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Traveldiary chapter 19 [June 2007 - July 2009] as PDF (Back in Europe: Naturism, Nature & Culture) After 3 ½ rewarding years overseas, we truly enjoyed the openness and culture of Europe again. It’s nice that naturism is acceptable for big parts of the population. We also enjoy finding culture in so many places and that historical towns are not only several decades, but a few hundred years old. |
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Photos: Switzerland, Germany |
Switzerland: Short return – before setting off again
At around 9 PM on the evening of June 14th 2007, we finally
arrived at Zurich airport, only one hour later than initially scheduled with
our flight via Qatar from Singapore. We took a train to Affoltern, where we
were noisily greeted by a starting thunderstorm – or was it firecrackers, as
they use in Asia to celebrate big events?
For us, a great journey had ended where it began 3 ½ years ago. We had
grown even richer in experiences and now our hearts were full of good memories.
Heinz’ sister Edith picked us up from the train station and took us home
to Merenschwand. We truly enjoyed her and her partner Karl’s warm welcome and
hospitality in their house. After a few years overseas, we indeed enjoyed to be
back to Switzerland again - at least for a couple of months.
We instantly felt, what a Singaporean had once described to us: “One
thing I love about Switzerland is the crisp air”.
We didn’t quite know what he was talking about back then, but after a long time
in the tropics, we both agree; breathing here really does feel different!
We had experienced, that freedoms and restrictions for the people are
often not set up by the government, but by society itself, through taboos and
peer pressure. We visited fully democratic countries, where most inhabitants
take themselves much less freedom, than people of some dictatorships. In this
case reasonable political leaders managed to rise the amount of individual
freedom and quality of life for most citizens during the last few years. We still think that theoretically,
democracy is the best form of governing a country. However, in practice we
experienced, that many, unfortunately far too many people on our globe are
sadly not mature enough for it (also in some western countries). It’s simply
impossible to export democracy to countries without democratic traditions, as
the West likes to do it. Democracy doesn’t only mean that the majority has to
grant rights to the minority, but also that it has to accept a possible
landslide loss in elections. All this has first to be learned, before it can
become part of the political culture. By the way, once we heard some locals
complaining in one of the newly transforming countries: “It’s true; the
government gave us now freedom, but we didn’t learn how to deal with it. Right
now, we don’t want freedom, what we really want is wealth!”
We both agree: every leg of our trip was absolutely worthwhile and
rewarding. We both feel, our understanding of most places we visited, is now
much different (hopefully better). Many controversial testimonies had led us to
think differently about prejudges or clichés people so readily adopt and often
are untrue or incomplete because that’s the way the media has put it for its
readers... We also realized that the free press in Western societies does not
always report the full truth about second and third world countries, as often
only those fractions are reported, readers (and advertisers) want to hear
about, but the other 80% or so would put many things in a different light...
It was very nice to rediscover our home country again and after eating
our way around the globe, it was indeed also very pleasant to taste
Switzerland’s local specialities again. Especially our consumption of bread,
baked sweets, yogurt, chocolate and sausages rose dramatically.
For whatever reason, we were not motivated at all, to visit our friends as yet,
during the first few weeks. We just enjoyed that we could stay with Edit &
Kari and at our friends Annemarie & Beat’s house in Root. It was also very
relaxing to be back in a familiar cultural environment.
Otherwise we just visited our parents, (often a good mix between comedy
and tragedy at the same time) and sucked everything in (not only food) we might
have missed, because we had opted to travel (trying to understand) the world.
But we also needed some more time to digest our experiences abroad.
As we decided to stay in Europe for the time foreseen, we needed to look
for a reasonable car. But it was not as easy as we had hoped for. Reliable
“value for money” secondhand cars, as we had found in Canada and Down Under,
are not available in Switzerland. Swiss don’t believe old cars can still be
reliable. Most consider their new car an “old bomb” already after a few years
driving and exchange it against another brand new vehicle.
The dealership sets most of the older cars aside for export, as no Swiss
would buy them. If a 8 -10 year old car exceptionwise comes on the local
market, the dealer sets the price usually well above sFr. 10’000 (€ 6’000), as
he wants to cover the cost for panel beating and extensive service and
warranties. Therefore, it’s cheaper to buy a brand new car, if you opt either
to a compact car, or a brand without any prestige-value. After running around
unsuccessfully for ages, we finally opted for the latter. So we got a brand new
Dacia Logan, a Romanian make owned
by Renault. The cheapest models, were available for just sFr.10’600, but we
paid 5’600.- more, as we opted for an
energy efficient diesel engine, that survives on only 4.7 lt./100km. We calculated, that we should have amortised
the additional cost within three years. Our Version also has some additional
luxury as air conditioning. This car is also much bigger than our Twingo, which
we drove until 4 years ago. Now we have a mere 510 lt. trunk on dispense for
our travel luggage.
On July the 11th 2007, we picked our new 4 wheeled companion
up. First we had to get used to driving on the right side of the road again,
after having been used to the wrong side, as they do in most countries we’ve
visited during the last few years.
Three days at Thielle
Now, our priority was to drive out into the countryside. So, we combined
this three days later with a weekend in Switzerland’s largest naturist club,
where we are still members. Our new car drove very well during the first twenty
minutes, but then.... we got stuck for almost three hours in a traffic jam! Now
we realized that traffic bulletins are maybe not as entertaining, but certainly
more useful, than listening to our favourite songs we could now hear from the
brand new Memo stick in the car stereo! Needless to say we were annoyed, but
never mind; afterwards we still enjoyed the drive through the beautiful
Emmental.
Due to the jam and our extensive sight-seeing, the reception at the
naturist club “DIE NEUE ZEIT” in Thielle had just closed
when we arrived. Luckily, the reception team, who was about to leave, felt pity
and opened again to check us in.
The ‘ONS Naturist Club’ is a very traditional affair; it still keeps the NO
Alcohol, NO nicotine and NO meat rule. We hadn’t been back here for the last 8
years but to both of us, it immediately felt much more natural than most
naturist places we had been visiting overseas, during the last 3 ½ years. On
this sunny weekend, several hundred, if not more than 1’000 people were
visiting, many families with children. Naturists here sunbathe, walk around, go
swimming, play boules, volleyball, badminton or some other sport.
Some members and visitors were socializing in the “drug free” vegetarian
restaurant “Café des Philosophes”. Others were joining the many lectures on
offer: about re-incarnation, spirituality and alternative lifestyle and so
on... Soon thereafter, many can be seen in the very popular sauna, engaged in
serious discussions about the lectures they had enjoyed before, trying to
re-shape the world... Rules and
regulations are not really to our taste, but the alternative atmosphere this
creates here, is much more appealing to us, than the socializing with “booze
and talking bullshit” culture, we often experienced overseas.
After a very relaxing weekend in Thielle, we went back to Central
Switzerland again. We chose the slow, but interesting and very scenic route,
which was abt. 150km long. It first brought us to Fribourg and then via
Schwarzenburg and Riggisberg to the shores of lake Thun, where we drove the
more scenic route along its northern shore. After we had driven over the Brünig
pass road, it was already around 10 PM. As we had now tuned in on the traffic
info of our radio, we learned about another traffic jam in Lucerne, about half
an hour down the road. So we decided to stop for dinner in a small restaurant
in Lungern. It worked out perfectly to us and we later drove to Edith &
Kari’s home without delay.
Now, we easily could drive around and see all our friends again, so we
did! We just had to make sure, that we allowed ourselves enough time and get
some breath in between, as some told us about dramatic changes in their lives,
which we needed to digest.
We also stayed for three days with Andrea and Peter, an interesting
couple we had only met on Borneo last February. As they had also been
globetrotting (Andrea is also working for the travel agency “Globetrotter”) for
several years, we had many stories to exchange.
Five days at Dreiländereck
On August 2nd 2007, we drove to FKK Dreiländereck (meaning edge of 3
countries), a naturist camp situated in southern Germany, close to the border
of France and Switzerland. During the next 5 days, we initially wanted to camp,
enjoy the site and see some of our friends we know from Costa Natura in Spain,
where we previously wintered a few times. But, as we hadn’t seen them for 4 ½
years, especially Christiane and Klaus, but also Bruni and Erhard felt the urge
to “organize us”. So we hadn’t too much time, to enjoy this indeed very nice
resort. First of all: Christiane organized that we could sleep at their friend
Monis’s place. Of course, we enjoyed this special treatment much more than
sleeping in a tent.
Klaus (he is a Berliner), a retired chef, prove his superb cooking
skills daily. What he calls “nur ein ganz normales Frühstück” (just an ordinary
breakfast) was probably a combination of everything, Berlin’s top three hotels
have on offer on their breakfast buffets. Even in five days, we couldn’t try
everything!
As Gisela & Klaus from Friesland and Agie & Jürgen were visiting
at the same time, just arriving and leaving a few days before us, Christiane
and Klaus unexpectedly provided full board for up to 10 people during eight
days.
In between, Bruni & Erhard did also invite us for dinner and we were
invited out by Doris to a Straussi (a German type farm restaurant). On some
nights, we had several invitations for dinner. Choosing between many good
options was the only problem we had, but we don’t expect you to feel pity.
Finally, during our five days, we had met about twenty people we knew
from Costa Natura. Many of them are now living in chalets on that campground
permanently during summer. Others again, live in the surrounding countryside
and were “organized” in our honour to pop in. On top of it, some sightseeing
was also organized for all visitors, with a bunch of us enjoying a
wonderful ride on a river barge without motor gliding over the tranquil
“Inneren Rhein” river in scenic Taubergiessen nature reserve
near Rust. Afterwards we visited the town of Staufen, where we all had lunch
with entertainment by Thomas, a musician-friend.
Still, we could manage to have at least a few hours to enjoy the beauty
of FKK Dreiländereck. The swimming pool is in fact a little artificial pond,
situated between the Sauna and a big sunbathing lawn. This family orientated
naturist place, owned by the community and managed by a tenant family, feels
very natural and attracts many young families. Here, a family with two children
pays a fair bit less than a childless couple, but still a bit more than a
single person. This is certainly a good way to bring the younger generation
back to naturism.
Back to Switzerland
After 5 very sunny and warm
days in southern Germany, we did leave with the arrival of the first raindrops.
We drove back to Switzerland to stay for some more time with our friends
Annemarie & Beat in Root. We arrived just in time, as we soon realized. Heavy
rain poured over central Europe and the same night, a neighbour came up to the
house that is situated almost at the top of a hill. He asked us to help him and
a member of the fire brigade, to build barriers to prevent the rising creek
(normally just a rivulet) from flooding the garages.
Luckily, we could warm up
afterwards in the cosy warm sauna of Annemarie and Beat’s house, while the
river was in check.
We just visited a few more
friends, before we went back to Edith & Kari’s place. We wanted to support
Edith in dealing with Heinz’and her mother’s hip operation, so we decided to
stay until the end of August. We also used this additional time to enjoy a bit
more of our home country. Among them was a big day-trip that brought us through
the Valley of Uri, then over the Oberalp pass road into the countryside of the
Grisons. Here, we continued over the Lukmanier Pass into Ticino, Switzerland’s
Italian part. While Brigitte had a good look at the architecture of traditional
villages along the way, Heinz was more interested in the exhibition centres
about the construction of the new Gotthard Base
Tunnel. With 57 km, this rail tunnel will be the longest in
the world, when it finally opens - about 2017.
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Photos: France Publications |
Naturist autumn in France: Lively and Popular
On September 1st
2007, after 2 ½ very enjoyable months in our motherland, we finally said
farewell to Edith & Kari and continued towards France. Due to cool
weather, we waved our initial plan to visit the naturist club in Thielle again.
Instead, we headed directly south towards the Domaine de la Sablière near the
Ardèche valley. As this is a 700km long drive, with lots of sightseeing
opportunities in between, we split the trip over three days. On the first day,
we explored a bit more of Switzerland and chose a route via the very scenic
Berner Oberland. We continued over the Jaun pass to Bulle in the French part.
From there, we followed the motorway down to Geneva, where we crossed the border
to France.
Our first overnight stop was
in Annecy, just another 34
km down the road. As it was a weekend, the towns budget hotels were already
booked out. It took us about 2 hours and some nerves, to find a place to stay.
Indeed, it was very nice to visit this charming town again, which is nestled
along the shores of the lake with the same name. Although, it got a bit late,
we could still manage to get a superb French dinner in the old town, where we
strolled around afterwards and again on the next morning. Annecy’s old town,
along canal Thiou is particularly charming and the market on Sunday morning was
absolutely worthwhile.
In the afternoon, we followed
the motorway to Chambéry, where we left it to continue through the Vecors
mountain range. Along the way we saw spectacular scenery and charming villages,
which made this a very interesting detour. We were quite amazed that most
French villages have now a 30 km/h speed limit. Our routing was via Voiron,
Romans and Tournon sur Rhône, before we reached Aubenas, where we stayed
overnight.
