isabel

Buses in that region seemed to be more convenient, frequent, and economical. In most countries, with a few exceptions, I definitely prefer trains but I remember from previous trips to Spain that the buses were great. Some of the routes this trip there would be only one or two trains a day whereas there were buses every few hours. In the case of Burgos the train station was to far to walk from the center where I was staying whereas the bus station was a five minute walk. The trip between Bayonne and San Sebastian required a change of trains whereas the bus was direct. Then I found busbud.com and that was so easy (although reserving on the Alsa site is easy too). None of my trips were more than 3 1/2 hours so didn't feel the need for walking around or using a WC. The only thing I don't like about buses is that you have to put your luggage underneath so can't keep an eye on it. Nothing ever happened but I guess it could. So I carried a small back pack and my 'extra' tote on board with me and put the suitcase underneath with not all that much in it.

isabel

Day 25 <b>Ribadeo</b>

Mix of clouds and sun all day, quite pleasant. Found our way out of Santiago without much difficulty and onto the N634 which for a while merges with the A6 and then goes on it’s own and then the signs for Ribadero want you to take the A8 but we just kept to the N634, which for part of it is the Camino del Norte. Saw a number of walking and biking pilgrims. Lots of hills, farmland, forests, few tiny towns.

Ribadero is supposedly only 8,000 population but feels much larger. Not an especially lovely town though nothing wrong with it. The harbor down below full of mostly leisure but some fishing boats is nice, there are a few back streets winding down to the water that are picturesque (one of which is the Camino, with more Camino signs than I’ve seen so close together), the main square has a few interesting buildings. The walk to the lighthouse is wonderful so that, plus the proximity to Cathedral Beach are the highlights.

Hotel O Cabazo is very nice. Has a huge free, gated parking lot with garden and outside terrace to sit on and a restaurant. The room was huge, nice furnishings, mini bar, fast Wi-Fi, about a five minute walk from the main plaza in town. View of the estuary.

We walked into town and found a café/restaurant on one of the main shopping streets in the pedestrianized part of town with outside tables. We explored the tiny old town, walked down to the harbor and then walked to the lighthouse, about 3km to the lighthouse but the path continues for a long ways. Beautiful, pleasant paved walk as far as the lighthouse, then dirt path. Lighthouse very picturesque set on a tiny island just off the shore. Lots of great photo ops. Lots of great wave watching opportunities.


Day 26 <b>Cathedral Beach</b>

About 7 km west of Ribadeo (along either the N634 or the local beach road) is the tiny village of Rinlo. I have no idea what the population there is but we didn’t even see any shops, just a collection of houses. And from there it’s just another km to Cathedral Beach/ Praia das Catedrais (large signs on the N634, can’t miss it). There are a couple of medium sized parking lots, a small café/bar, and some WCs. It’s apparently the second most visited place in Galicia after Santiago de Compostela itself.

We headed out so as to get to Cathedral Beach as early as possible. A combination of luck and good planning resulted in our having a great experience. I checked the tide charts (available on line, months in advance) and was able to organize our visit on a day when low tide was at 9:00 – meaning the best time to visit would be between 7 and 11:00. We got there shortly after 8:00 and there was no one checking reservations, and although there were some people already on the beach it was largely empty. By the time we left around 10:00 there was a line to check reservations, two tour buses in the parking lot and loads of people. But we had a wonderful visit.

Definitely an interesting and beautiful beach with large rock cliffs coming right down to the sand and at low tide, tidal pools left around the rocks, many in very pretty turquoise, pink and light blue colors. There are several arches, some quite high and narrow – thus the comparison with a cathedral.

Shooting through them does make very striking images. Even with the relatively few people there it was a bit of a challenge to get shots with no one in them as everyone seems to need to take photos of their companions doing stupid poses and then they are so inept apparently at taking photos that they have to study them and retake them. Really, stupid should be outlawed. Really - photograph the gorgeous scenery, take a shot or two of your companions, but the endless silly poses.... But I digress. Anyway, I did manage to get some really nice shots of the arches, the rocks, the beach in general.

It was definitely worth going and I’m very glad I didn’t listen to the people who advised against going because it would be too crowded. We did get lucky in that low tide was early in the day and we got there on the early side.
The place is just beautiful (usually comes up near the top of the list of most beautiful beaches in Europe) and that, combined with the limited amount of time people can visit (due to being underwater except around low tide) result in some pretty awful crowds. Because of this the local authorities have restricted access and require reservations during the summer. Registration online is free and easy. I had made reservations but no one was checking when we got there.

The drive to Cudillero on the A-8 was fast and pretty, with rolling green hills and farm on one side and frequent glimpses of the sea on the other.

<b>Cudillero</b>

Pretty close to a “10” as far as cute towns go. This tiny village (population 5300) is so cute and colorful it could almost be on the Amalfi Coast. By far the most picturesque village we saw anywhere on the north coast of Spain. For centuries it’s been a fishing village and there was still an active fishing fleet. The houses cascade down the hillside to a tiny port on a narrow inlet. Despite its touristy feel, Cudillero is reasonably relaxed, even in mid-July. The surrounding coastline is a dramatic sequence of sheer cliffs and fine beaches.

