Mari's Northern Spain and the Camino de Santiago Trip Report
 

I am still in the throes of post-vacation depression after arriving from our long, long, long planned three week trip to Spain, as we all know the only way to get over this is to talk/write about our trip as much as possible and start planning the next one! I will not aim for an epic trip report since I know from personal experience that I dont get very far with them (my US National Park TR is still halfway done a year later in the US board) but this trip was so wonderful that it would certainly deserve extensive descriptions and discussions :)

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Executive Summary: I LOVED it!!! Northern Spain is totally different from Southern Spain. The Pais Vasco is beautiful, the coast is amazing. I loved the Guggenheim and the walk along the river but did not bond with Bilbao (I am so very sorry Cova!!!). Txakoli is very, very good white wine. We had one of the best tapas/raciones meals ever (EVER, yes ever) in a little bar in Castro Uridales for 36 Euros. The Picos de Europa deserve a trip by themselves. The drive to the Lagos is a bit scary but definitely worthy of the effort. There are a lot of cows in Asturias. Ribeiro is now my absolute favorite white wine. Walking the Camino the Santiago had been a dream of mine for a long time and it was wonderful, tiring but still wonderful. We walked 150km without having to carry our gear, the people that do the entire Camino (800km) with their backpacks and staying in Albergues have my outmost respect. I loved Santiago!!!
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The trip report:

We flew from San Juan to Atlanta (8 hr layover) to Madrid - ohhh the cruelty of airfare purchased with FF!!! Arrived in Madrid around 8:00 AM of the next day. Picked up our car and headed out to Burgos. We were out of the ariport within an hour.

Safety note - as was commented by a felllow fodorite in one of my trip planning posts, the three hour drive to Burgos is a bit too much after a long flight like we had just had. I would not have attempted it by myself and needless to say I was falling asleep an hour and a half into the drive. Anyway, DH was fine and he was the one driving. He did all the driving on this trip, I must admit in total shame that I do not know how to drive with a manual transmission and some of the mountain roads that we took were not the place to learn!!!!!

Since we had slept on the plane (DH a little and myself a lot) we were not hit hard by jetlag and decided to make the detour to Santo Domingo de Silos before going to our hotel in Burgos. We stopped by the monastery, walked a little around town and up the hill to observe the beutiful contryside. We went back to the car to get additional sweaters becase the temperature was in the 50's. We then had lunch in a restaurant by the 'plaza'. After we had gotten our first fix of Sopa de Ajo (garlic soup)and Cabrito Asado (roasted goat) we finally felt like we were back in Spain and into vacation :) I think that the name of the restaurant was Tres Coronas.
After lunch we went to the service in the Monastery to hear the midday prayer - this is the Benedictine Monastery made famous by its recording of Gregorian prayer in the CD 'Chant' a few years ago. Do not miss this if you have a chance!!! I wish that our timing had allowed for hte vespers prayer but it did not - you just cannot have everything...

Cova had recommended the walk to the Yecla Gorge but DH was not in the mood for walking and since he was driving and had not really slept that much, I did not push for it - first miss of the vacation, ohhh the things you do for love :)

We arrived in Burgos and easily found our hotel, el Meson del Cid. Maribel and Cova had both recommended the NH Burgos hotel but the lure of looking from my window at the Cathedral was too much. The hotel room was small and a little dark but perfectly clean and ideally located. I must say that the NH looked a LOT more appealing but I sitll do not regret staying at el Cid.

We walked 100 meters to the Cathedral and looked around for a while. It began to rain we purchased two little umbrellas, I pulled my thick scarf out of my pack (this item got in the luggage only as a last minute impulse and booooyyy was I glad). Temperature was in the 40's. We were still stuffed from lunch so we went to a few unremarkable bars for tapas and then happily crashed.

Mari, you're back!

I kept looking at the boards this past few days, I wasn't sure when was your return date.

Thanks for your first installment in what obviously was a great trip. Looking forward to reading the rest!

I'm looking forward to this report also. I went to a lecture a couple months ago where a couple discussed their several trips walking the Camino de Santiago (they did it the hard way). It sounded intriguing, but I'm not sure I'm that much into hardship. So I'll be happy to hear how you did it.

Ribeiro?? Once I travelled on Renfe to Galicia - the person across from me was a wine merchant. As we went from Ourense paralleling the rio Minho to Tuy, he described the various wines by region: first Ribeiro, then Albarinho and finally Rosal. That was also the order of the quality of the wines of the Minho valley. My (wife's) cousin lives in Rosal (near La Guardia). If you didn't get a chance to try either of those wines, you have to go back.

Hi Mari,

don´t worry about your Bilbao opinions ;)

I have the theory (and I have put it to practice), that you need decent weather and a native accompanying you in order to be able to enjoy it. It can be a hard city ...

You were right in not going to the Yecla. It might have been a bit taxing on you ... and that Burgos weather, I know it quite well. We have been in Madrid in June with 34 degrees, and stop in Burgos on our way back home with onlty 4 degrees (that was real garlic soup weather ...).

Looking forward to the rest of your report :)

Cova

Thank you for the report, looking forward to the part about Camino. Could you please post how you arranged the luggage transfer? I have visited most towns/cities along the route, but plan to walk some sections this autumn/winter.

Day 2 in Burgos started out a little warmer than the day before but still on the cool side. Our hopes for good weather were increasing since the sun was coming out so we bundled up and started wandering around town looking for an appealing place to have breakfast. Coffee in Spain is good!!! Any hole-in-the-wall bar will have GOOD coffee so you are pretty safe anywhere you stop. We drifted into a non descript bar full of people in business suits and lots of napkins in the floor and had a wonderful little Serrano and tomato rub sandwich, a slice of tortilla and four coffees (two each). Cheap and good, just our kind of place! We walked along the river to the Cartuja de Miraflores and we just made it into the church before they closed for a whole week to do some maintenance work. Beautiful altar and sepulcher, definitely worth the walk!

We started to make our way to the Reales Huelgas convent and realized that we would not make it all the way there before they closed for lunch. We decided to stop in a café along the riverwalk and in front of the old city gate (next to the cathedral). DH had some pasta and I had some stuffed peppers, naturally we both had some tintos (red wine).

