isabel

Day 8 – Daytrip to <b>Hondarribia and Hendaye</> Woke up to clouds again – not that I would know given you can’t see the sky from my ‘window’, but that’s what the internet said and sure enough when I got out there it was totally cloudy. Though rather warm and the sea was still sort of blue. About a five-minute walk from the hotel I found a café and got coffee and croissant and by the time I left it was sunny! And basically stayed that way all day.

I wandered around the old town for a short while to see it in morning light and then went to Gipuzkoa Plaza where the buses leave from for Hondarribia. There are several bus stops (a bench with plexi glass enclosure and signs listing the routes) along one side of the plaza, at least three go to Hondarribia, the E 20, 21 and 27. www.lurraldesbus.eus). They are pretty frequent, each line goes once or twice an hour. I took the E20 there and it does go through a lot of suburban sprawl and takes close to 45 minutes. The E21 is the express and goes via the highway and only takes about ½ hour. I got that one coming back. But either will do. There are two stops in Hondarribia between the old walled town on the hill and the harbor – really just the one main street. The first one is just below the Santa Maria Gate and the other is at the other end of the walled town, just before the “fisherman’s village”. Literally about a minute apart so doesn’t matter which one you get on/off at. The whole town, the upper walled town and the older fisherman’s village street can easily be walked in a few minutes – maybe half an hour one end to the other.

The whole town is very picturesque and I walked back and forth on all the streets several times. The main buildings are the Castle of Charles V (now the Parador) and the Church of Santa Maria and they are right next to each other. The church is very picturesque from the outside, but it was not open. There are two squares, Plaza de Armas which is the larger, site of the Parador and the TI and full of cafes, and the smaller one just around the corner, Gipuzkoa Plaza, even more picturesque. The main street, Kale Nagusia runs from the Parador, past the church to the Santa Maria Gate. The ‘streets’ are essentially pedestrianized, the few cars were obviously locals. Nice views to the hills and down to the harbor.

Just below the walled upper town are several streets of colorful Basque houses that make up what was once the fisherman’s homes. Now they are shops and restaurants but the main pedestrianized street, San Pedro Kalea, is lined with Plane Trees and benches and is very pleasant. The oldest house on the street dates from 1575. Parallel to it on the harbor side is the main traffic road through town, and on the other side is Santiago Kalea, the oldest street in town, used originally by pilgrims on their way to Santiago.

I got a chicken pastry thing for lunch, along with an ice tea and ate on a bench while people watching. The shop I got it in had mostly sweets and though the sign said something I though indicated chicken I wasn’t entirely sure. The woman spoke no English but did the ‘chicken dance’ to let me know what it was. Love sign language to overcome the language barrier.

Then I walked down to the harbor where a little boat that crosses the inlet to Hendaye was just leaving. It goes every half hour, back and forth for 1.90€ (takes 15 minutes).
Hendaye was a bit confusing. I walked through a bunch of restaurants to the Oceanside promenade which was nice. Some bright-stripped beach cabanas, some people surfing, a nice rock outcropping in the distance. Headed in the direction that said ‘center ville’ but after quite a bit I didn’t see what looked like an old town, and from my poor map and what I saw on the bus between Bayonne and San Sebastian (it stopped by the Hendaye Gare) I think it was quite a ways and didn’t look all that interesting so I just retraced my steps, stopped for a wonderful crepe, and took the boat back to Hondarribia, then the bus back to San Sebastian.
Spent the evening in the old town, very lively, and strolling the promenade watching a great sunset.

isabel

Sorry about the all bold post above. Clearly need to work on my formatting. I try to bold some things to make them easier for people to find the stuff they are interested in.

Day 9 - San Sebastian: Monte Urgull, Monte Igueldo, Paseo de la Concha

Absolutely gorgeous day, couldn’t ask for a better day for an exploration of San Sebastian. I hiked up Monte Urgull. There’s a selection of steps and paths – so you could walk mostly on paths, or mostly climb the steps, or do half and half. Takes about ½ hour (not counting stopping to take photos), fitbit said it was 44 flights – that’s to the top of the ‘castle’. Up top are some remnants of the old castle (Castillo de la Mota), and the statue of Christ at the very top. The castle houses quite a lot of exhibits on the history of the area, all in Spanish/Basque though, no English. Very nice views, definitely worthwhile.

Back at sea level I walked in the opposite direction this time, toward Monte Igueldo and the Peine de los Vientos (Comb of the Winds). From Hotel Niza it’s just over a half hour to the funicular, about 5 more minutes to the Peine de los Vientos. The funicular (3.15€ RT) is well signed, but it’s just behind the tennis courts which you really can’t miss, right where the beach ends (though the promenade continues a bit further to the sculptures.) It seems to run about every half hour (in each direction, one goes up while the other goes down), takes about 5 minutes. The view from there is the really extraordinary one. Just beautiful. There is a small tacky amusement park up there, but it’s easily ignorable. You’re going up for the view. There looked like one café (no one there). There is at least one hotel up there.

