August 28th-September 9th
Our last Spanish road
trip of our year abroad
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| Burgos Cathedral |
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| Burgos Cathedral |
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| sharing a park bench in Burgos |
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| Burgos-Cathedral |
This would be our last
Spanish road trip of our year abroad…sad but true. We wanted to see that
northwest chunk of Spain, which had alluded us thus far. We loosely planned a clockwise loop,
first heading southwest from San Sebastian, before heading to the northwestern
reaches of Spain, then took a northern coastal route back east again. This turned out to be a really good
route because it gave us a good mix of big city/ small town/good freeways and
country roads that we like. We
left San Sebastian in a rental car with no hotel reservations booked ahead of
time because we didn’t want to be committed to an exact route and
schedule. We never had a problem
finding a room in the 40-70 EU range, though most Spanish people we spoke with
were pretty surprised that we took the “risk.” We looked at hotel availability and pricing on booking.com
as we rolled into towns where we thought we might like to stay. In Mid August this would probably
have been a challenge based on the masses of Spaniards that head to the north
to escape the inland heat; the whole country seems to go on vacation at this
same time. This loop we would be
driving had a few criteria; we wanted to see the cathedral in Burgos, I needed put my toes in the Rio de
Duero (Ok, kind of cheesy, but how could I live in a country for a year that
has a river with my last name, and not dip some body part in it?), experience
Santiago de Campostela the destination of pilgrims from all over Europe, and
stay with friends in Viveiro in northern Galicia.
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| cloister-burgos |
Here is a synopsis of
where we went, what we did, what we liked, and what we didn’t.
(*) Marks places we
stayed the night
Burgos*-The cathedral is fabulous, but it’s the cool
medieval bridge and gateway into the restaurant lined plaza in front of the
cathedral that creates a feeling of anticipation, and adds the “awe” factor to
this “awesome” cathedral.
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| Peñafiel Castle with cave venting in foreground |
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| chimney vents to limestone caves where wine is stored |
Peñafiel- Home of one of the skinniest and longest
castles in Spain, sitting high on a hill, is now the home of a wine
museum. We walked around the old
town for a while and noticed hundreds of small domed chimney-like things
protruding from the ground. Turns
out these provide venting for the kluge of limestone caves that permeate the
area, and are used for wine storage.
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| Peñafiel Castle |
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| dipping my toes in Duero River |
After being duped into
thinking I was putting my toes in the Duero River here, we drove on and soon
pulled into a tiny village where we found an unexpected path through a hidden
park that led to the Duero, where I officially baptized my toes in the river of
my namesake. I wondered if I was
the first America Duero to put my feet in the Duero. The retirees casting their lines nearby were interested in
talking to us. After we told them
we were from California, they proudly turned to point out the two California
Redwood trees that were planted in their little park. We were so impressed, not just that they had them, but that
they knew what they were and where they were from.
Palencia*- This university town has a cathedral that Lonely
Planet guidebook touts as underrated, but to be honest we didn’t think so. What I liked best about it were the
storks that roosted at night on every peak. I could have given Palencia a miss, but we were fortunate in
that it was festival time, which made for a lively environment, and fabulous
people watching. Outdoor music
played in the plaza while we enjoyed a wonderful dinner.
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| storks roosting on Palencia's cathedral |
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| Palencia at night |
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| Leon- plaza where we had lunch |
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| Palencia at night |
Leon- Had we known it was such gorgeous city, we may
have skipped Palencia and spent more time here. Our priority was the cathedral. OMG, the stain glass in this
cathedral is the dominant feature, and it is truly breathtaking. It has an interesting history. It was built at a time when gothic (a
term not invented at the time) architecture was coming into fashion…because of
increasing understanding of the physics of construction using arches/buttresses
etc. So…away with the massive dark
Romanesque building style…go up, go light, why? Because they could! There is charm around every corner, in Leon’s
many hidden plazas. I want go back
to check out its museums.
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| Leon Cathedral |
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| Leon Cathedral |
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| Leon Cathedral |
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| Leon Cathedral |
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| Leon Cloister |
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| Leon |
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| Leon |
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| Ponferrada |
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| Ponferrada |
Ponferrada*- This city has a small well preserved medieval
“old town.” We stayed outside the
old town where we could find easy street parking, yet walk easily into the old
town. We were lucky to arrive just
before sunset, which is a very scenic time of day to photograph the castle
ruins. It is clearly on the radar
for Spanish tourists. The
restaurants that line the cute little plazas in the touristic old town are
quite a bit more expensive than outside the old town. We payed for ambience, and to be honest, in this case it was
worth it.