I had to pull out again my ‘old faithful’ thick scarf and bundle up before I could settle down to people watch and wait out the siesta hour(s). I wished (not the for the last time) that I had brought some gloves!!! I absolutely love people watching in Spain. You always see a large amount of couples (young, mid and old) together. Beautiful baby carriages and clothes. The older ladies are always impeccably dressed in suits, they wear nice, elegant jewelry and wonderful walking shoes (I want to be like them when I grow up!!!!!).

Finally we pulled ourselves from our comfy seats and walked the rest of the way to the Huelgas. We walked by the NH hotel and I have to admit that Maribel and Cova were absolutely right….it looked REALLY nice compared with the Meson del Cid where we were staying! Still, the Meson’s location is so good that I do not regret staying with them.
I really enjoyed the Huelgas visit but I am so used to wandering around at our (my) own pace that guided visits seldom (never) leave me satisfied!!! Do not miss the statue of Santiago with the mechanical arm used in the middle ages to knight princes. I was very disappointed that we could not see the textile collection since it is out in loan while they are conducting restoration to their museum.

We returned to the hotel to freshen up a little before heading out again for the evening and a British guy that was staying in the hotel with his Porshe Club started to absolutely rave about this great meal he had had in town! We asked at the hotel desk where it was and headed out that way for a few tapas before returning to the Meson del Cid for dinner.,
The place is called Casa Pancho and I will be the first to admit that this was no secret find, no place where only the locals go, we were smack in the middle of the tourist restaurant area but after hesitating a little bit we remembered the raving and went in. We settled in the bar with a great view of the kitchen and had a racion of grilled squid rings, after that we were hooked!!! We had pincho after pincho (and more squid in between) and wine glasses to follow.

A group of thirty Germans came in unannounced and started ordering tapas. They were ushered to the upstairs dining room by the owner who had a look of absolute horror in his face. This is when our view of the kitchen turned into front row seats for an evening of culinary entertainment!!! Forget the Food Network, those ladies in the kitchen are true masters of the short order…the tension, the yelling, the tears from the apprentice, the desperate calls from the manager to his nieces and nephews to drop whatever they were doing at home and come help in the restaurant…all accompanied by our running commentary, we never made it to dinner at Meson!!! We rolled contently back into our nearby hotel and crashed for the night

Hi Cova and Cruise!!! Thanks to all of you for the great advice, it made a difference.

Ned - I adore the Albariños but I did not know anything at all about the Ribeiros so the element of surprise came into play...oh well I will have to go back and drink some more!!! I also had an amazing rose wine from Ourense that if we had not enjoyed soooo much of it we might have remembered to take the label with me :(

Judy - I did the camino the lazy way, the tour company took care of all our transportation, luggage, lunches and meals. We just had to take a day pack and walk to the next meeting point. The company we went with is called Spanish Steps and we would recommend it without hesitation. The walking portion of the trip was our first ever organized tour and we were very hesitant about it. We thought it was kind of expensive but we both think that it was worth the money.

Mari,

Thanks for the second installment. I'm absorbing everything you have to say about Burgos since I might spend 2 nights there in July. I'm glad to read your positive comments about the NH as that's where I have a reservation.
I'll make note of Casa Pancho, sounds like a lot of fun. Do you think they'll "frown" at a woman showing up by herself? ( maybe I'll be sent to the upstairs room where the germans went! LOL!) . Do you recall the name of the street where it is?

I'm so glad that you were pleased by Spanish Steps. I've been researching their groups for a while but it's good to have a first hand recommendation from you. I hope that in one of your next installments you'll comment about what kind of accomodations/ meals they provided.

Thanks Mari

More, more !
I am enjoying this and may do a similar itinerary in the next 2 years.

Day 3 we waved our goodbyes to Burgos and headed to Santo Domingo de la Calzada. The curch is beatiful, the tomb of Santo Domingo is impressive and the cloister/museum is worth the detour.

We headed into Bilbao and got stuck in afternoon traffic getting into the city. We eventually made our way to the hotel, the Abba Parque which was recommended and I found to be very nice indeed. Very good quality vs price. Getting the car into their underground parking was an adventure upon itself!

We dropped our stuff and headed straight through the park into the Guggenheim. Amazing building! I had seen many pictures but still was impressed. I loved the interior flow, DH did not care much for either inside or outside. He loved the Maya exhibit that took over the entire museum. I was not particularily impressed by the audio guide to the exhibit.

We walked by the riverside until we hit the bridge to the old town. We went into the square and I was ready to start hitting the tapas but DH wanted to SIT DOWN and eat RIGHT NOW. You might have noticed that I have not mentioned lunch this day because we had not had any after a rather large breakfast in Burgos. All my nice plans for the perfect meal in Bilbao were laid to waste that instant....
We finally went into a restaurant (something Pepe?) and had quite a nice meal. The salad was very good and I had a nice rabo (oxtail stew), DH had sweetbread which was rather small-considering the lack of lunch.

From the restaurant we walked right next door to Cafe Bilbao and he proceeded to have several very nice Pinxos (I had to taste, you know how it goes...). From there we hopped into the metro which was very close and rode away to the station near the hotel.

I must say again that I did not fall in love with Bilbao. It was nice, I am very happy that we went but we decided to skip our second night in the city and leave in the morning.

next: the Basque Coast - love at first sight :)

Thanks Mari!

Come back soon to tell us the rest of the story!

I am sooo very happy that I took Maribel's advice and skipped San Sebastian and made our lazy way along the coast. We went through Gernika to Mundaka, I was stunned. Forget the Amalfi Coast - well not really but think about the Amalfi Coast without the lemons and the nasty road, add a touch of french influence and white greek-looking terraces and you have Mundaka. (Can you tell that I liked it?) The water was the color of Lapis and Turquiose around the cliffs. The fact that the sun had finally come out and it was nice and warm also helped!!!!

From Mundaka we went to the lighthouse, then Bermeo and then to San Gaztelugatxe. If you are ever in the vecinity of this place, GO THERE!!! Stunning! Somebody must have done something reeeaalllyyy bad to have to pay penance carrying all those blocks up the cliffs to build that church. Even if you decide to skip the climbing, the view from the bottom is wonderful. But since good things happen to people that make the extra effort while on vacation-the view down is even better! I'll try to get some computer savy person to help me setup the pictures as a link.