The Peine de los Vientos are pretty interesting and the view from there back to the city is nice, great waves crashing on rocks scene. I think it could be spectacular at sunset. I spent at least an hour just watching the waves crashing.


Day 10 – Another nice day. I explored the river front area. There are three nice bridges and a park like promenade all along between the Maria Christina Bridge and the Zurriola Bridge. At the end is the Playa de Zurriola, the “surfing beach”. Doesn’t have the nice promenade and the buildings are not as grand as the Paseo de la Concha, but the waves are definitely bigger. It was mostly children learning how – several groups of lessons going on. I walked the length of the beach along the water. Not Greek Isle warm, but definitely swimmable.

isabel

Day 11 - <b>On to Bilbao</b> The ride to Bilbao passed the ocean a couple times, and a few pleasant vistas of hills and farms but mostly it went through two medium sized ugly towns that I never heard of and took forever to drive through (to pick up or drop off one passenger each) or else highway. Driving through the suburbs of Bilbao was mostly ugly sprawl. There was a tram station with kiosk just behind the bus station, plus another tram station and the metro station near the front.

Hotel Conde Duque, Great location only 10-minute walk to Guggenheim along the river or 15 minute walk to old town, in the other direction also along the river. Hotel is right on the river, directly opposite the Zubizuri bridge which in turn is right in front of the tram stop Uribitarte (13 minutes from main bus station).

I explored the old town. It’s nowhere near as pretty a city as San Sebastian, and no drop-dead-gorgeous seaside promenade. But the river has wide pedestrian walks on both sides, with trees and benches. Some nice buildings but most seem to be mid-late 20th century boring. Some are nicely colored. But not quite the charm of many other Spanish towns I’ve visited. Still, very pleasant. I visited the Church of San Antonio and the cathedral. I didn’t find either spectacular but they were both ‘above average’.

The Mercado de la Ribera is huge, the top floor is food stalls – meat, ham, fish, produce, etc. The building itself is very pretty, with some stained glass windows. The ground floor has some stalls but half is taken up with pintxos bars Probably should of checked out others places in Bilbao, but this was so good (and lots of variety) so I just ate there every night.

I went upstairs in the train station looking for the stained glass window I’d seen photos of and there it was – very impressive.

Day 12 <b>Bilbao Guggenheim</b>
That it one interesting building, Inside and out. The building itself is really the highlight, but the art inside was pretty good too. I’m not especially a fan of modern art but this was a great assortment. The ‘main’ exhibit is a huge room filled with a set of steel sculptures, which I found only mildly interesting. But the entire second floor was a temporary exhibit and I lucked out in that it was Bill Viola, a video artist whose work is really fascinating. I was first introduced to him because he had an exhibit in Florence last spring and while we didn’t go to it (no time), there was a video introduction in the courtyard of the Palazzo in which it was held which was really interesting and got me hooked on his work. So that’s where I spent most of my time. The third floor is the museum’s permanent exhibit which includes one Monet and a number of post-impressionists that were nice, plus some more modern stuff like Warhol (150 Marilyn Monroe faces), etc. I like that there were only a few rooms of each kind of art from late 1900s through 20th century. There was also some sculpture by Eduardo Chillida who did the Wind Sculpture in San Sebastian. All in all I spent about 3 hours.

Day 13 <b>Bizkaia Bridge – Portugalate</b>
Woke to clouds AGAIN (all but one afternoon in Bilbao were cloudy) . Oh well, that’s why I give myself ‘extra’ time in places so I can ‘accommodate’ some crappy weather. But while the city is reasonably pleasant when the sun is out, it really is pretty dreary in the cloudy, misty, cool, foggy weather.

I explored the ‘new’ part of Bilbao. There are some very nice buildings scattered around, but they are overshadowed by boring mid 20th century cement and steel buildings so the overall ambiance is nothing special. There are some nice enough shopping streets and plazas with fountains. It’s not a bad city, but nothing you would really go out of the way for – if it weren’t for the Guggenheim.

So I took the metro (also ‘average’, very functional but boring cars, boring stations) to Portugalete. About 25 minutes. Between the one sign (TI and bridge) and common sense (go down the hill not up) I found the main part of the old town and the bridge. The Bizkaia Bridge is very tall, and it’s mechanics, the way it has a gondola to take cars and people to the other side, is interesting (and thus a UNESCO World Heritage site) but otherwise not especially beautiful or anything.

The old town of Portugalete has a couple nice little plazas with a few nice old buildings, and a promenade along the river with great views of the bridge. There was a group in folk costumes playing bagpipes, drums, etc. and dancing so that certainly added to the ambiance.