We remembered this place from
another visit but right now on Sunday night, it was very, very dead. The
manager of the place we stayed, advised us to have dinner at Vals-les-Bain, the
village we had passed 10 km earlier. “As this is a thermal resort”, he said “it
shouldn’t “close down” on Sunday nights” and there was certainly more than one
place to satisfy our culinary desires.
On the next day, we first visited the small, but very charming village of
Lanas, a very traditional place, with most houses built of big stones. Over
small country roads, we continued to Vallon Pont d’Arc and then to Barjac.
Domaine de la Sablière
Mid afternoon, we arrived at “la
Domaine de la Sablière”, a large and very comfortable naturist resort
in a wild and uninhabited area near the Ardèche gorge. The cabin- and
camp park is situated in a stunning valley, on the shores of the small Cèze
River. To us, it was probably our tenth visit there, but our first in autumn.
Now, the atmosphere was quite different to our previous visits. First thing:
the camping-areas ‘Mesange+Fauvette’ on the bottom of the valley were now near
empty, whereas ‘espace Pinson’ further up the hill, was nearly full. No wonder: now in September, it takes quite a
while until the sun reaches the bottom of the river valley. Second: it was
busy, but very quiet. September is an odd month in Europe, as (almost) all
European countries have ended summer school holidays now. Therefore, except on
weekends, only couples were roaming around la Sablière, and so it was much
quieter than in spring and summer, when there are also lots of kids around. We
rented a simple “Bambi” mobile-home with kitchen, but without bathroom.
After three days, if only to
us, the frightening quiet days were gone, as our friends Moni und Bruno joined
us. Those two had fallen in love in l994, when the 4 of us visited the Domaine
de la Sablière for the first time. In the meantime, they had gotten married in
Sydney!
Weatherwise and from the quiet
atmosphere, autumn can also be an excellent time to enjoy this very natural
naturist heaven. However, we felt that everything in the resort itself and also
many (tourist) businesses in the surrounding countryside are slowly, but surely
heading towards the well earned “hibernation”.
The otherwise very well
stocked Sablière shop stocked less and less, and some of our favourite
restaurants in the region were already closing for the season. It was a big
difference to spring, when everything is opening up and the offerings are
getting more plentiful by the day.
Of course we ventured out to
the region’s different restaurants to sample French culinary delights. We also
visited the Ardèche gorge and some charming villages like Barjac, Vallon Pont d’Arc, Ruoms and la
Bastide du Virac again.
Luckily, we could enjoy
excellent and sunny weather, sunbathe or swim in the river with its stunning
scenery as a backdrop that makes nudity just normal. Halfway up the valley on
our way back to our accommodations, we often jumped in the pool and visited the
sauna.
After twelve very sociable
days, we left Moni and Bruno, who spent another three days there, before
heading back home to Switzerland to their working duties.
Bélézy en Provence
We only changed to the other
side of the Rhône River and headed to another rural naturist resort: the Domaine
de Bélézy. It was September 15th and by the time we
arrived at around 4 o’clock, people were queuing out of the reception, in order
to check in. The poor receptionist told us, that it was like that, since she
opened at 8 o’clock in the morning. She had been working here by
herself all day long, unlike last week, when the reception was constantly
attended by 2-3 staff, but nobody had been arriving. Obviously, there was a
reason to this massive show-up of guests; on that very day the prices dropped
to the lowest level of the season and we were by far not the only ones, who had
been waiting for that. Despite the arriving crowd, we were luckily still given
a choice of different Mobile-Homes, as most other arrivals had their own
caravan in tow.
Also Bélézy feels very
different in autumn than in spring. The area with the deckchairs around the big
pool looked now almost as busy as a beach in Rimini, but: it was dead quiet!
Hundreds; mainly pensioners, were lazily sunbathing and reading. Nobody talked.
Everybody seemed to enjoy, that children had to attend school on this time of
the year. Somehow, it felt that even the excess noise of turning newspaper
pages, would disturb this crowd. The large playgrounds in the centre of Bélézy
were deserted, there were no more animations and the tourist information was
closed.
Again; it felt very different
to our previous visits in April, when children, adolescent and adults alike,
were happily playing or doing sports on the fields. Communal BBQ’s were
arranged to bring people together, later socialising all through their
holidays. It seems that maybe the Management purposely optimizes conditions for
those who like to be active and socialise from spring to the beginning of
September and after that, for the remainder of the season: for those who like
it peacefully quiet. Therefore, in the midst of September, no animation and no
communal BBQ’s were offered anymore. We know from some friends, that Bélézy had
still been very lively in the beginning of September!
The restaurant at Bélézy still
served excellent French food for a very competitive price. The shop, which
closed after a week, sold many items at a discounted price, but still stocked
some fresh fruit every day. Fresh bread was still available at the reception
after the grocery store closed a few weeks before the end of the season
(probably because so many “campers” carry half of Aldi & Lidl’s range in
their caravan from home.).
Shopping and dining is also
very easy outside Bélézy. The village of Bedoin is only an easy 20
min. stroll away and it has an excellent Shopi-Supermarket and several good
restaurants. Every Monday a market is held, presenting a true feast for the
eyes and the palate. We also visited some charming villages in the Provence
district, many offering some more superb dining options and often great scenery
along the way.
After ten very sunny and mild
days, we left Bélézy on September 25th 2007.
Port Leucate Naturist Village on the
Mediterranean Sea
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Photos: Journey from F, Costa Almeria, Vera Playa, Spring excursion, Flowers Publications |
Natsun in Vera Playa: Naturism in the change of seasons
From Port Leucate to Andalucia
On November 6th
2007 we left Port Leucate and ventured towards southern Spain. We chose the inland route, which brought
us first through the Pyrenees. Just before reaching Andorra, we took the turn
off towards La Seu d’Urgell, from where we took road Nr. C14 through beautiful
landscapes down to Lleida, where we stayed overnight. From there we continued
trough the impressive Ebro River valley along road N211 and N420. We found some
very impressive Rock formations, just before reaching Teruel. From there we
continued on the N330 southwards. Overnight we stayed at the small village of
Ayora. On the next morning we continued via Lorca to Aguilas, where we hit the
Mediterranean Sea again. Now it was only 40 km along a spectacular costal drive
to the naturist urbanisations of Vera Playa, situated between Garrucha and Villaricos on the Costa de Almeria, Andalucía, where we had pre-arranged an apartment for
the next five weeks.
Arrival at Natsun
At Natsun’s reception, we were given the key to a very
nice and big top floor apartment with an even bigger balcony overlooking the
pool and the beach. So we started to explore the surroundings and we were
pleasantly surprised to find many good walking opportunities just at our
doorstep. Even now in the middle of November, more people were still sunbathing
on the long naturist beach than we had expected. As most beachgoers were
Spaniards, we didn’t feel like being in a foreigner dominated ghetto. At around
three o’clock in the afternoon, the autumn winds usually made sunbathing on the
beach a bit too chilly. We put on some cloths and either walked the five
kilometres along the beach into the nearby village of Garrucha, went around the
naturist urbanisation or made some strolls to the countryside just behind Vera
Playa.
Natsun in Vera Playa is that sort of place, many people get “addicted” to and
before we even realized, the “roving spirits” had become “stationary rovers”!
Every time we were “scheduled” to leave this paradise, we took advantage of our
freedom and extended our stay. So our initial 5 weeks became finally more than
50! We immediately fell in love with this place, so that we soon waived our
initial plan to continue to Costa Natura, where we had spent a few winters some
years ago.
The spirit of Vera Playa
What makes Vera
Playa so special? It’s the openness and tolerance of the Spanish society. After
dictator Franco died in 1975, the Spanish society, especially the younger
generation, started to break many taboos from the old times. Some of those were
reversed and became constitutional rights soon thereafter. For example, nudism is not punishable any more since 1978,
but a Constitutional Right. (Surely) we hadn’t seen anybody naked
outside the nudist area and the beach, but this very liberal approach means in
practice, that everybody has the right to be nude in any public place (like beaches, rivers, lakes, open
fields, paths, roads, streets, plazas, parks, etc.), but not in private
places (like restaurants, shops, etc) as they have their own regulations.
Therefore, the
“naturist urbanisations” of Vera Playa are integrated borderless into
neighbouring “textile” urbanisations. The main road leads for 1.5km along the
naturist urbanisations and only the main access road into the “naturist
quarters” has a sign indicating “Zona Naturista”. Neither the beach, nor any of
the roads leading from the nude to the prude sections of Vera Playa, has any
signage indicating that the naturist area ends (or starts) here. Just next to
it is the Shopping Centre “Centro Hispania”, which allows good views to the
neighbouring nudist area from its car park and rooftop terrace.
A few years ago,
the municipality of Vera built barriers to mark the ends of the naturist
section on the beach, but they were removed after naturists and textiles alike
protested against it by walking demonstratively in big groups into the other
section.
In Vera Playa,
naturists and textiles obviously mingle very well with each other on the beach.
The stretches 500 m north and south of Natsun are mainly used by naturists. A
few hundred meters further south it’s fairly mixed and then it gets more and
more textile. Beach walks are very popular among everyone and nobody cares if
those wearing bathers walk a few hundred meters into the naturist section, as
naturists walk a few hundred meters into the textile section. This is totally
accepted and nobody stares, it’s totally natural for everybody. Surely, there
are some teenagers wearing bathers in the naturist section, but other teenagers
are sunbathing fully naked in the middle of the textile crowd and also here:
NOBODY stares at them and nobody tells them to wear more or less.
In North America or Down Under, probably at least half of the textiles would
peer, and the others would call the police we guess! We think that it is this
tolerant and natural environment that encourages so many single women of any
age to go naked at Vera Playa to be even with nature. Here in southern Spain it
got so obvious, that in some Victorian influenced countries, the society itself
breeds and later prosecutes its perverts! Peeping Toms are a big exception in
Vera Playa and usually rather immigrants from the other shore of the
Mediterranean Sea (or the UK) than Spaniards.
English invasion
Vera and Garrucha are Spanish
villages with a long tradition. Most Spaniards either dream of owning a holiday
apartment or already own one. In Vera Playa, the vast majority of (textile
& naturist) holiday flats are owned by Spaniards, often residents of Madrid
or Barcelona. On the other side, some of the nearby villages like Antas, Mojácar or Turre are very, very British. In some, the
majority of registered residents are UK passport holders. Those immigrants are
“supplemented” by Latvians, Rumanians, French, Dutch, Germans, Scandinavians,
Ecuadorians, Chinese and even Indians, so in those places, the Spaniards are a
minority in their own country. Consequently, there are lots of foreign, mainly
English-run businesses around. In many shops it’s easier to practise English
rather than Spanish. Fish & Chips or Cornish Pies can be found very easily.
Apart from many (sports TV polluted) English bars and pubs, there are also
entire industrial areas (Poligono Industrial) where almost all businesses like
builders, hardware stores, pool maintenance and so on are owned by British
expats. MR. UK doesn’t sell only baked beans and tinned spaghettis, but also
lots of Asian spices and unbelievable but true: “original Spanish Paella” made
in UK!
Ordinary
Andalucian food is normally wholesome, but not that much of a culinary delight.
Fish is fish, meat is meat and almost everything, including Fries, is prepared
with Olive Oil. This is normally very healthy, but rather the contrary if used
for deep frying. Thanks to the many British immigrants, Vera’s surrounding has
now attracted a good selection of Chinese Restaurants (unbeatable value for
money) and Indian restaurants, plus some excellent (but not too expensive)
upmarket places, aiming at those Brits (and other expats) seeking a delightful
dining experience rather than cheap crap.
Also Bingo- and
Quiz nights are held regularly and we even sighted a note board at a post
office, where everything was posted in English only. Before Christmas, flea
markets and fund raisings for charities are held around the English communities
in southern Spain, exactly as we had seen it Down Under. Also here,
participants wear elk antlers in plush and red Santa caps. Even the Royal
English legion has many branches down here!
Winter in Vera Playa
The winter in Vera
Playa is dominated by pensioners (and dropouts) from Northern Europe enjoying
the relatively mild winter climate along Southern Spain’s coastline. On four
out of six winter weeks it’s possible to sunbathe stark naked for a few hours
each day (in a wind sheltered corner) even though night temperatures can fall
very close to freezing, even on the coast. But also the “bad weather days” are
normally fairly dry (naturally, there is no rule) but they can happen for two
consecutive weeks, just to be replaced by a mainly sunny winter month.
Whether people experience good or bad weather during the winter in southern
Spain is often a matter of one’s own attitude. Those with nothing better to do,
than desperately waiting for the sun again, as soon as it’s hidden behind a
cloud, are probably less satisfied with the weather than those who know many
other things to do.