Maribel had recommended stopping over at Restaurant Eneperi and once again she was right on the money. We thought about having a full meal but it was kind of an awkward hour and we still wanted to keep going and not colapse into a stupor so we decided to have something light from the bar menu. The bartender says he does not tend the tables, he gives you tablecloth and silverware and you have to fend off for yourself (but if you smile sweetly at him he will bring the food out ;)) I had a marvelous Cod with Tomato Sauce for 8 euros that would give any restaurant a good challenge at three times the price. I asked the bartender about local wine and he brought out some Txakolí. Gave me a pretty good tasting and then when I raved about it, he refilled the glass and did not even charge for it.

Now, the view from this place is out of this world. The terrace is covered with a tree pergola and looks over the cliffs into the ocean. If I had seen a picture of this I would have thought it was in Greece.

I has small regrets about not having had the full meal but well, we decided to keep going. Maribel was absolutely right, after Bakio the drive was not as nice and definitely could have skipped but we finally made our way to Castro Urdiales. We contempleted driving on to Laredo but decided to stay. We stoopped by the tourist office and they referred us to a hotel. As a Fodors thread currently going on would stated: it was just 'a place to sleep and shower' for under 40 Euros. They did have an elevator and the bath was very clean. We wandered around town a little bit and walked to the old church and castle and then to the end of the wave breaker. The place was packed with families enjoying the warm, sunny weather.

We walked into a little bar just in front of the Fisherman's Trade (lonja) and thought that we would get a little teaser before going to the restaurant mentioned in the guidebooks. Boy was I happy I did not have that big lunch in Eneperi.

We started out with a little, innocent shrimp with mayo pincho - and that was our downfall! We stayed and ate and ate and ate...Bonito Pinchos, Shrimp Pinchos, Six whole grilled squid, Pulpo a la gallega, mixed seafood vinagrette, mussels in tomato sauce and nine glassed of wine (I cheated and got the extra one). Thank God that early on I asked the bar guy how they figured out what the customer owed and he told me that I was the one supposed to tell HIM what we had consumed. We kept track on a paper napkin and we are almost sure that everything was accounted for give or take a pair of pinchos, even though there is a clear possibility that there might have been eleven glasses of wine and not nine. All this for 36 Euros!!!!! This was one of the best meals we have EVER had. I did not even care about the unattractive hotel room anymore! In order to attempt the initiation of digestion we walked back out to the wave breaker and back to the hotel to sleep (yes, yes, I will admit mit we just plain happily crashed again. I can soon see myself in a twelve step program - My name is Maristella and...)

next: Santillana del Mar

Mari,

What a great adventure! I'm going to have to be courageous and rent a car( one of these days!!). Obviously that's the only way to do this kind of trip.
I'll start looking up those places in my map, just in case...

Looking forward to Santillana and the rest!

I've visited most of the Cantabric coast and I'll never, never will say anyone to skip San Sebastian which is by large the most beautiful city in Spain (for me and I know a lot of people who agrees). All the coast is wonderful , really special but I cannot think about it without San Sebastian. Looks you have to turn back :))))
I hope you also have visited San Vicente de la Barquera..the most wonderful place of Cantabria's coast !!

To Mari, Many thanks for the note about the tour company; but I thought perhaps it would be fun to walk on my own, if I could find luggage transfer service as in U.K.

Enjoy your report very much, thank you for sharing.

Day 5 - we left Castro in the morning. We were considering trying to reshuffle all of our hotel reservations since we had skipped a day in Bilbao but we figured that the distances were not that long and we could keep going on and then return to Santillana for the evening. This turned out very well.

We drove into Laredo and Comillas. The Gaudi house (el Capricho de Gaudi) was something to see. The restaurant was closed and even though the posted operating hours the place looked neglected so we decided not to wait. The place is needing serious maintenance work to preserve the beutiful tilework. With all the nooks and cranies I imagine that it is labor intensive.

Suddenly DH made a sharp turn into a non-descript restuarant and announced that we were having lunch there. Bewildered, I asked, why? The wise reply came back: the parking lot is full of service trucks and company cars. The place was 'packed' inside (please remember that this is a small road on the middle of nowhere),there were at least 20 people in there. He asked for a beer and I was presented with a full bottle of wine which was left at the table when I asked for a glass. I had a FABULOUS white bean and mussels cocido (soup/stew) followed by beef stew. DH had some pasta with shrimp and some lomo (pork) to follow. The total bill was 12 Euros, I dont think that the place even has a name, there was certainly no sign outside.

I almost dislocated my shoulder trying to pat myself in the back, once more congratulating myself for making such a good spouse choice!!! A man that can fix broken luggage with a swiss army knife, drive for hours while his wife relaxedly looks out the window and can pick good restaurants out of nowhere is just about my description of perfect!!!!

We then drove to San Vicente de la Barquera. This was not in the original plan but those hours gained away from Bilbao certainly paid off!

This is a wonderful town. The long bridge leading into it sets the stage for the castle and church on top. We wandered around for a bit. I loved walking around the old walls and looking at the old houses and hidden gardens.

We made our way back to Santillana del Mar. This is one of the most photogenic towns I have ever been too. Every place you turn there is a balcony overflowing with flowers, a wall sagging just a little bit to make it interesting, little streets turning just the right way...many pictures were taken! I LOVED our hotel, Casa del Organista. It was small, cozy, charming, beutifully decorated and incredibly cheap. When I walked by the Casa del Marques I experienced a little pang of jealousy but then I thougth about our 50-something rate at Organista I let it go. We did have dinner at the Marques restaurant which was very good (assorted grilled fish for me and leg of lamb for DH). Slept like babies!

Mari,

I'm new to this board and have been excitedly following your posts. Any chance that you remember any more details of where I can locate that restaurant find of yours in/around Laredo?

Hi Abu,
if I am not wrong, the restaurant mentioned by Mari was near Comillas. Laredo is not exactly a great place of culinary delights (if you don´t count the ice-cream of La Valenciana, heaven in earth, or the "rabas" at a small non-descript bar near the tunnel), I should know about it, too many summers and weekends spent at its beach ...