I took the gondola to the other side, Getxo. You can take a lift up to the top and walk over (€8) but it was grey and cloudy so I opted for the .40 cent gondola ride. The town on that side is Getxo and is more modern, supposedly more prosperous, but nowhere near as interesting. Had it been a nicer day you could walk a long ways past the fishing and sailboat harbor all the way to the cliffs and still get a metro back. But was too cloudy to interest me. So just took the metro back.

isabel

Day 14 <b>Santander</b>

I took another bus between Bilbao and Santander. It passed some nice scenery of cliffs and ocean. There aren’t all that many trip reports about northern Spain, but there are some, yet I don’t recall any that included Santander. Maybe compared to all the wonderful places there are in Europe it isn’t high on most tourists must see lists, but I found it a very pleasant city and was easily able to fill up the three days I had there.

Hotel Bahia is very snazzy – right on the water. Mostly the view is of industrial shipping area but at least it’s a view. The Brittany Ferry to England is docked right outside. The location is great, 5-minute walk from the bus station and literally next door to the cathedral and right on the water. Ten story modern hotel with all the amenities, large room, mini-bar, huge bathroom, Wi-Fi was sometimes fast, sometimes wouldn’t connect at all, more toiletries than I’ve ever gotten in a hotel. 89€

Santander is a large city stretched out along a bay that cuts in from the ocean. So there is a very long ‘seaside’ promenade. It was sunny and warm when I got there so I grabbed a couple of pintxos and walked along the water for a while. You could see a massive grey cloud heading this way and the forecast was for an afternoon shower so I headed back towards the hotel and explored the old town rather than walk too far away. Most buildings are post 1941 when a huge fire destroyed most of the old town but there are a few that were spared and the overall ambiance is very pleasant.

Day 15 – <b>Santander Magdalena Peninsula</b> Despite being a cloudy morning I headed out along the bayside promenade towards the Magdalena Peninsula. It’s a good 45 minute walk along the promenade and then Avenida de la Reina Victoria, which passes some interesting homes and has little belvederes with benches and pergolas overlooking the bay. Pleasant, though not stunning by any means (I guess I’m spoiled by vacations where every few steps brings more adjectives describing the wonderfulness/awesomeness/ breathing-taking-ness, etc.) The point where the peninsular leaves the main land is quite nice, pretty dramatic waves and rocks and a beach and the lighthouse in the distance. The whole peninsula is a park (there were several tour buses parked just before you get there, lots of people but not what I’d call ‘crowded’). There is a small ‘zoo’ with just 3 kinds of animals: penguins, sea lions and seals. The sea lions (3 of them) were sound asleep. The seals stayed under water but were swimming around. The penguins did come out and allowed themselves to be photographed so that was fun. There are three replicas of Spanish sailing galleons. The palace itself is a little mini castle but nice and photogenic and the sun came out at that point.

Day 16 <b>Santander walk to Lighthouse</b> Woke to clouds, but it was brighter and as the morning went on more and more blue sky. By noon it was gorgeous and stayed that way the rest of the day. There was supposed to be a bus line that goes all the way out to the lighthouse but I had not seen it and none of the bus stops that say that line (15) stop at them ever have it listed on the electronic readout that says when the next buses are expected. So I took another line (13) that goes close.

I walked through a nice park with a golf course off to one side, ocean to the other, up along the water, past a small beach, up a hill through a meadow to the lighthouse. Nice crashing waves on the rocks far below. Inside the lighthouse is an exhibition of paintings, photographs and sculpture of the lighthouses of northern Spain. Very nice. Café up there also.

Then I walked out to the point next to the lighthouse, great views of the lighthouse and the coast. In the distance I could hear bagpipes. So basically the next hour or so I was in Scotland – Walked along a path atop a headland with waves crashing on the rocks far below, through a large meadow, wild heather, the ocean, the lighthouse, a golf course off to one side – and bagpipes. And the sun came out and the clouds disappeared and the sky turned blue. Made up for the last couple weeks of mostly cloudy weather. Absolutely gorgeous.
It was a lovely day by then so I walked all the way back which is quite a few miles but goes along several cliffs and headland, past several beaches and then through the city. And by evening I was even able to see the Picos de Europa mountains across the bay, the first time in three days that it was clear enough to see them (previously had only been able to see the low green hills.

sundriedtopepo

Enjoying this very much so far Isabel. The threat of rain makes me think twice about returning to Northern Spain even though we were fortunate to get 2 and a half weeks in September with hardly any rain. But the stunning green color of the landscape...so beautiful!!

thursdaysd

Just catching up with this. Sorry you had such bad weather in France, it does make a difference! I stayed in the Ibis Styles in Bayonne and it was fine. Also bought day passes for the buses for two euro. I loved Biarritz but it was sunny both days I was there and I love coasts with rocks, recommend the Asian museum, didn't bother with the aquarium.

IMDonehere

There are two possible reasons why there were bagpipes. Although Santander is not considered Galicia, the Celtic migration passed through Galicia and the bagpipes are a regional instrument. Additionally when the English defeated the Spanish Armada many battles were fought along the coast of Galicia. There were Irishmen on the British ships, so if a ship went down and they made it to land, they thought they would have a better future in Spain than back in Ireland.

