Spanien 2025

Unvorstellbar! Vier Wochen Urlaub am Stück? Das habe ich mir nicht vorstellen können. Dieses Jahr haben wir es versucht und mein Fazit bisher ist sehr positiv.

Schon im letzten Jahr haben wir ein Ferienhaus in Conil de la Frontera angemietet. Conil liegt in im südwestlichen Andalusien direkt an der Atlantikküste. Nicht zu heiss und nicht zu kalt. Im Atlantik kann man schon schwimmen, aber halt nicht sehr lange. Die Höchsttemperaturen bewegen sich zwischen 18-22°C. Also genau richtig für Leute wie mich. Der Ort hat eine schöne Altstadt und eine gute Infrastruktur. Wenn man eine Stunde fährt, dann hat man im Süden, Norden und Osten genug zu erkunden.

Wohnen: Wie haben ein Reihenhaus im Osten der Stadt gemietet. Es ist geeignet für 5 Personen, bietet Platz zum Kochen und verfügt über einen Glasfaseranschluss und Zugang zu einem Aussenpool. Eine kleine Veranda ist auch dabei. Für 2000€ für den Monat können wir nicht meckern.

Die Stadt: Seit 3 Wochen sind wir nun hier. Jeden Tag laufe ich mehr als 10.000 Schritte. Der größte Teil führt mich immer wieder auf verschiedenen Wegen an den Strand und in die Altstadt. Hier einen Kaffee, dort das desayuno oder am Nachmittag Tapas oder mit den anderen geteilte rationes. Noch ist die Stadt nicht überlaufen. Das wird sich ab Mitte Mai ändern.

Essen und Trinken: Machen wir es kurz. Das Angebot ist riesig, und die spanische und andalusische Küche sind phantastisch! Allesfresser wie ich fühlen sich hier wie im Himmel. Was die Köche mit Fisch, Fleisch, Gemüse und Gewürzen zaubern ist einmalig. Und das gilt gleichermassen für die besseren Restaurants als auch für die kleinen Ventas in einem Dorf abseits von den Hauptstrassen. Mein Favorit sind die Tomaten, die zu jedem Essen gehören. Ein Salat aus frischen Tomaten mit guten Olivenöl, Essig aus Jerez, Thymian und Zwiebeln ist für mich bei fast jeder Mahlzeit dabei.

Ausflüge: Wie ich schon sagte sind wir nicht zum ersten Mal an der Costa del Luz. Deshalb erwähne ich im Folgenden nur unsere Ausflüge in diesem Jahr. Nicht auf der Liste sind absolute Höhepunkte wie Sevilla, Ronda, Cadiz und vieles mehr.

  • Jerez: Pferde, Sherry, Alcazar. Immer einen Besuch wert. Ausserdem der nächstgelegene Airport und Supercharger.
  • Chiclana: Besuchen wir mittlerweile regelmäßig jede Woche. Wir besuchen den Markt, um uns mit frischem Gemüse, Fisch und Fleisch zu versorgen. Dann finden wir meist von ein Café in der Nähe oder wandern einfach herum. Der Strand von Chiclana ist auch einen Besuch wert.
  • Medina-Sidonia: Wird auch der Balkon Andalusiens genannt. Ein herrlicher Marktplatz, ein altes Römer Fort und die Aussicht nach Westen machen den Besuch zu einem herrlichen Tagesausflug. Auf dem Weg nach Medina-Sidonia haben wir in Los Naveros noch dieses abgelegene Restaurant gefunden.
  • Barbate: Wir wollten Barbate besuchen, um mehr über die Almadraba zu erfahren und vielleicht auf einem Boot aufs Meer zu fahren. Unser erstes Ziel konnten wir erreichen (siehe Thunfisch weiter unten). Das zweite haben wir dann aufgegeben. Am Strand haben wir das beste Eis seit langem bekommen!
  • Vejer
  • Bolonia und Baeolo Claudia: Eine kleine Stadt zwischen ca. 25 km südlich von Conil. Wir besuchten die Ruinen von Baelo Claudia. In der Zeit des Vespasian und auch später wurde hier der gefangene Thunfisch gesalzen, das Garum gewonnen und beides zurück ins Reich verschifft. Definitiv einen Besuch wert!
  • Trafalgar: Schöner Spaziergang vom Norden Bartbates durch eine Dünenlandschaft zum Leuchtturm von Trafalgar. Nichts erinnert an die bedeutsame Seeschlacht von Trafalgar im Jahre 1805.

Führungen: Susan hat uns dieses Jahr einige Führungen herausgesucht. Obwohl ich normalerweise kein großer Freund bin, haben mich alle beeindruckt!

