The Trip Across Northern Spain 2019
By Judy Rick
May 25 – June, 4, 2019
The scenery across northern Spain was beautiful! I was surprised by the rolling hills and mountains all the way across. At one point the rolling hills had small hills – almost like large moguls – on them. I have never seen anything like it! Also, along this route we followed the Atlantic Ocean; it was pretty fun to think of you Easterners being on the other side of it.
The first city we visited was Santiago de Compostela, which is a town people make pilgrimages to from as far away as France. We met a girl who had hiked about 700 km starting in France. Some of the pilgrims hiking to the cathedral would collapse in the square in great joy and relief upon achieving their goal. People were just sitting around all over the square every time we walked through, day or night. It was clear most of them had been hiking.
The disappointing thing for us, and I am sure it was for the pilgrims, was that the cathedral was closed for repairs. But then we happened on an open door and we went in and saw the construction. It was very interesting to see everything covered and hear the construction noise. A different way to see a cathedral!
When we first went up to the cathedral, we continued on to a market area, but it was just closing so most stalls were closed. There was a cheese stalls still open, so we stopped, tasted and purchased three kinds of cheese to eat on the rest of our trip. We have been eating it for many lunches and once we used it for breakfast. We especially had a fun time with the women who ran the stall. One spoke English and the other women loved Jon’s I-phone and wants to buy it on line. We were trying to help her figure out the site she might be able to do it from. We spend a long time with them and took pictures with them. It was fun for all of us.
The place we stayed was one of my favorites, it was a block from the square and we had our own private cottage in a quiet garden that even had a hammock. This place also had a combination washer and dryer so of course I could not let that go without using it. This city was my least favorite so far and it could be because we were unable to find the places our hostess had suggested to eat. While wandering the streets looking for dinner, we did come onto an outdoor rock concert. It was fun to watch the concert goers and the atmosphere all around the event.
The next city was Gijon and it was a nice smaller city right along the Bay of Biscay. The reason for stopping at this city was that Jon’s mother had written her doctoral thesis on Jovellanos who was from this city. There is a museum in the house where he was born so we headed for it as soon as we got there only to learn that it, as they frequently do in Spain, was closed from 2:00 – 5:00PM. Everything closes down and walking the streets it was like a ghost town.
Next to the museum was a small chapel where Jovellanos was buried so we spent time there before walking all around the waterfront. As we ate our ice cream before the museum opened, we noticed people gathering in the square. School kids, parents with kids, older folks. There was a building, maybe a store, where people were gathering and waiting to get in.
Dinner here was very good. At the museum we asked about a sculpture of bottles we had seen. We were told it was a sculpture made of cider (sidra) bottles, that is produced in Gijón. We were told it is poured holding the bottle as high as you can into a glass being held almost sideways and as low as you can. You need to drink it all at once to get the best taste. The museum attendant recommended a good restaurant for local food and sidra. At the restaurant I did as we had been told and Jon teased me about drinking it so fast. We had a very nice dinner along with a bottle of Sidra. Sidra is a hard cider, maybe a little like beer to me. I enjoyed the small town feel of Gijón. There was very little English spoken there.
Next, we went on to Bilbao, the home of the Guggenheim museum. We stayed at a very nice hotel that looks at the Guggenheim. Well, our room didn’t have a view of the Guggenheim but others did. , Here we were able to drive to the front of the hotel and they parked our car in their garage for a price but it was worth it!
The Guggenheim Museum was designed by Frank Gehry, the same person who designed the Weisman museum in Minneapolis. He has a very unique style of architecture. The art works in the Guggenheim were all modern. There were films and one was the tearing down of a building. It was making a political statement but that was days ago, and I can’t remember the details. The Guggenheim Museum was for me mainly about the building and its architecture, which is very unique and spectacular.
For dinner we took the elevator outside our hotel down to the river level where we had a pleasant walk to the old town. There we found the recommended restaurant and we had a very nice tapas meal. After dinner we walked back along the river and went on so we were across from the Guggenheim so we could take pictures. I would say the bridge next to the museum was designed as part of the Guggenheim architecture. It was a red H structure and then a little later it has a strobe lighting on the H structure. It really looked pretty neat at night. We took the elevator up on the other side of the bridge and walked across to our hotel. I enjoyed my day in Bilbao.