It had everything: seaside setting with lovely harbor with pretty little boats and a nice lighthouse, and a town wrapped around the harbor and climbing up the steep hills. There are walks with steps going up all around the town, with bright blue painted railings (could be on a Greek island) up to several miradors with great 360-degree views of the water and the town. All along the walks are nicely kept flowers. The paths were fairly well marked, although that wasn’t really necessary as you could pretty much see the entire town from wherever you were. There’s a 16th century church, a lighthouse, an open-air fruit/veggie/ miscellaneous market down by the water and a small main square (actually more of a rectangle) full of seafood restaurants and cafes. Mostly its houses (some, but by no means all, of which are now B&Bs), some painted bright colors, others white with colorful trim (the colors supposedly correspond to each family’s fishing boats, which are the same color. I read about this in other villages on the Northern Spain coast).

We hiked as far up as you could go, all around the town, down by the water and had a drink and snack at a café on the main square and were still ‘done’ in about three hours. You can smell the sea and hear the violin player down by the harbor; the music carries all the way up to the top of the town. Sea gulls swooping below you. Sound of waves, scent of sea air. Lots of restaurants down by the harbor, in that way it’s like any ‘tourist’ summer town. But no big hotels, no tour groups, no one spoke English, not one English menu anywhere.
Perfect sunny weather and 75 degrees with light breeze. Arrived at 11, parking lot ¾ full, left at 2, parking lot full. Perfect stopover for three hours of lunch and exploring.


Drive to Oviedo along the A-8 was still mostly pretty, but close to Aviles it become a slag-heap for a good while, tons of industry, ugly and smells terrible. Fortunately this doesn’t last all that long and you turn south towards Oviedo.


<b>Oviedo</b>

We easily found the hotel right on the main street that the highway (66a) had turned into, parking underneath. Checked in. Aparthotel is essentially a normal hotel but with a kitchenette.

We easily drove to the ‘monuments’. Amazing, beautiful. Interiors can only be viewed by tours, only in Spanish 3€ each. The ‘monuments’ are examples of ‘pre-Romanesque’ style architecture. The fact that these buildings have lasted 1,200 years more or less intact, despite wars and bad weather, is just as fascinating as their unique architectural style. There are 14 still left in Asturius, 3 of them in Oviedo. The two up on the hill above town are Santa Maria (hunting lodge) and San Miguel de Lillo (church).

Mostly cut off from the rest of Christian Europe by the Muslim invasion, the tiny kingdom that emerged in the 8th century Asturias gave rise to a unique style of art and architecture. It was a precursor to the Romanesque, the first architectural style to be used across Europe since the fall of the Roman Empire.

Finding way back to hotel not so easy, got as far as train station then made wrong turn, took at least half hour to drive what was probably 5 minutes. Driving around the ‘modern’ town of Oviedo itself was pretty boring. It’s a fairly large city, 20th century buildings all around, not at all shabby but not that interesting. But then we walked to old town and it was much better than expected. Beautiful cathedral, many plazas, lots of old Spanish buildings and lots of late 19th /early 20th century era buildings as well.

The old town had a lively atmosphere with numerous restaurants and siderias – which is a form of hard cider (often from crabapples) which seems to be as popular as wine in Asturias, Galicia and Basques regions. All over the region we saw waiters pouring the sidra by holding the bottle high in one hand and the glass low in the other. The reason for this is that cider becomes flat quickly so pouring it from a height of about 3 feet aerates it (natural carbonation). You only pour one gulp at a time. There are also devices that sit on tables that accomplish this, but the dramatic flare of the waiter pouring the cider is more impressive.

julia_t

Wonderful photos, Isabel.

If you want to walk 5 days, well you could walk the last 100km from Barbadelo or Morgade to SdeC and get your compostela, but that's still 20km a day of not particularly easy walking. And that last 100km stretch (ok, it's 116km from Sarria) tends to be very busy and is rather different from other parts of the Camino as a result.

My favourite stretches? This is a difficult one, because almost every day I've walked has had good and bad parts. Often the best days are due to the people you walk with. I've never got bored because there's always something to look at, listen to, though some kms which run beside a road can be a bit uninteresting.

There are parts of the Camino I;d walk again in a heartbeat, other parts I'd not want to bother with, but that's like life, we all have things we don't want to do.

But there are moments on the Camino which are utterly magical. You feel exhilarated, ecstatic, and filled with the most complete joy. I've experienced them walking over the Pyrenees climbing up to the final pass over the top; topping a rise just before Ages (close to Atapuerca) under a perfect dome of blue sky; watching the sun rise on the Meseta; being the first one to walk up to O Cebreiro once snowy morning, walking in tracks left by a large dog (or wolf?) and then down the mountain still in 6 inches of snow along untrodden paths through trees; and other special moments too. Those are the moments when one would be happy to die because life just cannot be any more perfect at that very moment.