  • Oliven: Wir hatten einen sehr lehrreichen Tag in einer kleinen Olivenöl Manufaktur in der Nähe von Conil, die ihre eigenen Oliven verarbeitet. Führung, Erklärung der Produktionsanlagen, Info Einordnung und Klassifizierung der verschiedenen Qualitätsstufen, Verkostung und Verschmeckung. Sehr gut!
  • Thunfisch: Im Thunfischmuseum von Barbate konnten wir für 8,50€ an einer (kleinen) Führung teilnehmen, die Zerteilung eines Thunfisches begleiten (sehr interessant) und an einer Verkostung teilnehmen.
  • Vejer heute und in der Geschichte: Wir nahmen an einer sehr interessanten Führung durch Vejer de la Frontera teil. Unser Tourguide Manuel (el Aleman) beeindruckte mit seinem Wissen über die Geschichte, das Heute, die Esskultur und auch die spanische Kultur. Wer hätte gedacht, dass der Stierkampf eine Methode war, die stärksten und aggressivsten Stiere für die Zucht zu finden? Frontera ist der Begriff für die “Grenze”. In unserem bezeichnete das Word das Grenzgebiet zwischen den Mauren und den von Norden eindringenden christlichen Streitkräften.

Nach und von: Wie sind jetzt das dritte Mal mit dem Elektroauto (ja, es ist ein Tesla) nach Südspanien gefahren. Die Fahrt nach Conil sind etwa 2.500km. Möglich sind die Westroute (durch das Baskenland) oder die Ostroute (durch Katalanien). Beide haben ihre Vor- und Nachteile. Diesmal sind wir die Ostroute gefahren, da noch Schnee in der Extremadura möglich war. Die Fahrt war unproblematisch. Das Auto fährt uns von einem Tesla Supercharger zum nächsten.

Vor Ort ist die Ladesituation ebenfalls unkompliziert. Der nächste Supercharger ist in Jerez, und vor Ort gibt es auch Ladestationen. Diese sind allerdings etwas teurer und laden langsamer. Die Strompreise schwanken an den Superchargern zwischen 0,32€ in Frankreich über 0,38€ in Spanien bis 0,45€ in Deutschland. Vor Ort in Conil zahlen wir beim Burger King 0,53€ für die kWh. Wir sind 4 Tage hin und 4 Tage zurück gefahren. Die Rohdaten:

km gesamt: 6.248
kWh Verbrauch: 1.034
kWh/100km: 16,6

The Winter That Was

The winter of 2019/2020 in my hometown of Gersfeld was disappointing. Hardly any snow, no cross country skiing in our neighbourhood. The Loipenpark Zentrum was only good for walks in the dirt. And I had just purchased a new set in 2019. So really disappointing, and then the Pandemic hit and I couldn’t see any possibility to go to Austria this winter.

But then it started just after Christmas. The snow came, and the cold came. The folks from Loipenpark reported more than 70 snow days (where tracks could be groomed and conditions were good or at least reasonable). It got very busy. People came from near and far, to a point that parking was restricted on the weekends to avoid even larger crowds.

For myself, I counted my visits to Loipenpark and I got to 40 in the months of January and February. And another 2 in March. Now that was the best that I had in the last couple of years.

Image: Today from https://loipenpark.de

And then – yesterday evening – it started to snow again. While I don’t expect that the snow will be around long enough for the folks to use the machines to lay tracks, I’m quite tempted to see if I can just get another morning tour out of it.

The sharing economy: Taking a ride

A few weeks ago I was visiting Washington on business (attending our EclipseCon North America)  when I took my first ride with the Uber service. Actually – when my colleague used the Uber up to get us the driving service of a young Colombian kid that picked us up close to the White House and drove us for 12 miles to our dinner place.

We were a little surprised when the driver advised us that we have to pick up another guest, drive her home and continue our trip from there. Explanation was simply that Uber had just started that service. During the ride, we started chatting a little with the driver. He’d bought the car and was full-time driving for Uber. And he said that he has to drive a lot, because he needs to pay off the car and make some money. We didn’t get into details, and I didn’t ask questions about insurance and so on. What struck me though was his driving style. It was clear that he didn’t know where he was going, and he was closely following the little iPhone navigation app from Uber. He appeared to be quite distracted by it and didn’t pay the attention to traffic that I would have hoped for.  Anyway, we made it to our destination.

Thinking about it later, a lot of questions remained. First of all, I was wondering about the driver’s qualification. He clearly had no local knowledge, and he clearly wasn’t an experienced driver. At least not to the extend that I’m used to from a German taxi driver. His car was new, but my colleague told me that’s not always the case. How can Uber control the status of the cars? And really – I had expected a person that does some driving on the side. But clearly the guy was more or less full-time.

So I started investigating a little, which led me to some interesting sources and insights into the sharing economies. More in the next post.

 

Saving Money and Having Fun

Are you tired of hotel breakfast? And paying for WiFi? WiFi that might not even exist in your room, because it’s only available in the lobby? Well, I am.

Think about a standard hotel like the Holiday Inn at Gare de’l Est in Paris. You pay 15 € for the breakfast (scrambled eggs from powder, bread that would need some more baking, sweet stuff all over …) and you pay 10 € per day for the WiFi access. WiFi really works only in the lobby and bar area, in your room you have to buy cable access, which adds extra cost. And if you own an nice computer like I do, it won’t even feature an ethernet plug anymore …

The alternative is really simple:

In the morning, step out of the hotel, go around the corner. Here you find bars and brasseries with excellent breakfast offers (2 * coffe, omelette with ham and cheese) for 9 €. And the WiFi is free and fast.

