African Adventure

On my final day in Spain, Maria treated me to a home game of her beloved soccer team, the Madrid Atletico.  Actually, it was Maria and Carlos who treated me because they have two season tickets and Carlos gave me his seat for the day.  I’m still trying to get my head around soccer (futbol!) and to understand why it’s so popular everywhere in the world except here.  I’m even naive enough to make suggestions for how to improve the game, such as making the goal twice as big to increase scoring.  These ideas are usually met with the same incredulity as are my suggestions for improving baseball by disallowing a pitcher change during an inning… “Are you nuts!??”   Soccer is so popular in Spain that many cities have multiple teams.  In the capital, the “Real Madrid” are probably the most famous team, internationally.  But fans of the Atletico have a special disdain for the Real. It’s a lot like the Yankees and Mets here… the tendency to like one is usually paired with a dislike for the other.  So, while I’m still working on understanding and appreciating the rules and strategies of soccer, fan behavior is pretty much the same as everywhere else.

Sunday morning, after breakfast, Maria Sr. gave me her Atletico jersey to wear for the game and snapped this photo before we left home (she gave it to me as a going away present that evening.)

Maria Sr. drove Maria and I to the El Rastro neighborhood near central Madrid where we enjoyed browsing through the year-round, Sunday morning flea market.   Many streets are closed off in a very large area as vendors set up their wares offering about anything you could possibly want, including clothing, antiques, housewares, food…. you name it.  It’s a fun activity on a nice day and the weather was perfect during our visit.

After browsing through the market for a while (neither of us is an avid shopper) we stopped for lunch.  In order to introduce me to some more local specialties we went to two different “bars.”  The first one, Javier Martin’s Croquetas & Cafe, is famous for it’s croquetas.  Earlier in the week Maria Sr. had prepared croquetas at home and taught me the basics of how to do it myself.  These fried treats can be made with many different fillings and we tried several at this restaurant.

For the second half of our lunch, we visited a restaurant called Taberna Txakolina where we enjoyed  pinchos, small snacks especially popular in the northern Basque country near the border with France.

After lunch, we headed for the stadium for the Atletico game.  I found it great fun to watch in person… the ability to see everything that’s happening at any place on the field made it more interesting than watching on TV.

That evening, Carlos and his wife came for dinner, bringing along the zarajos (marinated lamb intestines rolled on a stick) below: probably an item that many wouldn’t like but I found them tasty and had several :-).  Although I was happy to know that my long, two-month journey would soon end and I would be back with my wonderful wife in our wonderful home, it was sad to leave Maria and her family.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR EVERYTHING, MARIA, MARIA, AND CARLOS!!

We finished our visit to Santiago late afternoon on Friday.   Since our plan was to meet Maria’s mother in Segovia (near Madrid) on mid-day Saturday, we decided to grab a quick bite and then drive in that direction for a few hours to lessen the distance we’d need to travel on Saturday.   We stayed in a hostel in Ponferrada, Leon province, that evening.  This little town had none of the charm I had come to expect of every Spanish town but the room was fine and we enjoyed a meal in a local restaurant.  By this time, I was used to having dinner at 10pm: my transition from American to Spaniard was complete!

The next morning we had a typical Spanish breakfast at the bar in the hostel: sliced ham (jamon serrano) and tomato paste on bread (like this photo from the web) and coffee.  We then headed south toward Madrid but stopped not far south of Ponferrada to see one of the other few Gaudi designs outside Barcelona: the Episcopal Palace in Astorga, built between 1899 and 1913.  You can see a little of the Gaudi whimsy on the exterior.  We decided against seeing the interior based on entrance fees and our schedule.

Segovia

It was another 2 or 3 hours before we reached Segovia, a town not far northwest of Madrid.  Here, we met Maria Sr., who had arrived by train from Madrid. Our first order of business was lunch at a family-favorite restaurant in city center. We had the roast suckling pig, a restaurant specialty:  the meat is so tender that your waiter “cuts” it at the table using the side of a plate!   Also delicious were the Judiones de la Granja (large white beans cooked with bits of sausage and pork) and the desserts (see photo below.)

 

Following our big lunch, we walked all over the city of Segovia, a UNESCO World Heritage site.  Per Wikipedia… “the old city contains a multitude of historic buildings both civil and religious, including a large number of buildings of Jewish origin, notably within the old Jewish Quarter…”  Among the more interesting sites is the large aqueduct left from the Roman occupation some time around 100-200 AD.