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| Ponferrada |
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| Ponferrada |
Monforte de Lemos- This was an impulse stop. We saw a thing with spires up on a hill
as we were driving by, and decided to check it out. We found a pretty parador up on a hill, a church we couldn’t
get into, did lots of walking and snooping around, but overall, I’d give this
place a miss.
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| Pontevedra |
Pontevedra*-This is a really neat town with a big wide river
as its central feature. It has
many cool bridges, and a pedestrian friendly medieval old town that really comes
alive at night. There are many
good restaurants and intimate little plazas. We went in the free museum that seems more about the architecture
of the structure itself, than the contents…totally worth it at twice the price
;-). We popped in and out of the
many churches. It is on the St.
James Way pilgrimage route. We
visited the strikingly unique Baroque/Neoclassical 18th century
“scallop shell” shaped Church of the Peregrinos (symbol of the Way of St.
James).
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| typical house in Galicia |
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| Small grain structure for grain storage |
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| scallop shell church-Pontevedra |
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| Plaza in Pontevedra |
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| Pontevedra |
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| Pontevedra bridge |
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| Pontevedra-bridge cables |
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| one of many interesting bridges in Galicia |
As we drove through the
countryside of Galicia, we noticed that many of the old stone country houses
had adjacent small raised stone structures often punctuated with a cross at the
peak. Traditionally these were
used for grain storage and reminded us of the rice barns we saw in Tana Toraja,
Sulawesi Indonesia 15 years ago. Also
of note is that stone was so prolific here, that they used thin granite pillars
to stake out their fields of grape vines! We left Pontevedra, heading toward the coast, and spent an afternoon in a sweet town called Sanxenxo that we stumbled upon randomly.
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| kids kayaking under bridge-Pontevedra |
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| Sanxenxo |
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| Sanxenxo |
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| Sanxenxo |
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| Sanxenxo |
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| yummy squid in Sanxenxo |
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| Santiago de Campostela |
Santiago de
Campostela*- Here we found a
great pension just outside of the town center that was an easy walk. The city is hilly and loaded with
tourists. A steady flow of
perigrinos (pilgrims) on bike and on foot enter the square in front of the
cathedral and take photos at “kilometer zero”; here one finds tears, cheers,
and beers. It was at ground zero
that we met up with Diego and Silvia, the wonderful Spanish couple who saved
our butts in Morocco in the spring, when we were inextricably lost in the maze
that is Marrakesh. We intended to
pay them back with dinner, but they would have none of it and instead insisted
on taking us out for pintxos. They
gave us a personal tour of the cathedral.
They were surprised at how we were able to join an uncharacteristically
very short line of people, and enter a tiny doorway leading us to the back of
the cathedral’s huge and gilded alter.
Here, we ascended stairs to the wooden statue of St. James, gave him the
traditional “hug” and peaked beyond him to the priests and congregation
celebrating mass. There is a very large incense vessel (botafumierro) on a
large sort of pulley that they swing at the special pilgrims mass (check out
this youtube video!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaPL-TwvkNQ
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| Tapas bar, Santiago de Campostela |
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| botafumierro- Santiago de Campostela |
It swings in a 65meter
arc, 68 km per hour, and weighs about 80kg! It was originally used to make the cathedral, packed with
stinky medieval pilgrims who had been traveling for months (probably with
minimal if any bathing) smell a little better, fend off plague (no it didn’t
really help), and also had ceremonial religious significance.
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| Santiago de Campostela |
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| Santiago de Campostela |
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| Santiago de Campostela |
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| walking sticks, shell, gourds for pilgrims |
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| Santiago de Campostela |
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| Santiago de Campostela |
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| Santiago de Campostela |
Lugo-Diego and Silvia suggested we go to Lugo. It is one of the few fully walled
cities left in Europe. The most
interesting thing about it was that we found it completely surrounded by parked
tractors. It turns out that the
dairy farmers were protesting the low price they were getting for milk.
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| Walking the wall of Lugo |
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| Lugo-Dairy farmers protest low milk prices |
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| Lugo |
La Coruña (sort of )-We arrived here planning to spend
the night but just didn’t get good vibes.
