Full gear on the motorbike, without gear on the campsite
We sleep less well that night. Somehow the campsite is good, but also too clean, not charming enough. The only cool thing we've never had before was a private bathroom for each plot, which is even lockable. So I don't have to wander around the campsite at night, but can just go to our own toilet.
We have breakfast, do some laundry and pack up our stuff. I go through everything, tidy up and pack away, and Gerd packs the tent and the foodprint. That's the tarp we always put under the tent. And it's good that we have it with us. Because here in Spain there are often stony surfaces that we would feel quite strongly in the tent.
When the laundry has dried and we have put everything on the motorbike, we head for the pool in our swimming costumes. Because the pool has just opened, we can hear it from the entertaining music. Whitney Houston - the complete best-of CD up and down...
After about an hour of volcano spring bathing and an espresso, we continue on our Felix towards the sea. We head for Alicante, although the town itself is not our destination. Rather north of Alicante somewhere. Gerd and I are looking for a place where we might want to stay for 2 days, because by now our butts are already hurting after 2 hours of motorbike riding. So we have to take it easy on our bottoms.
For a few days now, we've been thinking about going nudist camping. We both know it from the Baltic Sea and have to say that we quite like nude bathing. But we don't know if we like nudist camping. I look for various nudist campsites around Alicante and Google spits out something nice in the mountains. With top ratings and in a romantic location.
But we have to take a lunch break, because we are hungry again. We are hungry here all the time, really. We must have put on weight after the holidays. I find a great vegetarian restaurant (Green budy) right at the harbour in Alicante and we are spoilt for choice. Instead of a small lunch snack, we eat a three-course menu and if we weren't already full, we would eat our way through the entire dessert menu. Every single dish is a dream.
After the espresso, it's on to our first Nackidei camping.
In Alicante, the 28.5 degrees are simply beautiful for us. We enjoy anything below 30. On the motorbike, 30 and more degrees are quite warm, especially because we have our motorbike jackets on. Stopping and traffic jams are completely stupid, fast rides are just fine. Only, when we leave Alicante and enter the hinterland after the first small mountain range, the thermometer rises steadily to 37 degrees. Phew, I sweat just looking at it and hope that the campsite has plenty of shade.
We drive a fantastically beautiful route through mountains, winding as always here in Spain and rocky and wooded and simply romantic. This time the nature is not desert-like but really green. After a long winding uphill tour, we arrive at the campsite. And stand in front of a closed gate. Everything is locked, but there is an intercom and the lady at the reception speaks very good English.
She opens the gate and we drive a little further to the campsite. Somehow it's very reassuring that the campsite is protected. Because everyone jumps around naked here, including the children. And it's reassuring that not just anyone can walk in here.
If I'm honest, I have a lot of thoughts about nudist camping. I wonder what kind of people they are. Why do people like being naked so much. Somehow I always have the feeling that I have to connect nudity with sexuality. And the most exciting thing is that none of that takes place here at all. People are naked, yes, but that's all. People sit naked by the beautifully curved pool, on the stone terraces and in the café. Quite normal. The children just flit around here as God created them. One teenager is wearing a bathing suit, which I can totally understand. Adolescents have to find themselves first. That is also accepted here. For dinner, which is even made vegan for us, there are all kinds of options. Gerd and I put something on, but it's not so super hot at 9 in the evening. Some only have a towel on their bottom, others are completely naked and only put a bath towel on their chair. The boss is also a waitress and serves us topless. In the kitchen, everyone wears at least a skirt or panties, the cook and cookess an apron.
The food is wonderful. But far too much. We just had a huge menu already at noon. But somehow we also enjoy the evening, drink a glass of wine and then go to bed at 10. Before that, however, we have to walk to the tent with the torch. Even that is beautiful here. There is no artificial light except in the café. I haven't seen such a dreamlike starry sky in such a long time. The last time I think was in Death Valley - there was no light pollution there either. I still don't know much about constellations, but this clarity is fantastic.
We crawl into the tent and a little later we are fast asleep.
+++++++
We hardly come into contact with the people, unfortunately neither of us speak Spanish and the Spaniards don't speak English or any other language we understand. we find that the Spaniards do have English at school. But they hardly speak it and that's why they are insecure. And somehow, we didn't realise, they are also enough in their own language. Personally, we find that a bit of a shame. We would like to learn more about Spain and about the way of life. We would like to learn something about the culture, politics, nature or just what keeps the Spaniards so busy.
For our trip around the world, we have decided that we need to learn at least Spanish and I need to learn more English. We simply want to be closer. We want to be able to talk more with people. Otherwise, a trip around the world is just like ticking off a list of destinations. But that's exactly what we don't want.
But what do we actually want? To beautiful places? To see historical sites? Get to know people? Experience adventure? Go to our limits? Experience something together? It's not really clear to us yet. We'll have to philosophise about it again...