The wall surrounding the city is at least as old as the occupation of Spain by the Moors (700-1100 AD) and provides great views of the surrounding countryside.

The Alcazar (fortress) of Segovia was an Arab fort during the Moorish occupation but much of its current look is probably due to its popularity as a home, and point of defense, for monarchs of the Kingdom of Castile.

Another beautiful Segovian site is its 16th century cathedral.

 

Visiting the Family Cottage Near Segovia

Not far from Segovia, Maria’s family owns a charming little house in a small city called Navas de Riofrio so they took me by to see it.  This area is quieter and much cooler than Madrid in summertime so they have been working toward getting it ready to use as a summer escape.  The property has it’s own small yard and abuts a large field where horses often gaze.  And, from that field, you get a nice view of the mountain known as La Mujer Muertas, whose profile suggests a lady in the prone position.

When we left the cottage, we visited two palaces owned by the Spanish royal family and maintained as public museums by the government.  The first, Palacio de Riofrio, is very near Maria’s cottage.   This massive, three story palace was built by King Philip V in the late 18th century for his widow, apparently to reduce the sting of knowing that her son would not be in line for the monarchy.  We didn’t go inside but enjoyed driving through the “deer park” that was originally set up as a hunting ground for the royals.

The second palace we visited was even more impressive.  La Granja de San Ildefonso Royal Palace was also built by Philip V.  It’s a magnificent example of European palace architecture with gardens and fountains styled after Versailles. Our visit was to the gardens and, though the fountains no longer run, we could imagine what it must have been like in its heyday.

Leaving La Granja, we crossed over a very high mountain before starting our descent to Madrid.  From the parking lot of a ski resort we took this photo showing the westward view.

It was getting dark as we approached Madrid that evening. I was happy to be back “home” after a busy four days of traveling. But we had one more stop, at the senior citizen complex where Maria’s mother’s mother lives.  They introduced me to her and I did my best to be gracious with my awkward Spanish. She is 93 years old but still very young both physically and mentally. In the photo below she is showing off a doll she just crocheted.

On Friday morning we had breakfast in the B&B and then headed back for another brief view of the sea from the lighthouse at Cabo Vidio. After that we drove back east a short distance to see the beautiful beach at San Pedro de la Ribera.  Maria’s mother has a friend who owns a house near there so she had been there before. It’s a beautiful, flat, sandy beach good for swimming which is rare along the northern coast.

After San Pedro, we continued our westward journey toward Santiago in Galicia province, but we would make two more brief stops in Asturias. First, we visited La Playa del Silencio (“Silent Beach”), situated in a secluded cove with access down a steep staircase. It was truly beautiful despite the foul smell coming from a dead wild boar (or was it a donkey?) on the beach.

When we left the beach, we drove a short distance to another fisherman’s town, this one called Puerto de Vega…

 

We made one more stop in Asturias Province, at Tapia de Casariego, where I got my feet wet in the ocean.

Just a bit west of Tapia de Casariego, we crossed a wide river (Ria de Ribadeo o del Eo) to enter Galicia, the most northwestern province in Spain which sits just north of Portugal.  We would travel another 110 miles (180 km) to reach Santiago de Compostela in late afternoon, but we made one stop in before that:  Cathedral Beach (“Playa de Las Catedrales”.)  This amazing beach features large arches and caves carved by the ocean over time.  During low-tide, you can walk through some of the arches but we arrived at mid-tide when beach access is prohibited.

We had lunch at the cafe near the entrance of the beach where we enjoyed a seaside table and a meal that included crab, pulpos (octopus), olives, bread and a non-alcoholic beer.  Not shown in the photo below was empanada Gallega which is a Galician style pork pie.  Given the restaurant’s monopoly on the location we didn’t expect much but the food turned out to be pretty good!

Visiting Santiago de Compostela

After lunch we drove another two hours to reach Santiago de Compostela.  Most famous for its cathedral which is the destination of El Camino de Santiago, or “The Way of  Saint James.”  Legend has it that the remains of Jesus’s apostle Saint James lie here.  The Camino (which is actually a large network of roads, all leading to Santiago) has existed as a Christian pilgrimage for well over 1,000 years and walking it is considered an enactment of the spiritual journey to Christ.  During the middle ages, it was one of the three most important Christian pilgrimages undertaken (the others being to Jerusalem,  and to Rome.)  In the 11th and 12th centuries, Santiago was attracting over a half-million pilgrims per year.  By the 1980s, however, only a few pilgrims per year arrived in Santiago.  Since then, the route attracted a growing number of modern-day pilgrims from around the globe. In October 1987 the route was named one of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites, and in recent years, the number of annual pilgrims has grown to several hundred thousand.  There is a very good movie starring Martin Sheen called “The Way” whose story centers on the pilgrimage.