If I had to pick 3 days, I'd pick random days - like from Puente la Reina along the ancient Roman road to Villatuerta or Estella. The alternative (and original) route from Poblacion de Campos to Carrion de los Condes. From Rabanal to Cruz de Ferro and stay in Acebo, and walk down to Molinaseca the next morning (that descent is sooo tricky, but worth doing). Climbing up to O Cebreiro through the forest. And taking the old route from Tricastela to Sarria via an overnight in Samos - so special, and such a lovely walk.

I've posted here a bit about my Camino - click on my name to see what I wrote, and there's a link to my facebook 'blog' page - it's open so anyone can see it, even w/o a fb account.

isabel

Thanks Julia. I did read your trip reports before I took my trip and there was lots of helpful (and inspirational) information in them. I'm thinking if we do go back to walk parts of it we'd do the beginning and the end. We also really want to do some walks in England and have started planning for that so not sure when (if) we'll get back to the Camino. Hopefully we will, cause it seems that even though there are other great walks in England and elsewhere there is something special about the Camino.

isabel

Day 27 <b>Ribadesella</b>

The A-8 to Ribadesella was fast (less than an hour) and pleasant. Ribadesella is a nice, rather large town (about 6,000 but looks bigger) right on the coast, set just inside the estuary of ariver. So the old town (which looks to have a very few ‘old’ buildings, and a good number of early 20th century and a bunch of later buildings) is set back, then there’s a large estuary (with a bridge across it) and then the ‘beach’ town houses and then the open water. There are promenades all around, and the inner harbor has a few working fishing boats (lobster/crab catching baskets stacked along the waterfront). The ocean side beach had pretty good surf and there were quite a lot of surfers in the water, despite the cool cloudy weather, but the beach was mostly deserted.

We drove through town looking for a “P” sign but never saw one, there was free parking all along the main street and the waterfront and we literally got the last space. Unfortunately it was totally cloudy while we were there because I think you can probably see some impressive mountains in the background when it’s not clouded over. We walked around the town – several streets parallel to the main street which skirts the waterfront, there was a cheese market going on in the main square. We got caffe con leche and croissants at a 1950s type place (they had even had Werther’s originals in an old fashioned jar), very quaint. Among the best croissants of the trip, and that's saying something. Then we walked out to the tip of the promenade and watched the waves crash on the rocks for a while.

Next stop was Llanes, larger (about 15,000). Drove all through the center (thank goodness Spain doesn’t have ZTLs like in Italy) but there was literally no place to park, it was really cloudy and gloomy so we left without stopping. Not terribly disappointed as it looked big enough and busy enough that it probably wasn’t all that charming or photogenic.

<b>Picos de Europa</b>

It’s about an hour from where you turn off the A-8 onto the N621 toward the Picos de Europa to Potes. A very pretty drive, the mountains are much higher and more rugged than you would expect so close to the sea. Very impressive gorge along the river all the way from the coast to Potes where things open out and it becomes more of an alpine meadow feel. Easily found the hotel right on the N621.

Hotel Valdecoro – right on the N621 just as it enters Potes, extremely easy to find, nice large white building with the name in huge letters, can’t miss it. Free parking beside and behind the hotel. There’s a large restaurant on the first floor and there were two tour buses full of seniors having lunch – really loud. But checked in (receptionist did not speak any English). Room was decent but nothing special, free Wi-Fi (I had read it was only in public areas but we got it fine in our room on the first floor). Breakfast included which has been unusual on this trip through Northern Spain. There was no AC which I guess is rarely needed, but it was only about 74 for a high the day we were there, mostly cloudy, yet the room was hot enough that we had to leave the window open at night.

<b>Potes</b> is really adorable, all old stone buildings along both sides of the river with at least three stone arched bridges connecting the two sides. There is one or two back streets full of tourist shops, restaurants and bars scattered all over the place. I think they must get a lot of tour groups and day-trippers, very busy mid day, less so in the evening. The sun came out and there was some blue sky, but the highest mountaintops were behind the clouds.

By then it was 5pm, cloudy but still pretty bright so we decided to do the drive from Potes to Posada de Valdeon – the drive on the N621 south from Potes is a narrow road winding through the verdant Valle de Liebana, after about 8km (from Potes) you reach the hamlet of la Vega de Liebana. Go east the 12km for Cucayo via Dobres a lovely trip through mountains to about 900 m. Cucayo is the end of the road, around and below are jagged mountain peaks and green fields. Cucayo is a stone village with chickens and goats and one little church. You can’t go any further, you have to turn around and go back the way you came. Even with the tips in clouds the mountains were stunning, they really look like jagged glass, they are sharp and thin. There are several other little stone villages that you pass on the road, as well as a few farms with cows, sheep, goats and chickens. One place I stopped to take photos a cow mooed loudly at me, another a heard of sheep came and stared me down, another a bunch of chickens started clucking and ran down the road. It took about an hour to drive the 20 km (12 miles) due to the number of times we stopped to take photos, only about ½ hour to drive back down.

