We have been in Spain for nearly 3 months so it was time to head for the border and cross into Portugal. But first a stop off to see where Christopher Columbus set sail in 1492 on his journey to discover America.
Rather than take the motorway we drove along a road that took us through the Doñana National Park, this has to be the prettiest route we have taken so far. The roads were a bit bumpy but the views of the trees were amazing, it was such a peaceful journey with hardly any other cars on the road.
At Palos de la Frontera there is the Muelle de la Carabelas, that has reproduced the three ships used by Christopher Columbus, the “Santa María”, the “Pinta” and the “Niña”.
We walked around each of the ships marvelling at how brave the men were who sailed in them, they were tiny! We both agreed that we would not want to be on the sea in any of them.
The park was quite large with monuments, a monastery and a botanical garden. We spent the afternoon wandering around in the sunshine.
We had planned on staying here the night as there was a large carpark with a few other vans parked up. However, it seemed that it would be quite noisy. The forecast for the next few days was sunny so we decided to head off to the beach.
It was Sunday evening and we arrived at Playa de Mata Negra just as the day visitors were leaving. Just as well as I don’t think we would have been able to park if we had got here any earlier.
The park up was a large layby right next to the beach. There were a few vans already here so we felt quite happy about staying.
The sky was incredibly clear with the most fantastic sunsets and sun rises. As the sun went down the moon came out, it was so clear we could even see the craters.
The beach stretched for miles in both directions. There were little cafés either side of the layby, although we didn’t use them this time. We stayed here for 3 very peaceful days and night. Eventually we dragged ourselves away to cross the border to Portugal. The COVID-19 PCR test requirement for entry to Portugal had just been lifted so we were ready to go.
As we crossed the bridge into Portugal there was a large sign saying ‘Foreigners’ to the right. We pulled into that lane and found ourselves at an ‘Easy toll’ booth. We weren’t expecting this so were a bit confused. Weren’t sure if it was compulsory or not (it is not). After trying a few different payment cards we finally got our toll ticket. Turns out it is an automatic payment system if you use their toll roads, taken from the card registered at the booth against the vehicle registration number.
That completed we were on our way to the next chapter on our journey.
El Rocio to Muelle de las Carabelas
Mileage 124
Route E-5 and A-49
Free but didn’t stay overnight
Playa de Mata Negra to Playa de Mata Negra
Mileage 19
Route H-30 and A-497
Free car park right next to the beach