My wife's father is from Galicia and their name is Irish sounding. We did DNA tests and there was a strong Irish component.

isabel

sundried - Other than my time in France, most of the rest of the rain/cloudy weather was interspersed with sun shine. There were only a couple of places where I didn't get any sun at all. But I know what you mean, I usually plan trips where at least part of the trip is somewhere I can count on sun, and only go to rain-likely areas for a part of the trip.

thursdaysd - I know I read your report when planning this one. Should have stayed at the Ibis. At least one other fododite stayed there too. Oh well. And I did love Biarritz once the sun came out. More so than I had expected based on stuff read about it.

IMDonehere - We also heard bagpipes in Santiago. And I had read about the Celtic influence in the area - as well as the physical resemblance to that area - so I wasn't surprised to hear them. It was just such a nice experience to have that as the backdrop to such a beautiful walk. Really made that day.

isabel

Day 17 <b>Burgos</b> I took another bus, from Santander up on the green coast, to Burgos, on the hot dry plains. We left Santander on a rather cool, cloudy morning heading south along the N623, stopping in lots of little towns, sometimes the ‘stop’ was just stopping along the road – no building or even bus shelter. Nice, mountainous scenery and within a couple hours the sun came out and it was noticeably hotter. In 3½ hour we were going through the urban sprawl leading into Burgos. But while it was clearly ‘sprawl’ it wasn’t really ugly industrial areas like around Santander and Bilbao. AS the bus neared the center of town you could see the huge spires of the cathedral.

Headed out of the bus station and was immediately hit with glorious sunshine, warmth, incredible blue sky. So bright I was squinting even with sunglasses. Half a block further and there was the Puente de Santa Maria, in front of the Arco de Santa Maria. Through the Arco and across the square is one of the most magnificent cathedrals I’ve seen – so big – so white – so beautiful. And right next to it was my hotel. Talk about a great location.

Hotel Meson El Cid - There are actually three buildings: the restaurant, and two hotel buildings; reception is in the middle building (the white one) to the left. Very nice rooms, plenty large, huge bathroom with all the amenities, mini bar, great AC, good Wi-Fi. €69/double. You could pay extra for a cathedral view.

The TI is right off the square, helpful booklet and map and a nice lady who gave lots of pointers (including that the Museum of Human Evolution was free that day after 16:30). After lunch and a bit of a walk around town I figured I should check out the museum. It’s in a huge ultra modern building just across the river from Plaza del Cid. Nicely done – exhibits on Darwin (replica of the ‘Beagle’), on the various human predecessors, the brain, climate change, etc. All the exhibits are also in English.

Day 18 Woke to bright blue sky and sunshine! Had a great breakfast at a little cafe right outside the Arco Santa Maria (cafe con leche and a croissant for 1.80€!) I spent the morning exploring the old town. Things are really quite close together and easy to find way around. Went up to the castle. There’s a bit of walls that are still in tact and look nice, and the castle walls are OK. Not much inside the castle and the view, while extensive, is not all that picturesque since there’s lots of 20th century buildings in the background of the cathedral, etc. Still, worth the effort, it’s not that far. Several other town gates and impressive buildings.

In the afternoon I went to the cathedral. WOW – that really is a spectacular building. And I’m talking from an art and architecture perspective. But the size of the building is even more impressive from the inside I think than the outside. So much bigger than most other cathedrals. Some of the gold plated altar pieces in the various chapels are so over the top elaborate and intricate that they are just too gaudy. But the stone work in the basic building, especially the ceilings, is incredible. And the cloisters, always my favorite part of any church, did not disappoint. There are two levels, and the upper level is glassed in with stained glass. A lot of the stone is painted which is unusual for most cloisters, which are just natural stone. The lower level is equally nice and the views of the towers and spires from the cloister are beautiful.

By mid afternoon it was really hot (close to 99 degrees F) – not that I’m complaining, I’ll take hot an d sunny over cool and cloudy any day. But I decided I need something cool there just happened to be a smöoy frozen yogurt right around the corner. I ate it on a bench shaded by plane trees listening to a woman play an accordion. Just down the Paseo del Espelon was a man playing Spanish guitar.

Refreshed I headed for the Monasterio de las Huelgas. I had read, and I think the TI lady also said, that it was about a 15 minute walk but it was really more than a half hour. It’s a nice walk, along the river through the park like string of Paseos (Paseo de la Isla is especially nice) but definitely a good half hour not counting stopping to photograph some of the various fountains, sculptures and bits of ancient ruins scattered along it. It’s a mile and a half each way.
The Monasterio itself is another huge, impressive building – really both the cathedral and the monastery are more like several buildings joined together. The only way to visit is with a tour, and they only are given in Spanish. But Thursday afternoons admission is free so I figured it would be nice to see, even if I couldn’t understand any of it. Well I never figured it would take 1½ hour for a tour. Even the people who clearly understand Spanish were bored, this guy went on and on and on. The monastery is very austere compared to the cathedral, very little intricate carving. But there are numerous altarpieces and choir stalls and they were just as over the top elaborate as those in the cathedral. It was kind of interesting cause they seemed out of place in the gigantic, austere building. There were two beautiful cloisters. There was one interesting room that was clearly Moorish. It was interesting and I guess in retrospect I’m glad I went but if time is limited I would not recommend it given how far it is from the center and how long the tour is (plus I had to wait 20 minutes for a tour).

