Thursday August 23 Arguedas

Ooooops!!!!

Once again it has been a day with a few dramas with Ruakiwi but all ended well. This morning we sat over the map deciding in what direction we would head as don’t want to be arriving at the coast until after the weekend, especially as it will be the end of the holidays for many people. Decided to have a drive south and see a bit of the countryside and get a feel for this region of Spain. We took the motorway south through Huesca to Zaragoza then north west to Tudela. The road opened out from the mountains into vast plains that reminded us of Arizona, dry and arid but also large areas of land irrigated from the Rio Ebro and growing maize and even sunflowers. Also, large areas of olive trees. It was an interesting drive and with double lane highways much of the way Ian was able to relax and look around more than he did yesterday!
There had been a bit of a noise developing when Ian put the brakes on and he suspected that maybe it was a stone but when we stopped for a lunch break it really graunched. Nothing for it but to google a Mercedes place and couldn’t believe our luck to find one about 45 minutes north in Tudela, not far from the motorway where we were going to be turning off for our nights stop. Had a bit of a wait as google could tell us that they weren’t open until 3.30!! Need to get used to Spanish hours!
It was easy to find and we parked outside and waited until they reopened. We wrote what we needed done into google translate. The workshop doors opened at 3.30 and thankfully for google translate as the foreman did not speak English. Within minutes the mechanic had Ruakiwi started, drove it a short distance then inside and up on the ramps. It only took a few minutes and he could tell us “brakes”. The service was amazing, they got straight onto it, told us it would be ready at 6pm and we waited in an airconditioned waiting room …. Sort of felt familiar!!! When the job was done they showed us the disc pad with the pad totally missing which had scored the rotor. They replaced both sides. Just can’t believe the excellent service that Mercedes give.
We were back on the road again and a 20 minute drive to the small town of Arguedas and a free overnight camping spot. Had read about the cave dwellings but couldn’t believe what we saw. The parking for campers is right underneath high cliffs dotted with entrances to many cave dwellings. These were developed in the 19^th and 20^th century by local people who could not afford to buy an ordinary home and some were still lived in during the 1950’s. Utterly amazing.
There were only 3 other campers when we arrived, but by dark there were about 20. We got talking to Thierry and Valerie, a very friendly French couple who spoke excellent English. We ended up having a great evening with them as they shared some of the good places to visit in Spain. They are returning to France now after a three week holiday in Spain. At night the caves are floodlit with coloured lights and look really spectacular. A great place to end the day.  

Very much like Arizona

Cave dwellings

Somehow made me think of Apartments for the dead.

The coloured lights at night were pretty spectacular.