The next day we headed out for France where we stayed in a very nice bed and breakfast in Souraide, France. On the way we were traveling in Basque country and we stopped along the way to see a few of the towns. We first stopped in Baskio where we got out and walked around the town. We mainly walked down the walkway along the beach and watched the surfers.
We then went on to Gaztelugatxe where there is a hermitage out on a small island in the ocean. We were hiking to it and we kept going down and down and down. I was stressing with every step down because I knew I would have to go back up. We got finally got down to the water and I could see the long walk up to the building at the top. I was stressing so Jon said I did not have to go. I said if there was water and something to eat was up there it would be worth it but if it was just the building it would not. I saw a man with a Boston tee shirt on and asked if they spoke English. They were not from Boston but from Madrid. They said there was nothing out there but the building I could see from the bottom of the hill. That did it! I watched Jon start the climb and took pictures from there until I had cooled down and then I took a leisurely climb back up to the restaurant. Jon was maybe 20 minutes behind me, and we were both happy. He accomplished the climb and I enjoyed picture taking and being leisurely.
Back on the road we drive on to Guernica where Jon had discovered a museum he thought would be interesting. We found a parking space and walked the block to the museum only to discover once again it closed 2:00 – 5:00PM and it was 2:15. So we had the opportunity to walk the streets around the pretty Assembly Hall where sessions of the Biscay parliament are held. The streets were deserted.
Back in the car we continued our drive through the Basque countryside. The villages were beautiful with every house painted white house and all with red shutters and trim pieces. The signs were all in both Spanish and Basque languages and then French and Basque when we crossed into France. I really enjoyed that when you left the town there was a sign with the names crossed out. I would wonder what town we were in and then, oh yes, that was the name. Another thing: we knew we had left the Basque region when the towns had only one name and the houses were no longer white with red shutters.
We stayed in Souraide which was in beautiful farm country with rolling hills. We found our B & B and we were met by a small barking dog and an older lady sitting outside. The lady, who spoke only French, made a phone call and invited us to sit on the porch. In a few minutes her daughter-in-law and her grand-daughter’s boyfriend arrived. The boyfriend spoke English so acted as interpreter.
The region is known for making a red pepper and their family grows the peppers. Before we left the next day, we purchased some so you may have a dish using it when you visit us sometime.
As is our usual practice we asked for a place to have dinner and they recommended a restaurant in the next town and made reservations for us for 8:00 PM. Both towns were very small, and the restaurant was in a small hotel that might have also been fun to stay at. The next morning, we had a lovely breakfast with everything homemade and the granddaughter was there to be our interpreter. I loved our time here in the Basque region with its beautiful farms, cows, sheep and rolling hills.
The next morning, we drove out of Basque country and into the Pyrenees Mountains. What a beautiful long day we had as we drove up and down the mountains on windy roads! Jon keep choosing routes that would put us on these more picturesque roads rather than the four-lane A-1 that is their fast highway. If we had gone that way it would have taken about 4 hours, instead it took us 9 hours, with lots of pictures and videos, to arrive at Bielsa. Jon was very tired, but I think he was happy to have done the drive.
We stayed two nights in a lovely parador in the mountains with the sound of waterfalls coming in our window. While there I met a couple who were taking a packaged tour and staying only at paradors for 24 days. As lovely as it was, I would not like it, it would just be too boring. I added my comments to Jon’s blog entry the day after we took off from picture taking and blogging.
Next, we were on to Barcelona to get rid of the car. All went well and we were sure we were getting there without a hitch when GPS told us to turn left and Jon saw some poles that appeared to him to block the road so he drove by turning at the next street that turned out to be one way. He saw all these cars honking and people yelling at him. I saw all the pedestrians yelling and not sure where to go because they did not know what we were going to do. He finally got the car turned around and we drove around looking for the car rental place. We found it but it is just a store front so where does the car go? I had seen a parking garage door just before the rental car place, so we drove back around, Jon drove onto the sidewalk in front of the garage and I went running to the store to ask what to do. Down and across the street, crossing three lanes of traffic, we pulled into the garage and followed signs down three floors. By then we were very happy to say goodbye to our trusty VW.
We got our bags out, cleaned out the car, worked our way up three floors and walked a block where we found a taxi stand that took us to our hotel, El Avenida Palace. We were happy to have the bell hop come out and take our bags. What luxury after finding parking garages, usually not close by, and carting our bags to the hotel with no help! Most of the time we did use backpacks, but it was nice to be waited on.