In winter, most of
Natsun’s terraces are dominated by (big) satellite dishes. Whenever new winter
guests arrive, the thing they usually do first, is setting up their satellite
dish, before unpacking anything else. Many are convinced that they couldn’t
come here, if they wouldn’t have the possibility to receive their favourite TV
stations from home. Most of the other winter escapees were probably convinced
that we only didn’t set up a satellite dish on our patio, because we wanted to
save money! Therefore, during our first few weeks at Natsun, we were offered
several times receivers and satellite dishes. We stubbornly refuse to use
dishes anywhere else than in the kitchen. To us, cooking and eating is already
an evening filling program. We hope that people still grow wiser by compiling
experiences outside the TV environment with all its soap-operas!
Shall the society
become ever more brainless? We were already amused when we spotted fruit jam in
Australia a few years ago, that was declared to be at least 99% fat free! The
best we know of so far is a packet of peanuts we bought here in Spain. It had a
warning in ten different languages: “Product may contain traces of nuts”.
During the winter
period, we felt a bit like being in a ghetto dominated by foreign long term
visitors who come here every year. Some of them seem neither willing to speak
any word of Spanish, nor to adapt at least a bit to the Spanish rhythm of life.
Sometimes life penalizes them, as some restaurants serve excellent dinners
after 8 pm, but pretty average if not even bad fare beforehand!
A few excursions
Vera Playa is already a sight in itself;
sometimes we had to kick ourselves for motivation to discover the sights around
(the fact that we discovered such a lot during the 8 ½ years before our stay
here had often functioned as a good excuse). The surrounding landscape is very
barren and dry. Nevertheless the mountain ranges and marble mines around
Tabernas are all very fascinating. It
also happened that we drove along a track and suddenly a large golf-resort came
into view. Aguilas, nestled on the sea 40 km east, is a very nice town. The
coastal drive from there, via Vera Playa to Carboneras is truly spectacular.
Also the white washed villages of Mojácar and Bedar, as well
as Cuevas del Almanzora are worthwhile.
Bedar’s typical Andalucían cemetery is
especially interesting. The ancestors rest in small buildings containing
“rooms” just big enough for a coffin. As some graves offer superb views over
the mountain ranges or the sea, many families secure a grave at a good location
long before their time is due... If the owners move to another village (before
the inevitable has happened) they just put a “se vende” (for sale) sign with
their phone number on the grave and buy a new one wherever they settle down.
Most tourists (not all) rave about the markets in the surrounding villages. We
got the impression that most veggies that are grown here are being exported
only. In Spanish markets, the section with (rather old fashioned) cloths is
usually way bigger than the one with vegetable & “comestible” stalls. After
seeing big colourful and varied markets across Asia and also France, Spanish
markets appear to us pretty unexciting with such a limited food section and
selection; probably we’re just too spoiled.
Along the freeway
to Almeria and Murcia there are many plastic tunnels under which vegetables and
fruits are grown. This region of Spain also got the nickname ‘Costa Plastica’.
In this very dry and sunny area, the water for the huge orchards and
plantations is fetched in large artificial inland lakes. Most labourers working
the fields and greenhouses come from Africa, Eastern Europe and South America.
When touring around, we often stopped in small
villages, where the local bar is the only place to get a quick cheap lunch.
There, smoking seems to be compulsory for the locals and television is
omnipresent, with the volume usually greater than the tolerance levels of the
human ear. The floor of a Spanish bar is usually covered with used napkins,
although you can also find a collection of other objects such as cigarette
butts, olive pits or seafood shells. Any good bar incorporates these elements
of decoration - if you don't find them, either it's not a good bar or you’re
not in Spain!
The Spanish way of life
Spanish people
like to be out and about, to see what’s going on and to be seen. They always
dress up, even if going out only for a few minutes. In government offices,
dressing up is important for being taken seriously. Spaniards spend a good part
of their income in improving their appearance. They are a very proud bunch of
people. Even along the naturist beach they walk with pride, but “au natural”.
Otherwise, you can’t tell them apart from other Europeans any more once they
disrobed.
Spaniards are very
sociable people. Not only a hike or a visit to a restaurant, but also shopping,
ordering a new telephone line or visiting the doctors is often done within the
circle of family and friends. Once we found a notice posted in a dentists
waiting room, which politely asked the patient to enter the consultation room
without the family or friends.
At the time when
many northern Europeans start dinner, Spaniards just finished their lunch.
Later, when the foreigners switch off their TV-sets and go to bed, the locals
start cooking dinner, or go out and about; children and adults alike. As this
is a normal part of Spanish life, there is no reason to be particularly quiet
when they come home between 1 and 4 o’clock in the morning, it’s just as normal
as coming home between 8 or 11 pm in the rest of Europe.
Every time when
some of our country mates who
regularly spend the whole winter in Southern Spain (but don’t speak any Spanish
at all) complain about the
incredible noise those “bloody Spaniards” made again on the last long weekend,
we would like to sink in the ground. Spaniards are not noisier than other
Europeans; they just have a different rhythm of life!
We fully agree
with our exceptionally well integrated German neighbours Waltraud & Dieter
who say it bluntly: “Those who can’t cope with the Spanish rhythm shouldn’t
come here in the first place!” Surely, it’s easier for them and for us to
integrate, as we tend to eat late and go to bed late anyway.
In any respect, we
get along very well with our good humoured neighbours. They showed us the best
restaurants; we could also use their internet access and their sun-sail.
Brigitte took care of their plants while they were away working in Germany.
Except baking, growing and planting flowers was one of Brigitte’s big hobbies
during our stay at Vera Playa. At one stage, our terrace was decorated with
almost 100 flower pots. Unfortunately she got a bit discouraged after a while,
when she realized how easily plants attract living little plagues; she moaned:
“I wanted a garden, I didn’t want a zoo!
Meanwhile, Heinz
was assembling some self-made furniture for our patio, with wood Brigitte had
collected from the rubbish. All that was still necessary were some additional
rather expensive pieces for a couple of hundred Euros from the furniture and
wood-work-shops.
The legacy of the Franco era
Spain, obviously
being a western country, has developed to its present modern state mainly
thanks to the EU who helped it to transform from a suppressed, almost third
world country, to a modern state very fast, in some respects too fast! We
shouldn’t forget; it was only in 1975 when the Spaniards finally got rid of the
Franco junta. After 40 years of dictatorship and no democratic history at all,
it’s almost impossible that the mentality of people and local governments would
change as quickly as the EU was able to raise living standards and helped to
put a modern infrastructure in place. Therefore it’s not surprising that
bureaucracy and corruption are still alive in Spain. Building permits are often
issued (faster or only) after a bribe has been paid and even local governments
sometimes build their infrastructure on land, that was not designated to be
built on.
Almost weekly, the
press reports that the provincial government issued some demolition orders for
buildings that were being built without legal permits. Affected are not only
holiday homes, but also big and fully operational shopping centres and even a
(not yet operational) Club Med. In most cases, nothing happens, but in some
rare exceptions, the Government states an example. Meanwhile, more and more
Majors and local councillors end up in prison for corruption or misuse of
public funds. Of many Spanish villages and towns, not only local council, but
also many of the city halls office clerks end up having a “holiday” behind iron
bars, just to share this destiny a few years later with the new government who
replaced them! It certainly needs another generation, until all of the Franco
epoch’s bad government habits finally belong to the past.
The lack of
democratic history is also apparent in common people who have still not changed
their way of thinking completely. Many still don’t dare to oppose against
unfair treatment they received from the government, as they are still in fear
of retaliatory measures...
Not that
surprisingly, the church supported the dictatorship also in Spain, and vice
versa. So for a long time Catholicism was forcefully imposed by the government.
Spain’s pre democratic governments are responsible for some of the world’s
worst inquisition crimes; not only in Spain, but also in the Americas and the
Pacific, where Spanish troops “helped” the missionaries holding forced
baptisms!
Today, religion is
still actively practised especially among the older generation. Maria, José and
Jesus are very popular names and many towns or villages have street names like
“Calle Isabel la Católica”.
The modern state
It’s almost
unbelievable, how swiftly Spain transformed into a modern wealthy state went.
Around 1985, traffic in big parts of Andalucia was still dominated by donkeys
and for most locals, owning a car was not more than an unreachable dream. Now,
cars are as common as in the rest of Europe, and they are not cheap old cars.
However, the small roads in the villages are not built to cope with it.
In Spanish country
villages, some side roads are so narrow, that a car and a pedestrian can hardly
pass each other, but this is no reason, not to park on
these roads. Spaniards are real masters in seeing spaces for parking;
their fantasy is certainly not as limited as ours! Even during peak season,
there was never a lack of parking spaces. Many roundabouts were used to park
all around and in its centres. Also all along the sides of any road, sometimes
even the middle, zebra crossings and also footpaths are quite popular parking
opportunities. Double line parking in front of stores and restaurants is
common; if one is locked in, he just needs a bit of insisting by tooting his
horn and sooner or later he will be freed! This is almost the only reason,
Spaniards would use their horn, but otherwise they are very relaxed drivers!
Even if someone blocks the entrance to a big parking lot, because he stopped in
the middle of the road just to chat to his mate who came by in the other lane,
most locals patiently wait until the ad hoc conference finishes.
Spaniards (or
rather their cheap labourers washed up to their shores) are very fast when
building new roads. While Swiss still argue about the least disputed alignment and how many more millions should
be spent to make it last for two centuries, the Spaniards are already happily
using the new road for five years. Not surprising, that some of the former
landowners are still not compensated for the expropriated land by then. Only
foreigners reproach them that the new addition to the road network already had
to go through some major repair during the first few years of use - Spaniards
are just happy that the construction was completed
so quickly!
As a direct result
of Spain’s transformation into a wealthy country, prices rose substantially.
Overall, the cost of living is still a bit cheaper than in France. But
according to statistics, prices for food in supermarket- shelves are already
more expensive than in Germany. In our experience, basic no frills products
(quantity) or fish are still quite a bit cheaper than in the rest of Europe,
but everything a bit more sophisticated (quality) is often substantially more
expensive than further north. Electronics cost about 50% more in Spain than in
Switzerland. Some identical products on sale in the same supermarket chain in
France, (neither French nor Spanish made) often cost more than double in Spain.
Basic restaurant meals are still very cheap (if focused on quantity rather than
quality) but quality meals (except Chinese) cost more than in France, but still
don’t match the creativity. Fine Spanish dining focuses on high quality
ingredient and generous portions rather than
fancy preparation.
Prices to buy or rent properties are still relatively modest around eastern
Andalucia and a far cry away from the overheated prices on the Costa del Sol.
In 2005, the
average Spanish salary rose above EU average for the first time. In 2007,
Spain’s GDP per head was 5% above Italy’s and 3% below France’s.
But wealth is not
evenly distributed in Spain. Andalucia has Spain’s biggest unemployment rate
and except for the heavy seasonal tourist industry, there are not that many
other employment options. Therefore, some salaries are still fairly low in this
part of Spain. Andalucia relies heavily on its wealthier country mates from
northern Spain, with many industries abound.
On one hand, the
Spanish industry today produces many good quality High-Tech items, like for
instance major components for the modern Airbus Jets or prefabricated elements
for giant bridges, like the Öresund link between Denmark and Sweden. On the
other hand, caused by the rising cost of labour, manufacturing of cheap
products is not possible any more. Spain has a few manufacturers aiming at
producing low priced products like electric household appliances, but more
often than not, the price and also the quality is very cheap, so for budget
items, “made in China” products are usually the better bet.
A good proof how much the economic situation improved
is, that the Spanish Army lowered its IQ requirements in order to fill the
about 82’000 positions in its regular army. After this desperate move didn’t
bring results, the Spaniards started to recruit foreigners, mainly from its
former colonies in the Americas!
Natsun & Vera Playa
Natsun,
the naturist urbanisation we stayed at Vera Playa is owned by Jan and Hedy, a
Dutch couple with two children. They operate it very personal (and at moderate
prices). We stayed at the three storey building called “ELCANO III”, which
offers Natsun’s most sophisticated accommodation options. Most apartments are
facing south. Only a nicely landscaped large pool separates the building
complex from the beach. The apartments are very generously sized, some 4m wide
to 13m long, with a large balcony facing the sea. The interior is very
functional, with Spanish style furniture and many decoration elements. All
apartments are equipped with glass ceramic stove and a big fridge with a good
size freezer compartment, perfect for a long stay. The work surfaces in the kitchen
is unfortunately “polluted” with a microwave oven, taking most of the space
(ours made a long hibernation in the wardrobe together with the TV). We
considered the impressive 1mx2m table with 6 comfortable wooden chairs in our
(and most other) apartments a big asset. Only if it comes to small kitchen
accessories like bowls or cutlery, it’s not always as well equipped as one
would hope for. This little inconvenience (sometimes caused
by tenants who redistribute everything movable to other apartments when visiting
friends) seems to be even worse in other resorts.
As we stayed a bit longer than the average visitor, we invested in some
additional luxury, like an Italian espresso machine, a shaker, a baking oven,
table-ware and cutlery that matches our taste and copes with our extensive
cooking.
