Santiago de Compostela, the Picos, and Basque Country

Santiago de Compostela, in Northwest Spain - where most weary pilgrims finish their long walk on the Camino de Compostela. We arrived late afternoon with Lu and Rory, found our apartment, and then wandered into the old town. Checked out the Catedral, then went in search of food, and found a tapas bar which was super crowded, but with great looking food. After some fast talking and a bit of luck we were escorted to a table, and sat down to some sensational tapas. My pick were the grilled baby squid - so tender, oh yes! - and the garlic prawns wrapped in iberian ham, but the food was all so good you couldn't have dragged an intelligible word out of any of us. It was all, mmmmm, yes, omigod, oh wow, try this, aaaah, more wine please!
Next morning we dropped Lu and Rory off at the airport to pick up their car. They were heading off to Zarautz, on the Basque coast, to set up a Surf Camp where they will be working for the next 4 months.
Susie, being a Catholic, and also having walked the Camino from the French side of the Pyrenees five years ago, has a strong connection to Santiago, and the Catedral in particular, so she carted me off to 1200 noon mass. We arrived at 1100 and the Catedral was already starting to fill up, but we found a spot on a pew not far from the front and waited. By the time 1200 rolled around there was standing room only in this giant cathedral, and what followed was quite moving even for a non church going non catholic like me, as much for the reverent looks on the faces of the many who had obviously trekked a long way to be there, as the service itself. Even though I couldn't understand most of what was said during the service, I surprised myself by really enjoying it!
We also fitted in a drive out to Cape Finisterre, the end of the earth, west of which most sailors before Columbus believed they would fall off the edge of the world, and to where some super keen walkers continue their Camino pilgrimage.

By now we were ready for some veg time, and what better place than the little fishing village of Corme, on the NW coast, also known as the Costa del Mort for the high numbers of sailing ships wrecked on it's rocky shores. Ever heard of Corme? No? Neither had we, so we thought it would fit the bill perfectly for our desired little "do nothing" time. We spent the next four nights in an almost new apartment overlooking the quiet village and mini fishing port, taking picnic lunches on walks north and south along the coast, sipping wine or coffee in one of the many tiny bars in town, or just sitting on our balcony in the sun reading and soaking up the slow pace of this beautiful little corner of the world. Having a decent kitchen meant we also ate in for three nights, and relished the opportunity after eating out so much. We made friends with Maria at the local, small, Supermercado where we bought most of our dinner ingredients.
But the fourth night.... well we had to eat out, 'cos we had found out about a restaurant about 20 mins up the coast which had been awarded a "Michelin Star" and was doing a degustation menu for not too many euros. So off we went, and were not disappointed. Seven courses of superb food, in a sensational location on a windswept rocky point, with friendly and knowledgeable staff, and a window table of course.

Okay, enough about food for a while. We had now recharged our batteries and headed off to our next stop, the Picos de Europa mountains. These mountains are not far inland from the coast, and are not super high at a max altitude of around 2200-2300 metres, but they are very rugged and spectacular. Our accommodation, an attic apartment in the tiny little village of Inguanzo, was also tiny, but comfortable, and was to be our home for a much anticipated week of walking in superb surroundings. The next day, our first full day in the Picos, was going to be my Birthday, so I was primed for a big one.
Alas, it was not to be. I awoke next morning with that Hit by a Mack Truck feeling - aches and pains, nausea, and some other nasties. I had a great day mostly in bed while Susie patiently waited for me to get better. The only real good bits were getting birthday texts from fam and friends. 
By the following day I was feeling a lot better so we embarked on a "3 hour" walk out of a little village 10 mins from our apartment. The instructions for finding the start of the walk were rather vague, so in our usual style we went the right way, thought it must be wrong, then the wrong way until we came abruptly to the bottom of a shear cliff covered in rock climbing bolts, backtracked, asked directions, and finally made it back to our original start. By this time we had been walking for an hour, and the 3 hour walk then took us 4, but.....  It was a beautiful, enjoyable walk up the side of a steep sided mountain overlooking the valley from which we started, with a picnic lunch at our high point watching chamois play on rock outcrops. Love to be that agile on rock!
One small problem arose from the day's exertions - I had a relapse of the nausea (thankfully not the other part), and Susie came down with the same thing, so we both spent the next day mostly in bed.