Day 19 More sunshine! In the morning I took a walk along the town walls to the Arco San Martin, the town wall gate that the Camino passes through on the way to Leon. There are a couple of small churches in the area with storks nests on their towers.

Both storks and swallows/swifts really say “Spain” to me. Found throughout Europe in the summer, I don’t recall any storks in the north, but all over the plains I spotted them, generally on top of church steeples, towers, even just tall poles, usually on the outskirts of cities. They build stick nests, often several on each church or tower. Swifts and swallows (they are two different types of bird from the same family and I’m never sure which it is I’m seeing) are seen all over Europe, especially early in the mornings and on a balmy summer evening flitting through the sky as it turns deep blue, then purple, then black. They race around church steeples, castle towers, and ancient bell towers, usually screeching. They build their nests under the eaves or on old stone ledges much more commonly than on any modern structures. Swifts eat insects and windborne spiders and when the weather is hot and their food has been carried high on thermals, they follow it into heavens, appearing as tiny specks in the summer sky. I spent a good deal of time just watching them do their thing. Storks, swifts and swallows all spend summers (March to November) in Europe and migrate in winter to Africa.

After my morning of medieval town walls and storks and swifts (I’m easily amused) I went back to the bus station to meet my husband who was arriving for Part 2 of my trip. Although a bit jet lagged (two flights and a bus ride from Madrid) he held up ok while I toured him all around Burgos, which over three days had become one of my favorite cities.

thursdaysd

Ah, I'm glad to hear I didn't make a big mistake skipping the monastery. I am not a fan of rococo or baroque, and it sounds like that's the style you were seeing. I was quite happy with the cathedral. Did you see the Da Vinci?

isabel

No I did not see the Da Vinci! Where was it? I hadn't even read about it. Oh well, guess I'll have to go back.


Day 20 <b>León</b> Woke up to blue sky again. That is more like it. We checked out by 9 and went to the same little café on Paseo del Espolon for breakfast – caffe con leche (€1.3) 3 croissants (1.50 -for all three!) and a fresh squeezed OJ(€2.90). Gotta love those prices.

This was the last bus ride of the trip – from Burgos to León. For most of the 3½ hour trip it followed the Camino – you could see the path and the signs running right along the road, and sometimes see pilgrims walking. About half the people who got on in Burgos were pilgrims, then at one of the stops, Carrion, a ton more got on. A very few got off at another small town but most stayed on till León. So they were essentially cutting out over a quarter of the total Camino by taking that bus ride. (183 km of the total 780 km) – or about 7-9 days of walking). The land is mostly flat and almost entirely golden wheat fields, with a few scattered fields of sunflower, and a few decrepit little towns. Way off in the distance you can see the mountains of the Picos de Europa (clear, but with a cloud on the other side of them). It was very pretty to look at – for a couple hours - but I know I would get bored with over a week of that same scenery (and I’m pretty sure it looks pretty similar for quite a few Km in both directions beside that stretch).

León is wonderful – really pretty. The walk from the train station to the center is about ½ mile and only took about 15 minutes. The center is all pedestrianized with gorgeous buildings (lots with the iron and glass ‘galleried’ balconies). The main buildings were all spectacular. The cathedral not quite as large and wonderful as Burgos but at least a 9.5 on a scale of 1-10 (Burgos being one of the few ‘10s’). Obviously this is just my opinion.

Hotel Via Leon – beautiful building, carefully restored to have all the modern amenities, nice furniture, large room, bathroom with circular tub/shower and two pottery sinks, great tile, mini bar, great AC, fast Wi-Fi, TV. Staff helpful and friendly. Location superb, one block off the main street just between the Casa de Botines/ Palacio de los Guzmanes and the Cathedral. Only 67€/night double. One of the few hotels we took breakfast on this trip. This was 6€ each which I felt was reasonable, most of the others were between 9 & 15€ and there is no way the two of us eat €30 worth of breakfast.

Although we didn’t get out to start exploring till mid afternoon it felt like we had all day. At 5:30 it was still super hot and sunny and looked and felt like noon. We mostly followed the Camino from one side of town to the Parador at the other – there are yellow arrows (painted on curbs and on posts) and bronze scallops shells imbedded in the sidewalk.

The Parador is a magnificent building, despite half of it covered with scaffolding. You can go into the lobby and look around, and via a separate entrance you can go into the ‘museum’, church and cloisters even if you are not staying there, and for free. The cloister had a great ceiling, detailing and pretty informative placards in English explaining the various sculptures. I had seriously considered staying here but the Hotel Via Leon looked so good and was considerably less, and it did turn out to be one of our favorites.

