Michele and Drew's Excellent Spanish Adventure: March Mini-Roadtrip Spain

Friday March 27, 2015

Olite-Palace view from our hotel balcony

This was our first real road trip (with our own wheels) in the 7 months we have lived here in Spain. The plan: I had a list of several places I wanted to visit in the next 4-5 days…we didn’t want to be chained by hotel reservations, so just found our lodging as we went.

We left the txirimiri (light rain) of San Sebastian and in a short time found ourselves in sunny wine and olive oil country in the region of Navarra. Our first stop, medieval towns of Olite and Ojue.

The highlight of Olite was visiting the restored palace that Charles III “the noble” built in the 14^th and 15^th centuries. He was basically a decent guy who did what he could to redeem the family name…his father was known as “Charles the Bad.” The palace was burned around 1813 in order to prevent the Napoleonic forces, who were on their way, from seizing it and using it for a base. We found a great little hotel in what used to be the old Jewish quarter with a view of the palace, and of the nearby vineyards. We went to the little wine museum in town and learned some interesting scientific tidbits that took the “snob” element out of wine tasting, which is a turnoff to me.

Olite-Green dot is Drew on tower

The next day we headed west through small villages like Reina de Puente, and Estella and towns along the “El Camino,” traveled by Martin Sheen in “The Way” and pilgrims since the middle ages. It's always fun to poke our heads into churches, meander the cobbled streets, and cross thousand year old bridges. The scenery was breathtaking as the western light brightened the greens of the low lands and lit up shear rocky escarpments to the northeast.

We drove till we lost our light and made our way to Miranda de Ebro, a large sprawling industrial town that feels a bit soulless. We comically had total technology failure...my phone and ipad were out of power, and Drew's iphone randomly locked him out (catch 22 need internet access to restart...never have quite figured out why that happens). We “eeked” out enough power to locate and navigate ourselves to our lodging, a 16th century convent (39EU). We decided to splurge on the 6 course meal offered at the monastery, which included

dishes like partridge salad, beef cheeks, fish, baby eel omelet. We discovered the historic part of Miranda de Ebro the next morning. Long neglected, it seems to be newly rediscovered and slowly getting a facelift.

Church in tiny town in Ebro Valley

From Miranda de Ebro we headed west to follow the Ebro River. The gorges and tunnels that we passed through made it a drive to remember. The bucolic landscape was punctuated by architectural gems…medieval churches, and cool hill towns like Frias, complete with castle ruins. We would have stayed another night in this area but we wanted to get to the north coast by dusk, to a town called Santillana del Mar (SdM).

SdM has had a strict city planning code since the 1500's and is more-less closed to car traffic. This town is all about tourism, yet remains charming…The cobbled streets were moderately filled with what appeared to be mostly Spanish families on weekend getaways. We stayed in a repurposed, antique laden medieval palace. We are often greeted with expressions of surprise, arriving without reservation in this day and age; sometimes I wonder if the expression is also partly due to the site of 2 people in their 50's arriving with small backpacks, rather than suitcases.

Crazy old door hardware

Our next stop was the 10th century Monastery of San Juan de Gaztelugatxe requiring a steep walk down to the base of the bluff, then a climb up 231 steps that connects the mainland to the little island on which the monastery is built. On the way we stumbled upon Buton Castle…a “rebuilt” medieval castle that smacks of Disneyland…there were no signs, no way to enter. Very curious! I had to search the internet to learn about it later.

We drove back to San Sebastian on the slow route, no tolls, but you pay the price in other ways. The toll-freeway is fast and scenic, while the toll-free route is slow, and I found the industrial ugliness of what I’m sure were once beautiful steep narrow valleys painful to behold. The foliage lined banks of the narrow river coursing through the city were covered in plastic bags and trash that reached fairly high into the tree branches, thanks to the recent rains and flooding. The streets were teaming with people. We later found out that this was the center of military weapon production in the Franco era. It was cold, grey and dirty and depressing; I was glad I saw it (reality check), and glad to leave it.

Shell of a an old church in tiny village

Monastery San Jaun de Gaztelugatxe

We arrived in San Sebastian, ready to enjoy our own bed for one night, and repack for phase 2 of our spring vacation-Morocco. We left the following afternoon for Madrid (about 4.5 hours away) and found a hotel about 30 min from the airport. It was a total bonus that is was in a cool university town, and made famous by Cervantes (of Don Quijote fame). We wandered from our hotel, the streets alive with people enjoying the outside cafe culture that is so rich in Spain.