The section we stayed in was only about four years old, but Natsun does also
offer accommodation in older buildings: “ELCANO I & II mostly only rented
out during the peak of the season.
Also on the
naturist beach is “Vera Playa Club Hotel” that doesn’t only offer 4-star
comfort, but applies rules and regulations: it requires guests to dress up when
attending the restaurant. No less than long trousers for Gents, which we find
ridiculous for a naturist resort!
The Hotel and the
two older buildings of Natsun were the first naturist developments on this part
of the coast. When they were completed, they stood for a long time by
themselves on a long stretch of sand. During the last decade, more and more
naturist urbanisations were built around them, offering now altogether about
2000 naturist apartments.
During the last
few years, holiday developments for “ordinary textiles” were added, now
surrounding the “Urbanisationes Naturistas”. There are no barriers between
those and the naturist urbanisations and as the Spaniards are very tolerant,
this blends all right.
Seeing the many construction sites around Vera Playa on the beginning of 2009,
you think that the financial crisis hasn’t arrived here as yet. Currently,
dozens of kilometres of roads are being built between the hills in the
hinterland (starting 500 m behind the beach) to develop land for thousands
(rather tenthousands) of holiday dwellings. Nevertheless, the Costa de Almeria
is still by far not as developed as the Costa del Sol. As all these massive
developments want to be sold, the marketing is not always as honest as it
should be. We heard about several cases where naturists discovered that their
new purchased naturist apartment was actually situated in a textile urbanisation
and vice versa; a very annoying situation in both cases.
Disaster nearly struck
Things could have
turned out quite different around here. On January 17, 1966 one of the worst
nuclear weapons-incidents of the entire Cold War had taken place off Spain's
coast near Vera Playa (another one happened in Greenland, where we’re going to
go in summer). During an aerial tanking manoeuvre, an American B-52 bomber and
a KC-135 tanking aircraft collided in mid-air at 9’000 meters and both planes
exploded in a giant fireball over Palomares. Of the four hydrogen bombs in the
hold of the B-52, one fell into the water somewhere off the coast, one landed
unharmed in a tomato field near the village and from the other two, luckily
only the non-nuclear fuse detonated, causing bomb fragments and plutonium dust
to rain down on the impact site.
In a huge cleanup
effort, 1’590 tons of contaminated material were excavated and sent to the US
for disposal. Two months after the incident, the Spanish information Minister
and the US Ambassador went demonstratively for a swim with their families near
the crash site to reassure the public that everything is save now. Geiger counters were installed around Palomares and on the
beach in Vera, to record the ambient radiation. After no radiation was found
for several years, the go-ahead was given for new developments including the
large “Zona Naturista”.
The population and the environment still went through a radiation measurement program, by which a nasty surprise was uncovered only in 2006, because of snails. Not all of the contaminated material had been transported to the US, but some had been buried in two small trenches near the crash site. Consequently, Palomares was decontaminated once more this time in a joint American/Spanish cleanup effort and declared clean in march 2009. Luckily, the people of Palomares do not suffer a higher cancer rate than the average Spaniards - only the snails where affected, but this is certainly their fault: nobody told them to go walkabout into the drenches where radioactive soil is hidden!
The inhabitants of Palomares feel safe; some even think that the whole story about the snails was over accelerated as justification for the nuclear agency to keep working! When our neighbours once measured the radiation level in Vera Playa with a Geiger counter on pure curiosity, they were astonished to discover that radiation in Vera Playa was several times lower than the natural radiation in the Bavarian forest! No reason to worry.
More information
in the following article: New York Times (November 2008)
The real disaster
To us, Vera
Playa’s biggest annoyance during our entire stay was the strike of the truck
drivers, because they felt that petrol prices got too expensive. Within three
days only, they managed (with the massive help of the Spanish population, who
hoarded whatever they could get hold on) that most supermarket shelves around
the country got empty. But, if petrol
would really be too expensive, Spanish oranges wouldn’t get cheaper on their
way to the consumers in France and Switzerland. On top of it, some of Vera
Playa’s permanents wouldn’t drive their cars several times a day for less than
a few hundred meters (some less than fifty) just to visit their favourite bar
(where they probably moan on the table for regulars about the high petrol prices).
Shopping
While staying at
Natsun, shopping is a breeze. Two mobile bakers regularly pass by in the
morning and the cafeteria “Paso Doble” in the basement sells bread all day. The
big Consum Supermarket (just outside the naturist zone) is within easy walking
distance and offers the area’s best selection in fresh food. Here you can pick
and weight your own vegetables or buy meat, fish, sausages and cheese from
fresh food counters. Within a 10 km radius there are also several Mercadona
Supermarkets, Intermarché and Lidl.
The town of
Garrucha, only 5 km away has also several qualified opticians offering ‘rip
offs’ to those believing in designer brands and real bargains for those who
insist that they don’t need brand names to improve their self-confidence.
Those who are
happy with the tabloid press find a selection of papers and magazines from all
over Europe, but those looking for a paper a bit more serious and cosmopolitan
like the “International Herald Tribune” have to look more insisting.
If it comes to non
food items, like clothing, lamps or furniture, we discovered very soon that
most offerings around Vera reflect the more traditional taste of the older
generation. The younger generation prefers the big shopping temples in Aguilas, Almeria or Murcia, where branches of the same stores
as found in Paris, London, Frankfurt or Shanghai sell the same modern Chinese
made items that can be found all over the world.
Visiting a
traditional Spanish store is also a very interesting experience. One of the
most typical we know, is a large Ferreteria (hardware store) near Mojácar. Although, during the year, it’s mainly frequented by
English residents, you’re in for a very typical traditional Spanish shopping
experience. Around Christmas it’s as Spanish as it can be! On two rather large
floors, almost everything you can think of is on sale. By navigating through
the narrow corridors, it’s not always an easy task to find what you are looking
for, especially the smaller items are hard to find. Don’t worry, just ask one
of the sales attendants and they immediately will show it to you, either well
hidden beneath or buried underneath something you’re not looking for. You’re
trying to find a new coffee-maker but think their selection looks a bit modest?
No need to go to another store to have a bigger choice. Just lift those
unappealing looking coffee-makers off the shelf, wipe the dust off whatever you
see behind it, and another row of brand new shiny coffee-makers will appear.
You can do this again and again, until you find your favourite model.
At Christmas time,
the narrow corridors in this hardware store (and many others) are tested to
capacity. In Spain, major investments like a new toaster or hand mixer are
discussed within the circle of family and friends. They often will then come
along, so shopping is more about socialising than about buying. It’s not
uncommon that three generations including their friends visit a store together,
helping those who are willing to invest to make the right decision. Passing
these large groups is a major task, made even more challenging by the fact,
that piles of cardboard boxes containing all those irresistible X-Mas offerings
block the corridors further. Exhibition space is very sparse, but you shouldn’t
make your choice from the (often untrue) pictures on the boxes. Just ask and a
friendly sales attendant will open the box and show you the desired item. Don’t
worry if the content is broken, as the attendant knows immediately that you
won’t buy it. She will put it back into the box, seal it again and put it back
on the shelf. You just need to bring a little bit of extra time, as she will do
this for you again and again, until she finds a set without any broken pieces
at all.
Peak season in Vera Playa: busy but calm
Everybody,
including our Spanish friends thought we’re very tough to spend the peak of the
summer in a holiday resort that is popular with Spaniards. By the end of June,
the vast majority of foreign residents around Vera Playa were already hiding
back in their home countries to escape the incredible noise the Spaniards
supposedly are expected to make during their summer holidays. But to us, being
in Spain without spending the summer holidaying among the locals would be like
being in Paris without seeing the Eiffel tower. So we were excitedly waiting
for the crowds to arrive.
On May the first,
the beach was suddenly bustling with thousands of sun seekers and therefore we
thought this could already mark the start of the season. But after this long
weekend, the locals went back to work as suddenly as they had arrived. In the
middle of June, Live-Savers started patrolling the beach.
Now on the
weekends there were regularly a few thousand nude bathers worshiping the sun,
but during the week, they were reduced to a few hundreds. In stark contrast,
the textile section was still near empty during the whole week including the
weekends. In the middle of July it was still the same situation and we were
already thinking, whether the season will arrive at all? Suddenly, building
teams arrived to accomplish last minute renovations to those restaurants and
souvenir shops that had still been closed up until then. Slowly some ice cream
kiosks and additional sun beds with umbrellas were brought to the beach.
Beginning of August everything was finally functioning. Probably due to
prediction of traffic-jams, the first weekend was still not much busier than
the previous weekends, but on Monday and Tuesday thereafter the masses finally
arrived!
Natsun is the only
naturist resort in Vera Playa which is popular year around, due to its setting
and competitive pricing. The other naturist resorts have a few guests most of
the time, but Vera Playas textile resorts are definitely near empty for 11
months a year. In August finally, every holiday accommodation was occupied.
So, we didn’t need
to go on holiday, holiday practically came to us. So now we were curiously sitting
on our terrace, prepared for the unbearable noise our friends had predicted we
would have to endure.
We waited and
waited for the noise to arrive, but it was only slightly noisier than during
off-season. That’s weird; peak-season in a Spanish resort, and we hear no
disturbing noise at all! Something must be wrong with us! We decided to act;
cleaned our ears and listened again: Now, on a few nights we heard a little bit
of noise from a disco near the Vera Playa Club Hotel, but it always stopped
before 1 o’clock in the morning.
We had to listen
more carefully! Oh: children could be heard regularly even after midnight,
playing on the lawn and on the playground. That’s not disturbing; it’s a sign
of life! As Spanish children are allowed to stay up late, they are invisible
and inaudibly before 11 o’clock in the morning; Spanish parents are very clever
Tapas-eaters!
We still tried
desperately to find some disturbing noise. Maybe it helps if we lean over our
terrace. Really, this worked; now we hear and see people eating and chatting
until late at night, but the conversation level was very moderate - probably
our own conversation about the unbelievably quiet Spaniards produced more
noise! After we were already convinced that all this talking about the noisy
Spaniards is just rumours spread by foreign agents, we learned otherwise: At
nine o’clock in the morning, the two mobile bakers announced their presence by
repeatedly pressing the horn (disturbing people’s sleep)! In off season they
arrive one hour later... Seriously: the thing that annoyed us much more than
that were all the barking dogs brought along by holidayers – at least they were
banned on the beach.
On the beach in
front of Natsun, there is one of several Chiringuitos (a simple Spanish beach
restaurant). Additionally, since Easter, Natsuns new and popular café bar Paso
Doble offers internet access and serves tapas as well as simple meals.
Fortunately, Natsun and its surroundings don’t have a night time drinking
venue. This certainly helps to keep the atmosphere calm and quiet. On top of
it, also in Spain, naturists are in general more civilized than the bulk of the
holiday makers. The noise level in the nearby textile resort town of Mojácar-Playa, a big tourist resort for beach goers from
Europe’s largest English speaking island, is much more disturbing. During
summer nights girls (wearing hunting gear) and guys (in sluggish jeans) crawl
noisily and drunk from pub to pub and from one Irish bar to the next!
The atmosphere on
Vera Playas large naturist beach feels very natural. Thousands of beachgoers,
often large family groups, enjoy sunbathing, swimming, playing beach ball,
building sand castles or walking along the beach, the most popular activity. As
Spain is very family oriented, up to four generations are visiting the beach
together. Spaniards are a very relaxed and tolerant bunch of people. Sometimes
the granny wore a bathing costume, obviously enjoying being surrounded by her
children, grandchildren and their children happily frolicking around her in the
buff. The big majority of beachgoers
striped off, but sometimes the odd family could be seen, where the only nude
sun seeker was the one that should at least wear some napkins. During August,
about 95% of beachgoers were Spaniards, but still: the noise level was much
more moderate than on many foreign dominated beaches.
The beach was most crowded at around 13:30h and again at 18:30h. During this
time the beach probably looked like a big meat loaf from a distance. On the
other hand, siesta is taken seriously by the Spanish society, even while on
holiday, it’s strictly observed. Therefore, from the thousands of beachgoers,
only a few hundred are enjoying the sun between 3 and 5 pm. It seemed that the
unwritten rule of society is obeyed even stricter by those wearing bathers.
Therefore, it’s regularly possible even in August to have several hundred
meters of sand to yourself on the textile section, but just during siesta time!
In another
respect, Vera Playa is quite different from the naturist centres we visited
outside Spain. Within the naturist area, nudity is of course also normal away
from the beach, but only for those venturing out in a mission; e.g. straight
away from the apartment to a café, the rubbish bins or the beach. But those who
do a little detour in the buff (still within the naturist zone) in order to
reach their destination feel a bit as outsiders!