After a brief rest in the room we went looking for dinner and settled on a Mexican restaurant (I’ve seen several in the various cities on this trip). It was really pretty good, much better than a lot of the food we’ve been having – I know, that's just my opinion.

Day 28 A mostly sunny day! In the mountains. Breakfast buffet at hotel, average. Walked around Potes – can see some impressive peaks in one direction and nice big green hills in all the other directions. Very few people around yet at 10 am. We climbed to the top of the medieval Torre del Infantado for even better views.

Drove up to Fuente De which is where the cable car goes from. Amazing scenery, very jagged white cliff like peaks. About a half hour from Potes. The road stops at Fuente Dé, and it’s not hard to see why; there’s a massive semicircle of rock; a spectacular natural wall that rises 800 m and is almost sheer. It is named Fuente Dé because this is where the Deva springs from the ground; there’s little there apart from two hotels, a campsite and a cable-car station.

Parking lot about ¾ full and lots of people sitting in the sun and in the cafeteria. About a 15 minute line for the tickets only to find out that it would be another 2 hour wait for the cable car. There is only one cable car going up (and one going down) so even though it only takes 4 minutes it can be a while. I’d look at a lot of photos and videos on line and decided the view the bottom was probably as good and didn’t want to spend two hours.

Back in Potes we took a walk along the river – there are paved walks at river level though most of the town is up a flight of stairs. The walk goes under all the stone bridges and out of town (pavement stops). Sound of the bubbling brook and birds singing. Really nice to appreciate the town from river level, and the river from up at town level.

As we were walking back to the car we smelled bread baking so turned into the tiny bakery the aroma was coming from and got a huge fresh baked baguette for 30 cents. Then to a grocery store for picnic supplies.

Heading back north on the N621, about 8 km is a turn off (with good sign) for the church of Santa Maria Lebena (then it's another about ½ mile after you turn off the N621), built in the 10th century in the Mozarabic style. Little parking lot with benches, few picnic tables, little hut selling soda and ice cream. Had our picnic lunch – sun shining, temps about 80, gorgeous cliffs all around, adorable church, vineyards, smell of wildflowers.

Continued the drive north on the N621 through La Hermida Gorge – just incredible tall mountains rising right from the road, in some places part of the mountain kind of arches over the road, just barely high enough for a car. At some places the river is right next to the road, several stone bridges crisscrossing it. In a lot of ways it reminded me of Yosemite, in others of the desert southwest only the mountains are greyish white. But the sky was blue and the trees green and overall very pretty.

Back on the A-8 - it is a great highway, runs all along the north of Spain, two lanes limited access highway mostly going past rolling green hills with glimpses of the sea every now and then,(and only occasionally going past slag-heap towns) no tolls, gas stations. Very easy to get around.

julia_t

<< We also really want to do some walks in England and have started planning >>

Well, if you decide to do the Cotswold Way, I live only a few metres off it, at about the half-way point. Come and see me!

isabel

That's great to know. We had actually started to plan for this past summer but our brother and sister-in-law are interested in the England trip and they had health issues that prevented traveling this year (and probably next) but when we get to it I will definitely keep you in mind.

isabel

Day 28 continued

<b>Santillana del Mar</b>

From the A-8 it’s only about 5 minutes, to the center of Santillana, easily found the Hotel Colonial Santillana which is very nice, gated parking behind it, nice old building, large room, modern bath, decent Wi-Fi, friendly family run place. No AC but don’t need it. We did need to keep the window open at night and the restaurant tables are right under the window so there was a bit of noise of people talking till around 11. A room on the back of the building would probably have eliminated that.

A one-minute walk to the TI and the town, which you can walk around in 15 minute tops if you don’t stop to take a few hundred photos. So that took us a few hours. Plenty of people but didn’t see any tour groups. May have helped that it was 5:00 in the afternoon.

There was a violinist playing, really beautiful arrangements so bought three of her CDs. Karla Gombek, she has a website. We had a nice conversation, she is from Malaga and seemed impressed that I had been there. Can’t say enough good things about her music, I’ve been listening to those CDs continuously ever since I got home. www.laviolinista.es/en/index.php

After dinner the sunshine had been replaced with drizzle and while it made the cobblestone streets slippery they reflected the light beautifully making the village all gold and glisteny. Still a good number of people out and about at 10 pm, most restaurants looked like people were finishing up eating, not just starting. Nicely lit, almost ‘magical’ ambiance.

Day 29 A rainy, humid day. The perfect thing to do would have been the Altamira Caves but since it was a Monday they were closed. So we went off to check out Comillas and San Vicente.

<b>Comillas</b> is about a 20 minute drive from Santillna, and feels a bit like a large hill town that is also a beach town. It has the Gaudi house El Capricho (smaller and much less impressive than the ones in Barcelona, but more ‘Gaudy’ than the couple we’ve seen on this trip (in Leon and Astorga). 5€ pp entrance which you have to pay to see even the outside. There were tours, including a couple in English, but you could wander through on your own with a pretty good written guide explaining things. DH was pretty impressed having not been to Barcelona yet. The sun came out for 45 seconds while I was on the roof.