But all crook things pass, and the next day, feeling good again, we drove a stunning mountain road to a place called Fuente De. From here a cable car climbs 2500 feet through space to the top of this rock wall amphitheatre. Once at the top of this slightly scary ride, we were in cloud and could see buggar all! Pity, as the views would have been stunning from the top, but we nevertheless pressed on into the start of our planned 14km loop walk. As we walked the cloud around us gradually began to break up and started to give us glimpses of giant rock towers above us. The trail slowly lost height, we came out of the bottom of the cloud, and the beautiful mountain meadows surrounded by rocky crags opened out around us. After five hours our trail brought us back to the bottom of the cable car where we got stuck into a late lunch.

For next day's encore, this time accompanied by Susie's great sailing mate Jane who had popped over from Scotland for a week with us, we embarked on the most popular walk in the Picos - the scenically awesome Ruta del Cares, along the sometimes vertical sided Rio Cares gorge. The trail was cut by engineers in the '40s to provide maintenance capability to the hydro aqueduct which is also cut through the rock and along the side of the gorge. Not for the vertigo impaired, the trail at times is cut into the side of vertical cliffs with 1000ft of space between walkers and the river below. After 15kms, 6.5 hrs, and an almost overheated camera, we flopped into chairs back in the village of Poncebos for a celebration drink.

Feeling the need for a rest day, we then drove up to the beautiful Llagos de Covadonga, a couple of glacial lakes high up on a rocky range. The drive up from the village of Covadonga was 2500 vertical feet of narrow, twisting, unrelenting climbing, and obviously a testpiece for local bike riders as there were heaps of them slogging their way to the top. In Australia, on a narrow road like that, and with our aggressive drivers, this ride would have been very dangerous, but here drivers are very accomodating and just patiently wait for a safe place to pass. Would that it were so in Oz!
We walked around the lakeside trails, had a picnic lunch, checked out the Covadonga Basilica on the way down, and finished our time in the Picos with a nice dinner in the village of Arenas de Cabrales, 10 minutes from our apartment.

From the mountains to the coast. Late next morning we drove to our next abode - the lovely little boutique Hotel Arbe, overlooking the ocean between the fishing villages of Mutriku and Deba. It was a great week at the Arbe, combining some good walks with some lazing by the pool, reading, and eating and drinking. We alternated evening meals between eating in at the hotel and going out to eateries in the local villages. Always great food.
Jane is not really into walking, but we talked her into a 14km coastal walk on our second day. Susie's opening gambit was, "Well, let's just do a few kays and see how we're going." Then it was, "Why don't we just go to that next headland and we'll reassess there." And then, "Well, we're halfway now, so we may as well just keep going!" So, by the time we reached the village of Zumaia, 14 up hill and down dale kays from our start point of Deba, Jane was barely talking to us, and Susie and I were rather weary as well. It was a beautiful walk, though, and we were able to catch the train back to our starting point. That night we jumped in the car and drove east a few villages to the town of Zarautz, where Lu and Rory are running a surf camp for Stoke Travel. Lu cooked us up a nice meal and we all watched the sunset from high on the hill just east of the town and beach, where the camping area is located.
During this week we also fitted in a visit to the Guggenheim in Bilbao, to San Sebastian, and to the fabled surf spot of Mundaka. It wasn't at it's best, with a crosswind blowing along the wave, but at low tide and solid 6 foot sets grinding along the river mouth bar, there were still some good rides being had.

