Hotel el Tejo Comillas, clean, nice rooms, seems to do a really good job with quiet between rooms – a first! Super nice front desk person who sent us to a great lunch.
I got up early and explored the town while it was quiet. Just the streets alone are incredibly beautiful – and the walls – all of it. The whole town looks like this an it goes on much more than you’d expect.
Wow, don’t know why but I hit such a wall today. Had a really hard time keeping going, ate all my strategy protein, energy, drinks, etc. Rick hit a wall yesterday, glad we didn’t have it the same day!
Today was a wonderful hike (aesthetically). We copied yesterday and took a taxi for the first 2-3 miles and the taxi drive again said, no, I should drop you here, it’s a better place. And he was right. We got off the main roadway onto a country lane and that was the main walking, plus some dirt roads, a bit of beach, a bit of trail above the beach. Just really pretty. Rick said it reminded him of the Camino Frances – with the variety of rural backroads.
As I’m walking, just looking and exploring, I see things and stories just start. Like this one. Why the brick? Why there? Why stone after? And I can come up with whole stories of relationships, left overs made useful, so many possibilities because of an odd wall.
Different views:
Out of the blue, this little scene – looking toward the water, the sign said: Bank of Equality In Ruiloba, there is no place for violence. Healthy and respectful relationships.
Then, total surprise, we came into the town Comillas and it was full of life. A bunch of stalls set up in the main plaza, a lot of people walking and talking throughout, a small tight town up and down the hills, but so much more active and lived in than a lot of the other towns we’ve gone through. And the buildings! My goodness, one gorgeous building after another. Evidently this became quite a heyday in the late 1880’s and people brought their architects with them to build summer houses and palaces. Mountains to hike in, beach just below on the other side of town.
Here’s just one of the many interesting pretty places, the old blended into the new.
All I wanted to do was lie down, but I knew I wanted to explore a bit. I took a quick shower to try to revive and then we went out for a great lunch. I’m clearly becoming inured to the quantity of animals I’m eating over here. This fish didn’t even faze me. Rick and I both are aiming for pure veggies when we get back.
We then walked up to and toured the Capricho de Gaudi (Gaudi’s whim)- one of his first buildings where he was given free reign and it showed a lot of what was to come from his designs.
It was lovely, small, but so clever with space use and design. It was the summer house of the local Marquis, who was his main patron.
We also walked by the main house of the Marquis. He was 14 when his father died and went to Cuba to build a life and started a shipping business with one ship. What it didn’t say and I was assuming after our Black history tour in Madrid, was that his main business to start was probably the slave trade. No signs anywhere said this around his property buildings, but our guidebook said the slave trade was the main source of his money. Later it was steam ships and banking.
He did have style – both with enjoying Gaudi’s creativity for his summer house and then building the gorgeous Sobrellano palace and an accompanying chapel (looked like a full size church to us) for his family. He also wanted to build a seminary to train priests and to support the poor in getting an education, per the notes near his building. Wikipedia said he was pressured by a Jesuit and agreed to finance the building of the Seminario Pontificio. So interesting how history is written. He died before the official ground breaking, but his son completed the project.
This is the chapel
We couldn’t get over to these buildings, but they were spectacular from a distance. Again, our guide book said that the school was acclaimed for its seminary, focus on cannon law, music school and choir. But the school was moved to Madrid in 1964 and it’s been empty since. Really? It’s so gorgeous, hard to believe. Nope – that was an old note. The updated history reflects what the woman at the front desk told us. But it was all in Spanish and I thought maybe I misunderstood. Happily, no, got almost all of it!.
The academic activities of Comillas Foundation are an University Degree in Hispanic Studies and Master in Teaching Spanish as Foreign Language. Besides that, the foundation provides forums and seminars related with Spanish language and culture. Comillas Foundation headquarters is situated at the former Comillas Pontifical University building. Until now, the activities of the foundation were held at the Sobrellano Palace, a few hundred yards from the future location, until the restoration of the buildings are concluded. From May 2010, Comillas’ Foundation activities take place in an historical building entirely renovated.
In addition, there is a food bank and supports for the local people who are struggling. So – yay – happy buildings with a purpose again.
We came back to the room and I went into cocoon mode.
Today was so great. First, we had our morning and breakfast at our wonderful hotel in Santander. Then arrangements had already been made for us to take a car a good few miles into the Camino. We’d read in every app/book that if possible, don’t do the walk out of Santander. It was through miles and miles of city and industrial areas. There’s a train that a lot of people take or taxis.
So we looked at the map and realized that we’d actually like to go further than the drop off point to avoid more city-like areas. Our driver suggested he drop us at the far side of the town we’d chosen to avoid continuing industry. So nice!
We walked the road a bit, then turned off the main road and were back on country roads. The hills are more settled, but still with cow pastures and cows and fields of what looks like corn, but is probably animal feed crops.
Have I ever mentioned Snow White and the 7 dwarf theme? I’ve seen it on all three caminos, never understand it, not a lot of places, but every once in a while. When it was the 6 of us, we saw the whole crew along a stream in a garden. Here’s a marker on a driveway post.