The Sobrellano Palace is neo-gothic and quite impressive from the outside (even in the light rain), and as it is up on a hill, has nice views. The huge Pontifical University building, the location of the International Centre for Higher Education in Spanish, aims to become the international center for the study of Spanish and Spanish-language teaching. Universidad Pontificia was built as a theological college in avant-garde style. It’s a huge structure in reddish stone that you can see up on another hill, from all over town. Very impressive modernista entrance arch.

Just past the university is the town cemetery, on another hill, overlooking the beach. Unusual setting for a cemetery. And it is surrounded by stone walls topped with a very large angel. The beach is average at best, nothing very spectacular. From there we climbed back up into the town center and had lunch at a pizzeria that was actually very good.

In general Comillas was a bit of a let down. All the above mentioned ‘monuments’ were certainly interesting, but not outstanding and the center of town is OK at best. A couple nice squares and interesting buildings, but Comillas didn’t get the memo that touristy towns need to be pedestrianized in the center. There were cars everywhere, including parked in front of the most otherwise scenic settings.

It kept alternating between raining lightly and not raining (and about 1% of the time the sun came out) all day, at that point it was not raining so we pushed on to <b>San Vicente de la Barquera</b>, about 12 km from Comillas. The town is still a working fishing port and there were plenty of seafood restaurants all along the harbor (which opened out at small mouth to the open sea). There’s a long Roman looking bridge as you enter the town, then another smaller one as your round the harbor, with interesting views of the harbor, the boats and the town from both of them. There is a castle and a church up on the hill, and one street connecting them, all that is left of the old town. Most of the town is modern, 20th century apartments. The town is functional rather than pretty. But the castle and the church, and the remnants of the old town walls are kind of interesting and the views from up there of the water and the green hills were very nice. Looks more like Wales than Spain for sure.

The climb up to the castle is not at all bad and definitely the highlight. I suspect the view of the Picos behind the town on a clear day would be wonderful but that wasn’t happening that day. By 4pm without any coffee I was getting a headache so we stopped in a bar and got a wonderful caffe con leche for 1€. It was literally a bar that served coffee and not much else.

Really rained hard on the drive back to Santillana, we took the A-8 and it was exactly ½ hour. We had taken the local roads, C-133 on the way there, nice two lane roads, nothing especially scenic but easy. Although driving through Comillas was very slow as you have to wind through some pretty tiny streets. But wasn’t more than 20 minutes or so between each of the three towns.

Day 30 <b>Altamira Cave, Santillana</b>

We got to Altamira at 10:45, parking lot full and people parking on the road leading to it, so we did as well. The line to buy tickets was exactly one hour long. We were given a timed ticket of 12:50 so had another hour. But the ‘museum’ part is excellent and we were not even done with it when it was time to visit the cave. The museum is small – really only three medium sized rooms, but full of displays, videos, and plaques with information (all in English as well as Spanish). Most of the videos were self-explanatory so there was no talking in any language. Then you queue up and are ushered into a small room (20 people at a time, staggered about every 10 minutes) to watch a 5-minute video and then you walk through the cave. Pretty amazing, the whole ceiling is covered. As you enter the cave you see where the people spent most of their time (the large entrance area, with exterior light) and then down a few steps into the darker part of the cave where the paintings were. You only get about 5 minutes in there but there’s just the one space so it doesn’t take long. But very worthwhile. And only 3€ entrance fee. A UNESCO world heritage site and extremely interesting.

Back in town we went looking for lunch (which of course took a while since now it was bright sunshine so I had to stop every two minutes to take photos and there were tourists everywhere so it took a while). Went to a restaurant on the main street with outdoor seating slightly elevated from street level and discovered we were looking right into the ruins of an old building (only noticeable from street level if you knew to look up – could see right through the building, kind of interesting.

Then wandered some more and went back to the ceramic store we’d seen the other day. I like to buy things to remind me of trips and hadn’t seen much this trip that I wanted. But this place had really nice stuff - not quite as good as most Italian ceramics, but so inexpensive so I got a few pieces including an apothecary jar that the owner said the painting on it was copied from old pharmacy books.

sundriedtopepo

Isabel we were in Comillas on a bright sunny day at the end of September. I'm sure the blue sky makes a difference because we quite liked the beach, and the town was almost empty. Maybe that's why it's not pedestrianized, the tourism is seasonal. Anyway loving your very factual report.

isabel

Thanks, that could be.


Day 31 <b>Laguardia</b>

We followed the A-8 past Bilbao – mostly green hills and pretty, but interspersed with slag heaps and industrialized areas around Santander and Bilbao. And a little bit of views of the ocean. Would not want to be hiking through those areas but don’t know how else the Camino gets to the center of those cities, which it does. Hopefully there are paths that don’t go through these areas, the part along the ocean looked beautiful. After Bilbao the AP 68 goes south (AP roads are toll roads, other ‘interstate’ type highways are not). Around Bilbao all the signs change from Spanish with English as the second language to Basque with Spanish as the second language. But we easily followed the map/directions to Laguardia and easily found the hotel.

