We've gotten back from four weeks in Northern Spain, pretty much following Maribel's ideal itinerary. Thanks, Maribel! Here's a brief summary for future travelers.

A great book to take along is The Collected Traveler Northern Spain, Three Rivers Press, collected by Barrie Kerper. It contains essays about Northern Spain reprinted from many sources (New Yorker, Gourmet, New York Times.) We learned a lot about Northern Spain from it. It's not a "what to see" book, though many places are discussed in detail.

Hi Marija,
Been wondering how your trip had gone. I'm so happy you had a great time. I LOVE the Collected Traveler book! It enriched our travels in beautiful Green Spain so much this year and finally got us to the Chillida-Leku Museum outside of S.S and Fagollaga for lunch. The chapters on the Camino de Santiago I thought were particularly good, and Amanda Hesser's "Kicking back in Northern Spain" took us to Tresgrandas.

p.s. I was interested to read your reaction to Santillana. Our friends traveling with us there 2 years ago felt exactly the same way-far too many tourists and souvenir shops hiding the original quaintness of the village.
But they absolutely fell in love with San Sebastián and can hardly wait to return.

For insight into San Sebastián's obsession with food, I can recommend the "Where the Boys Are..." chapter of Anthony Boudain's "A Cook's Tour", which took him to the all male gastronomic societies of S.S.'s Parte Vieja, Old Quarter.

When you've rested, I'd love to hear more about your adventures.
Welcome back!

We spent the first week in San Sebastian at the Londres in a sea view room. The rooms aren't large but the bath is, and the location can't be beat. The goal of this part was to eat, and the food was incredible. We ate degustacions at the following:

Arzak: excellent, well polished and orchestrated service.

Fagollaga: the only meal that was too adventurous for me, (raw or slightly cooked dishes with accompanying liquids in shot glasses.) My husband was more positive, but even he didn't like the raw horse mackerel. We both thought the Iberian streaked bacon with almond milk was wonderful.

Akelare: beautiful setting, adventurous, innovative dishes without being too far out. Our favorite.

Mugaritz: lovely countryside location. We had the local specialty menu which included great cheeses. Would highly recommend a meal here.

We also had dinner at Kukuarri and that was a disappointment. The hotel made reservations for us. When we arrived we found that the entire restaurant was booked by some college age handball team tournament. We were the only non tournament eaters. We were offered the lunch menu (though it was dinner). The food was good, but it was obviously a disappointing dinner. If it wasn't Saturday night we would have left.

The tapas bars are beyond description. In particular Maribel's suggestion of Cuchara de San Telmo was excellent. It's closed on Monday night. Make a turn off 31 Augusto towards a dead end with a church on it. It's at the end on your right when facing the church. You won't see food on the counters, dishes are cooked to order.

We picked up a car in San Sebastian and headed for Santillana del Mar. We were unable to reserve the paradors, despite numerous attempts and ending up staying at the well located and charming casa del Organista. We ate at the parador Gil Blass and at Altimara. Both great meals. It rained heavily the day we were in Santillana (the only really rainy day of out trip) which probably added to our negative outlook about the town. We stayed in Santillana for easy access to the reproduction cave of Altimira. We enjoyed the reproduction but didn't think it was as well done as the reproduction of Lascaux in Dordogne.

From Santillana we headed to the lovely parador at Cangas de Onis for two nights. Did the usual: Basilica at Covadonga, the lakes, lunch at el Casin. Felt like Switzerland. We walked to town and had lunch at the bar/restaurant that overlooks the old bridge.

Next was a night at Ribadesella at Villa Rosario. Vibrantly painted hotel right on the water, beautiful rooms. We had a great dinner at Basilio's on the waterfront. (Never a bad recommendation from Maribel!) Then on to Cudillero and the Casona del Pio where we had an outstanding lunch. One of our best meals.

Two nights at the Hotel Rectoral in Taramundi went quickly. We went to Texin and saw the old mills, etc. In Taramundi we stayed in Maribel's room 16 with a terrace overlooking the valley. The meals were great and the staff incredibly patient with my very limited Spanish.

From Taramundi we drove to Santiago Compostela and three nights at the parador. Despite the negative comments here about the parador, we had a fine room and enjoyed our stay. Don't miss the pilgrim's mass at noon that features the incredible botafumeiro, a large incense burner that is hoisted on ropes by eight men and swings wildly about the length of the short axis of the church. The performance is at the end of the Mass, so don't leave early. If you just want to see the device in action show up at the side doors at about 12:30. That's where you want to be to get a view of it swinging above your head. We went back for a second look. People clapped after the performance! Not to be missed. We ate at Toni Vicente, another superb meal.

Then on to Viana do Castelo in Portugal where I messed up big time. I thought I was reserving the much talked about pousada, but turns out I had reserved casa melo alvim instead. (I thought melo alvim was a subtitle to the pousada!) The hotel was a beautiful Relais and Chateaux, but didn't have the setting of the pousada which we did go and see. Had a really fine lunch at las Armas in Viana do Castelo.

Next to Bussaco and the Palace Hotel. Beautiful! We spent two days wandering the dense forest, looking at the remains of various shrines left by the barefoot Carmelite monks that inhabited the forest. The hotel is indeed spectacular and the food excellent.

We returned for two nights at the parador in Baiona (got it right this time!). Had a great meal at la Mosquito in town. The seafood everywhere was incredible. We really enjoyed the parador and its setting. Had to drive back to Santiago to return the car and fly to Barcelona.

Unwittingly we arrived in Barcelona for the culmination of the feast of la Merce. One day was a holiday when the entire town milled about the old city. We saw fireworks, numerous parades, dancing, etc., etc. It did make it hard to get into restaurants. We loved Tenorio. (Another thanks to Maribel!) We stayed at Le Meridien on the Ramblas which was a great location for viewing the festivities from our balcony. We had stayed there once before but this was probably our last time staying on the Ramblas. Will try a different location next time.

Had tapas at Irati, and paella and fish stew at Sete Puertes, old favorites. We did try La Dolce Herminia, but though the prices were great, the food was ordinary.

Northern Spain is a wonderful destination. It's surprising that, except for Bilbao and Santiago, there are so few Americans. We only met two American couples. The food we had on this trip was the best of any trip we've taken, including a vacation in which we feasted at Michelin three stars in Burgundy! We can't wait to go back to San Sebastian. So much eating still to be done!

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Message: Marija

I enjoyed your report on your trip particularly as we are planning a similar adventure for next May.

Do you consider your detour from Galicia into Portugal to Bussaco & the stay at the Palace Hotel to have been worthwhile? It does look to be a wonderful Hotel.

Regards.

This is my favorite part of Spain! Spent most of three weeks there a year ago Sept. Your report brought back many memories. We were in S.S. with local friends who took us to so many places for exquisite tapas, plus a dinner. But...we were so busy eating and drinking that we didn't get the names of the places down. We'll have to check with your list and with Maribel before we go again. Cova was also great with tips on Bilbao. Welcome home!

We don't regret the detour to the Palace Hotel. We debated whether to go that far, but decided in favor of it based on the extremely favorable comments we had read. The roads were fine, though the traffic through Porto was heavy. We really enjoyed hiking in the papal woods and the hotel and food were excellent. The outdoor dining area is gorgeous. If you don't like the first room they show you, keep asking to see others. The first room we were shown was almost below ground level and quite unappealing. We asked to see another and it was fine. Have a great trip!

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