Great store
Then, we walked into a completely medieval town. Couldn’t believe it. We’d read that it was one of the most charming villages we’d see, but couldn’t really grasp it until we were in the midst. All the roads/paths/houses and buildings are consistently the same stone and it’s beautiful.
I’m psyched to be spending a night here. There are a ton of school groups of all ages and adult tours as well. But the lucky thing about being here for the night is that I’ll get to walk around tonight and early tomorrow when no one is up to see what it was like. This was one of the two main destinations for trips out of Santander that I’d seen when trying to figure out what to do IN Santander. The other is the cave museum and that and the caves are on my to-see list if we come back.
We wandered a bit, seeing a museum of a local sculptor, wonderful:
Hard to choose what photo to include, I really liked his work over the many years, decades shown – aside from when Franco jailed him for 5 years.
and decided against seeing a museum about torture and the inquisition.
Instead we went to the house-museum that covered the people living there since the 1500’s. Incredible.
The first owner was one of the lead people in the inquisition. Something to be proud of. Not.
Another was a Nazi soldier, high up in the ranks, whose father helped develop the Inigma code. This soldier tried to work with a few others to go behind Hitler’s back to Switzerland to negotiate a peace treaty. He ended up being the enemy of the Nazi’s and the Allies. He lived here as a carpenter. And there were many more including a woman who started a cottage industry hiring locals for sewing costumes and clothes.
Lady’s suit around 1530’s
Fun note – the four poster bed began around this time to serve a few functions. Warmth when the curtains were drawn and privacy from all the servants who were always around. Who knew?
Cool museum.
Got lunch (overwhelmed again at the amount of food, changing it up going forward) and came back to the room for a shower and a bit of quiet.
Went to the main church here, only one we see that’s still a church, but maybe mostly a museum. The Colegiata de Santillana del Mar. To walk in was to walk into an ancient building. All notes in Spanish, but tried to use translation to get some of the history.
The church has its origins in a monastery dating from 870. Tradition has it that it was home to the relics of Santa Juliana. This is stated as certain when reading about the town. Over the course of the 11th century it was transformed into a collegiate church, although the building visible today dates from the 12th century.
Yet again, it smelled so much like mold that Rick was out very quickly. So strange given that it’s all stone and wood.
Here Juliana is, face and arm rubbed shiny, probably from people asking for prayers.
Really personal story written on the plaque next to her sarcophagus in the church: Towards the end of the third century during the cruel persecution of Roman emperor Maximillian against Christians, a young senator, named Eluzo, attempted to marry a maiden from Nicomedia, named Julianna, illustrious for her birth, personal merit and unique garments. Love that.
Julianna’s father was a Gentile and one of the most ardent persecutors of Christians in Nicomedia. The daughter had been secretly educated in Christianity. But not content with this, she had resolved never to have any other husband but Jesus Christ, not to aspire to any other goods or honors than those of heaven.
She was in this resolution when her parents promised her to Eluzo. She was strangely surprised when she heard from her own father that everything was already finished, and that the same day the one who was destined to visit her would come to visit her.
Juliana received Eluzo with great courtesy, but with much more modesty, giving him to understand that she could not consent to that wedding until she saw as a judge and prefect of the city. Eluzo, through efforts and money, obtained the position he sought. He took possession of it and sent a message to Julianna, offering her the prefectura at her disposal.
Juliana, unable to hide any longer, sent him to say that she was glad to see him placed in a position of honor, but that he still had to take another step. It was necessary to become a Christian like she was.
Eluzo, without wasting any more time, set off in search of Julianna’s father and told him what his daughter had responded to him. He was overcome with anger and responded to the prefect: I swear to you that I myself have to be my daughters’ prosecutor and you have to be her judge. Saying this, he entered Juliana’s room full of fury and asked: What is this, daughter? Do you not know what an honor it is to be majesty of the prefect of Nicomedia?
I know well, sir, that Eluzo is a gentleman, but he is not a Christian. Her father exclaimed in anger: I myself will go and put him in the clutches of wild beasts, because I want to see him torn to pieces rather than converted into a Christian. And losing all feeling, he treated his daughter with barbaric cruelty. She was then handed over to the city prefect for trial.
So – bad ending for Juliana, tortured and beheaded, but never wavered.
Wikipedia noted that: Eleusius was later eaten by a lion after a shipwreck on an island unknown.
Further note since everything I read had Juliana residing in Naples was this: Juliana is clearly a historical figure as Saint Gregory the Great requested relics of her from Bishop Fortunatus of Naples for an oratory that a wealthy Christian woman had built on her estate in Campania, Italy, to honor Saint Juliana and others. On the other hand, tradition in the north of Spain holds that Saint Juliana is buried there, in a town near the Cantabrian Sea that took its name from her, Santillana del Mar. Santillana is a contraction of Santa-Iuliana. The Church of St. Juliana in Santillana is a Romanesque abbey, well over a thousand years old.
And that’s my history for the day!
Cloister, looks much bigger than it actually is:
Hotel Museo Los Infantes, wonderful, 17th to 18th century palace became a hotel – moved stone by stone and rebuilt in 1974. The people running it are so nice. “The hotel is a real museum, it is entirely decorated by precious antiques.” Which is true, but means it’s not completely comfortable in the sitting areas. But looks cool!