Hotel Marixa On the road around the medieval town, just off the highway, very easy to find. There is a tiny free parking lot next to the hotel and a bit of free on street parking, we got the last space. Otherwise there is a larger lot down the hill a bit, only a few minutes walk but would have wanted to drop off the luggage (even just our light carry-ons) if parking there. Marixa is also a fairly upscale restaurant (we didn’t eat there) and is in a nice older (though not medieval) building but kept up well. Room was boring but perfectly fine, the best thing though is that there’s a nice terrace with table and chairs looking right onto the beautiful church tower and town walls across the street.

Laguardia is a hill town surrounded by vineyards on all sides and some pretty impressive mountains on one side. Great views in all directions. The town itself is totally pedestrianized, very narrow streets (about 3 streets runs the length of the town, a few more cross streets; the town is very narrow). We walked every street in less than an hour. There are two churches, one at each end, both with impressive bell towers. One of them you can climb (for 2€) and offers even better views of the surrounding countryside. In the center of town is a tiny plaza with arcaded buildings on both sides, lots of flower filled iron balconies jutting out from all the stone buildings. A few bakeries, a few butchers, one little grocery store, a few wine stores, one or two stores selling post cards and not much else. Hardly any tourists.

There’s a nice promenade around the tip of the town, benches, tree shaded, great views. A little square near the church had an interesting sculpture – two bronze tables one filled with bronze shoes and the other with bronze bags/suitcases/backpacks. “The basic idea of this sculpture is the journey and the evocation of it (of the land that leaves us and of which we leave). Reflect on how an object related to traveling, such as shoes or a suitcase, can make us relive different situations and moments.” That is google’s translation of the sign. It was lovely.

We got picnic supplies at the little grocery store and had lunch on our terrace. It was so good, and only ate half of it so we just went back later and added a few things for dinner. There was wine for sale in the grocery, unlabeled Rosé for €1.49 a bottle. We couldn’t resist, although the corkscrew we had to buy to get into the wine cost three times as much as the wine did. It was at least as good as your average Rosé. Great dinner on our terrace watching the sun go lower and change the color of the stone.

Went out to see the sunset around 9:30, which is lovely from the little mirador on the west side of town. After dark we wandered around the pretty town center. Tons of kids playing in the streets, old people sitting on benches visiting with friends, several restaurants with outside tables. Incredibly lively. And the clock on the town hall, at 10:00 opens up and plays music and little statues come out and dance.

isabel

Day 32 Puente la Reina

The drive from LaGuardia to Puente La Reina is pretty straightforward. We mostly stayed on the N roads, which followed the Camino. Saw a good number of walkers. Passed a few cute stone villages. Watched as the Camino went along the road and then would cut through fields for a while and reappear on the road. Slightly hilly, mostly wheat fields and vineyards. The route goes through Logorno and a few other sizeable towns, which are easily passed in a car but walking through them didn’t look like fun. One very picturesque stone village, Sansol sits just where the Camino leaves the road and goes off into hayfields.

We found parking in Puente La Reina with no problem and walked through the town. First thing we noticed was that 90% of the people were dressed in white with red trim. At first I thought they were going to Pamplona but then we realized there were so many of them it had to be local (not to mention that the Pamplona festival had been over for more than a week). We finally found sings saying their festival was the 25-29th (And it was the 27th ) They appear to have a tiny bull ring right in the main square – don’t know if it’s permanent or not but there was sand and pretty substantial walls and bleachers. Then we noticed there were large gates closing off the side streets (so the bulls must run through the main street to the main square). But the main street was currently full of restaurant tables and people eating and drinking (despite it being 11am). Everyone in white and red, even babies and grandpas. As we were leaving town there was the beginning of a parade.

The bridge is lovely, reflected perfectly in the river. There’s a little church near the bridge, a large church in the middle of the main street, and another, the Church of the Crucifixion at the far end of town, next to the Pilgrim Hostal and the Pilgrim monument. That church has a backpack and walking staff right under the crucifix in the front of the church.

Olite

Then we headed for Olite. A couple km past town I spotted a round stone church in the middle of a cornfield and we pulled off – there was a parking lot and a few people. It was just lovely, was actually hexagonal with a kind of round cloister all around it. Unfortunately it was closed but it was great to just walk around it. It’s the Church of Saint Mary of Eunate, a 12th century Romanesque church with links to the Knights Templar. Its octagonal plan and the fact that it is not located in a present-day village but in the countryside contribute to its enigmatic nature. I was just staying ‘why is this not in a guide book’ and then as we were leaving a tour bus pulled in. Guess it’s in Spanish guidebooks. While there were lots of great things I saw on this trip, my extensive research meant that there were few surprises, so the fact that I just ‘spotted’ this one added to the experience.