Right next to the Parador is the Roman bridge, which was in great shape and very pretty as well. We walked back along the river Bernesga, which has a wide park like area all along it between the Roman Bridge and the main bridge with the lion sculptures on all four corners – about 20 minutes.



Day 21 León

Highlights today (besides just being in beautiful León) were the cathredral and San Isidoro.

San Isidoro Basilica itself is free, and not all that interesting, just a medium sized dark church. But the ‘museo’, which includes the ‘Pantheon’ was very interesting. It’s the old Romanesque church that predates the current church and has one main room that is entirely frescoed with brightly colored paintings all over the ceiling and walls, and large, squat Romanesque columns. It’s a thousand years old and has only been ‘cleaned’ twice, never restored, and is still in amazing condition. You have to go on a tour to see it, and no photos are allowed – two things which are usually total turn offs for me but this tour was in English (cute Spanish guy who kept apologizing for his poor English but it was really quite fine and he was very interesting. Had to make do with postcards for pictures). The tour also included the cloisters (where photos were allowed), which was pretty good, and several rooms of artifacts. The top of the tower of the building has a ‘Cock’/rooster weathervane, the original is in the museum and he explained that roosters were a symbol of the Muslims and this one was made in the 6th century and brought over from Persia by them when they occupied Spain. All in all worth the 5€ each admission.

The cathedral was amazing. I had read it had incredible stained glass, as good as Chartres or Saint Chapelle. Well it’s been 15 years since I’ve been inside those, but I don’t remember them being this good. The cathedral itself is actually quite dark but the entire upper areas are stained glass, the stone wall between the windows more or less disappears and it’s all glass. Just beautiful. The free audio guide (admission is 6€) talked mainly about the rise of gothic architecture after the dark ages and how building developments allowed for higher churches with more windows and was pretty interesting. The cloisters was a separate entrance (€2) and was also worthwhile, thought not the best on this trip even.

There are several pretty plazas in León but my favorite was Plaza Santa Maria del Camino (aka Grano). No spectacular architecture, barely made it into the guidebooks, but the ambiance was just so nice. Very few people and I’m pretty sure they were all locals. In the morning it was mostly shaded (with one interesting building in full sun), and several people there with their dogs, two of whom were playing fetch with each other. In the afternoon most of square was hot and sunny, almost deserted except for a few people having drinks under the sun umbrellas at one small cafe. Totally different atmosphere.

We had a great dinner at “La Pintona” in Plaza San Martin. Great people watching.

Finished just as the lights were coming on, the swallows were swooping, the sky turning dark blue, lots of people still at all the restaurants and walking around eating ice cream, etc. Perfect summer vacation evening. Plaza Mayor was nicely lit but the cathedral was incredible. Very, very well lit and just gorgeous golden against the blue sky. Blue and yellow, the colors of the Camino.

thursdaysd

A little digging online suggests the Mary Magdalene painting may be "school of" rather than actually a Da Vinci. When I was there it was near the staircase while its usual home in one of the chapels was being renovated.

https://mytimetotravel.files.wordpre...2/p1040823.jpg

The stained glass in Leon's cathedral (which I preferred to Burgos but then I don't care for baroque) had all been cleaned since I was there in 2004 when it was quite dark. I did stay in the parador, which I found inconveniently located and definitely in need of renovation.

isabel

No I still don't recall the painting, oh well, I'm sure I miss a lot in these churches that are so crammed with beautiful things. And yes the glass in Leon Cathedral was truly amazing. I had read that it was, but so often things - especially in guidebooks but also in trip reports - are made to sound fantastic and then I find they don't live up to it. In this case it was <i>better</i> than I expected. Interestingly, while I find some major sites don't live up to their descriptions, I often find places that are not even mentioned that I think are just incredible. In the case of Leon it was the little square, Plaza Santa Maria del Camino (aka Grano).

I'm pretty sure it was your report that made the decision for us not to stay in the Parador - which I definitely feel was the right one. I wouldn't say it was a bad location but Hotel Via Leon was much better - and I think probably the room was nicer, though the Parador building was gorgeous. I think it would be a good place to stay if you needed to drive in and park (we didn't pick up the car till leaving Leon).

isabel

Day 22 Today we started the driving part of the trip. We reserved through Auto Europe which has always worked out great for us and it did this trip too. Car rental pick-up were just outside the train station, ours was through Avis. We had planned to stop at Vodaphone as we walked past it on the way to get a SIM card so we could use the iPhone GPS, but it was only 9:30 and they didn’t open till 10 so we figured we’d get one later. We never did and really didn’t need it. Car pick up was fairly easy, just wanted to see driver’s licenses (not international permits or passports). Filled out the paperwork and we got a nice new white Fiat 500. Very cute. Driving out of Leon was a breeze, just followed signs for Astorga and it led us out – a fair bit of sprawl to go through but well signed.