I asked the front desk person why it was named “Los Infantes”, he just shrugged. And I can’t find anything about it online. So – just a cool old building converted to a wonderful hotel!
Le Petit Boutique Hotel, wonderful. Clean. New. Nice section of the city, though not anywhere near the camino. A block from the water and walking areas.
Yay, a day in place! We had a nice breakfast at the hotel with Carol and Matthew and then waved them off in a cab to the airport.
We then went back up to our room to investigate what to do. I’d done some exploring last night and discovered – there’s nothing to do! There is a 2 block area of the old city, per our hotel host, but when I used all kinds of words to see what there is to do in Santander, all the trips were leaving to go somewhere else. A monastery. Incredible caves (too late to get tickets) with prehistoric paintings. But in the city, finally found a maritime/aquarium museum. Rick and I were so relieved. We could just chill with no agenda.
We walked out to the lighthouse and back and decided, we’d done enough.
The rock formations along the beaches are so cool, I guess further along the coast, they turn and are lined up like books. We’ll miss that because it needs an extra day to go that way. But even here where you can see the slabs, it’s great. And then beyond the beach shows where the high tide line is, but until then it’s just long, flat and perfectly sandy for ages. Such a good place to learn surfing or swimming. Way too cold for us, but a fair number of people are going in to swim or play. Surfers are all in wetsuits.
We then went back to the same restaurant for lunch (there’s no way that would have happened with C&M here). Rick then worked in the room, I did laundry at a laundromat a few blocks away.
We both had some time sitting down by the water, just watching. Such a great day – and the weather was beautiful again!
Today was a total treat. First – because of the hotel mixup, we were 1+ mile already on our way. And, as a bonus, none of us bashed our heads on the rafters, so already starting off positive. Then – the day was gorgeous, a sea breeze, no clouds or rain and we walked on the edge of the bluffs above the water or on the beach all the way until we caught a ferry that took us across the bay and cut off 5 extra hours if we’d walked around.
Incredible path:
Coming to the beach leading to Santander
Ferry ride – notice the happy smiles because something is carrying us for a long way!
Santander is big, so clean, pretty modern with a few old buildings mixed in, but not many.
Last day for Carol and Matthew
We went straight to our hotel, changed, unloading our hiking shoes and went to lunch that the hotel recommended. A neighborhood place, that per usual, when with Carol and Matthew, was great. Though, confession, we’re getting a bit codded out. There’s a lot of cod in the menus here.
We then walked over to the Palace de Magdalena, a summer palace of the royals built in 1909, and is gorgeous. Of course. Then – just parked in our room letting our feet/legs recover. With the luxury of knowing that we’re not going anywhere tomorrow. A day off!
Supposed to be staying in Hotel la Vijanera, beautiful stone work, wonderful restaurant, nice people. Guessing the rooms would have been great. But nope – we got there and they said that they had 65 middle schoolers coming with 4 teachers and a bus driver and expected chaos. We’d been moved 1.5 down the road 10 days ago, but had no idea. The new place is very sweet, right near the beach which is beautiful, and a bit further along on the i amino, but probably not a recommender.
The front desk guy at the original place was so nice and drove 3 of us down to the new place after we ate – Rick was ready to walk the distance and said it was a beautiful walk. He’s amazing, first walk after getting back from Chicago and walked the whole way.
I was very relieved today because Matthew crafted a different camino from what MacsAdventure had and was 5 miles shorter. Rick was up for anything and actually followed our path on All Trails marked as a camino. It was all tarmac which made for easy walking and a lot of it was country lanes or very low use 2 way roads. And I was still tired! Yep, it’s adding up. I’m expecting a second wind after a day off in Santander, day after tomorrow.
We had a nice breakfast at our place and a bit of time to talk to the owner. It was all in Spanish, but I understood most of it. I was saying that the Norte was spectacular and the food great, but the signage on the Camino de Frances was much easier to follow. He said that it was because everyone on the Camino del Norte thinks their way is the best and puts up directions accordingly. He also said that May and September into October are definitely the best times to hike. From mid-July through August, Noja goes from a population of 30,000 to a population of 130,000. In general, it’s just tourists and no peregrinos, too hot, too crowded and too expensive. He said it could rain any time, but maybe a bit less in the fall.
So pretty walk with really nice weather.
Tiny town, giant church. Wish I knew more about the social structure and how these things got built back in the day.
Like I said, not great signage at times. Very nice of someone to put this up. Maybe the farmer who was nice enough to let people walk across his field?
View from a top of a hill, can just feast the eyes as we walk today.
Incredibly clean cows…
Walked by a lot of timber clear cutting here. Saw logs being loaded and also rolls of smaller bits and pieces that are then used for parchment or particle board (they’re near the bottom of the photo, tractor is collecting and rolling). And I mean it’s clear cut – there was nothing on these hills when done. Alternated with replanted trees, so never giant swaths of bare land, but enough.
Coming into our town, very happy to see it and so pretty! Nestled into a bit of a valley with the ocean just beyond.