Mari, great idea to drive along the coast :) , much better than spending the day in SS. It certainly gave you a glimpse on the country. BTW, when talking about San Juan de Gaztelugatxe, think that there are weddings there in the summer :) One of the biggies last year was the wedding of one of spanish TV star anchorwoman to a great ballet dancer, Igor Yebra. Ane wore her high heels all the way up :) And the dinner was at Eneperi. I have been there both for weddings and for simple food, and it is a great place.

And now, please, MORE :)

Cova

Day 5 – We got an early start and went up to the Colegiata in Santillana del Mar. I could have stayed the entire day just looking at the sculptures in the cloister columns. The Pantocrator in the church is amazing. Absolutely loved the place, I am into medieval stuff so I would have been happy with one or maybe even two full days in Santillana. If you don’t care particularly care for the period then a few hours would certainly be enough.

We headed out to the Altamira museum to see the reproduction of the caves and paintings. I was happy that I did it and the museum exhibits are OK but it leaves you with an empty feeling L It does not FEEL like a cave…

By the time we left it was raining steadily. Since our next destination was Cosgaya in the Picos de Europa, we debated which route we should follow considering the rain and fog. We were planning to follow the yellow dots in the Michelin map that indicate scenic roads. We started driving towards the highway but finally our true adventuresome selves came out and we headed for the tiny mountain roads.

In the fog and rain the drive as marvelous, in a sunny day it must have been stunning!!!! Not for motion sickness suffers but I must say that the road was decent troughout the drive. We crossed through Potes and made our way to Fuente Dé. When we got of the car the top was visible but by the time we made it half way up the cable car was going through ‘solid’ fog.

This is where cultural differences strike – DH is Swiss and I am Puerto Rican. To him fog and snow are just something to be avoided at all costs and for me they are a total novelty. He wanted to just turn around and ride the cable car back down but I wanted to venture out in the fog. It was cold and the visibility was intermittently between twenty to hundred feet. We started walking towards the Refugio de Alivia through the snow and mud. There was a group of hikers coming down from who knows where (think full gear, snow suits, real hiking boots) and I innocently asked if that was the way to the Refugio de Alivia. The older guy actually SNEERED and SNORTED and kept walking, one of the younger guys laughed out loud and said yes but that he did not think it would be a good idea to walk that way in the fog. He was just being polite since I was wearing jeans and Clark’s suede walking shoes (along with everything else that was available in my daypack (i.e. sweaters, scarf, etc)) and wishing again for gloves! Neither of us was wearing anything remotely suitable for snow hiking. We must have advanced 300 meters when the snow just got too deep to keep going. The top of the path signs was barely visible over the snow so finally I gave up and we turned around (my feet were getting cold).

At this precise moment the fog rolled away for about twenty seconds and the sun illuminated the snow-covered peaks. The view was soooo beautiful the DH did not say anything about walking in the cold, wet slush :) There was no time for a picture before the fog returned with a vengance. We had a visibility of about 5 meters by the time we made it to the cable car station. DH could have skipped this, I had a blast!!!

We returned to Cosgaya and checked into the Meson del Oso. The setting of the hotel is beautiful with flowers everywhere. They even had two San Bernard dogs outside to complete the alpine setting. A stream runs through the garden so we had a great view from our room. I proceeded to take over the bathroom and took a looong, waaarm shower. Again, we had somehow missed lunch again and dinner was not being served. Cosgaya does not have many dining options so we crossed the street to the other hotel (there are two and that is why there was actually an option :)) for a few tintos, potato chips and olives.

Finally we had dinner at el Oso. I was disappointed since the cocido Liebanes was only served for lunch and that was what I wanted. I don’t particularly remember that dinner so it must have been OK- neither rant nor rave (or maybe it was the tintos on the empty stomach ;) The sunset over the mountains was orange so we got some hopes for nice weather the following morning.

Next: Bulnes and Cangas de Onís

Day 6 – we woke up and went down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. The ‘normal’ breakfast was HUGE it had a humongous sobao toast, croissant, some pastry I was too full to try, coffee and juice. Waaaaayy too much!!! DH had some yogurt and some of my leftovers. I was tempetep to go back to Fuente De to see it with better weather but you just have to let go and move on sometimes....

After checking out and scratching the Saint Bernard dogs we got in the car and drove from Cosgaya to Potes to Panes to Arenas de Cabrales to Poncebos. This drive has some NARROW stretches with buses coming through and a LOT of stones and gravel on the road (coming down from the gorge) but boy-oh-boy, was it impressive!!!

We approached the ticket office for the funicular to Bulnes just as the sun was coming out. Tickets were 16 Euros for each and I must say that I almost hesitated (remember Fuente De and the fog). We finally (I) decided and jumped in. If you have a chance, DO THIS!!! Even if you are not interested in hiking, still it is a must. We took the +/- 10 minute ride through the tunnel dug out of the solid rock and emerged into the sunlight at the bottom of the valley!!!

Now, before I pour my heart out into the beauty of this area I must acknowledge the fact that if I was a taxpayer on this region and my money was being used to build this engineering marvel to connect Bulnes (population perhaps 30 if you count the dogs) to the 21st century; I would rant and protest!!! Now since I am a tourist and for 32 euros DH and I could go and painlessly enjoy this magical site, I will rave about it!!!

You walk from the top station to Bulnes de Abajo or to Poncebos. We went first to Bulnes de Abajo (at the bottom) and then to Bulnes de Arriba (at the top).

Here I must make a footnote! I am tropical and suburban raised 36yr old woman, I did not know about plants in general and nothing at all regarding nettles. There is no reason why I SHOULD know about nettles, they do not exist in Puerto Rico. I was never chased as child with them in kindergarten (apparently this was a common practice in Swiss grade school). I was informed about the existance and dangers of nettles about a quarter of a second too late, just after DH started asking if I knew what they were and if I was being careful not to touch any of them. The stinging begun just as I was trying to negotiate a plank crossover very loaded with cow evidence that forced me to the outer side of the little bridge, just above the drop off into Poncebos (I am cursed with vertigo so I was not happy at this particular moment anyway, even without the stinging).