On our checkout morning, our lovely host Itzi presented us with a nice bottle of red for our travels, and we headed off for Vitoria, about 90 mins south, to visit our Spanish friends Jose and Marie-Carmen. Jose and MC are both great cooks, so once again we were treated to the best of Basque cuisine! Vitoria is a beautiful city with wide tree filled pedestrian walkways, and we were shown around on daily walking tours by our lovely hosts, but the highlight for me was on our second day when, while the girls did a bit of retail therapy, Jose took me to his men only cooking club, Casino Artiste Vitoria, and taught me how to cook Pil-Pil Bacalao. This cod dish is quite simple but needs to be done just right to bring out the flavour. Right on time the girls arrived, were ushered into the inner sanctum (women are allowed to visit the club, but only to eat, not to cook!), and we served up our creation to critical acclaim. Jose later told me there are around 80 of these men's cooking clubs in Vitoria alone, and that's with a population of around 220,000!
After lunch Jose and MC took us on a tour of the old town, finishing with a guided tour of the Basilica Santa Maria which has been undergoing a major renovation project since 2004, mainly because a large chunk of stone fell out of the ceiling and they realised it was in danger of falling down! They've made a tourist attraction out of the reno, which is due for completion in 2015, with the first service to be held at Easter next year. It was this church and it's history which Ken Follett used as the basis for the sequel to his medievil epic Pillars of the Earth.
Next day, beautiful and sunny, we drove out to a large lake which is the water supply for both Vitoria and Bilbao, walked and swam, then lunched at the local "must go to" restaurant. I had squid in ink - yum! - and Susie and Esti (Jose's daughter) had chuleta, which is a giant ox chop for two, served seared on the outside and practically raw inside but soooo tender, a special meat dish of the area. Oops, sorry, I'm talking about food again!

The following morning, after a look at the local Art Museum, we said our goodbyes to Jose, Marie-Carmen and Esti and headed back to the coast for our next little adventure - surfing in the Bay of Biscay at Zarautz!                          

Lisbon, Porto, and Birthday Hi Jinx in the Douro Valley.

Lisbon.  As we flew over it on approach to land I looked down at the avenues, parks, trees, and the river, and thought, “I think I’ll like this city.”

That flying first impression was tested though, as we climbed off the airport bus at it’s last stop near the river, and went in search of our accommodation, the guesthouse “Ribeira Tejo”. As we followed the emailed directions, we were looking around us and realised we were in a somewhat downmarket part of town, with quite a few run down or abandoned buildings. Hmmmm, we thought, and then, at the back of a large warehouse type produce market we found it. Nothing from the street, not even a sign, but inside – completely renovated and imaginatively furnished. Our host and part owner Luis met us, showed us our room, and as it was by then around 6 pm we asked him for an eatery recommendation.

The result was a “Fado” restaurant, a short cab ride away. Fado is a kind of  Portuguese folk/soul singing, in this case accompanied by a Portuguese guitar, and a regular guitar. Every half hour or so the lights would dim, and our two guitarists and a vocalist walked to the centre of the restaurant. Each time, the vocalist was different, and they would do about 4 numbers before retiring to much applause, and a half hour later it would all happen again. All had great voices, especially the last of 4 singers, both men and women, who was apparently a local celeb and finished his bracket to the most enthusiastic applause of the evening, us included.

The food was nothing to write home about, but the entertainment made up for it.

Next day we fronted up for a walking tour of the city. Our guide Paolo treated us to 4 hrs of Lisboa history and sights, including the devastating earthquake of 1755, how the city was rebuilt, the old buildings still standing after the quake, the meaning of the various patterns in the black and white cobblestones, the wide avenues of the “new” city and the narrow winding alleyways of the old.
We enjoyed the tour so much that we signed up for the 4 hour “food” tour starting at 1600 next day, including Luisa and Rory, who were arriving that evening to spend the next week or so with us. We ate that night at a jumping place called “Chapito”, high up on the hill near the old city’s Castelo, with great views of the city and river. Lots of locals, not many tourists, lots of noise, and a great night. 

The following morning, as we were now old hands, Susie and I showed Lu and Rory around. Only problem was, by the time we fronted for the foodie tour, we had already been on our feet for the best part of 5 hrs, and after another 4 hours our feet were killing us. That said, even on fresh legs we all agreed we would still have been disappointed with the evening tour. Too much useless talk, not enough food tasting, and then a sit down “bulk” tasting in a fairly crummy place to finish. Ah, well, we thought, if that’s the first dud we’ve scored in nearly 4 months of travel, we’re doing okay.

We treated ourselves to a cab ride home.

Sunday 22nd was Peugeot Pick Up Day. This was the Lease car we will have until 21 July – a lovely little diesel 207. Only problem was, we intended to cram 4 full sized people and all our gear into this brand new car in front of the agent handing it over. I was just a little nervous about this, plus a nagging doubt that we could actually fit everything in, but I need not have worried. In fact the young agent said, “Ah, no problem, I’ve seen people cram more than that in these things. Here, I’ll give you a hand.”