We had a great lunch at the original place as they said there wouldn’t be anything at or near the new place for lunch. The new place is sweet and they were excited to have visitors. Very low rafters, but second floor, fields outside and a cama matrimonia versus small twin beds. Might be a sleeping night. Just hoping for no head bashing before we leave tomorrow 🙂
Love the living room decoration. Right up my alley. Really, who wouldn’t want a full size cow in their Irving room?
We dropped our stuff then walked down to the beach. Gorgeous. Matthew and Carol walked back up and Rick and I stayed just for the marvel of having an incredible beach basically to ourselves with warm weather and the sound of the waves.
Found a dinner place, the only place, very cool, brand new, mod – had a yoga group going behind it, all 6 people young adults, where did they come from? None of us were that hungry, but it was so pretty and it was something to do. And it was great, very fresh, veggies from their garden. And I’ve now eaten anchovies at multiple places. I had no idea they could be so tasty.
We loved some of the phrasing on the menu:
8 anchovies of the highest quality….accompanied with some toasted bread to get greater delight.
All our dishes are made fresh. All of this entails a philosophy, a duration and surely understanding on the part of our clients.
It’s so incredibly beautiful, breezy, sunny and it feels Iike we should be out and walking, but we’ve done enough, so we came back to the room. It’s 9:30, sun still up, bright skies. I can still hear kids playing, church bells, the breeze. Wonderful.
Liendo to Noja, 17.5 miles. Posada la Mies. Quiet, on the hill, code to get in, quirky, but friendly!
Did my usual super early wake up, decided I’d take one more day hiking alone and got up early, tiptoed around finishing packing, then did my best to silently lug down my suitcase without waking the house up. First place we’ve been in where I knew people would hear me if I wasn’t careful. I was out the door by 6:30, figured I had a few hours if it was going to rain, looked good last night.
The directions didn’t align at all and I ended up walking next to a 2 lane highway for hours, on the shoulder. In the rain. But it was Sunday, very little traffic, only 3 cars passed me and the birds were singing. Happily, it wasn’t windy at all and it wasn’t cold. So I marched on. It was one of those days that reinforces the understanding that everything changes.
A side street finally took me off the highway, then a rainbow came out, the sun peaked through and the rain starting lightning up. Then a camino sign! The first that actually seemed related to where I was going – to Laredo and ending in Noja. I followed the sign, turning down a stairway and suddenly, I was in old town Laredo at the chapel and hospital that served pilgrims in the 1600’s. So cool. Then the rain stopped. Yay.
I went into the first cafe I found for a CoalaCao and a tortilla, this time the basic eggs, patatoes, cheese and sat down under an outside heater and started drying off a bit.
Then I was back on the trail that aligned with my map, and walked the longest promenade I’ve ever seen. Miles. Long enough for it to start raining again. Curving around an enormous bay. After the old town, it was a bit odd, just 6 story buildings, one after another, most clearly empty, waiting for the summer season. But the sea was beautiful and there were people walking with their dogs and chatting. Finally came to the end where I knew I was supposed to get a ferry. That was great, wish the ride lasted longer.
Can’t see the bay to the right, just past the sea grass
Love this sign for the ferry. Not related to that long dock on the left.
Then a great little town, home of the sardine. It had all the character that I’ve come to expect in these towns, Sunday morning people getting their pastries and bread, I stopped again for decaf, pastry and the bathroom. There’s no way here for outside option, too busy.
Another statue of a woman, there are so many in this area. Her pail was full of water just as it would have been.
Then tried to take the right that the map indicated and ended up above a beach, almost crawling through these bushes on a really rocky hidden trail that climbed up a hill – finally gave up. Couldn’t believe it. I ran into someone else who’d give up and he was covered with mud and also couldn’t believe it was the trail. Back onto a highway, again, ON the highway, this one busier. Then found a side street that led down to the beach, next to an estuary, the sun fully came out and I put away my rain things. Final walked into a pretty beach town and to the hotel. Yay!!
Went to the restaurant Matthew had picked out and then Rick joined. We’re all back together, so nice. I found out that Carol had been so tired that she asked Matthew to read out the menu from the restaurant to motivate her to keep going. Love that, we are entirely differently motivated. But it worked!
After shower and organizing things, Rick and I walked around town and found the Santiago church. It was huge inside, but smelled so badly of mold that we couldn’t stay beyond a look. Weird since wooden floors, but unmistakable.
This gives a photo, better than I could take bc of its size. But we really liked the note that they didn’t have info for Noja prior to 927. Funny, as if that’s a problem.
Tomorrow, definitely following Matthew’s directions, if I can keep up, because I’d like to stay off highways. Though it turned out they were on the highways most of the time too.
Hotel La Torre de la Quintana, amazing 1500’s building, same owners since the 1700’s.