Year around, the
area here is very dry and during summer there is usually no rain at all. From
time to time, even without any storm, there was a week with impressively big
rolling waves. On those days everybody captured his admiration of the power of
Mother Nature with the camera. Those powerful waves sometimes wash away big
sections of the beach, but the government fights back by later placing
truckloads of new sand to the worst hit areas.
As in third world countries, beach hawkers
(mainly from Africa) are invading the beach during the summer holiday. At least
they are not as insisting as those in Asia, except to those who naively engage
in conversation...
During the summer holiday period, life at Vera Playa is much more lively and
refreshing than during the rest of the year. Until late after midnight, lots of
Spanish families are promenading with their children on the “Paseo Maritimo”
and take advantage of the ice-cream kiosks all being open now, after some are
closed during the day.
Here, and also on
the beach it was eye-catching how many Spanish couples adopted some Chinese
girls. To us it seems that, as in many other countries as well, also the
Spanish adoption law requires so many conditions, that a “shopping trip” to
Asia seems to be a good alternative... In ten year’s time or so, probably many
Asian tourists will be astonished, how many “Chinese” women sunbathe naked on
Spain’s naturist beaches.
One warm summer
night, while we were sitting on our terrace at half past midnight, we heard
some noise from the rooftop terrace of our neighbours (who weren’t there then).
After seeing a man screwing on the TV antenna, we shouted at him and asked what
his justification is? He calmly replied that he is adjusting the antenna. Brave
and stark naked as she was, Brigitte immediately went up to the rooftop to
chase him away, as she didn’t believe him at all. Heinz thought that a gang is
maybe using a dirty trick to distract us, so he first moved everything of
value, from the terrace into our apartment and locked it properly, before
helping Brigitte hunting the suspicious intruder.
To Brigitte’s big
surprise, the man didn’t even attempt to escape. Instead he had a Laptop
connected to the antenna and insisted that he is the urbanisations TV
technician who got the order to adjust the antenna, as TV reception in some
apartments wasn’t as good as it should be. When asked why he is doing this job
after midnight, he introduced himself as Christobal and replied: “I’m a
naturist as well and prefer to spend the day on the beach. Now it’s simply too
hot to work during the day”. Brigitte wasn’t fully convinced, but next morning
Jan, Natsun’s owner, confirmed that it is quite possible, that Christobal works
in the middle of the night on the rooftop. Later we met him often on the beach,
sometimes chatting with him for a while (trying to improve our Spanish a little
bit). He said he knew we’d make trouble when he learned that we were Swiss –
they surely would never work voluntarily at such an odd hour.
Unfortunately,
most of the Spanish neighbours we had were rather reserved; therefore we didn’t
have as many free Spanish lessons in the buff as we had hoped for. If
foreigners stayed in the apartment next to ours, they were often more
socialising!
In general, it’s very rewarding to speak at least some Spanish. Most sales
attendants are very likely to start a small conversation, while serving
foreigners trying to speak some Spanish. Learning Spanish is not that
difficult, as some words can be used for several meanings. For example:
“mañana” can mean “morning”, “tomorrow”, “tomorrow in a week”, “tomorrow in a
month”, tomorrow in a year”... Unfortunately it’s not always that easy: A “Piso
Piloto” for instance is not a pilots dwelling but a show flat.
During our stay in
Vera Playa, we realised in what a short time most tourist related businesses
need to earn their money. In nearby Garrucha many restaurants and souvenir
stores only opened in August, just to close again in the middle of September.
Therefore it’s not surprising that tourist-traps are predominant during the
summer. From the many small beach restaurants and sun bed rentals along the
beach, most were open from “Semana Santa” (Easter week) to the end of
September. Except in August, only those on the naturist beach could make
reasonable business, as the textile beach was only frequented during “Semana
Santa” for a few days plus around August for maybe 5 weeks.
The vast majority
of visitors to Vera Playa are Spaniards, followed by French, Dutch, English and
Germans. We realized that the people who grow up in southern Spain need a few
degrees more to feel warm than people from Madrid or northern Europe. Many
Andalucians we had seen stark naked all summer long, suddenly wore layers of
clothing while walking along the beach that was still dotted with brave unclad
“Madrileños” and foreigners enjoying the autumn sun!
In contrast to
resorts dominated by Germans and English, the owners at Vera Playa are allowed
to alter their holiday units year round. This is more sensible (and produces
less noise) than the accelerated “no building time” regulations in German
resorts. This often results in “do-it-yourself-lovers” running an extra loud
mower all day long parked but unused on their lawn, just to hide the construction
noise in the background!
Among friends
Our time at Vera
Playa vanished very quickly. During the winter period, many of our friends we
know from our previous stays at Costa Natura, came for a short visit, enjoying
(or enduring) Heinz’ extensive cooking and spoiling us with presents like Dutch
cheese or German sausages. Some, including Gisela & Klaus and more
surprisingly Christiane and Klaus who previously had predicted that we wouldn’t
stay here for more than three days, liked it immediately that much, they
reserved an apartment here for next winter. For others like Bruni & Erhard,
this was out of question, as they are owners at Costa Natura.
We also made new friends like Brita & Holger, or a Swiss man who as a
single parent, regularly took not only his own children but also his
neighbours’ and even his apprentices along to naturist summer holidays. Those
children and youth later told their parents so excitedly about it, that some
later also became naturists and joined him. He is a good example that
naturists, who talk openly about being a naturist, might share this hobby often
with their friends and relatives. The sometimes bad reputation of naturism is
to a big chunk caused by those participants that don’t talk about it outside
the resorts and clubs.
Also in our
circle, after identifying ourselves as naturists, some friends admitted that
they enjoy naturism as well, others said
it seems very natural to them although they didn’t try it yet and some
were a bit sceptic in the beginning, but tried and enjoyed it later. We also
met up with Birgit & Norbert, a nice couple who booked an apartment for a
month. Beforehand they asked us for some advice about Natsun after discovering
on our Web Site that we know the place.
Of course we soon became
aquainted with many holidayers, whether they came here for just a few days, a
few weeks or months. Some days we met that many known faces on the beach, we
should almost have organized a raffle in order to know whom we should talk to
first.
We had several
times friends visiting, sharing this comfortable holiday place for a few weeks
with us. At the end of May we drove the 140 Km to St. Javier Airport near
Murcia and fetched Annemarie & Beat, with whom we could stay several times
whilst in Switzerland. Although they have a sauna at home, they were at first a
bit sceptic about naturism, but they wanted to give it a try. Without
hesitation, but a bit worried they stripped off immediately. It didn’t take
long until they discovered with relieve, that the atmosphere among the other
“nudes” is much more natural and also quieter, than the atmosphere they
experienced in the textile resorts they had been visiting during the previous
years. The naturist life appealed to Annemarie & Beat obviously so much,
during daylight they hardly wanted to make an excursion, and (almost) daily
they worshipped the sun to its last sunrays.
Beat went for a
second opinion to a local dentist who was recommended to us by Natsun’s Dutch
owners. He immediately saved € 2’000.-(two thousands) as the Spanish dentist
found the dental treatment recommended by his Swiss colleague was absolutely
unnecessary for now and a waste of money.
Beginning of
August, Magy a former office mate of Brigitte, visited us for 4 days. Together
with her partner, who unfortunately had already died in the meantime, she moved
to southern Spain a few years ago. At nighttimes, she runs her own restaurant
specialized in chicken-dishes, about 200 Km away from here. During daytime she
often visits the local naturist beach. We were glad to meet again after five
years and of course she was also interested in discovering the beach and the
restaurants at Vera Playa.
On September 9,
Angelika & Karsten, an interesting easy going couple from Denmark
permanently living at Costa Natura, paid us a three day visit. Every winter,
the two are globetrotting with almost no luggage around Asia, where we met
twice during the last 5 years.
On the same day we
said farewell to Angelika & Karsten, we went to the airport to pick up our
friends Moni & Bruno. During our first naturist holiday together in 1994
they got together and later married in Australia. We
regularly meet up for holidays, sometimes for six days only, sometimes for an
entire six weeks. This time we had 2 ½ weeks together, during which we enjoyed
the beach, made a few small excursions to the surroundings and visited some
restaurants in the evenings.
Our last visitors
arrived mid October at Almeria’s Airport, 90 Km away; Heinz’ sister Edith with
hubby Kari. When we told them 1994 about our first naturist holiday (with Moni
& Bruno) they couldn’t really imagine it for themselves. But after joining
us in 1999 for eight days, nudity became so natural to them, that they visited
us in the meantime on five naturist holidays.
Just three weeks
ago, they came back from a trip around Iceland and they could give us some
valuable travel tips. On return, they could take advantage of us knowing our
way around the restaurants, in culinary-wise not that appealing Andalucía, as
we already separated the ordinary from the extraordinary. As Edith & Kari
always keep themselves busy, they could only stay for 10 days.
Natsun’s service was excellent: they provided bed linen and towels to all of
our many visitors.
There were,
however, a few visitors we didn’t like. At certain times of the year, sparrows
got almost a pest. They were quicker shitting on our terrace, than we were able
to clean it. The chance to ever get rid of them is slim due to the fact that
many holiday folks feed them with unhealthy stuff...
Spring excursion
Beginning of February, spring arrived in Andalucía so
we wanted to take advantage of the area’s famous almond blossom as long as we
are still here.
Trix and Gernot told us about the beautiful mountain
range called Alpujarra and therefore
we went out on February 8, 2009, to discover it for ourselves. Before we left,
we contacted Magy, our friend with the chicken-restaurant in La Herradura. This
gave us a chance to meet again and we could stay there for a few nights.
After we started our trip via Sorbas and the ‘Desierto
de Tabernas’ we soon saw the first snow-capped mountains. We rode on the A348
into the Alpujarra Mountains and spared the northern route along the Sierra
Nevada for our way back.
Not only the almond trees were beautiful to look at,
also the scenery was very nice with changing landscapes all the times. Here it
was high rocks, there it was green hills or cultivated land. Then again it
could be rugged and raw with hardly anything growing. Colours changed just as much;
from grey to ochre to almost red or the strong brown resulting from iron in the
rock.
We could stop every few kilometres, but because there
were so many bendy roads, it took us all day to reach Magy’s place. When we
reached the Costa del Sol at Motril, we were suddenly surrounded by dense
traffic, the first time for a few months. Here we realized how much more
tranquil the area around Vera is.
We arrived at Magy’s, just in time to join her and her
friends for dinner at a restaurant where they served white asparagus.
Next day, we went out on our own to explore the
spectacular coastline towards Nerja and later some white washed villages in the
hills further west. We came to beautiful Competa and later on to Alhama de
Granada, which thrones spectacularly on top of a cliff, which was washed out
from the river below.
Next day, Magy had her day off and played
tourist-guide for us. She directed us into the Sierra de Guajares, where we
went for a long walk in the mountains. After lunch in a typical Spanish restaurant,
we later drove back along a pass road lined with almond plantations in full
bloom.
On Wednesday, we went sight-seeing to Malaga. After ticking-off all the “must see”
buildings, we steamed up the hill of Gibralfaro fortrified by Alcazaba Castle.
The view reached from the blue sea to the green hills and snow covered
mountains behind. However; in front of all that, a desert of concrete made of
ugly high rise buildings was an eyesore. But also this is Andalucias Costa del
Sol, even though the clusters of white washed villages clinging to the hills
were much nicer.
That night, Magy’s restaurant was open again and so we
could experience the nice atmosphere it had when guests were there. We chose
some of the chicken specialities and enjoyed Magy’s service.
Next morning, we said farewell and went on our way
back through the Alpujarra Mountains. First we drove up a pass road that
afforded unlimited spectacular views. It was absolutely worthwhile, even though
we had to turn back as the road was closed further up.
After driving through the thermal resort of Lanjaron,
we visited a few small villages that were recommended to tourists for their
beauty: Pampaneira, Bubion and Capileira. The only difference we noticed to
other less famous white washed villages was, that they had countless
tourist-shops and restaurants.
Our next stop was Trevélez, situated on an altitude of 1750 m, which
makes it the highest village in Spain. Snow along the streets was helping to make
it noticeably cooler than previous places. Finding accommodation was more
difficult than expected, as most of the many hotels and hostales were closed
for holiday, for renovation or because they didn’t expect enough guests or
didn’t want to heat the rooms. We asked various people for advice but it was
fruitless.
Looking around, we had noticed a building with expensive looking rental
apartments and soon that seemed to be our last hope. Curious how high the price
would be we rang the bell. We were lucky and actually got quite a luxurious
room for € 40 and the best of all: it was heated with a modern floor heating
system!
Relaxed we walked around the snow covered village a
bit more. Many buildings in Trevélez house nothing but big legs of ham hanging
in “secadores” in the clean cool mountain-air to dry for up to two years. The
most expensive of these approximately 7 kg heavy pig legs, fetch up to € 700.
These originate from white pigs that lived under oaks in Extremadura province.
Trevélez is a very touristy place and its souvenir
stores sell, apart from many irresistible but useless items, also those famous
hams, trouts and Soplillos, a local Meringue speciality with almonds.