Found Olite no problem, found hotel with parking lot behind it just as my directions, reviews had said.
Hotel Merindad is literally just inside the wall to the old town. Beautiful old stone building, lovely reception/sitting area. Room was quite large and very nice, beautiful furniture, nice tile in the bathroom, AC, TV, free Wi-Fi, little terrace with a drop dead view of the castle and the surrounding vineyards.

Went out to explore, the town is very tidy, beautifully kept, all stone buildings, tower with arched entrances, the Parador, just a few steps from our hotel, is in a small square with the church beside it, then beside that the castle. Main square in town is at other end of castle. Every just lovely. Hot and sunny. So nice.

The castle is quite amazing. 3.50€ (they could get away with 5 times that). It’s extremely well restored, almost too much, at first you think it’s Disney-esque. But it’s a real 14th century castle and some of the inside rooms, while unfurnished, are very representative of a castle of that age. There are tiny courtyards with gardens and ivy. But the most amazing thing is the ramparts and towers of which there are many – they go on and on and on. There are about a dozen towers you can climb (fitbit said about 30 flights) – all stone spiral staircases. And with each tower the view got better and better. Like a fairytale. Even DH was impressed and went around fantasying about what would be vantage points for taking out medieval enemies with a bow and arrow. And the best view turns out to be from behind – just past the hotel – the view from terrace of our hotel is great.

The church next to/incorporated into the castle has a lovely tiny cloister ruin just outside the main entrance (very unusual, most cloisters are hidden behind walls accessible only from inside the church, not right outside in front). The carving over the door is amazing and still has remnants of paint. In addition to the usual collection of saints there is a 3-D sculpture of the Virgin and baby and a lot of other things – animals, people, flowers, scrolls, gargoyles. Really beautiful and interesting.

bobthenavigator

Another memorable trip for my favorite traveler.

I share your fondness for light--all the difference.
San Sebastian is my favorite city in Spain, and I have 5 trips to Spain.

Well done !

KarenWoo

I've been reading along. You had a spectacular trip! I like your writing style. You obviously put a lot of work into planning your 5-week adventure.

isabel

Thanks Bob!

Last full day - Day 33

We started the day by having caffe con leche and a pan au chocolate for 3€ that was just about the best thing I ever ate! It was at a cute retro café just off the main square that probably hasn’t changed in 50 years. A lady came in with an adorable white little dog, which she tied to the door while she bought her bread.

<b>Ujue</b>

A drive of about 20 minutes or less, well marked signs. We had the map and directions but they really weren’t necessary. In fact all three places we went this day we got to by signs, everything was very well marked. In most cases the route numbers were the same as on the map but not 100% of the time, but really didn’t matter. The roads are all good and driving very easy, hardly any traffic.

Ujue is a hill town that is impossibly scenic as you approach it, there are a few pull offs for stopping. It was back lit in the morning but wonderful later. We stopped, easily followed the one “P” sign and parked next to the one other car in the lot. We did see a ‘lot’ with space for two buses but it was empty. Climbed up the hill and found the ‘fortified’ church. It’s essentially a church with a castle built all around it, looks like a castle from outside, there’s a second floor with arched walls, lots of interesting carvings, whole thing was wonderful, it was free, and there was one family there when we got there (actually if they had not been there we wouldn’t have even know you could go in as the entry wasn’t very visible) and they left and it was just us. Views for miles and miles to the Pyrenees.

We decided rather than explore the town we’d push on to the Castillo Javier to be sure to get there before they closed at 13:30 since we had to go almost right by Ujue on the way back. Another easy half hour or so drive, past several more hill towns, the prettiest was Eslada (which had a picnic area pullover with a modern rusty steel and glass “torre”.

<b>Castillo Javier</b>

Very well marked (as was Ujue, all the tourist stuff has pink signs directing you there from quite a ways away). The parking lot there had a few more cars plus one tour bus. It’s an ‘important’ castle as Saint Javier was born there (he helped found the Jesuits with Loyola). The castle looked pretty castle like from a distance, and there is nothing around it (except the church, monastery, hotel, and café, (but no town). But it’s been very renovated and inside is all wood stairs (replacing stone ones), no spiral staircases, metal handrails, etc. No atmosphere. There is a museum of religious art. But a tad disappointing. But in the aseos there was piped in music of monastic chanting.

Next stop. <b>Monastery Leyre</b> .

We almost didn’t go as the only thing I had seen that made me want to go there was a turquoise lake in the background of one picture. But it was wonderful. The original church and crypt are 11th century but with a ‘modern’ 17th century addition on both sides. One side is where the monks still live and can’t be visited and the other is a hotel/restaurant. But the original church, and especially the crypt are fabulous. There is a little shop and a woman gave us a key (5€ deposit, €3 entrance fee) and explained how to “open the door to the crypt and be sure to lock it once we are inside, same with the church, and oh, by the way in 15 minutes in the church the monks will be singing, you can still go in just don’t walk around too much”. Kind of scary to lock ourselves into a crypt but it was beautiful in there and we were the only ones there. Nicely lit and the lock is modern so not really afraid we’d get locked inside, (I once got locked into a church/cloister when they locked up for siesta so I’m a little skittish when it comes to things like this). Then we went around to the church, same deal with the key. But in addition to the monks, who were indeed chanting, there were ten or fifteen tourists sitting and watching. Pretty cool. And the setting with the Pyrenees foothills on one side and a beautiful turquoise lake down below was very nice.