We drove the scenic coastal road, saw some of the more well known sites
from our car window. Stopped
outside a perspective hotel, had a bite to eat…and both of us said, “let’s get
out of here”…we just felt like we didn’t want to be there. A few hours later we heard that there
had been a huge accident killing onlookers during a local car race in the
streets.
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| Miño |
Miño-This was a cute tiny town on a scenic bay. It was a total contrast to la Coruña,
and we felt rejuvenated by a dose of mothernature.
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| View of Viveiro from hotel rooftop |
Viveiro*-We came here to visit friends, and discovered a
real hidden gem in the process.
This is my kind of town. It
has a lively, be it small, historic old town center, wonderful beaches and
river walks, great views, great pintxo bars, a wonderful walkability, and coastal
mountains for good hiking and horseback riding. To me it is one of the most livable cities I have been
in. It is cleaner than most cities
I have visited in Spain. Of
course, it was sunny and beautiful when we were there…but the reality is, it is
a very rainy place, with 87 days of rain a year on average.
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| Viveiro old town |
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| Viveiro-beach view from boardwalk |
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| Unique window facade designed for Galician climate-Viveiro |
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| Viveiro- plaza at night |
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| Viveiro |
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| Viveiro-church (see wax dolls) |
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| Viveiro- wax effigies. Believers ask virgin for health and healing |
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| Viveiro-wax effigies |
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| Cloistered nuns of Viveiro sell sweets |
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| North Galician coastline |
We followed the north coast, now heading back east. The view was of vast stretches of windy coastline, sea stacks, some beaches, some cliffs, occasional villages, and lots of wide open spaces and pasture land.
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| North Galician coastline |
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| Cudillero |
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| Cudillero |
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| Cudillero |
Cudillero*-At some point I had read about a cute colorful picturesque village that was great to photograph, but couldn’t remember exactly where it was. We found Cudillero by
chance while making our way down an incredibly narrow, steep winding road that
led to this distinctive village and port.
It was fun and surprising to land here. We found a great little apartment for the night. We explored the narrow paved paths,
which seemed more fit for goats than people, that knitted their way between the
houses the climbed the steep walled cliffs of this coastal village. The houses are brightly painted, and
the sunlight treats you to a varying “Technicolor show” as it moves to
highlight or shadow different parts of the village during the course of the
day. Drew noticed a road in the
distance. Our epiphany…hey, that
is how most folks arrive to the town of Cudillero, not on the
roller coaster-like road that we arrived on.
As we were ready to
leave the next day we saw 3 giant busloads of people on tours arriving at the
port. They were headed into town,
like a swarm of locust, ready to consume, consume, consume.
Continuing east, we stopped for a long beach walk and lunch in the city of Santander.
I was taken by the large numbers of people of retirement age swimming, as if this was part of their daily fitness routine. Farther down the beach colorful beach tents were set up. I'm not sure if these were rentals or private tents, the colors caught my attention.
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| Cudillero |
We arrived back to San
Sebastian. It was odd not to go back to our apartment, where we had spent the last 11 months. Instead we went to our friends rental apartment. And got our luggage in order. We spent 2 more days tying up loose ends, and saying goodbye
to friends. Our last leg was the journey from San Sebastian to Castelldefels, just south of Barcelona.
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| Cudillero |
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| Cudillero |
Castelldefels*- Knowing
this was going to be where we would spend our final night in Spain, and that we
would be transporting all our belongings, including Drew’s Spanish-made Pukas
surfboard, I booked this accommodation several months in advance. I didn’t want to end our incredibly
rich year in Spain in tourist-saturated Barcelona. We found ourselves unwittingly in a wonderful penthouse apartment
near a vast un-peopled sandy beach.
I made a mental note of this lovely place and filed it under “return
visits.” We had brought our bottle
of wine, gifted by our friend from California several months earlier, called
“Liquid Love” to the beach with us. Drew had been saving it for this occasion. We sat at the beach where we toasted to
our fabulous year in Spain as the sun set. We put our feet in the warm Mediterranean, just as we had
done in the Atlantic a few days earlier…knowing that in a few more days we would
be putting our toes in the Pacific Ocean, back in California. It all felt very surreal.
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| Santander |
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| Santander |
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| You know you are in Spain when you see a big bull on the hill. |
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| Castelldefel's beach-toast to our magical year in Spain. |