Before leaving town, Maria wanted to stop by the San Paio de Antealtares convent, where cloistered nuns make a business of baking/selling the locally famous cake known as Tarta de Santiago.  The nun at the window was very shy about having her photo taken.  The tarta was delicioso!

On Thursday, we had breakfast in one of the little bars in Santillano del Mar and then headed west. Starting in the province of Cantabria, we would end the day in the neighboring province of Asturias.  We were traveling along roads followed by some of the hikers doing the pilgrimage to the cathedral at Santiago de Compostela and we would pass many of them over the next couple of days.

We stopped for gas at a place where the road came near the sea and we enjoyed the smell of salt air as we filled the tank.

 

 

 

 

 

As I’ve said before, Maria did all the planning and driving for our trip and, knowing that one of the things I wanted to see in Barcelona was the Gaudi buildings, she took us to visit a house in Comillas called “Capricho.” This whimsical house was one of architect Antoni Gaudi’s earliest designs.  Built between 1883 and 1885, it infuses a musical motif into the house’s design and and is one of only 2 or 3 Gaudi designs outside Barcelona. It’s a fascinating place to visit and the tour guides did an excellent job of helping us understand the significance of what we were seeing.

To view above video on YouTube website, click here

After our visit to Capricho, we had lunch nearby in a slightly more upscale bar called Bar Filipinas – some bars offer only a bar and few small tables & chairs around the room for sitting but bars like this have both a bar and restaurant area including table service.  We had pulpos (octopus, over potatoes) at the bar and it was delicious.

To view above video on YouTube website, click here

After lunch, we headed west again, leaving Cantabria and entering the province of Asturias.  Our first Asturias destination required leaving the coast and driving southwest to the edge of Los Picos de Europa national park. There, we visited the beautiful hilltop sanctuary known as Santuario de Covadonga.

The Sanctuary is the reputed site of the defeat of the Moors in the Battle of Covadonga in 725 AD, a battle traditionally considered the beginning of the Christian reconquest of Spain.  According to tradition, the Christian leader Pelayo retreated to a cave here where a hermit had secreted a statue of the Virgin Mary, saved from the Muslim conquest.  Pelayo prayed to the virgin for victory and, in the battle, the Moorish commander fell and his soldiers fled.   A cave carved into the hillside near the sanctuary is considered to be the spot where the statue of the virgin inspired the miraculous victory.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we left Covadonga, we headed back to the coastline and stopped at the beautiful seaside fishing village of Cudillero.  A more picturesque village will not be found.  I expected to see seals in the quiet harbor.  Maria thought there were no seals (focas) in this area and this was confirmed by a local man.  Likewise, no sea lions (liones del mar.)

To view above video on YouTube website, click here

It was getting late when we left Cudillero and we headed for a place Maria had visited in the past: a lighthouse on one of the peninsulas jutting out into the sea at Cabo Vidio.  This lighthouse offers wonderful sea views from a vantage point on a high cliff.  Indeed, the path around the lighthouse offers a view not for the faint of heart.

To view above video on YouTube website, click here

Maria found a bed-and-breakfast room near the lighthouse and we stayed there that evening.  It was a nice place and the breakfast was pretty good too.

One of the interesting features of this old farmhouse was the “horreo” structure you can see at the rear of the driveway above.  We had been seeing these all day and would continue to see them as long as we were in northwestern Spain. Here’s a closer view of one we saw later in the day.

Per Wikipedia, an hórreo is a typical granary from the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula (mainly Galicia, Asturias and Northern Portugal), built in wood or stone, raised from the ground by pillars, ending in flat staddle stones to prevent the access of rodents. Ventilation is allowed by the slits in its walls. Similar buildings (barns) on staddle stones are found in Southern England.  These structures have been used in this area for thousands of years.  It appears that some have been kept looking nice and might still be used for storage.  Others, like the one below, have been neglected.

 

After working on Tuesday, Maria took the rest of the week off so we could see some of Spain together.  At my request we had planned to go to Barcelona as I wanted to see the Gaudi architecture and find out why so many people love Barcelona.  But Maria noticed that, for some reason, there were no hotel rooms for less than about $200 per night so she asked me if I might be interested in going somewhere different.  I was fine with going anywhere new (as I usually am) and we decided to visit one of her favorite Spanish areas, the northern coast. Maria also made the excellent suggestion that I come back with Grace back to visit Barcelona!