We stopped in Ujue on the way back to explore and hoping to get some lunch but it was shut tight for siesta. (3pm). Not that there’s much there to shut, about 2 restaurants and one store that looked like it sold regional products. But there were lots of tiny stone streets with stone houses and views down into the valley that surrounds the town with the Pyrenees in the background and lots of white (modern) windmills.

isabel

Thanks Karen - I do put a lot of work into planning trips - but with all the advance preparation plus all the trip report writing/photo organizing I can usually manage to make the trip last for months - if I'm lucky I can make one trip run right into the next one.

isabel

Day 34 The End of the trip

<b>Las Bardenas</b>

I don’t even remember how I found out about Las Bardenas as it’s not in any guidebooks. But when I found the photos I knew I’d really like to try to include in on this trip. In fact, we probably wouldn’t have done Olite/Ujue, etc . if they weren’t so close. Turns out it worked out perfectly as a few hour stop on our way to the Madrid airport for out last night before flying home.

About 45 minutes from Olite. Technically semi-desert; a rugged expanse of white gypsum flats. It’s a popular location for filmmaking: eg the Bond film The World is not Enough was made here. The information center and main entrance to the park can be accessed from the road N- 134 just south (approximately 3km) from the town of Arguedas. This is the best entrance since the road is paved, pavement ends after the Info Center. At the information center (WCs and vending machine with cold drinks) we were given a map and told the road is fine for all cars, just go slow, it should take about 1½ hours to do the circuit, plus stops. The road is certainly very dusty, but totally fine to drive in our Fiat 500.

There are several unique geological formations and some lovely landscapes. These landscapes are the result of a climate made up of hot summers, cold winters and long dry periods interrupted by heavy rain. There is also a particular wind current that runs through the area, called “cierzo.”

It was certainly beautiful in that ‘desert’ way, but if you’ve been to the desert southwest of the US it was pretty underwhelming. The mesas and other geologic features are tiny, probably a tenth the height of most of the stuff in the US deserts, kind of like desert miniature. The most impressive is Cabezo Castildetierra which is featured on all the posters and postcards and does look very otherworldly.

There were the ruins of some old buildings (can’t imagine anyone living here) and plenty of places to pull off the road to take pictures and walk around, but I didn’t see any actual paths or places where you could do hikes, not that we would have, given it was 99 degrees and sunny. There were some nice wild flowers, a lake a distance off the road, and something which we think might have been rice growing (which would be weird).

We were there from 11:30 to 1:30. It was about 99 degrees.
It did take longer than I had thought to drive to Madrid but the scenery was more interesting than I expected and we only needed to get to the airport in time to turn in the car and grab something for dinner before bed. The Axor Feria Hotel was a great place to crash since we had to be at the airport by 7:30 in the morning. I choose it since they had a free shuttle bus to and from the airport. The shuttle was on time and efficient. And at only 62€ a good value for a very nice, clean, modern hotel.

pthomas156

Oh my gosh, Isabel, this is a great trip report and you can't even imagine how much this is helping me out as we have a flight into Barcelona on April 24 and I've done almost nothing about this. I know how long it takes to do a detailed trip report, because I've done them, so I just want you to know it's SUPER HELPFUL. Were there any towns that you wished you would have stayed in instead of the ones you did? (Sometimes that happens to me; the town down the road was just a little more interesting.

tomarkot

Isabel, just resurrected your wonderfully detailed TR! Don't know how we missed it before our recent trip to the North of Spain. With the length of time you were there, you covered so many small towns that we missed. But we thoroughly enjoyed reminiscing about the places we did visit. We thoroughly enjoyed the whole north area and would love to return to select cities. We also appreciated your feelings about the Camino. Thanks so much for the great report!

ozgirl

Thanks Isabel, travelling this way next June and this has been SO helpful

aliced

Isabel, just discovered your lengthy trip report on northern Spain, and have a specific question: we will be in this area on a cruiseship from St. Jean de Luz to Bilbao in early September -- however, the day in Bilbao is the "closed" day for the Guggenheim! Is it feasible to get there via private tour or train/bus from St. Jean de Luz on the previous day? It is stated on RomeToRio that the drive is 1 hr 20 min. So, figuring three hours for round trip, three hours in the Museum seems like it might work. Especially if the weather that day is not "beach resort friendly." Our day in port in Bilbao can then be spent in San Sebastian. Agree, the architecture of the Gugg is half the show, so worse case scenario, we'll have that and the outside sculptures to appreciate. Thanks so much for your details on these towns!