Same is true for the evenings. Rather than staying in your hotel room, hang out in the bars and restaurants. Work and eat for less, and sometimes it even happens that people start talking to you. In any case, while doing your email you can take a break and watch the crowd.

Enjoy.

A Weekend in Appenzell

For the past couple of years, I enjoy at least one visit to the canton of Appenzell.

Located in the eastern region of Switzerland, it is one of my favorite spots to come to. As there is many areas in Switzerland that are incredibly beautiful, the Appenzeller Land continues to attract me more than any other place in Switzerland.

Gasthaus Aescher, Appenzeller Land

One of the reasons may be it’s accessibility. It’s easy to get to. And once you are there, it’s approachable. I don’t need to be an alpine expert to find exciting walks in the beautiful setting. People are friendly, and the prices are actually quite reasonable (as far as this goes for a visitor to Switzerland). And all my favorite activities are supported: I can play golf here, go hiking and ride my bicycle as well. Or I can learn about cheese making if I don’t feel like sweating too much.

And then there is the tranquility. While there are tourists around, Appenzell appears a lot less overrun than other parts of the Alps.

This time we stayed at small mountain hotel called Gasthaus Lehmen. While the rooms are small, it is a perfect place to start your hikes towards the Säntis or other points of interest. And if the weather plays along (what it did for us), it is wonderful to sit outside in the evening and enjoy the evening with the good food the folks prepare and a good Appenzell beer.

The last day of the short break we spent on the Waldkirch golf course. It is a nice hilly course, and you have a great few to the Säntis. And for me it was a really nice day: It was the first time that I shot par on 9 holes.

Ch’ti

So tonight I was heading to northern France, to present at the Java User Group in Lille. My idea was to fly into Bruessels and take a car from there to meet the folks around 18:00 at the meeting location of the Ch’ti Jug to talk about Eclipse and such.

Now it turns out that this was a really bad idea. The plane I took from Berlin to Bruessels: Well it started late. The excuse the pilot made was that his cabin people had miscounted the number of people on the plane. So they unloaded some luggage, then they found out that the people were actually on the plane, then they re-loaded the luggage.

Execution cost some time, so we started about 45 minutes after the planned departure time. Oh wee, I thought, good that I had planned for some extra time.

Turns out that the traffic jams around Brussels were not in my calculation. They ate up all the buffer that I had planned. But there was a chance! My little TomTom navigation app on the iPhone was telling me that I will be only 3 minutes late. Little did it know!

Just 20 kilometers before Lille my For rental car gave up. No comment, it said.

So what’s left: I can only apologize to folks in Lille. If they still want me, I’ll be back!

Visiting Ancient Sites

Last week, I had to go to Italy for some an Eclipse meeting in Naples and then another one in Florence. Departure to Rome on the Sunday and the May Holiday on Tuesday gave us a chance to visit a couple of places before, between and after the business meetings.

 

It started off on the Monday with a visit to the Forum Romanum. Having learned Latin for many years in school, the place is sort of familiar, and it’s always fun to visit. And not only this, I actually like to see ancient things a lot more than the religious places, which are usually overladed with the symbolisms of a belief I’m not really keen on. It’s actually true for the pagan religions of the ancient times as well, but there I can ignore it.

Next was the Colosseum, and  this time we actually decided to stand in line and pay the fee of € 7 to get in. It took us about an hour to walk around, and that was time well spent! Saw a lot, learned a lot. The Colosseum has an onsite walk that explains the facility as well as the different building stages and the life in a day of a Roman while attending the games.

It is pretty amazing to wander around this place and imagine that down in the arena people were fighting for their lives while on the seats families where having their meals warmed up on open fires, playing with their children and doing beauty maintenance. That’s at least what can be deducted from the items found in the sewers.

Next stop was Naples, where we had May 1st to visit both Pompeji and Herculaneum. Both of them got destroyed in the eruption of Mount Vesuvio in AD 79. While I had visited Pompeji before, it was very interesting to visit Herculaneum, a much smaller site that is also less frequented by tourists. And you actually have a chance to stroll through the modern town attached and have a normal coffee or beer 🙂

Different to Pompeji Herculaneum provides a good look at the structures and buildings, as they were not as destructed as in Pompeji. The picture below shows a look at a Roman fast-food restaurant.

Again on this part of the trip my Latin lessons came back, and I’m looking forward to reading the letters that Pliny the younger sent to his friends, describing the events in AD 79.

As a side note: We staid in an old and quit hotel close to Pozzuoli, called Delle Therme. Completely outdated, but has a lot of charme if you can live with ancient beds:-) And the best: We ran into a photo shooting where we made the actress pose for us in her 60’s outfit.

Next stop was the Eclipse Day Florence. The event was very well organized, and the line-up of speakers was great. But I think that might be easier if you have to offer a location like Florence.

Before this post gets to long: Florence is great, I will go back and take a couple of pictures there!

My traveling compagnon Mike visited Italy for the first time ever.  When we departed in Rome he told me that he was really impressed by Italy.

And guess what: The food was great in all the places we went, so my scales were the only onces who didn’t appreciate Italy.