So in just a few minutes we had Lu and Rory squeezed into the 60% part of the 60/40-split fold back seat, while the 40 and the rest of the boot were crammed to the roof with gear. Rory still had a backpack on his lap, but we managed okay, and set off for our first destination, about 90 clicks away – Sintra.

Sintra is a beautiful town set in mountainous country about 15 kms inland from the coast, a little north of Lisbon. It’s claim to fame is the Catedral in the centre of town, a couple of beautifully restored 17th century Castelos, a 6th century Moorish castle, and stunning scenery surrounding it all. We had fun finding our accommodation – the 17th century ex monastery, now guesthouse called La Quinta da San Thao. It was down at the end of a long, one car wide, winding and rutted lane, and was delightful in a “Fawlty Towers” kind of way. The house was all stone and wonderfully cool, with beautiful gardens in the middle of which sat a large and very inviting pool, but it was our rooms which had us grinning. Susie and I had twin singles, watched over by a large crucifix on the wall above, with a couple of cherubs on either side, and darkly religious paintings on the other walls. Pure thoughts only in this room, thank you! There was also a slightly nutty Grandmother who would pop out of doorways in front of you and offer to play the piano for you, only to have our hostess Theresa push her back into the room with a harried “not now mother”.
 After a bit of lazing around and a swim, we piled into the car and headed for Cabo da Roca, the most westerly point on the European mainland – very scenic – and then went in search of dinner, which we found at a place called simply “Bistro”. Beautiful food, in very rich sauces.

Driving the roads around Sintra was quite exciting as they were very bendy and very narrow, with the occasional tourist bus or truck coming the other way. There were many occasions I feared for the flanks of our pretty new Pug, but so far, touch wood, we remain unscathed.

Next day, Monday 23, Lu had a work assignment to complete and Rory wanted to rest his snowboard injured knee, so Susie and I set off into Sintra on our own. We walked around the old town a bit, checked out the shops and gardens, then headed up to the old Moorish Castle, high on the top of a hill overlooking Sintra and the surrounding country. A great place from which to observe bad guys approaching, which was exactly why it was built. All the stone walls, parapets, and lookout towers are still remarkably intact considering it’s age…6th century, and we had a wonderful time climbing around them snapping away like crazy.

Late in the afternoon we drove back to Fawlty Towers, picked up Lu and Rory, and headed down to the coast where for not many Euros we had a fabulous seafood meal at a restaurant overlooking the surf, complete with barnacles, yes BARNACLES,  very salty and not bad in small doses, as appetiser.

In the morning we again crammed the four of us and all our gear into the Pug and headed for Porto. A beautiful drive through green, hilly wine and farming country got us to the city in a few hours. After some fun finding our apartment, we then worked out the Metro and got a train into the old town, walked down to the river, had a late lunch while checking out the passing parade, went for a walk and port tasting at Taylors and then back to our pad.

Now it’s May 25, three days before Susie’s 60th Birthday, and she’s getting just a little excited because she already has her oldest, Luisa, and fiancé Rory with us, and that afternoon Thomas (aka Buddha) and girlfriend Sophia would be arriving from Barca to help celebrate. We spent the morning doing a bit of birthday shopping in Rua da Santa Caterina – “the” shopping street in Porto, then hopped on the Metro and headed for the airport to meet Thomas and Sophia. We whisked them straight to the river for another late lunch, a port tasting at the Offley cellars (last of the day and spoken entirely in French, but we didn’t care!), a one hour river tour, and then back to the apartment where Thomas and Luisa cooked us up a late feast of local seafood.

You may have noticed a consistent theme in my ramblings. Yep – Food, washed down by vino, beautiful food. We’re loving it and I’m eating lots of it. One day I may even put on some weight, if I haven’t done so a little already!

Okay, so now there are six of us and that definitely doesn’t fit into a small Pug, so Thomas and Sophia got the train up the Douro Valley and we four drove to our Birthday Festival Destination – Quinta da Santo Antonio, a beautiful guesthouse in a small working winery in the Douro Valley overlooking the river. A truly stunning location, and the scene of the next 3 days of Birthday Fun.