On the next morning, we passed many white washed villages again,
where the streets were still used to park on, despite the difficulty for cars
to pass. However, the high standard of minor roads between urbanisations is
impressive.
The “scenic” road we chose at the end of our tour was
a big exception. It was cut into a straight, if not even overhanging rock face
along Rio Adra’s gorge. The track was about three meters wide at best and full
of pot-holes. The landscape, in contrast, was of such beauty that we were glad
we didn’t turn, even if we would have found a chance to do so somewhere...
This gorge stays in our memory as no ordinary road
ever would. Once we reached the artificial lake Beninar, the valley opened up
and the road became wide and civilised again and all the magic had vanished.
That drive through the gorge was a fascinating end to our tour and we returned
to Vera Playa very happy.
Final thoughts
We frankly enjoyed
our stay at Natsun in Vera Playa in any respect. It is certainly one of the
better naturist places we know. Nudity feels very natural here, just the way it
should be. This is also thanks to the openness and tolerance of the Spanish
society.
There was nothing
to complain, although the weather was almost boring: just sunny every day!
We are not aware
what generated it, but meanwhile we have itchy feet again. Meanwhile we have
plans to travel to areas with much less boring weather. We now intend to visit
the Faroese Islands, Iceland and Greenland this summer. Afterwards we’d like to
spend next winter, as well as the following summer in Scandinavia. After getting
so much sun in southern Spain, we should withstand the harsh and cold
conditions and probably even enjoy the weather’s different moods; which is
certainly all but boring near the arctic!
When we arrived at
Natsun, we just looked for a reasonably warm
naturist place to escape winter at least a bit. For continental Europe, it is
quite mild here. However, winter is noticeably cool here too. Vera Playas
biggest draw card: the beach, can only be fully enjoyed during the warmer half
of the year.
To us, the best
time at Vera Playa was between April and November. We preferred the summertime,
because then we were surrounded by Spaniards; by the lively Spanish way of
life, which was even more appealing than we had imagined!!!
Farewell
from Spain: on an inland route back to France
On April 7th we finally left our sunny
paradise in southern Spain and drove towards the French border. Again we chose
an inland route, away from the highways.
The landscapes we came along were again as
fascinating and diverse as if we drove across various continents at once.
Sometimes the soil was dry and red and then there were alpine pine forests or
fertile farmlands. All those tourists who know nothing but the coastal highway,
don’t know what they miss out on.
Upon reaching Jumilla Pass, temperatures had
dropped from 20°C to 10°C. Needless to say, our socks and jackets were on the
bottom of our baggage. After passing a high plateau with tall pine trees, we
arrived in a village called Sinarcas around 8 P.M. After taking a hotel room we
had a look around the village. Now we soon realized why the Señora was puzzled,
after we had told her that we were not yet sure, whether we would eat in the
hotel’s restaurant or somewhere else. We had booked into the hotel with THE
restaurant … the one and only!
One last time we could experience Spain as
Spanish as it can be. The next morning, almost the entire village population
squeezed into the bakery that barely measured 2m2. We went along and
brought our „panes con chocolate“ (chocolate buns) afterwards over to OUR
restaurant. It seemed the entire workforce squeezed into here too, to have
their mid-morning sugar-fix. Some people ordered ‘Tostadas’, others brought
their own sandwiches or something from the bakery along. One man tried to
distribute apples to everyone “because they are so healthy” he said. Some just
smiled about him and preferred to fill their glasses with wine and water.
The second day brought us near Teruel, where
we could admire many beautiful rock-formations in all sorts of colours. The Ebro
River valley with its artificial lake was also a very impressive sight.
After Lerida we took a new Motorway and hoped it would bring us quickly to
France. At this point the landscape became less spectacular and more inhabited,
meaning: full of concrete. Unfortunately we came through town centres twice,
which always takes a while as is generally known. So it was almost 9 P.M. and
dark by the time we reached the French border.
Switzerland+D | France_07 | Spain |
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Photos: France Publications |
Spring in France: Naturism, Nature & Culture
We believed it would only be a short drive
from the Spanish border to Leucate but it was actually still more than 90 km
through the rain. It was already 10 P.M. when we arrived at the doorstep of the
Gourmet Temple “Le Clos Ninon”. Now we only hoped not to be refused, knowing
the eating times are quite different to those in Spain! Might be thanks to the
fact that the restaurant was almost full to the rim or because the owners
remembered our faces, we were shown to a table. We ordered a 5-course gourmet
menu for 32 Euros which we enjoyed very very much!
As many hotels in France are equipped with a credit-card operated check-in
system, we didn’t worry about finding a hotel room after midnight.
Bélézy
en Provence
For the next day, Heinz had worked out that
the small route D25 would bring us through the “Gorge de la Vis”. It was
absolutely spectacular and later led us on to a village called Ganges (in
France). Further on, the valley opened up and the landscape got greener and
flatter. Temperatures were higher here than in Vera and reached already 23°C.
Around 5 P.M. we arrived at the naturist
resort Domaine de Bélézy in Bedoin. Here we had reserved a modern mobile-home for the next 10 days.
Now in spring there were not that many guests around as during our last stay in
autumn but the average visitor was a fair bit younger. Therefore Bélézy felt
much livelier. Communal BBQ evenings were organized and guests met in the
sauna.
We made a few excursions and enjoyed the
beautiful cherry blossom in the Provence but also headed up to Mont Ventoux
which was still covered in snow.
We also visited the Monday-market in Bedoin
just 15 minutes walk from Bélézy away. For every food lover, the offerings
there are a real feast for the eyes and the palate.
Short visit to Switzerland
At the end of April we continued on minor
roads via Dieulefit and Annecy to Switzerland. We chose to drive via Chamonix
and through the Wallis valley, hereby coming through the worthwhile but not
touristy village of Selkingen. As planned, we attended the 70th
birthday celebration of Brigitte’s father. We also visited Heinz’s mother but
only a few of our friends. We didn’t want to stay too long in Switzerland, as
we had a big summer “project” ahead of us.
Already on May 10th 2009 we returned
to France and stayed again one night in Annecy. This time we let ourselves talk
into going to prison, after the receptionist highly recommended the restaurant
situated in the former jail. As we were released after paying the bill, we
could continue south to the Ardèche district the next day.
Domaine
de la Sablière
As we arrived at Domaine
de la Sablière at the end of a long weekend but without reservation,
there was not that much choice in Mobile-Homes; but we got a sunny spot anyway.
We thought we would have quiet
times but only one hour after we had checked in to our Accacia Mobile home our
friends Moni & Bruno appeared in front of us.
When we had met in Switzerland, they purposely didn’t mention that they plan to
holiday here as well, as they wanted to give us a surprise. Then they were
puzzled not to find us here, not knowing that we had left Switzerland two days
later than initially planned. So, now the surprise was perfect and we spent ten
very pleasant days together.
On May 13th, we celebrated our anniversary in an excellent restaurant: ten
years of travelling as roving spirits. This jubilee brought us another
surprise: before breakfast Moni & Bruno secretly left their chalet Lavande
and drove to Barjac to buy a nice cake, not knowing that we did the same. At 10
A.M. we met up, realizing that we now had two cream tarts. Now there was
certainly enough importance added to celebrate that event. We all had a big
laugh and were looking forward to cope with our “destiny”. This was made even
sweeter, as we meanwhile carry an Italian espresso machine with us, as part of
our travel equipment, which was also very much appreciated by Bruno!
Sablière is also one of the
favourite places for Moni & Bruno to which they like to return to
regularly. We all love the big size of the domain which allows long walks in
the nature. The only drawback is that many guests use their cars only too often
on the steep and narrow roads. For some (even young and fit) visitors, no way
seems to be too short, not to be done by car. Not only were the beloved cars,
also the beloved pets sometimes a kind of a nuisance. Unfortunately many pet
owners do not respect the ban of dogs on the river-beach. This is annoying for
those visitors who purposely chose Sablière because of the officially “pet free
beach”!
In spring also Sablière felt very different. It’s much livelier than in autumn,
which seems to be the preferred season of retirees. On long weekends, the
resort proved very popular with families from the surrounding area and all of
Sablières ‘150 plus’ rental units and many camp sites filled up. The very
moderately priced shop was “fully loaded” now and all of the regions many
restaurants were eager to receive some tourist-Euros. The best Gourmet Temples
filled quickly and reservations were already necessary.
Many new Mobile-homes had been
added to Sablière during the last few years and free Internet access via WiFi
is now available around the reception. As more and more families have a mobile
home for the entire season, the place became livelier and feels more French
now, which makes this naturist resort even more charming.
Sablière with its many
possibilities for walking “au naturel” remains one of our favourite places. The
many camp-sites, rental-units, the pools and also the restaurant and the shop
are perfectly integrated into Sablières otherwise very intact nature along a
steep astonishing river valley. It’s one kilometre from the reception down to
the pool area and another one to the shop and restaurant. Another few hundred
metres more and you’re down by the river Cèze. Sablières natural atmosphere
makes it also perfect for first time naturists and for everybody who likes big
grounds in natural surroundings.
Re-discovering the Dordogne area
After two weeks at Sablière we left towards
the Dordogne area. On our way along a picturesque inland-route we visited the pretty
villages Les Vans, Tournel, St.Laurent d'Olt, Saturnin de Lenne, Bertholène,
Aubin and Gourdon.
We normally find good off-season deals, where renting a cabin can work out
cheaper than staying in a tent on a powered pitch. However, after Cro Magnon
got textile, we couldn’t find such sweet offers in the Dordogne anymore and
therefore pitched up our small tent. To tell the truth, we have to confess that
because we saw some dark clouds, we first stayed at a hotel in Roc Gageac. This
picturesque medieval village is glued to a sandstone cliff above the river. It
was also a perfect base to explore nearby Beynac and Sarlat la Canéda, two
other tourist highlights.
Of course we also had daily evening programs: visiting a different
gourmet-temple each night. Fine dining is such an integrated part of French
society, that even the telephone directory lists an extract of gastronomic
guides as e.g. “Bottin Gourmand”.
Terme
d‘Astor
Now we moved on to the naturist campsite Terme d’Astor. They have mobile homes and nice wooden chalets that look like Finnish summer
cottages but for off-season, we found them too expensive. So we played
Neanderthals and sneaked into our small tent. The terraced pitches were big and
the lawns were totally straight. Terme d’Astor didn’t have all that many guests
on the end of May, so the restaurant and shop were not fully operational yet
but improved during our short stay. We enjoyed a few days at the pool and on
the forest paths, where we could go for nude hikes.
Also from here we made a few excursions and
visited Belvès and Les Eyzies de Tayac that sits nicely on the Vézère river.
Domaine
Le Portrait: a new small naturist retreat in the
Charente
Now we went to Domaine Le Portrait to meet up with
Tineke and Wim, a Dutch couple we had met in Australia in 2005 during a naturist
Sailing Trip out to the Great Barrier Reef near Cairns.
They told us about their plans
to escape the rat race and to live up their dream and open a naturist resort. We
were impressed by their ideas and wondered whether their dream would finally
become reality or whether they would just dream on, as too many others do...
Tineke and Wim proved very
soon, that they were serious about their project. They looked patiently, but
not desperately for a suitable property somewhere in France or Spain. After
waving several opportunities because either the Major didn’t cooperate with the
necessary permits for a naturist ground, or because of other problems, they
finally succeeded on the end of 2007. They bought an old farm on a hillside in
the midst of farmland outside Saint-Séverin near Bordeaux. Here the major
supported their project, as he realized that the new naturist camping would
also give a welcome boost to local businesses.
Tineke and Wim left the
“security” of their jobs in the Netherlands and worked pretty hard to convert
the old farm into a naturist heaven. Already in May 2008 they were ready to
accommodate the first guests, but as the central government worked at lower
speed in issuing permits than the local mayor, they were only allowed to host
“some Dutch friends” during the first season. Consequently, their informative
internet site was then available in Dutch only, but in the meantime
“http://www.leportrait.nu/” learned also several rather exotic languages
including English.
When we arrived at Domaine Le Portrait in June 2009,
Tineke and Wim gave us a very warm welcome and told us about the joy, but also
about a big variety of difficulties they had encountered. In the meantime they
were finally granted the necessary permits. Word of Mouth advertisement brought
them already the first guests. When we were visiting, also three other couples
enjoyed the good facilities and the excellent service.
Domaine Le Portrait is
situated in Saint-Séverin near Riberac, about 90 km northeast of Bordeaux. It
belongs to the Charente region, which is less known (to naturists), but
certainly worthwhile exploring. The famous Dordogne region is also on the
doorstep. Périgueux and Bergerac are only about 50, respectively 60 km away and
Tineke and Wim have a lot of information about interesting tourist sites.