<b>Astorga</b>

Driving in was pretty easy, but we passed the parking lot just outside the walls and then couldn’t get back to it. Ended up driving right through the center of the town but fortunately it’s pretty small and traffic was light and there don’t seem to be limited traffic zones like in Italy. We parked right in front of the cathedral and I walked a block back to the TI where there were parking machines exactly like the one at home (I even showed a Spanish woman how it worked). The Cathedral and Gaudi’s building are right next to each other, both impressive from outside, though the Gaudi building is much smaller than it seemed in photos and no where near as “Gaudy” as his stuff in Barcelona. The cathedral is of course, smaller than Leon or Burgos but pretty significant for a town that size (about 12,000) and the towers are not the Gothic spires but almost look more like the towers on many Spanish town halls. But there is some elaborate carved stonework all around including some interesting things that look like mermaids, and a few females with exposed breasts, something you don’t normally find on a church. We walked to the other side of town, which took about 15 minutes tops, past the town hall and it’s plaza to the park on top of the walls. The walls are pretty impressive. Too early for lunch so we pushed on, driving out of town was also very easy, just followed signs for the A-6 and Ponferrada.


<b>Ponferrada</b>

A larger town, 66,000, but also very easy to drive into, just followed signs off the A-6 for the N-VI (which seems to be the entry road into all the towns) and then signs for the castle/town hall. That took us right to in front of the town hall and a parking garage under it. Ponferrada has a nice town hall on a large, mostly empty plaza. DH got to use his Spanish to ask directions to the castle, which was about a ten minute walk.

WOW – Now that’s what a castle should look like! Actually the entrance is the best part, while there are some good walls and a few towers, lots of it is not still in tact and it’s not that large, but still a great castle (and I’ve been to a lot of them). There are quite a lot of interesting displays in one tower on the castle and medieval castles and life in general, most with English translations. We spent at least an hour there (open daily, not closed on Monday which my literature had said was the case, €6 pp entry).

By now it was 3pm, about 100 degrees and I was starving and most of the town had closed down for siesta, so we went back to the town hall plaza where we’d seen a kabob place – quite good actually. Then managed to drive out and find the A-6 again just by following signs. The printed maps from google were relatively useless and the AAA map totally useless.
The drive to Lugo was about an hour of wide open highway. Clearly going up into the mountains, now all around us, very green and totally different from the Burgos-Leon area. Also found the way into Lugo, and the hotel with no problems (At this point I was thinking “this is too easy, something’s goona go wrong”).


<b>Lugo</b>

Hotel Gran Lugo is a big 6 story glass modern building just about a five minute walk from the town walls. Parking garage underneath. Huge shinny lobby. It looks like it was a very elegant hotel at one time and is really in pretty good shape. Everything clean and comfortable, huge room, huge bathroom, fast wi-fi. For a one night stop over to see Lugo this is a great hotel.

The walls are certainly impressive, encircling the whole town, numerous access points to walk on top of them which is a wide flat walk all the way around. The town, both inside and outside the walls is not all that picturesque but it was still fun to walk around both on top of the walls and along the outside. Since the town is right up close to the walls there’s not a lot of good place to appreciate them from a distance unfortunately.

The cathedral is just “OK” (ABC syndrome), I like it better from the back. The Plaza Mayor is one of the nicest I’ve seen with a large area with roses and trees and grass and lots of benches and one of the prettiest town halls so far. And the buildings surrounding it are all lovely. Lots of shopping streets, a few with bars/restaurants, several other small squares. Overall a very pleasant town that would be a nice place to live but not too exciting to visit except for the walls, which is what makes it a tourist spot. Still, didn’t see many tourists (one tour bus), a few pilgrims. Lugo is on the “Primitive” Camino, the very first one from Oviedo to Santiago back in the middle ages. Few do it now, very hilly around here. But there are Camino signs and a few pilgrims. Making us wonder how many pilgrims take buses between the interesting towns.

We walked portions of the walls in the mid afternoon (hot and sunny), in the evening (nicely lit) and again the following morning (shady and cooler) and were glad we did.

julia_t

Thank you for your detailed trip report, I've enjoyed reading it.

Having walked the Camino Frances myself, from Saint Jean Pied de Port, over 2 years in 5 stages/trips to Spain, and spent several days in Bilbao, your words have brought back some forgotten memories.

Walking the Camino is an incredibly memorable experience, indeed a life-changing one. It has the power to alter one's perspective on the way one lives one's life.

Did you get to meet and talk with any pilgrims?