On arrival we were greeted by our hosts Carlos and his wife Madelene, shown around his pride and joy, had a light lunch by the pool, swam, and lazed about waiting for Thomas and Sophia. We heard, and then saw their train as it snaked its way along the bottom of the steep sided valley beside the river. Carlos kindly offered to drive me down to the station in his car to pick them up, and off we went down the long narrow entrance road, and then 5km along beside the river to the station at the picturesque little town of Pinhao.

Once Thomas and Sophia were settled in and we were all cooled off again around the pool, oohing and aahing at the stunning view, Carlos and Madelene walked out with an ice cold bottle of the best Portuguese champagne with a card from Susie’s girlfriends in Sydney. What a great way to start our 3 days at Quinta Santo Antonio!

A few lazy hours later we all sat down at the dining table, again overlooking the stunning valley, and were treated to a delicious 3 course meal which included, gratis, Carlos’ own white and red wines, followed up by his own 20 yr old tawny. Oh, golly gosh, I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. After dinner we slipped downstairs to the pool table for a few games, accompanied of course by a few more bottles of Carlos’ lovely red.

Next day, Sat May 28, was Susie’s actual Birthday. After opening a few pressies, and a partly successful skype call to Evan and Jade and the kids (they were in a car in Forster trying to find internet access), we sat down to breakfast and whaddayaknow, out walks Carlos with a bottle of Moet courtesy of Luisa and Rory.

 Then into Pinhao for a river cruise, followed by lunch at a local. Back to Carlos’ for a walk among the vines, and more swimming and lounging around by the pool before dinner, which was an hour early because, well, there was a football game on that night, ie the final of the European Cup between Manchester United and our favourite team, Barcelona FC. So after dessert we all trooped down to the poolroom, glasses in hand to settle down for the game. A bloody good game it was, too. At half time Carlos and Madelene again appeared with another 2 bottles of Portugal’s finest bubbles, a bunch of beautiful roses, and a big chocolate Birthday Cake, this time from Susie’s siblings and her Mum back in Sydney.  Thankfully there were other guests we could share all this with! Barca ultimately won 3 – 1, and then it was time for more pool. By the time we all shuffled off to bed it was, um, quite late.

After brekkie and 3 more Skype calls, Carlos showed us around his boutique winery. He makes his own red and white the old fashioned way, inviting a bunch of friends and rellies around to stomp the grapes, and just using the wines in his dining room and selling to people who stay with them. The bulk of his harvest goes to a large local winery where it becomes Port – Carlos keeping enough to keep his guests and himself happy. He has a number of barrels in his winery filled with port of varying ages from 5 to about 30 years.

A bit later we all 6 of us squeezed into the little Pug and drove to Sandeman Winery for a tour and tasting of their delicious port. Susie and I initially opted for the basic tasting, a white and a red port, but the kids upgraded us to the “Premium” tasting, which included 5 ports up to their 10 and 20 yr old tawnys. Omigod they were good. I had to go easy ‘cos I was driving, but the others had no such restriction and enjoyed themselves thoroughly!

Then we motored into Regua, another river town about 20kms away. Susie and I checked out the wine museum, which didn’t tell us anything we hadn’t already learned from Carlos and Sandeman, but then we found the entertainment of the afternoon – a bunch of locals running a fundraiser for their Cancer Fund. They were a fun and happy bunch of people who were enjoying themselves thoroughly while making a bit of money for their charity. We ate, threw darts (didn’t matter what the score, you still won a prize), bought stuff, danced, talked, and had a damn good time.  After dinner at a restaurant owned by one of our new-found friends, we headed back to Carlos’ for more pool before bed.

Next day it was time to leave. Susie and I drove Thomas and Sophia down to the train at Pinhao, only to learn that there was a train strike and they would have to wait about 5 hours for a bus, so we turned around and drove about 40kms the other direction to Villa Real so they could pick up a bus there. Then back to Quinta da San Antonio to pick up Lu and Rory and our bags.

By this time it was after 1300 and Carlos insisted on feeding us lunch before we started out towards Santiago de Compostela. After a beautiful lunch we again squeezed into our little car and were just moving off after saying our goodbyes when Carlos banged on the window. With a grin he handed in a bottle of his lovely red, saying “For your dinner tonight!”

We had all had a wonderful time with wonderful hosts, and Susie could not have asked for a better 60th birthday celebration.