some supplies. Bob finds a good park (finally) and we walk through the local markets and find the supermarcodo.

Markets Almonte

Trees in Almonte - very dry

Horse statue in Almonte

On the way back to the campsite, we take a drive through El Rocio "town" which is exactly as it is described - an outback Mexican wild west town. People ride their horses to town, hitch their horses and go to the pub! Its dry and dusty - not gravel roads, just dirt! But it's so interesting, not seen anything like it. We also see a huge old (they say at least 1,000 years old) olive tree - plus some very old cottages with thatched roofs. Apparently the thatch is made of old reeds from around the area.

Beautiful Church in El Rocio

Dusty dirt road - El Rocio

"Square" ie large dirt area in El Rocio

Horse and cart parked in dirt street El Rocio

Typical dirt dusty road in El Rocio

Old horse cart in El Rocio

Typical horse in El Rocio

At least a 1,000 year old olive tree in El Rocio - huge

Old thatched roof - El Rocio

Another old thatched roof in El Rocio

The next day the 4 x 4 wheel bus picks us up at the park and off we go to the National Park - aka Parque de Donana. The guide (English speaking but very strong Spanish accent) explains to us that we wont really get to see the Park in its best state because it is so dry. The deers and other animals will mostly be having siesta and the Park itself is very dry, so not much greenery. Never mind, its worth the experience.

Our 4 x 4 wheel bus into Parque de Donana

Cork tree in Parque de Donana

Close up of cork tree - natural protection from fire

Guide explaining cork trees

We see a few deers and also some Heron and other birds in the marsh. The guide also explains the cork tree - apparently the cork trees in the National Park are protected and can't be de-barked for cork because the natural covering on the trees protects the trees from fire - so they don't burn if there's fire. On the way out of the Park, we also spot a Lynz which is a protected species (not too many around). It similar to a very large cat or small tiger. He's asleep but we wake him up and he takes off!

Deer in Parque de Donana

Trees in Parque de Donana

Marsh area in Parque de Donana

More marsh area in Parque de Donana

Herons and other birds in marsh

Lynx - having a snooze

Adios for now
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