Looking forward to the conclusion of your TR.

isabel

julia - Even though I didn't go to Northern Spain <i>because</i> of the Camino, it certainly added a lot to my trip. We met lots of pilgrims but just for short periods as we weren't walking the route or staying in the albergues. But as the trip went on we became more and more 'obsessed' with the Camino and we're thinking about going back to walk part of it. What were your favorite parts? If you were going to advise someone who wanted to just walk 3-5 days or so which part would you suggest? I've done a lot of reading about it since we got back, quite interesting the different reasons people give for walking it, perspectives before versus after walking it, why they only do parts of it, etc. I guess I have more thinking to do about it.

isabel

Day 23 & 24 <b>Santiago de Compostela</b>

Woke at 7:30 to such thick fog that I couldn’t see the building across the street, but by 8 it was mostly sunny. We had breakfast at “Don Leon” café a block from the hotel (towards the walls). Excellent mini pain au chocolate (12 for €1.95) plus caffe con leche and fresh squeezed Oj, then took another walk around Lugo - inside, outside and on top of the walls. The best views of the walls are from the ‘other’ side of the cathedral (away from the hotel) and there are several nice gates into the walls. There’s also a small plaza and a few medieval looking streets but also some larger busier traffic filled streets. But there was blue sky mostly and it was nice and cool. I love how totally different the atmosphere of a town can be at different times of the day.


Left the hotel around 11:30, desk clerk told us to go back out the way we came in to get to the A-6, which we easily did. About 40 minutes of highway driving, very easily followed signs for the N634 to Santiago. Found our way into town and onto the street we wanted and even spotted the market so I knew the hotel street was to the left, but it looked so narrow and steep we thought it couldn’t be the right one, there was a big P (for parking) sign that did also say H (for hotel) and listed both hotels on the street, including ours. But the writing was so tiny we didn’t see it. But after we passed it I knew that had to be the street so without too much trouble we were able to reverse direction and make the turn. We even saw the street sign saying Rúa Das Trompas so knew we were on the right street, but went past the entrance since it looked like a parking garage for the other hotel (which it also is), just past that we saw the large ‘Belvis’ Parking lot so knew we were in the right area. But then the road went on and on, one way and no way to get back. So we ended up driving around and around for at least half an hour trying to get back to where we wanted to be (and had been). Eventually found it and in retrospect see that Hotel Miradoiro de Belvís was on the sign. But seriously, they need a MUCH better sign.


Hotel Miradoiro de Belvís – A good location with parking just outside the pedestrian area of Santiago. Finding it was difficult mainly because the road is so small and steep you don’t think it can be the correct place, and the sign is so tiny you can’t read it from a moving car, even a very slow moving car. But once found (this took at least a half hour after the first time we passed it, signage in Santiago is not good) it is a good location for walking into town. It’s a rather charmless 20th century motel but clean, good sized room and bath, nice reception area and does include free parking. Good Wi-Fi. Nice view of a monastery set in a large park, and a soccer field just outside (we watched a game from our window).


It was completely cloudy but no rain (just some mist at one point) and quite cool – barely 70. Santiago was just about the most crowded place in terms of tourists I’ve been the whole three weeks so far.

Being the end point of the Camino de Santiago makes it the third-most-holy city of the Christian world (after Rome and Jerusalem). But it’s also a university town and a marketplace for Galician farmers.

It has cobblestone arcaded streets, beautiful gold/grey churches and buildings and numerous plazas. Although a relatively small size- 15 minutes walk from one side of the pedestrianized center to the other, it is quite confusing until you figure out your way around and you can walk in circles trying to find your way out. Immediately surrounding the pedestrianized center is a more modern shopping district and a lot of one-way streets. Neither logic nor signage are strong points of Santiago.

Santiago also has the dubious distinction of being the rainiest city in Spain, but the showers are frequent but brief and often consist of just a lot of mist. Every time I checked Accuweather it just said “mist”. The cathedral is coated in orange and yellow mosses and grass pokes up from the walls and cobbles.

The front of the cathedral is covered with scaffolding but there are four plazas surrounding it and lots of other beautiful buildings. But to me the best part about Santiago is the arcaded stone streets – two main ones and a few others, plus a lot of tiny plazas – making the core of the old town very pretty and unusual. Of course with the dark grey sky and tons of people it was not a very rewarding photographic experience. Tons of tourist shops.

Mid afternoon and just about every restaurant was full. We got the only empty table at Café de Paris. Food was OK, not great but it was fairly inexpensive (21€ for two burgers with fries, 2 beer, ice tea, and caffe con leche.)

The cathedral is really sprawling but despite having four squares surrounding it, I just didn’t get the same ‘sense’ as with Burgos or Leon. Inside it was nothing compared to Burgos or Leon but it was free. Quite dark and Romanesque inside, some side chapels, main alter elaborate glittery gold. Didn’t do much for me.

Weather while we were there was “mist – light rain – just cloudy – sun came out for 20 minutes - repeat” all day long. In the evenings the lights reflect off the wet streets and it’s really quite pretty, but in the daytime the rain darkens the stone making it less pretty and also less pleasant to just wander.

cheska15

isabel this is a great report, and I'm really enjoying reading it. Leon and Burgos sound Ike they are my kind of places. I think I will add some days.

cheska15

isabel. Hope you don't mind if I ask you a question. Was there a particular reason you travelled by bus rather than train.
Thanks

sundriedtopepo

Ah yes the greyness of SdP. Oh and the signage...this is bringing back memories