Today was a wonderful day. Started off getting to talk to Kylie for a long time, always a gift and talked to Kaziah last night! I had realized last night that waiting for the 8am breakfast was too late if I wanted to walk the whole thing and get to Liendo in time for lunch. Otherwise, it would be the perfect miss of getting in at 4, only snacks available if that, and then dinner at 8. When I want to go to bed…
When I read the description of the coast and mountain view’s, I decided I’d get up early and just start. When I decided, it was too late to text C&M, so would do it in the morning. I woke up at 4:22. Because. Sigh. Got up a bit after 5 and then connected with Kylie. We talked for a while, then I called her back as I left the hotel. So fun because I ended up sharing the start of my walk with her on FaceTime. Loved that! She got to see the bay at sunrise or just after and the castle and church and the next cove as I walked and we talked. Such a nice start to the day.
I hung up, found the perfect place for a tortilla (like a frittata over here) and a cup of decaf. At first, I wanted a piece of the tortilla that had just come out and was still steaming, and one of the guys at the bar got it and it looked great. She told me what it was and I said yes and then belatedly interpreted what she’d said, a blue cheese tortilla. Oh, ew, first thing in the morning? So I had one with cheese, tuna and ham. That sounds good, right? It was great actually. Then I was off.
Today was a classic day for me on Camino. Silence (after chatting) for a couple of hours, hour of dharma on Audible, then listened to a book on tape. Great hike.
Loved this store sign, lends itself to so many ideas.
I was very happy when I got to the top of the mountain, for some reason, everything a bit achy today.
I stopped to get a photo and then realized the birds were singing like crazy and it was just wonderful, so back to silence, the sound of my feet, the birds and animal bells.
It seems like the bigger the animal, the bigger the bell, so there are tonal differences. Don’t know if you can hear this, but the goats are high up on the rocky side of the hill, hard to see on the video, with the cows closer at hand.
The last couple of miles felt long, but cool village. Big gorgeous houses, a lot of them blending old walls, with newer building, and spread out on this flat valley. It felt really different from what we’ve been seeing.
I arrived at our hotel and it’s exactly what I love most. Built in the 1500’s, updated, cool interesting rooms. I’m at the top (fun carrying my very heavy bag up, but worth it), probably in what might have been a servants room, cleverly crafted windows, rafters gleaming, wonderful. Rick would have whacked his head everywhere he turned, so perhaps better to miss just this one.
The plaque for the hotel, 500 years later, it’s hosting pilgrims again 🙂
We crossed from the Basque region to the Cantabrian region yesterday and maybe we’re starting to see cultural differences in the housing styles and how the village is laid out. We went to a big lunch, of course, yummy – Carol found it. Then the afternoon letting the bones recover, they’re feeling it.
Hotel Sercotel Las Rocas, new, big, clean, restaurante, but didn’t eat there, got a high room facing the ocean.
A fantastic day! Only thing missing was Rick because he would have loved this day. First, we decided to not walk the whole thing. The first 5 looked like what I did yesterday, kind of commercial, walking in the hills amongst houses. Instead, we took a taxi to the coastal town, Playa La Arena. We started right off on a beautiful walk, then a boardwalk, along the ocean and cove. And it just kept going!
Loved these signs together
Serious mining happening here before the 80’s when everything played out.
Just gorgeous, again.
Remember the weed whacking? We saw the sheep on the upper left and I thought, at least they don’t need to weed whack this hill. But then on the upper right – he’s weed whacking. Incredible.
Really? In general, the arrow just means it’s on the camino. In this case, guessing it meant WAY down the road. This kind of decay has been really rare.
Since we’ve come into the Cantabrian area, the gardens have been incredible.
Loved this, just your morning baguette delivery
Oh, so curious, we conjectured that the freighters at one point were unloaded here, maybe through a tunnel? And then, sure enough, there was the tunnel. On the left side, just a wee thing from this perspective. Crazy. Clearly, now it’s just a seeming bridge going to…
About 2 or 3 miles shy of the end, I really needed to find a bathroom and place to sit down just for a few minutes. Carol and Matthew were on the move so I sent them off (I knew they’d find lunch and let me know where to go – SO nice) and I sat down at a bar and had my usual CoalaCao. Next to the bar was a plaza, Plaza of the Martyrs, with these old trained beech trees created an arbor for a monument and to lead up to the town building. The monument was so sad, inspired by a painting by David Coma, was to the miners and said:
We try to represent men that are a part of our past, of us. He is the miner with a strong constitution and character, who with his work supports a family. Trapped in history, held in place until his strength abandons him, and the disease overcomes him. That intention that pushes us makes us try different (?) reaches its conclusion in this man from Miono. Trustworthy but defeated, terrified. A memory of ours, that we want to share with others.
In Bilbao mining fueled the growth of the area, but clearly the mining was as horrible for people here as it was in England, Wales, Appalachia. I’d just never heard about it here.
Then I started off, quickly off the map so retraced my steps, then found myself entering a long tunnel for bikers and pedestrians.
Halfway through, my MacsAdventures dinged me and said I was off the trail again. Well, I’d followed the Camino signs into the tunnel so I kept going. I came out of the tunnel and I was back on. Love the maps, but learning to give them some time, because I’m so fast moving. Hah!