After the nettle stinging passed I enjoyed very much the view from Bulnes de Arriba into the Garganta (gorge) in the direction of Poncebos as well as into Bulnes de Abajo. On the way down I stepped all over the cow evidence and was not stung by the nettles or scared about the drop off and the plank cross over – hey, you learn to pick your battles ;)

We had two tintos to drink in a café in Bulnes de Abajo just by the stream and then we decided to walk into the Naranjo viewpoint. Wonderful, marvelous!!! Just to think that I had really good hiking boots and walking stick in my luggage in the bottom cable car parking lot made me angry. And there I was again, in my (old faithful) Clark’s walking shoes and jeans - I was always a bad Girl Scout, never prepeared! Anyway we had a great view of the cascades and then of the Naranjo de Bulnes. After that we headed back to the funicular and went back down.

The sun was shining so I decided to go up to the Lagos and Covadonga area. OHHHHHH… beautiful!!! Now the drive up there. Do not attempt unless (1) you are totally comfortable with a manual transmission and (2) you are a confident driver which is not intimidated by (a) heights, (b) narrow roads/switchbacks and (c) buses. But then again this is a sight not to be missed under any circumstance. If I had been by myself I would have gone with one of the aforementioned buses which seemed to go to and from Covadonga fairly often.

You go up, up, up and then some more until you find yourself in Alpine meadows filled with cows wearing bells (remember my humble suburban, tropical origins and DH’s Swiss upbringing – I thought it was remarkable and he thought that it was just plain normal and that “ANY true farmer that respected him/herself would have bells on ALL his/her cows”, and “anyway, the Swiss Cowbells sounded a lot nicer”). I was tempted to break out in song: “the hilllls are aliiiive….”.

The views of the lakes are stunning. I had seen similar landscapes in Rocky Mountain National Park at tundra conditions but then I was soooo busy trying to breath at over 12,000 feet elevation (remember born and raised at sea level) that I did not enjoy it as much…and there were no cows with bells in Colorado ;)

Anyway, the Lago de Enol and Encina are an absolute must if you are ever in this area. We made our harrowing way back down and decided not to stop in the Covadonga shrine since there seemed to be some major festivity of which I (lapsed catholic) was not aware and the place was packed. We continued and made our way to the Parador in Cangas de Onis.

Once again our lack of lunch kicked in and after checking in to the hotel we proceeded into the bar and ordered two tintos and a cheese board to carry us to dinner. Well, that stuff was goooooooddddd. Did I mention at any point that the main difference between Northern and Southern Spain is that you can get truly great bread throughout the North? Well it is so; there is readily available GOOD bread from the Basque Country to Galicia. Any way, we went back to our rooms almost full with Cabrales, Tetilla and lots of other good cheeses. We took our showers and dressed a little nicer and headed for the Parador restaurant. I had some pasta (so so) and an assorted fish grill. It was OK but it was not as good as the one in Santillana del Mar and also it had some competition in my stomach among all that good cheese and bread. DH had some Fabada which was very good. We went for a walk aftwards along the river that runs parallel to the Parador. There were lots of fishermen and the evening was just perfect. Headed back into our room for another good nights sleep.

Next: Leon through the Desfiladero de los Beyos

My God, mari , you did such a wonderful trip !! I've been in some of these places but never had the chance to do it in a car. I'm jealous ! :)) I'm hooked to your report :)

Mari,

I LOVED the Enol and Ercina lakes. So peaceful that sometimes the only thing you heard were the cows bells. I also grew in PR and I don't think I was ever that close to a cow in my life!

I took the same walk from the Parador alongside the river to the town of Cangas. I hope you liked the Parador. I thought it was very special.

Thank You so much for your very vivid descriptions!

Hi Mari,

first, I would have agreed with your husband regarding that crazy walk up from the cable-car in Fuente De ;)
Speaking seriously, the terrain in Picos de Europa is dangerous in the fog, and the dangers can run from getting lost to sprain your ankle or getting killed (I am wearing my deadly serious hiker hat right now ... too many years hiking along the whole of northern Spain since we were little kids have taught us when not to venture out in the middle of the fog ... and this year there was a lot of snow hiding the holes and stones ...).

Second, you think that the tramway to Bulnes is expensive ... right now it is making money and it´s far cheaper than having to take people away by helicopter as it used to happen before ;) The only complaint from the people in Bulnes is that they cannot bring their cows on it :)

I am really looking forward to the rest of your trip.

Rgds, Cova

marigross: Great report!

Just an observation on your "I was disappointed since the cocido Liebanes was only served for lunch and that was what I wanted."

I have had Favada Asturiana and Cocido de Liebana (very similar, except the Favada is with Fava Beans (expensive) and the Cocido, Garbanzos). In either case one spends the next 2-hours as if one has swallowed a brick. That's why in an earlier comment, I suggested a Siesta after the Favada Asturiana.

The best Cocido I tried was in Potes, Capital of Liebana, but that's to be expected.

BTW
The Cabrito asado (roast suckling goat) taste is almost indistinguishable from the roast suckling lamb

Cova, you are absolutely rigth that we should have turned back in the fog. There were a lot of people around and I guess that gave me a false sense of safety!

Cruise, I loved the setting of the Parador. We also had a very nice room with sitting area and the most comfortable bathroom of the entire trip! It stays in the 'recommended' list :) Wait until I get to the Camino installment, there were cows, cows, pigs, cows, sheep and some more cows....

JudyC, we wrestled for over a year with the decision if we should go on our own or organized! We did find several baggage transfer services (see www.euroadventures.net or www.walksworldwide.com) but the price difference with the full 'tour' group was neglectable considering the added convenience.

Kenderina, I absolutely have to go back to Spain. I guess I will never see the rest of the world if I keep up with this addiction!!!!

Ned, I really like the Fabada but Garbanzos are my favorite grain so I was dissapointed anyway :( I love all of the spanish roasted meats, the cabrito, the cochinillo - Im already drooling and experiencing signs of withdrawal.....

gosh Mari, it's only 8 AM and you have me drooling , thinking of that cochinillo! I can't wait to get to Spain in a month!

Hi Mari,

I´m trying to behave ... but I am just back from lunch and I have had "cocido madrileño" (with plenty of garbanzos ... are they called chickpeas?). The cocido at the Hotel del Oso is really good, probably the best in the valley of Liebana, and I find it easier in the stomach than the fabada ;) ...

BTW, did you manage to get a glimpse of the Asturian coast before heading inland to your Camino?