Domaine Le Portrait is a small
intimate place on a hillside, offering superb views to the surrounding pastoral
landscape. It offers 25 terraced caravan- and campsites, plus one “on-site van”
and one large Dutch camping style tent as rental options. Soon, two wooden
chalets will also complement Tineke and Wim’s offerings for those who prefer
more space than in a caravan and comfort rather than “Neanderthal-style” living
in a tent, just to meet all those animals you would kill immediately, as soon
they enter your home!
Seriously; particularly for
those travelling with basic camping equipment it is very comfy. Guests can make
use of a fridge and a common room (part of the former stable), that houses also
a small library. There is a swimming pool for hot days and several ice cold
drinks are available with an honesty box system. The toilet and shower
facilities are uniquely integrated in and around the old stable. In 2010 they
will be complemented with a new sanitary block that will contain also a Sauna.
Sometimes a drawing-course or
massage week is being organized with expert teachers but otherwise no regular
animation is on offer, as this site should be a quiet place, so guests can
relax.
During our stay, we enjoyed Tineke and Wim’s many services that match those of
much bigger naturist-sites. Fresh bread from the bakery can be ordered from an
impressive list that should match any taste (sorry guys, no toast - this is
France, but what you get is really excellent!). A set meal served on a communal
table (with a maximum of six diners) is also on offer. Every night it’s a
different menu. Tineke does a very good blend between the quality of French
“cuisine” and the generosity of Dutch meal size. Best of all: the “restaurant”
and also the bread service are “on” even if only one person stays at Domaine Le
Portrait! Guests were invited to pick cherries from the domains own trees and
Tineke’s excellent home-made jams were just delicious. Try her fig-jam; it’s a
delightful culinary sensation.
As many other Dutch, also Tineke and Wim are very talented in languages and are
fluent in English, German and French. They
certainly run Domaine Le Portrait in a very personal and sympathetic way. It’s
their intention to have only as many guests at any one time that they can still
remember everybody’s name. We enjoyed
our time at Domaine Le Portrait very much and can indeed recommend this little paradise
to everybody who looks for a small intimate and personal naturist site. It is just perfect to relax for a while, be
it for a longer stay or only for a stop-over.
La
Jenny
Now we went to the Atlantic coast, spending a
week at La Jenny, where we could hire a small studio with en suite bathroom for less than
a powered site would cost in the Dordogne region. We chose the cheapest type of
accommodation that was a bit old but still had new equipments like a steamer
oven, which we appreciated more than a microwave.
This large naturist resort consists of
hundreds of chalets nicely dotted around a pine forest. They are of all
different colours, standards and prices. At La Jenny everything is of generous
size: the clover-leave shaped
swimming pool, sports grounds and even the 6 hole golf course. The network of
separate pedestrian and cycling paths is several kilometres long and very
inviting for nude strolls under the shady trees.
The small „centre commercial“ was not in full
swing yet (beginning of June) with still very limited opening hours. The resort
is set up in a way that people are motivated to cycle or walk rather than
taking their car. Several paths through overgrown sand dunes lead to the beach.
The water was still a bit cold but the waves were tame; for the Atlantic
anyway.
CHM
Montalivet
Only 200km north from there, we visited our
old friends Val and Alan who are permanent residents at CHM Centre Heliomarin
Montalivet. The check-in procedure in
this huge resort is still complicated as ever and takes ages. The selection of
shops and restaurants on the other hand, is as great as ever!
Many old ramshackle bungalows had been removed
and replaced with lots of new mobile-homes. They certainly offer more comfort,
but in such narrow and close lanes of cottages, with no space in between, all the
charm is gone. We could stay at Val and Alan’s second mobile-home that looked
more appealing as they had arranged a nice garden in front of it, adjoining
their own. We had a few delightful meals together which we enjoyed very much,
especially as they are more into French, than into English cuisine.
Except on our arrival day, weather continued
to be nice and warm. Aussi-trained Life-Savers arrived in the afternoon of June
13th and started supervising the beach. Only 10 minutes later, the
water was suddenly teeming with bathers, although before all those people had obviously
only been interested in sun bathing...
Heliomonde
and Paris
For our last stop in France we chose Heliomonde near Paris where we had made an internet-booking on a “last minute”
offer for a chalet Tonga. We were curious whether we would like it as much as
the Tongan Islands – and indeed, we did! In fact, the entire resort was very much
to our liking. Despite Heliomonde’s proximity to the big city (~ 45km) it is
situated among pretty pastoral landscapes near St. Cheron. Not only nearby
Dourdan, but the entire area is worth visiting.
Heliomonde is set in a large forest where 350
chalets are owned by club members, most of them from Paris. We enjoyed the many
walking paths around the woods. Heliomonde also offers a restaurant, a popular
pool, several sports- and playgrounds, as well as a superb indoor complex with
sauna and hamam that could all be used at no extra cost.
Even though we had chosen Heliomonde for its
proximity to Paris, we finally visited this city only once during our week, as
it was almost too nice to leave this naturist ground. Heliomonde was a
discovery in its own right and its location makes it only more attractive.
We could buy a day-pass to get to Paris by train from St. Cheron 3km away. With this, we could also reach all
tourist attractions, including “La Défense” a very modern suburb. We already
liked the futuristic buildings when we first discovered Paris 19 years ago, but
they seem to get ignored by most tourists. We also admired all the great old
buildings in the centre e.g. Louvre, the Grand- and Petit-Palais or the Arc de
Triomphe. They were still fascinating but in a completely different way to La
Défense.
In Paris we were surrounded by heaps of other
tourists, many of them from Asia. Even at 7 P.M. a queue of several hundred metres
was sneaking around Eiffel Tower with people keen to go up that night still. We
know that only a tiny percentage of Chinese can afford to travel but seeing how
many queued at this landmark, it’s easy to imagine how many more might come in
the near future.
Although we have been to Paris years ago, we
enjoyed the calm and space in this beautiful capital with its many parks once
more.
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Netherlands | Denmark | Top |
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Photos: Belgium |
Belgium: discovering Brussels & Ghent
On Sunday, June 21, 09 we said farewell to France and drove to Belgium. Traffic
was relatively low, but as we reached the outskirts of Brussels, it got very
dense and very hectic. We got to our hotel in Ruisbroek south of the city mid
afternoon and were soon ready to get to Brussels downtown.
We found the station and boarded a train. After what we believed to
understand from the Dutch-only sign at the unmanned station, we contacted the
train-attendant to buy the ticket. However he wasn’t sure what kind of ticket
he should sell us and therefore decided to let us ride into the city for free
and we should buy the right ticket at the counter. In the main-station a highly
unmotivated employee told us there is either the bus or the train. He didn’t
(want? to) know anything about the combined tickets and even asking a second
government railway employee wasn’t more fruitful. Anyway; it was 8 P.M. by now
and we really liked to see something of the city!
It was all shiny in the evening sunlight and we quickly found the great
“Grand Place/Grote Markt”, a big square framed by mostly well preserved gothic
guild-houses. As we discovered the next day, Brussels tourist sites are all
very well maintained. Away from those, we saw parts that were less clean and
rather ramshackle. Outside the centre, we also visited the Atomium and the big
area of modern office-buildings that house the EU headquarters. They are not
set up in a newly developed area, but instead squeezed between existing
quarters.
Around the EU buildings, many languages can be heard and also Belgium
has two. The city of Brussels is officially bilingual, so French as well as
Flemish (Dutch) are common but relations between the country’s two linguistic
different areas are much tenser than in Switzerland.
Without too many expectations, we continued to Ghent in the Flemish
part. Our Hotel (Formule 1) was perfectly situated at the outskirts from where
it was a pleasant stroll to the centre of town. We found charming houses,
picturesque canals and great squares throughout. For the next two days, we discovered
one quarter after another.
Pretty as Ghent is, we were surprised it is not touristier. Never the less,
there are hundreds of cafés and restaurants that are full most of the time with
local guests. Belgians love to go out and it seems they don’t obey fixed meal
times – they all go as it pleases them and thus restaurants offer hot meals all
day long. All over the country, “pommes frites” (French? fries) are ever
present. Not only small kiosks sell them, but also in ethnic restaurants they
figure on the menu, along with Basmati or Jasmine rice. On the other end of the
spectrum, Belgians have deservedly built a good reputation for fine food and
also for their legendary Belgian Waffles of which we’ve had the world’s best in
Ghent.
On both days we visited the river shore plazas
“Gras- and Koren-lei-sites”. They frame the Leie River on both sides with
beautiful medieval ornate guildhouses. The quays were bustling with people day
and night. Though most sat down for a while, to soak in the special atmosphere,
the crowds were constantly changing. Everyone seemed very relaxed and happy in
stark contrast to the people of Brussels. To us Ghent was very diverse and
charming and definitely would deserve to be high on every tourist agenda.
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Denmark | Top |
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Photos: Netherlands | More about the Netherlands: chapter 23 |
The Netherlands: tidy and neat
From Ghent, it wasn’t very far to the Netherlands. We
chose the route to Zeeland, which we reached through the new Westerschelde
subsea tunnel on June 26. 2009. We stopped quite a few times in small Dutch villages along the
way like Nisse, Gravenpolder and Kapelle. They all were incredibly tidy and
proper with neat houses that most had wonderful gardens. Tidy and proper:
that’s how we experienced the Netherlands throughout. In villages most roads
were paved with red cobble stones. There were cycle-lines on both sides of the
road that used up more space than the cars had in the centre. Therefore cars
often need to stop to pass each other. In villages, the speed limit was
normally at 30 km per hour and Dutch drivers were rather relaxed. People use
their bicycle whenever they can and as every place is connected by cycling
paths, they are used not only for fun but also for work.
Athena
Naturist Club
Almost back at the Belgian border, we stayed
at the Naturist Club Athena near Ossendrecht. About
half of the 250 member-Families are Dutch and half are Belgians. We got
friendly with many of them but soon realized that it was not as easy to communicate
with Belgians, (despite our French) than it was to communicate with Dutch, who
often master various foreign languages.
As Athena’s new mobile homes had been booked
out, we had to rent a caravan. The camping is set in a forest and was well
equipped with playground, pool and a clubhouse, although we had to pay extra
for use of sauna, showers and even hot tap water to do the dishes.
After staying in France and Belgium it was
quite obvious that Dutch supermarkets are rather offering low price- instead of
quality products (but in big quantities). Bread-loafs can be so unbelievably
light and we still guess how you can pack that much air into one loaf.
Zeeland
and the Delta Project
Surely we used our stay to explore some more
of the Zeeland-district and visited the town of Tholen and Zieriksee, where we
could get close to some beautifully restored windmills and in the case of
Zieriksee to a harbour teaming with old Windjammer, as there had just been a
yachting event.
Another impressive sight was the “Krammer
Sluizen” (locks of Krammer) that are part of the huge Delta Project. As
we all know, about one third of the Netherlands lay below sea-level. Therefore
these guys had to come up with some smart idea on how to keep the saltwater out
and gain some more land. Giant dams were built along the coast and also inland.
There can be quite a big difference between
the levels of the salt- and fresh-water. To have ordinary locks at every canal
would be too easy. Huge quantities of salt would enter the inland canals and
lakes, each time a boat would pass a lock. To prevent that, Dutch Engineers
invented a sophisticated system that replaces the water in the lock with fresh-
or salt-water respectively, before a boat can get out. At the same time the
Delta-Project and other engineering marvels like the 32 km long “closure dike”/Afsluitdijk
that shuts off the Ijsel-Sea from the Atlantic
Ocean, help minimize the risk of another disastrous flood. This way, more land
could be gained for cultivation and to accommodate the 16.5 million Dutch.
Windmills
and water ways
In earlier times, the beautiful windmills
served mainly to pump water out of the swamplands that had to be partitioned
for reclamation. Today most of the mills are well restored (by specialist
companies), which improve national pride and pleases the tourist crowds. For
many people, the mentioning of Dutch windmills is associated with the village
of Kinderdijk, which we passed on our way to Amsterdam. In fact that’s probably the
place with the highest density of windmills all over the country. We stood at
one spot from where we counted 18 windmills around us, and there are many more
in this area north of Dordrecht! All along our way, we also passed old and new
houses with thatched roofs.
Some of the world’s busiest sea-ports are
located in the Netherlands and also domestic cargo is often transported on
water. Despite all efforts to gain more land as we just described, the
Netherlands are still full of water. A huge grid of man-made water ways was
constructed. Some are small canals used either to drain or water cultivated
land – depending on the purpose. Some others are big canals used by large cargo
vessels or smaller ones for leisure boats only. A big percentage of Dutch own a
boat that is often moored just in front of the garden. Boating is definitely
the favourite pastime, although many foreigners believe there’s nothing nicer
for a Dutchman than towing a caravan across Europe...