Then I walked into magic, the town Castro-Urdiales. That’s how it felt! Absolutely gorgeous town with a blue bay, green park, clean, really pretty white balustraded promenade and 100’s of people out talking and walking. Really, by the end of the night, between all the happy chatty people, the ancient buildings, the harbor, castle, gigantic church at the very end – it felt like a Spanish Disney. And – our hotel was big, clean and I was able to get a room that was high and faced the ocean and bay. Just completely wonderful.
Hard to capture the bay and the full promenade going around it.
Matthew and Carol were waiting at the lunch place, another good meal and then I had the afternoon to clean up, organize, read a bit to get off my feet and then went back out. It was too beautiful to stay in, though it was really pretty just looking out the window.
I walked through the park, intensely green – and, oh, part of the magic was the sun – to make everything greener, bluer, brighter.
This statue was very cool.
The writing said: Monument to women in recognition of the rights that have been amputated from women through history and that are now recognized by the entire society and especially by the city of Castro-Urdiales.
Then Carol and Matthew came out and we walked the promenade around to the castle/fort and church. Just crazy crazy that these buildings were constructed 100’s of years ago. Really, people should have just been making do in caves or stone huts. But no. They were building things like these, seen from the promenade.
When I was in Bilbao, the audio tour for the cathedral noted that when they were building the cathedral, the request went out for help and in turn anyone who helped was tax free for the entire duration of the construction. Maybe that’s how they got this done?
Matthew peering over the bridge on the way to seeing the castle and church.
Then we saw a rowing crew go out, staggering under the weight of the boat until they got a grip on it. We later saw them flying through the bay, seriously fast, like the rowers on the river the night before in Portulagette.
The above is the back! This is the front.
Walked back through town, got some churros to share (fried dough, what’s not to love when it’s really fresh) and saw this building. Probably the first time Burger King’s ever actually been in a palace:
Finally, came back to the room and got to talk to Kaziah so ended the evening with another treat. Showed her the view with FaceTime so that she could see a bit. I would love to come back here with the family, mix of walking and exploring .
Today, we’re down to Carol, Matthew and me and we walked separately since we started from different points and probably with different plans. I walked the camino following the MacsAdventure map and they walked the river – all the way! I had no idea that was an option because I didn’t explore. I thought I would do my usual when I’m on my own, quiet for 1-2 hours, then listen to dharma and then when tired and needing motivation, go to music or a fun book. It was raining as I started so had all my gear on and my pack covered. I did do the hour and half in quiet, but the entire time was just walking through and out of Bilbao. It was interesting seeing the town, all the kids walking to school with their parents, people going to work, cafes full.
The schools here are often in old, incredible buildings:
But – a long time of city walking.
It’s this slow misty rain that just slicks, I was slipping and I had on hiking shoes with good treads. No wonder their sidewalks are patterned.
Finally hit a park and as the rain continued and the views were ok – back over the city and then just kind of rural walking with houses and not, I ended up putting on a book and that’s what I did for the next many hours. I was completely soaked. Luckily, the temperature stays truly constant, high 50’s low 60’s, so I wasn’t that cold.
I found an indoor covered area with a grocery store and pastry and got a pastry, drank my protein shake and kept going. Found another place where I could get a hot chocolate and a bathroom (!) bc the outdoors wasn’t conducive today.
Coming into the town from up above the river.
Finally walked into Portugalete and to the best hotel yet, Gran Hotel Puente Colgante. I couldn’t believe it. Right on the river, the weather was clearing up, and Carol came out to greet me to say they’d already sat down to lunch. So a very nice start to our afternoon in the town. Per usual, Tee Travel had booked us into a good hotel with the worst room, but happily, I was able to upgrade so that I could see the river and the famous suspension bridge. And it was only 13 euros! Turns out Carol and Matthew had done the same thing.
I was going to get a shower, but I just combed my sopping hair back like that was my norm and went down to lunch. The afternoon was very chill, walking a bit, there’s a small old town with great walking sidewalks to get you up the Main Street.
I had a flash back to our trip to Italy last year and exploring Assisi – with Frances of Assisi and Poor Clare – amazing humans. This building was founded in 1614 by a group of Poor Clare nuns joining a group of religious women from Portugalete. It stayed until 1979 and now this monastery is the Cultural Centre for the town.
I took this photo of a photo because it’s CRAZY. If you look closely, you can see all the men on the top rigging and right at the top touching the bridge while people gather on the walk way of the bridge – they’re completely crazy too – as the boat goes under. I don’t know when this was, but not so long ago because the little sailboat next to the big boat is clearly modern.
Matthew talked about maybe paying the 10 euros to go up the elevator and walk the bridge. I told him I’d watch while sitting on the ground bc watching him walk would make me fall down, so why not just head it off at the pass.
We all walked down to the end of the river to the opening to the Bay of Biscaye.
Looks like an interesting bridge, but then you realize that it carries a suspended ferry back and forth, allowing big boats (have seen freighters with tugs going by) to go under while allowing pedestrians and up to 6 cars at a time to cross the river.
Here’s the video of the action, no need to watch to the end, I was just curious – really? Cars coming off too?
Ready for Pintxos – definitely a set-it-up-and-they-will-come scenario.
Cool parks for kids around, this one seemed like a magical use of ancient and green – just leant itself to stories and creativity.