Bye, Cova

Cova, you are cruel!!! Thank God that I have to go back to Madrid the week of June 20th, even if it is only to work at least I still get to eat over there for a week!!! It will be Cocido Madrileño and Cochinillo for me.

The further west I made it to the coast was San Vicente de la Barquera.

Cruise, do you have an itinerary set for your trip?

Day 7 – We got a lazy start in the morning and again discussed if we should go to Leon via Oviedo or take to the mountain roads through the Desfiladero de los Beyos. DH does not care that much about town or churches and I was loving so much the scenery that we agreed to let Oviedo go.

BTW-I am actively considering groveling and begging to my boss for a transfer to the Spanish facility of the company I work for. I think it is the only solution to my Spanish addiction. I cannot bear the anguish of having to choose one town over the other…..oh, the pain, the pain….

I am so happy we made this decision! The roads on this section were a bit narrower and again there was a lot of loose gravel on the road. Every time DH stopped to take a picture of the gorge I had visions of rocks falling through the roof of the car! Anyway I must reiterate my previous observation – the Picos de Europa and their surroundings deserve a full trip to the area. The stark, rocky peaks with their gravel slopes are absolutely stunning.

Ger/Oreilly: l if by any chance you read this trip report I wanted to let you know that I admire your stamina for driving around the Picos in a single day!!!!

We drove by the Embalse de Riaño. The views are wonderful. We got some great pictures of the mountains clearly mirrored in the lake. Once when we stepped out of the car, I suddenly heard something that sounded like wind chimes in a storm but kept approaching. Then on the other side of the lake, there was a large herd of running (well, cantering) sheep wearing bells being guided by three sheep dogs. Now, remember my suburban origins….I thought it was a myth that dogs would actually be shepherds. But there they were: pushing the stragglers and herding the ones that separated back into the group, not a human in sight! It is almost something to be ashamed off, this city ignorance! DH got a kick out of my excitement over something so simple.

Unrelated anecdote: I have a co-worker (very well educated but also raised in tropical suburbs) that anytime someone mentions Segovia as part of a conversation he goes into a rave about the actual existence of storks. He believed that they were like the boogeyman or the toothfairy, something made up to explain where babies came from (“brought by the stork”).

Getting into Leon was a bit of a hassle. For all other hotels I had maps and directions in my file but not for Posada Regia, do not ask why – I just did not have it!!! I am not perfect…Anyway it would not have mattered since the hotel was in the pedestrian area and we never would have found it. We parked the car in the street and went hotel hunting. I knew it was close to the cathedral so we headed that way and started asking around.

A very helpful man offered to walk us to the Cathedral through the little back streets. After we made quite a circle around the old town we realized that he would escort us to the cathedral only after he had picked up his granddaughter after school. At the end we made to the square and naturally the tourist office was closed until 5:00 PM so I headed to a candy store just across to ask for Posada Regia. The very pretty counter lady had a vacant look in her eyes when I asked for (1) Posada Regia, (2) a map of Leon or (3) the tourist office. This last one was just a test since I knew that it was 10 meters away and clearly seen through the window. Dumb Blonde jokes started popping up in my head ;) A customer in the store that happened to be the owner of the hostel next door, very politely pointed out to the thick stack of Leon maps next to the cash register and kindly directed us to Posada Regia which was less than 200 meters away.

A few minutes later we had checked in to the hotel and were instructed on how to get our car into the pedestrian area for baggage unloading. When we returned to the hotel the group from Spanish Steps was checking in. We were not supposed to join the group until the following evening in Ponferrada but they invited us to go with the group for a guided visit of the Leon pantheon and cathedral. We also asked the guide if we could give them our luggage in the morning so that we did not have to wrestle with it when we gave the car back to Avis in Ponferrada. All that church-visiting incurred in the previous days most have earned us some brownie points somewhere because I do not even want to think about the next day if we had had to haul the luggage with us!

The Pantheon in Leon is to the Romanic period as the Sistine Chapel is the Renaissance! Absolutely stupendous collection of frescoes; marvelously preserved -remember that I am into medieval stuff. I liked the information provided by the guide, could have done nearly as well by myself with the Michelin Green Guide and a few years of Art History in college, but hated the time crunch and the pressure to keep moving on. The other people in the group were NOT into medieval art or architecture, in their defense I must say that after walking over 12k’s in a day there is not much that will interest anyone ;) This group had already been walking for a week before we joined in Ponferrada.

We went then to the cathedral. WOW! Big, big WOW!!!! You feel as if you were walking into a jewel box. Just imagine how the medieval average Joe that had never seen anything taller than three stories high must have felt when entering this marvel! We walked with the guide through the church and into the cloister until all the explanations were done. The guide offered to walk the group back to the Gaudí building were we started for a short explanation over there but DH and I declined this part. We stayed in the cloister to have a leisurely walk at our own pace and then did the same with the cathedral.

We sat down in a café to ponder the possibility that we had made a huge mistake in joining a tour group for the first time in our couple life. There were 3 pairs of senior ladies and a single guy in his forties that greeted us with a big smile of relief when we were introduced to the group (in a future installment I will discuss how those ladies, which were well into their 70’s, bent the laws of aerodynamics, human stamina and reason while walking.

Anyway we headed out for a last tapas night before we had to give up our freedom and eat group dinners. The evening started out kind of disappointing, the bars in Leon do not have out in display what they are offering as tapas so it is almost a wild guess. We walked into the first one and got lucky, for 2.60 euros we got two tintos, two small empanadas, two small croquettes and some potatoes with chorizo. Second bar we bummed out – olives (have I publicly admitted that the only food item that I cannot swallow are olives?). We then changed our strategy, we walked into a bar without a kitchen and asked the bartender where we could go for good, local tapas. He gave us directions to a small, easy to miss, place about 50 meters from where we were – bar Ribera (maybe?).

The place was packed with locals and the floor was very dirty with paper napkins and other stuff – all good signs for a Spanish bar! We were kind of skeptical when we were presented with potato chips with our two tintos and we almost walked out without tasting. Then suddenly DH reached for one chip and his eyes lit up. “These chips are not from the bag”, I reached over, tasted one and proceeded to appropriate a barstool and ask for the raciones menu. I guess that they do not need the menu very often because she had to look in several placed before locating it. My hopes were multiplying by the second! We decided to play it safe and ordered half a racion of what everyone else was eating: rabas (fried calamari rings). The bar lady found a table for us and we settled down. As soon as we tasted the first calamari we ordered a full racion of them, another of callos (tripe) and some more potato chips. Naturally lots of red wine was downed with it. We then had some pulpo a la gallega before we gave up for the night.