With that much traffic on water, it’s only
natural that it also affects traffic on the road. In summer there are often
long queues of boats waiting to pass bridges. Some very busy junctions have
aqueducts that cross either the road or another canal but mostly there will be
a bridge that opens up. Most are operated by a bridge-guard but others can be
operated semi automatically, by captains dialling some magic numbers on their
mobile phone. Sometimes a fee is payable for the passage that unfortunately is
not being distributed among the waiting traffic on the road. In traditional
manner, the token is placed in a wooden shoe that is lowered by the
bridge-master on a rope to the boat. There must be thousands, if not ten
thousands of such intersections between land- and water-ways where a red light
or the lowering of the barrier is just a normal part of life, even on freeways.
As the country is densely populated, freeways are
busy or jammed most of the time. On the other hand, small roads in the
countryside can be refreshingly empty. Apart from the big cities, villages are
rather small and quiet. When we drove into Amsterdam, we were astonished how
green and pastoral the landscape was until only a few kilometres before the
city centre. On our map it looked like suburbia would have started long before,
but only a few houses were dotted between the canals and the fields.
Discovering
Amsterdam from Zaandam
We based ourselves in Zaandam, where we
arrived rather late after all that sight-seeing along the way. To find a place
to eat, we headed for what we thought is just a suburb of A’dam but discovered it
is actually a very nice town of its own. Many restaurants were grouped around
the nicely restored town square. Contrary to our prejudice we found quite a few
menus that promised gourmet-style food and what we saw on people’s plates
looked just delicious. We gave it a try and what we got was just superb,
absolutely justifying its price. As we praised the food to the waiter and
mentioned that the portion was just too big, he replied: “ten years ago, we
were the only restaurant on this square. We filled up easily and people were
happy with whatever they got, as long as the portion was big. However, in the
meantime more and more restaurants have popped up and as some offered better
quality, competition began. Today we focus on inspiring menus and additionally
just keep a few simple classics to please our few long-time regulars”.
We have observed that upmarket restaurants in
the Netherlands were really popular and he confirmed this swing in preference.
When strolling around Zaandam, we discovered
there is a new part with modern nice buildings but also an old part with many
well restored traditional houses that give a village feel. So we decided to
come back another time to soak in some more of that nice atmosphere – and nice
food...
Next day, we took a bus to dive into the
hustle and bustle of Amsterdam.
The ride took a swift 20 minutes on a special bus-road that offered good views
to the freeway which was completely chocked. How can we describe Amsterdam?
It’s big and beautiful, gentle and quiet but there is also “something going
on”. It’s fascinating but sometimes also rough, gubby and annoying. It’s
historic but young and people mostly ride on bicycles which are permitted also
in pedestrian areas. It’s amazing how little other traffic can be found in the
city centre. The concept that works here is based on very efficient public
transport and deterrent parking fees payable from early morning to midnight!
Throughout the city cheap bicycle parking can
be found. For instance the multi storey “bike ramp” next to the main railway
station can accommodate 7’000 bicycles. Every railing and every tree is also
used to safeguard bikes, as theft is a big problem, despite the fact that
Amsterdam counts 750’000 bicycles.
The squares and many parts of the old town are
very charming. Here, as all over the Netherlands, many front façades of canal-houses with more than two stories
are inclined and a pulley is mounted to a “Hijsbalk” (lifting beam) under the
gable. Thanks to this simple but smart installation, goods can be lifted up
from outside and taken in through the windows, which is much easier than up a
narrow staircase. Water canals (Grachten) trench the city like a spider web. As
elsewhere in the Netherlands, some people live permanently on a moored boat.
As the city is very multicultural, it offers a
big array of ethnic restaurants. On the other end of the food scale, fast-food
dispensers containing deep-fried “treats” from little transparent drawers can
be found all over the city. Never the less, obesity doesn’t seem to be a big
problem, that’s probably thanks to all the exercise on bikes.
As the night falls, the atmosphere in the city
changes. Foreigners and locals are attracted to the bright lights and the
liberal attitude. What is called a Coffee-Shop here is unlike a Coffee-Shop
elsewhere. We don’t know exactly what’s going on inside but it’s an open secret
that Hippies don’t go there for Coffee and Cake.
Another notoriety of Amsterdam is window shopping in the red light district.
You have probably heard of the prostitutes posing in show-case windows that
must be well heated, judging from how little they wear... The ladies clients
come often from rather prudish countries (like the U.K.). In and around the
rather big red-light districts, many drunks can be seen with all the
consequences they cause, making Amsterdam at night a rather unpleasant
experience to us.
We rather headed off to the beautiful new OBA
library near the train station. On the top floor, there is a good cafeteria
with a splendid birds-view of the city. The library also offers almost one
thousand internet-terminals that could be used for free – if you found a free
one.
Pretty
countryside towns and villages
We took a train from Zaandam to the nearby
city of Haarlem. Our travel guide’s words “everybody
loves Haarlem” were not exaggerated indeed. The historic main square really
has grandeur and there are of course the compulsory canals, where small boats
are parked alongside cars on the road. A beautifully restored windmill is just
minutes away from the centre. Again, there were much more bicycles than other
traffic on the road and some had push-cars or trailers mounted to their bikes
to transport a couple of children (or other ballast).
Even though we still hadn’t completed our
sight-seeing program entirely, it looked like we had to move out from our
budget hotel Formule 1, as it was fully booked on the weekend. After bothering
reception often enough, they offered us to stay at Ibis Hotel instead, at only
10 Euros more. So we gladly accepted, relocated and headed off to Alkmaar afterwards. We had heard about the cheese-market that is held there every
Friday. Plenty of cheese, Dealers and Experts filled the square, along with
porters wearing traditional dress, as well as some young girls straight out of
the Dutch picture book. Samples of the big round loafs were taken, then the
cheese was put on a sort of stretcher and porters run the heavy load to a
weighing station in the building. We soon got the impression that the same
loafs kept coming and going and that the whole market was just set up to please
tourists. In fact, later a local confirmed to us in a Café, that this market
is, what he called “a replica” of how it was in the olden days. However,
Alkmaar is a proud city worthwhile visiting and in some little street we found
a real cheese-shop with yellow loafs in all different sizes and flavours like
paprika, herbs or grains.
In the afternoon we left Alkmaar just as a
thunderstorm started. There were many windmills and nice little hamlets along
the way. We stopped at Noordeinde, where most houses had romantic
gardens with flowers growing rampantly. Following some road-signs that looked
like indicators of a tourist drive, we found our way into De Rijp. This
is a particularly charming village with canals on both sides of the road, covered
by greenery called “duck weed”. Many houses are connected with the mainroad
over a small private bridge. The heart of the village consists of well
preserved houses in traditional style only and was a picture perfect postcard.
Our next stop was in Volendam, a
somewhat touristy place on the inland sea of Markermeer. On the dam, houses all
had souvenir shops and restaurants but the older ones, away from the dam,
looked much more appealing to us. Soon we drove on to Marken, which sits
on a nice harbour. Here, we found ourselves again almost like being in a
museum-village. Here too, we found lots of old traditional houses with new
paint and a glorious sunset and good food in a restaurant to finish off this
great sightseeing day.
Visiting
friends in Friesland
After a good night’s sleep in the luxury of
Ibis hotel, we headed north over the causeway on the “closure dike” Afsluitdijk to Friesland, where our friends Gisela & Klaus expected us. They own
a house on a canal in Workum where they can moor their boat in front of
the garden. As we were invited to spend a few days, they showed us around in
their pretty neighbourhood. First we had a look around Lemmer, a holiday
retreat popular with German tourists and hobby captains cruising around the
canals. In Sloten we could visit a working mill that was used to grind
flour.
Most impressive was our visit to Giethoorn. First we joined a boat trip on some particularly nice canals from where
we had good views to pastoral landscapes and the bordering farmhouses with
thatched roofs. Giethoorn looks very much like a museum-village but all houses
are inhabited and the real estate prices are amongst the highest in the
Netherlands. Consequently, today there are hardly any farmers but the city
elite who live there. They often have to bear thousands of tourists cruising in
front of the gardens, pointing their cameras at the beautiful thatched roof
houses. There are 800 small electric powered boats for rent. Additionally,
dozens of bigger tour-boats cruise on a one-way circuit through the village.
Some barges cater also for the disabled and
can accommodate wheel chairs by lowering them in on an electric platform.
Disabled people are very well integrated into Dutch society and we’ve come
across various projects, where handicapped people run café’s and bakeries under
professional supervision. Many companies sponsor vehicles, outings or holidays
for handicapped people, to allow them to mingle with the crowds.
Despite having visited the Netherlands before,
this country delighted us more than we had expected. We got to know friendly
people, beautiful landscapes and well maintained historic towns in a clean and
orderly country that can convince more and more also from a culinary side.
Fighting traffic in Germany
After bidding farewell to Gisela & Klaus
on July 7, 2009 we set out to cross Germany. We decided to spend the night
in Bremen as the rush hour was approaching soon after we crossed the border. We
took a room in an Etap Hotel at the outskirts of the city and remained there,
as we found several shops and restaurants nearby. The area was a good mix
between industrial- and suburban zone and we didn’t want more.
The next morning when we drove on the freeway towards Hamburg, we were
very lucky not to get stuck in traffic jams. In the opposite direction, we saw
one jam after another. There was a never ending “section” of road work all the
way to the Elbtunnel (~100 km) and therefore traffic speed was mostly reduced
but as we said: we were happy that we could keep on moving.
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Fotos: Denmark |
Denmark: 6 days in Jutland
By the time we arrived in Denmark, it was already 6 P.M., about
3 hours later than we had anticipated. It didn’t take long until we came across
the first beautiful building with a brand new thatched roof. Break n’stop –
picture! Then we wanted to find an ATM but didn’t like to waste time to get
into a town. So we arrived empty handed in Ribe but got into the
Youth Hostel, thanks to genuine Swiss plastic.
We realized that the night, now on July 8th, fell much later
here than further south and therefore we had still enough time to explore the
historic old town of Ribe after dinner. We admired the beautiful half-timbered
houses along the cobblestoned streets again the next morning.
Then we continued to Esbjerg on the coast, where we stopped for the four
9 metre high figures in white stone “Mennesket ved Havet” (Man meets the Sea),
erected at the beach. Following Jutland’s west coast up, we passed Vesterlund.
In this area, there are thousands of sometimes very luxurious holiday homes
dotted around the sand dunes.
The drive through the overgrown dunes along the coast was very
rewarding. After crossing by ferry from Thyboron to Agger across the inlet
Nissum Bredning, we turned inland and soon the scenery changed dramatically.
Instead of water and gentle dunes, we saw now lots of wind generators and
cultivated hills with golden wheat fields.
We stopped for the night at a campground in Humlum, where we rented a simple cabin. The village was tiny but
the local Kro (restaurant) offered a superb buffet, featuring local seafood
that night.
The next day took us to Viborg and because it was now rainy,
we looked for a B&B instead of camping at the naturist ground we have had
in mind. Surprisingly, in Denmark staying at a B&B often works out cheaper
for a couple, than staying at a Youth Hostel. The house of our Landlady was
situated in a quiet street and tastefully decorated. We didn’t only get a room,
but an entire apartment. She also invited us to use her balcony which offered
lake view.
Viborg is a pleasant town and while we wandered around the sun
reappeared again. On the next morning, we made a day-visit to Vedsolejren naturist camping. It is situated above a lake in beautiful
surroundings near Birgittelyst but the temperature was only just enough to
enjoy it in the raw.
After two days at
Viborg, we moved further north, detouring through Tranum Strand and
Slettenstrand, where the weather would have been good enough for bathing. In Slettenstrand
a fun fair was held, giving us the opportunity to watch how Danish kids are
being spoilt and to sample one of the most popular Danish fast food delights:
Franske Hot Dog.
Past the very blue
Lundfjord we arrived at Thisted in
the evening. With help of a Danish couple we had pre-arranged (long ago from
Spain) to stay at a B&B, where the Landlady didn’t speak anything but
Danish. We managed and got a big room in her old house. She didn’t understand
any of our questions but her “betal nu” was as plain as it can be (pay now).
Thisted was very
dead on Sunday evening but came very much to life on Monday, as the shops were
open and people filled the streets. It is a modern town of almost 13’000
inhabitants.
Late afternoon we
went for a drive to the seaside villages of Klitmöller and Nörre Vorupör that
attracted many holiday makers. They enjoyed the evening sun and had dinner at
the small restaurants overlooking the beach. We had read about a famous Seafood
Restaurant but this was the only one closed that night – and so many people
wanting to get in, only during the short time when we hung around it.
Finally, July 14th
2009 had arrived. Heinz supplemented his breakfast with a couple of “Mercalm”
tablets because on that day we had a reservation on the big car-ferry Norröna
that should bring us out to the North Atlantic, where we intended to visit the
Faroese Islands, Iceland and Greenland.
We will describe
our North-Atlantic trip in our the next chapter, where we are going to bore you
with our tales of immense blue skies, pure light, huge lava deserts, steaming
mud-pools, endless glaciers and gargantuan icebergs...
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