Setting off from a France beach, it was time to get to Barcelona to drop off the sister of Desy at the airport. Obviously we had to cross the Spanish border, which has been a bit of a milestone for me and my brother while travelling. Something always got in the way of passing through France fast enough to reach Spain, but this time it did not take any effort at all and before we knew it France turned into Spain. Casually driving the Spanish roads 1 hour away from Barcelona we turned inland to get into a National park called Del Montseny. Before getting into this park finding a place to sleep did not seem a problem at all, there were nice little gravel roads leading up places everywhere  but when we were looking for a spot in the park all small roads had a no entry sign. Later on we found out that in a national park it is not legal to just go wherever you want and park where seems suited. Driving deeper and deeper into the park we settled on a camping, not something I prefer but with 2 little kittens playing around our camping spot and some good coffee it was not hard to ease my mind.

It took us just 1 hour to get to the airport the next morning. After dropping Denisse off, this trip will be just me and my girl! The two of us lived in Barcelona for half a year and we knew we wanted to go back to a town nearby called Sitges, just to take a swim in the water where we spent some good times before. Parking straight on the boulevard to take a dive showed a big contrast between how people decide to spend their vacations. As this was the case more often, before and after this time, I tried to capture this in 1 shot in front of a huge boulevard house probably not used for 10 months out of 12.

Staying close to the sea we ended up parking in a small town that existed mainly out of small white plastered studio buildings to host people spending their vacation at the coast. At night we walked the only street up the coast, it was clearly not older than 2 years old, and a make shift market all along the side of it offered everything from sunglasses to African blankets.

Slowly making our way even more south, we stopped every now and then to enjoy the beach and to cook ourselves some sunset dinners. We arrived in Valencia, something we looked forward to! Desy had been there before and we were exited to get into town for a drink that night. Knowing we would have to park somewhere in the city we just dived in and parked on one of the main roads that was slowly giving some space to park by the people done working and returning home. With weird people around and some sketchy people hanging on a bench 20 meters away from the van, we finally got our bikes from the back of the van and set out into town. Stopping here and there to enjoy the city we ended up in the old center, parked the bikes and walked in. We were not let down, Valencia is my kind of town, streetart everywhere, Vespas crossing the small streets and small bars behind doors everywhere in the streets that look like they grew there themselves a long time ago. Have to say we were at least a tiny bit tipsy on beers and Agua de Valencia when we got back to the bikes to drive home, Valencia was perfect!

Getting even more south we Arrived in Alicante where we got to see a big castle that they somehow managed to build in the old days on top of the highest point possible. The view was amazing but I find myself being less and less interested in the cultivated historical sights covered with tourists and renovated so much that my imagination has a hard time to see what it once really was. From there we decided to drive inland, and see some lakes that show on the map. The drive to Castril was amazing, landscapes that look like western movies and roads that flow through the hills like rivers. Driving these roads did something to me, and I felt like I was being driven instead of driving myself, something I will not soon forget.

The lake that we came to see was created by a dam that looked like a huge pile of small rocks just dropped in the way of the river, blocking its way. Driving up the dam took a bit of the engine of the van, but getting up there gave us a gorgeous view over the lake. It being hot that day it invited us for a swim badly! But no roads lead down, and it was forbidden to get into the water. Bummed out we drove back into the little town, this town must have changed so much after the arrival of the dam since it was situated practically at the border of the town. When it got dark we wandered into Castril, and we were swallowed in the local life of eating late in the couple bars that were spread in this town. Surrounded by street dogs and cats we had some tapas and drank some beers before heading back to the van.

Spain is doing us good, and when we take the roads leading into the inland the land keeps changing and surprising us.