We returned to our very nice hotel room (a bit noisy, but this seems to be almost standard throughout Spain) and repacked our suitcases to prepare for the next days of walking.

Next: Driving along the Camino and the Ponferrada adventures in giving the car back and formally meeting with our tour.

Mari,

You're so lucky to have a DH that doesn't mind doing the driving! Mine doesn't want to . Many moons ago I would have not mind either but now..... I don't think I could navigate those narrow roads and look at the same time!

As far as my itinerary is concerned, believe it or not I have two itineraries booked!!! One if my son's language class is in Santander and another if he goes to La Coruña. He's going with a group , mainly from the US but the kids are placed with families and they're still working on it!

If he goes to Santander I'm going to Madrdid, Santander, San Sebastian , Burgos and back to Madrid.

If he goes to La Coruña , it'll be Madrid, Coruña, Santiago( with day trips from there) and back to Madrid. Hopefully I'll find out in the next few days.

Looking forward to El Camino!!!!!

marigross writes: "Unrelated anecdote: I have a co-worker (very well educated but also raised in tropical suburbs) that anytime someone mentions Segovia as part of a conversation he goes into a rave about the actual existence of storks. He believed that they were like the boogeyman or the toothfairy, something made up to explain where babies came from (“brought by the stork”)."

In Madrid, they say babies come from Paris.

If you want Storks you should daytrip to Alcala de Henares (Madrid), Cervantes' birthplace. They are all over the Universidad there.

Cruiseluv writes: "As far as my itinerary is concerned, believe it or not I have two itineraries booked!!! One if my son's language class is in Santander and another if he goes to La Coruña. He's going with a group , mainly from the US but the kids are placed with families and they're still working on it!

If he goes to Santander I'm going to Madrdid, Santander, San Sebastian , Burgos and back to Madrid.

If he goes to La Coruña , it'll be Madrid, Coruña, Santiago( with day trips from there) and back to Madrid. Hopefully I'll find out in the next few days."

Universidad Internacional de Menendez Pelayo (UIMP, Pronounced 'Wimp') is one beautiful location at playa Sardinero in Santander. It's much nicer than a'Corunha although it's further from Santiago. Nearby is Laredo, Limpias (Cristo de Limpias), Comillas and San Vicente de la Barquera, Liebana and the Picos de Europa, including Monasterio de Santo Toribio on the outskirts of Potes where the largest known fragment of the Cross of Christ's crucifiction is guarded, Llanes, Cangas de Onis, even Bilbao. I fell in love with Santander about 43 years-ago - wife was surprised when we returned after 40-years and the people I had met there treated me like a long lost relative.

If I went to Santander, I wouldn't even bother about San Sebastian. There's plenty to see and do In Santander and really great seafood in el Barrio Pesquero. Evenings, on c/ de Burgos there's wall to wall street performers and they're not agressive like in N.Y. Washington Square Park or Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco.

To Mari, Many thanks again for the reply about the 2 sites.

I visited Oviedo last year, still remember vividly the pre-Romanseque yellow stone churches on rolling green hills outside the town under the bright winter sun.

One point of interest I always try to seek out along the Camino is bronze statues of pilgrims/travellers in each town/city: such as the weary one in Burgos, or the father and son by Leon Cathedral and another by Parador. Even in Oviedo, there is one with bunch of trunks.

Looking forward to the next installment.

marigross, enjoying your report.
When in France, at Alsace, if you look up in breeding season you can see the stocks on chimmney tops.

Hi Nedsireland,

I have a copy of a thread from last year where you described your tour from Santander to Potes and Fuente Dé. If I get To Santander I'll try to do the same. I was in Santander last year and stayed at Sardinero. Also did a day trip to Santillana After Santander I went to Bilbao.

I also liked Santander a lot but would like to see San Sebastián and see what the hoopla is about.

Thanks for your suggestions!

Mari , get back soon and tell us about the Camino please! Thanks!!

Day 8 – we got up early to make sure that the tour guides could take our luggage with them. We had breakfast in the hotel since this was included with the room and headed out see the Parador and the adjacent church/museum. Had to wait a little bit since nothing is scheduled to open before 10:00 AM and nothing really happens before 10:30. The Parador seems to be beautiful but they were really strict about only letting guests in, so we could not get a good view. I was not crazy about its location either since it seems to be a little further out from the lively/pedestrian part of town and next to a huge government center. I love staying in the old towns and returning quickly to the hotel when we are tired of wandering aimlessly through the streets…..

Right now I’m thinking of Dorothy saying, “there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home…” but it is NOT working!!! I don’t want to be home, I want to be in Spain and on vacation, I wanna, I WANNAAAAAH!!!!

We took the car out of the parking and made started driving towards Ponferrada. We took the smaller roads that go right next to the Camino. I was amazed at the amount of people actually walking! Every couple hundred meters you would see pilgrims walking by themselves or in groups.

There were many little, semi-abandoned villages along the way. Some looked a little more prosperous than others with all their doors and windows painted blue. The rural areas of the northern region of Spain seem to be very sparsely populated. You can sometimes drive on the smaller roads through the mountains for more than an hour and see only a car or two along the way.

Along this road we started seeing cyclists in the Camino. Those people must have some stamina. The approach to the top of the mountain ridge is a good 10 kilometers long with a 10-12% grade up. Those hills are STEEP!!!! Also, they pick up some awful speed on the way down…scary!

We stopped by the Cruz de Fierro where pilgrims drop off stones they have brought from their homes as a symbol of letting go of their burdens before they start their approach into Santiago. The stone hill is about 10 meters high with a single post topped with a cross. There were many objects in there among the stones: little stuffed toys, pictures, letters, military medals….I found it to be moving in a very quiet way. It makes you think about why anyone would want to take a 30 –pound backpack and walk 800km (or cycle up the steep hills).