Just a chill and relaxed night. I brought a couple of pintxos up to my room and finished my VERY long history blog re Bilbao.
Walking 8.6 miles exploring Bilbao, a truly wonderful city! I’d love to come back with Rick so he can see. This is a long post because I indulged and put a lot of history – for me to remember.
I popped up awake at 5am. Really? On my day off? Ok. Dawdled, then went down to the lounge area to write up another day on the blog and to wait for Bob and Susan so that I could say goodbye. They went off to catch their plane and it ways another beautiful day – so I went out to see what photos I could capture of the Guggenheim without people around.
This one shows the idea of a boat stranded on the shore, supposedly a focus of the design (per our boat tour).
Boat again
At 7, this is a very quiet city except for runners and dog walkers.
I enjoyed the quiet, the views, the weather for a bit and then came back and had a really good breakfast! That’s not my norm because the offerings are usually pretty lean and I’m not that hungry in the morning, but I could make my own pot of decaf, had eggs, couple pieces of cheese and for the first time, my favorite of toast with tomato, oil and salt. So Spain.
Then I conferred with the front desk guy and a map and started out. There was a funicular within 2 blocks of the hotel that took people up to an entirely different neighborhood at the top of the hill and visitors up to see an incredible view of the city. I was very proud of myself and got in the front car for a full view. It felt way safer than inside the Guggenheim. And it did let me see how big Bilbao is while still contained within the valley. There are about a million inhabitants of the greater area, while central Bilbao is about 350,000.
From the funicular car
From the park at the top
I then started wandering to where I was supposed to meet the walking history tour I’d signed up for. Carol and Matthew were going to do a separate exploration on their own using public transport – especially the tram – to see the city in a different way.
I joined the English group with a wonderful guide and I never heard her name. But boy, did she have info. And being a Bilbaoina (her word), she was passionate about her city and the Basque culture. And she talked fast! We walked and talked for 2 full hours and I started dictating to myself so that I could remember a lot. I loved it – so cool.
So – from here to almost the end, it’s summarizing Bilbao’s history from my notes.
In 1300 Diego López V de Haro created a charter for Bilbao. He was a very farsighted and canny Lord of Biscaye. At that point, there was a central group of feudal states in the region, basically 5 mountains with 5 valleys and representation from each of the 5 would come together to meet under that tree in Gernika to set policy, agreements, etc.
The king of Castile in the 1300’s was building alliances through marriages, but was also looking for a safe port to get his goods out and Lord de Haro convinced him that Bilbao would be the choice. Safe, protected river to get the goods out to the sea. De Haro would have a taxation system since everything had to come over one bridge to get to the river and the boats. They worked out a deal and people started coming.
All merchants had to cross over the one bridge at the top of the river to get their goods weighed, pay a tax and move on to boats going to the port. It was so busy that a consulate was built right next to the bridge and the powers-that-be would sit on their balcony and make sure all was going well. It became such an important commercial city, they had a consulate in Belgium through the 1400-1500’s. Not the norm for a city to have a consulate.
This is a church that replaced the consulate when it was destroyed by a flood, the balcony was the only thing saved – the bridge is to the right, same place, different bridge.
De Haro also decided that he wanted to make Bilbao an important center and let it be known that if merchants settled in the area, they could live tax free. That worked and a medieval town group up within fortress walls. The wealthy and aristocratic (often the same) were within the walls, fishermen, farmers, were outside.
The building was in the arenal area – arenal means quicksand or marsh. They had to drain the area to build since it was two rivers coming together to form the estuary and big river. Because the land was so limited, there was only one small park to meet and it was the one place that people of all walks of life might meet up, though there were designated areas for each group within the park. This was true up until the late 1800’s. The whole focus was the iron industry, the steel industry and wool transfer, not on expanding park areas. Our guide said she grew up with smoke and soot, sounds like how Pittsburgh used to be described.
The park is still the same size today, though now there are giant parks made from reclaimed mining and smelting areas.
The train station is a point of pride and dependence – it’s where coal came in since iron and wool were the main products of the area. Built in 1898 and opened in 1902. Right now there are on-going political arguments with Madrid about having a high-speed train come to Bilbao. They’re trying to manage an explosion of tourism, while they want the tourists – a main source of income – they also absolutely want to insure their culture stays true to the Basque as Bilbao is the de facto center of the Basque region. The building on the right side is the conservatives club on going since the 1800’s. Very stuffy, very hard to get into.
As the iron industry grew (second only to Barcelona), the town leaders wanted to make the town much bigger, more sophisticated and they decided to break down the inner city walls and add the neighborhoods of the surrounding villages. They brought in important architects from all over Europe and you can look at the buildings from the late 1800’s and see French, Italian, English architecture influences.
Flags waving from the balconies reflect the fact that the Bilbao football (soccer) won their first big tournament in 40 years. The whole city went crazy and two months later the banners are still waving.
The plaza nueva was built in 1864 and was the first place built outside the old city when they decided to break down the walls. They wanted to expand in a significant way and this was the first design – echoing the central squares in Madrid and other great Spanish towns.
A grocery store stood here before the square was built and this restaurant still reflects the history and the interior design of the store.