As you can see on the map below, Spain’s longest coast is on the Mediterranean and that area has the greatest draw for tourists.  Places like Barcelona, Valencia and Granada offer the combination of cultural attractions and sunny beaches.  But what the northern coast on the Atlantic Ocean (referred to by the Spanish as “El Mar Cantabrico” or the Cantabrian Sea) has to offer are beautiful rocky cliffs and a wet climate that keeps the area much greener than the rest of Spain.  (While we’re looking at the map, notice that Madrid and much of central Spain are about the same longitude as Great Britain.  Yet Spain is in the same time zone as Germany.  This is because,in 1942, the dictator Franco wanted to follow Nazi Germany’s lead.  A shift to the British timezone is currently being considered by the government.)

Early Wednesday morning Maria and I set out in her sporty black Renault.  I didn’t bring my driver’s license and Maria said it might not be valid in Spain anyway.  So, for the next four days, she did all the driving as well as the navigating and tour-guiding to places of interest. Her smartphone (an Asus that cost less than half my Iphone but seemed better) was indispensable in getting us from one point to the next and in finding inexpensive lodging at the end of each day.  We made our first stop mid-morning at the ancient town of Burgos de Osma.  Being a September weekday we had the car park to ourselves and we enjoyed exploring this incredibly old and charming place.  The cathedral is ancient (1232) and massive and a large part of the ancient wall surrounding the town is still intact.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What I remember most from our visit there was having breakfast in this “bar.” The English word bar is used to describe restaurants that offer inexpensive food and drink and an atmosphere a bit like an English pub. This video gives you the flavor of the atmosphere….

To view above video on YouTube website click here

At the end of the video you saw our two “cafe con leches” at the bar and the young man was preparing our food.  We had ordered “torreznos” which are basically fried pig skin with a good chunk of the meat underneath still attached. They were delicious.

Following our breakfast, Maria asked me what I thought of the town and it’s foods…  the first of many little interviews that always caught me off guard 🙂

To view above video on YouTube website, click here

After Burgos de Osma, we drove about 20 miles north to a park called “Canon de Rio Lobos” (Canyon of the Wolves River).  Here, we took a walk for about 30 minutes to enjoy the scenery. The area can be crowded on weekends so I think we were lucky to enjoy a quiet walk. The landscape reminds me a bit of Yellowstone but the climate and vegetation seem more like Yosemite. The video below shows highlights..

To view above video on YouTube website, click here

In the afternoon we continued our journey north into the coastal province of Cantabria.  Before reaching the coastline, we stopped to visit Altamira, the UNESCO World Heritage site of prehistoric cave paintings as much as 18,000 years old.  Per Wikipedia: “When the discovery was first made public in 1880, it led to a bitter public controversy between experts which continued into the early 20th century, since many did not believe prehistoric man had the intellectual capacity to produce any kind of artistic expression.  The acknowledgment of the authenticity of the paintings, which finally came in 1902, changed the perception of prehistoric human beings.”   Upon arrival, we were a little disappointed to learn that you can only see a mockup of the actual cave paintings.  The cave was closed to tourists in 1977 when it was noticed all the carbon dioxide the visitors were exhaling was damaging the paintings.  In recent years, they have held a lottery every Friday to allow five lucky visitors a brief visit to the actual cave.  As it was Wednesday, we were not eligible for such an opportunity. A movie about the discovery of the cave, titled “Finding Altamira,” starring Antonio Banderas as the cave’s discoverer, came out this year.

Late in the afternoon, we drove north where I got my first view of the coast at a little town called Suances. In the video below, notice the beautiful, green, rolling farm country alongside the sea. (Also notice, at the end of the video, how I again struggle to answer Maria’s simple question. Watching this now reminds me of how tired I was by this point. Eight weeks of traveling around Africa before arriving in Spain had taken its toll :-).)

To view above video on YouTube website, click here

As evening approached we drove a short distance west (and slightly inland) to the town of Santillana del Mar where we found a hotel for the night. The core of this town is a medieval village and walking around there feels almost like going back in time – like Toledo, it’s a very popular tourist spot and boasts many great restaurants and hotels.

That evening we had dinner in a bar that had large-screen TVs where we could watch Maria’s beloved Madrid Atletico (soccer team) play against their arch-rival Barcelona. Though the ambiance wasn’t as charming as many of the other restaurants in town the food was excellent.  Since the game started at 10pm we didn’t get out of there until midnight. I was pretty tired by that time!