Saturday 14 September On Saturday morning our flight was scheduled to leave Almeria at 10.50am. The airport is not large although it handles international traffic from around Europe, and both Thomas Cook and Easyjet fly in from the UK. We planned to leave Vera around 8.00am, with the hour drive giving us nearly 2 hours leeway before the flight. First job was to get the car to the door so we could load it. Thankfully, by now a Council worker had opened a drai...

Saturday 7 to Friday 13 September We are up on time and down to an empty reception. On Irene's advise Tony heads out to the Metro station taxi rank where, even at 6.30am, there is a taxi waiting. No problem heading to Terminal 4 at the airport this early in the morning. The usual nonsense at the automated check in and security. Tony had checked in on line so the machine behaved itself, but so many others had problems. Grab some breakfast, a book from W H Sm...

Friday 6 September It is still dark when we get out of bed at 6.00am. No tea or coffee in the room unfortunately, although in other respects the 3 Star Codina Hotel is modern and comfortable. We are packed by 7.00am and decide to head out for a walk. With luck we will find a cafe/bar open with something for breakfast. The hotel buffet and bar don't open until 7.30am which only gives us half an hour before Irene wants us to depart. We find said bar close by...

Thursday 5 September Today we booked a small group tour, but as we were the only clients we had a private tour. Ainhoa is waiting for us so we head out a few minutes early. Our first stop is at a roundabout close to the airport between Irun and Hondarribia, close to the crossing of Canal Amuteku. Poor Ainhoa cannot get the car to start and we are blocking one of the lanes on the main highway in to town. In Spain, every vehicle is required to carry a dayglow ...

Wednesday 4 September We have a relaxed start time of 9.15am this morning, so breakfast at Cafe Calenda. Jamon y queso bocadillo, un thumo de naranca y un cafe con leche por favor. Very continental. We leave on time to wheel back to the bus station to catch the 10.00am San Sebastion service. There seems to be some confusion however, and Irene disappears for a period, reason unknown. However, once on the bus it seems that the bus was nearly cancelled and w...