These steps are modeled after the Roman steps. This was the way the Camino came through Bilbao down off the mountain behind the town. The Camino del Norte connects to the Camino Primitivo. That one started in the late 900’s, the Norte started in the late 1200’s. There are 374 steps that wind up to a cathedral above where the Camino pilgrims would stop before coming down into town and into the Cathedral de Santiago, also on this path. It was also on this path that farmers would bring their market goods to town, down a long muddy path straight to the market. In the same place where we ate yesterday. They built these stairs to honor the Camino because it brought trade and money, and opened Bilbao up to the outer world.
This was also when they built the Cathedral de Santiago to give thanks to the Camino for helping the town so much. Started the building in the 1300s.
Carolina dessert – famous meringue dessert after the person who crafted it, the white/chocolate/lemon one.
This facade is what’s left of a palace from the 1400-1500’s. The person who lived here would have been of the aristocracy, but they were also in a position to see who came into town, to greet them, welcome them and convince them that this was a great town and it might be worth their while to stay or to at least use this town for most of their trade.
1983 a massive flood, went above the lintel just below the arches here. The painting was commissioned by the city to help rejuvenate the old town, but because of the mud even more than the water, the old town was destroyed and much of it had to be rebuilt. Since the river is tidal, if there’s a really high tide concurrent with heavy rains and flash flooding, it can be catastrophic, as it was in 1983 and several times over the past centuries.
The 1983 flood happened almost simultaneously with the end of the iron mines – tapped out and the end of the steel industry, shutting down of the smelting plants, etc. They decided they had to change the town’s income from industry to service/tourism. There must have been some seriously far ahead thinking on the town’s politicians because the decade after the flood is when they commissioned Frank Gehry to design the Guggenheim museum. This museum brought in so many tourists that it helped jumped start the town again.
It seems that the town’s politicians took the example of the late 1800’s to heart. They commissioned famous architect after famous architect to design buildings. When we did our boat tour (noted later) it was basically an architectural tour of Pristker winner after winner designing building after building. As Matthew said, there didn’t seem to be a plan, but with so many gorgeous and interesting buildings, it became cohesive. This is truly a beautiful city.
The coat of arms in stained glass at the end of the market showed the consulate building/church, bridge and the wolves reflecting Diego López V de Haro’s name.
Here’s the shield again, at the top of the entry to the Church of St. Nicholas. He is the patron saint for sailors and this shows a desperate scene of widows with drowned husbands and men who’ve lost everything to the sea. The lions holding the shield up are demonstrating the strength and resilience of Bilbaoans who come back after every struggle.
This street is the darkest street of the city, no sun hits it, it’s also one of the 7 planned streets of the medieval city, all running parallel and leading to the market from the mountain behind the town.
Cool Michelin star restaurant, Mina. Its entry is the entry into the last active iron mine, closed in the 1980’s. When the mine closed, they then started building on top of it, working their way up to the top of the hill. Someone asked if they weren’t worried about building on top of the mines and the guide said no, the rock is incredibly hard and there are no concerns. Right under the restaurant is water coming out and that’s a mountain stream running down and out from under all the houses.
This last palace on our tour was the liberal club (versus the conservative club that was next to the train station). Over the door is a replica of the head of the Statue of Liberty. When Franco came in, he dissolved the club and took the place for his own, when he left, it became the library. The conservative club was more concerned about commercial interests and they held onto their building. I went back later to see the library. I’d study here in a second.
First thing I saw when I walked in was a photo of the poet Frederico Garcia Lorca, one of my favorite poets. Killed by the Francoists in Granada shortly after this photo was taken. Learned about him when we were in Granada with the kids years ago.
I then went looking for lunch, found the street the guide said was full of good places to eat, I remembered it because of the puppy fountain where Bilbaons commonly meet.
I walked up and down the street 4 times dithering because I knew my timing was all wrong – 12:30pm. Finally went in a place where people were eating and he said the menu del dia started at 1pm, but I could have one of the first course options. Luckily, one of the options was paella and it looked great – he had big pots of the first courses – all stews and the like.
Then I went back to the market to find one of those Carolina treats and ran into Carol and Matthew! They were looking for a treat and coffee too, so we joined up and I told them a bit. We decided we wanted to do the boat tour I’d been thinking about and we planned to meet up later.
We listened to a recording on our phone talking about the history and the architecture. It was a fun ride and one note of history explained a wonderful statue by Dora Salazar that both Matthew and I had wondered about. Evidently, the boats that came in from the port were pulled up the last part of the river to the head of Bilbao by towing. And the people who often did the towing were widows who had no other way to earn their money and it was a brutal job.
The boat tour ended up being a great way to see more of the city and was really an architectural tour. An amazing city with amazing architecture. Kind of astonishing for a city this size, and it seems to have worked as the planners had hoped – this city is booming!
We then went to a place for pintxos that Matthew’s partner had recommended and it was fantastic! Beautiful building, fun people watching and the food was incredibly good.
Finally, Matthew and Carol sent this Basque gift that they ran into after I left and took the tram down to near my hotel. What a totally great day 🙂
Reb's Walks! 