One of the must-see places that I had scheduled in this trip was the church of San Juan de la Peña but as we approached Ponferrada, I had to admit that we were not going to have time for the detour since we had to meet with the tour at five in the bus station (?) or was it in the train station (?) and it was already 1:00 PM. We drove a few times around town looking for the tourist office so that we could get a detailed map of Ponferrada since the town turned out to be a lot larger than I thought it would – hey, there is only so much research you can do for a trip!!!!

We say plenty of direction signs for the tourist office but never found it. We changed strategy and went to the bus station since they would certainly have maps. Well, we went in and the information center was there but they did not have maps of Ponferrada –HUH???? “No Señora, we don’t have maps to give away, but you can buy one for five euros at the magazine store next door”. It had been a loooong time since I had been a victim of ‘you-are-a-tourist-and-I-will-s*c*r*u*’ attitude. A definite benefit of (a) being over thirty and (b) being the mother of a 12yr old is that you know (most of the time) which battles you are not going to win before you engage in full-blown warfare.

So, I smiled sweetly at the information master behind the counter and asked if she had directions to the Avis office so that we could return our car. I only asked this casually since I had printed out from the Avis website the address. I had the directions in my file…which was in the backpack….which was in the tour van with the rest of our luggage…along with all the papers that would dissipate our recently awakened doubts regarding if our meeting point was in the bus station or the train station!

I refrained from expressing (too much) my increasing feeling of panic. Naturally, the information master did not know where Avis was located but I vaguely remembered the name of the street – I DID do SOME research you know and I had proof in my backpack!!! With that she could give us some directions to a nearby street.

We got back into the car and quickly found out that maybe her directions were correct if you were walking but we could not navigate the one-way streets the way she told us! We finally gave up and parked the car again so we could find it on foot. After walking around the block a few times we finally located the small door with the Avis sign. Needless to say, they were closed for lunch until 4:00 PM (it was 2:30)

Since it WAS lunchtime we started walking around the streets looking for a place to eat but we were not in the city center, we did not in which direction the city center was. Boy-was the 5 euro map beginning to look like a deal! We located the way to the train station and then we wandered around until we found a pedestrian street that looked a little more promising and found a bar to sit down. We asked the bartender is they served lunch. They did not, ‘but there is a great place just down the street…’. We found the recommended place and settled down to eat.

As you have probably noticed by now, I am the #1 fan of Spanish cuisine. Keep away from chicken in Spain. The salad we had was great, the sauce of the stewed chicken was good but the chicken must have been training for triathlon, it was tough and the pieces were cut in such a way that you did not get any good bite of meat. I will risk the generalization since later on we had the same experience in another (outstanding) restaurant. At this point we started discussing the meeting point situation: train vs. bus station.
DH: I think you said it was the train station
Me: I thought the guide said bus station this morning
DH: I think you said it was the train station
Me: That was when I thought this would be a tiny little town and the bus station and train station would be the same!
DH: I think you said it was the train station, do you have the tour papers?
Me: Yes, they are in the backpack that is in the van with the tour guides
DH: Oh…..I think you said it was the train station. Didn’t they give us a tag with their cell phone numbers?
Me: Yes, it is attached to the backpack that is in the van with the tour guides. I still think that it is in the bus station.
DH: Oh…..Everyone meets in train stations!

Maybe in Switzerland they do and then the only train in Puerto Rico inaugurated two months ago. Since I had no clue (except a feeling that it was the bus station) and he had a firm opinion that we had to go to the train station I decided to let it go and follow his lead. Maybe this conversation had something to do with my not liking the chicken too much ;)

We paid for lunch and headed back to Avis. They were finally open so we could give them the car back. It was 4:00 PM and we found the way to the old town and the templar castle. We enjoyed it for five minutes (the castle was closed anyway) before we walked to the train station. We had a beer in the bar and sat down to wait…4:35…4:45…5:00…5:05. At this point I was convinced that we had made a HUGE mistake in joining a tour group, that if we had continued on our own we would not be subjected to cruel and unusual stress during vacation time…I was close to tears!!! At 5:15 DH said that one of us should take a taxi and go to the bus station. We finally agreed that he would go, he gave me a 20 euro bill (I was not carrying any money at that point), told me that he would wait over there until 6:00 PM and if the guides were not found he would return to meet at the TRAIN station. He did kiss me goodbye though…

I did not like Ponferrada - I know I'm biased but I don't feel the urge to give it another try!

Ten minutes later the tour van drove into the TRAIN station, I ran out to tell them that DH was on the way to the BUS station in a taxi but they had already picked him along the way. Turned out that they have experienced the Train vs Bus confusion before so if someone is not showing up they just go to the other place. I immediately began to feel better about the tour in general!

There were two other severely jetlagged parties in the van that were joining the walking group. We were very happy (not for the last time) that we had changed our plans to do the on-our-own part of the trip first before joining the group. I don’t think I would have been up to walking fresh out of the airplane! We had been instructed to wear our hiking boots and after driving for around 40 minutes the van was parked and we were let out to start walking on the Camino. We were told to follow the yellow arrows and scallop shells until we reached the village of Ambasmestas.

We had a fairly nice 5k walk going through wooded areas (very nice) but also along the road (not nice), my mood was improving by the second and it made a final turn for the better when we bought a half kilo of cherries on a roadside stand! By the time we reached Ambasmestas I was back to my happy self :)

We stayed for one night in a little Casa Rural (www.ambasmestas.com). At 8:00 we had the tour introductory meeting followed by dinner at 9:00. The restaurant was rather good, I had some bacalao and DH has some beef stew. After dinner we took a little walk around town (maybe 300 meters long) to aid digestion after eating way too much and turned in for the night.

Next: Walking the Camino: O’Cebreiro and Triacastela

Just two small clarifications: (1) We were supposed to be in BUS station but when we dint show up they went to look for us in the TRAIN station.

(2) One of the reasons (among many) that I am still wiht DH is his ability to let things go at a simple "Oh" (this might be a full blown argument for a Swiss but it is extremely polite for latin culture)

I posted some of the pictures online, the order is not correct (first time I try this!!!)

http://share.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=EeAMWzZi2buHDhw

Mari,

Those are some unbelievable pictures. I can't believe the snow! Beautiful pictures of the Basque coast!

Thanks for continuing with your report!