Category: Uncategorized
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Picos de Europa
The Picos are beautiful – there’s no other way to put it. Every corner reveals a new, breath-taking vista and the small hamlets, villages and larger towns are – for the most part – atmospheric. Some are clearly more ‘atmospheric’ than others and in need of some TLC but mostly they are charming. Hotel del…
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Sand, rivers and rocks
Cantabria gives its name (or vice versa) to the Cantabrian mountain chain that runs across the North of Spain from Bilbao to Gaicia, parallel to the coast. Really it’s a series of ranges, with one, less high, running quite close to the coast and a second rank behind that, higher, that backs onto the central…
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Cantabria – anchovies, galerias and Gaudi
Cantabria is known for its beef and dairy produce – there are a lot of cows in the fields, far more than you see anywhere else in Spain. But an even greater claim to fame is their anchovies. Apparently Cantabrian anchovies are famous all over Spain and have been for quite some time. The interesting…
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Santillana del Mar – final words
It’s tricky to research Santillana and even asking various people pertinent questions leads to a round of shrugs, ‘No se’ (I don’t know) or differing stories. Many blogs call it the town of three lies, referring to the name. In conversation with someone at the hotel, the name ‘del Mar’ arose because the de la…
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Santillana del Mar
First off, it’s not by the sea! Much to Roger’s consternation. Santillana del Mar lies about six kilometers inland from the sea – and it’s an extremely pleasant walk to get to it. Santillana is about a 90 minute drive from Bilbao, in Cantabria – land of the anchovy and cattle farming. An abbreviation of…
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Hondarribia and a tiny bit about Basque
Hondarribia is a small town at the mouth of the river Bidasoa, which separates France and Spain. It is one of two places where trains travel between the two countries – Hendaye/Irun or on the Northern Mediterranean coast out of Perpignan. It is where the mountains run down to the sea, although the area immediately…
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To Spain
Walking to Bordeaux St Jean station was a pleasure: blue skies, few people and little to no traffic – everything glowed in the sun and we actually felt warm as we approached the station. Our positive mood was slightly dimmed by the news that our train to Hendaye was delayed by 90 minutes. A quick…
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Bordeaux – a lovely staging post
A city of wine, made of warm buttery stone, by a large river – what’s not to like about Bordeaux? It was the perfect place to break our journey. Warning – it was tricky to find somewhere to stay that wasn’t wildly expensive (it is a major city, after all, with a goodly tourist trade).…
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Northern Spain – via Bordeaux
I am not quite sure how we landed on the idea of going to the North of Spain in mid-April, given our search for ‘better’ weather. Maybe we were just being optimistic, hoping that by the time we left the weather everywhere would have improved. Sadly, this was not the case: it was heinously wet…
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Canary Islands – the details
Car Hire We used CICA, who were very relaxed and easy to deal with on a personal level. They allow pick up at one entry point (so airport or ferry port) and drop off at another, which makes life very easy. The website was slightly tricky as it seemed to consider subsequent bookings on different…
Retired? What now? 