We found a beachside campsite at Gavá not far from Barcelona, the wind was terrible and the beach looked like a sand storm with crashing waves and grey sky. Great thing was that we had no one between us and the beach except an ugly wire fence – you can’t have everything. Another bonus of the bad weather was you couldn’t hear the planes from nearby Barcelona Airport or the road or anything really, just the sea. Several people were out braving a walk with dogs, being blown about and muffled up in coats and hats. So glad we don’t have a dog, nothing was going to dig me out of Lisa’s cosy warm, heated interior from where we could watch around 15-20 Audouin’s gulls yards away on the sand, a lone Mediterranean gull, a couple of mallard on a pool and dozens of federal pigeons.
Mercifully it was dry and slightly calmer in the morning so we walked 40 minutes to La Delta del Llobregat for a bit more birding. We spotted a pile of terrapins resting on a bit of wood, saw some ponies used to graze the marshy land and added several ducks to our lengthening list as we walking around a different area with lagoons and islands right in front of the hides. The aeroplanes landed at regular intervals literally the other side of the lagoons and thankfully the take off runway was further away so we were not bombarded by noise, anyway the birds weren’t bothered and carried on as normal.
Over the last year I have had the pleasure of speaking to Pedro from Barcelona, we chat over Zoom and each have 30 minutes learning to speak in Spanish and English. Finally we were going to meet up in person; he and his wife Rosa collected us from the campsite and we had lunch together first. It was exciting to be able to use our new language skills and chat for an hour, mainly in Spanish, and realise that we could be understood and we could understand too. Wonderful as we are self taught only using Duolingo.
They showed us around many parts of the city, the architecture of the beautiful buildings was so different and interesting even on a grey day and the streets were interspersed with plazas and fountains. We saw some of the Gothic area, the Gaudi style street fronts, the Basílica de Santa Maria del Mar, the outsides of some museums and the huge Plaça Nova Cathedral from the outside. In the old town area the streets were narrow and had trees, the shops were colourful I really liked the feel off it. We had a memorable day chatting in a mix of English and Spanish together, we visited their home and had coffee after walking 6 miles around the city. I know that we will come back again in the future and will keep practicing our Spanish too!
Muchas gracias Pedro y Rosa, teníamos un día estupendo con vosotros.
As the weather has been so mixed we decided to move north where the forecast was better and we might even see the sun! I drove inland heading for Huesca, it is halfway to the north coast and we stayed on a free Aire for the night. The town had a nice feel with all the usual things, cathedral, tall buildings, narrow streets and lots of old details which I liked, especially the worn stone and cracked walls the fresh air holding it all together.
I also loved the street art, a cooking pot and octopus, eyes along tin sheeting, a stag’s head, strange people and faces, all such random ideas carefully painted and adding vibrancy to the town.
On our continuing quest to find the sun we travelled north next day, stopped for the morning at the small town of Java and visited a huge and fascinating pentagonal citadel with views over the town below. Built late in the 16th century with a large dry moat surrounding the whole fort of 1,060 meters in length, today it is grazed by a herd of deer keeping it tidy. The five bastions were used to keep the castle walls protected and had slit windows offering visibility in all directions. Canons were used on the long sides of wall for defence, the buildings inside consisted of barracks and a very interesting powder magazine and storage facility as well as a parade ground.
Inside some of the buildings was an amazing display of over 32,000 tiny lead soldiers in the Military Miniatures Museum housed in several rooms, arranged chronologically showing the changes in uniforms and weaponry. The museum also had displays for full sized figures depicting special operations in cold climates, with tents , snow shoes skis and ice picks. It was a fascinating place and well worth the €10 (£7 approx) entrance fee for both of us.
The drive north was rugged and beautiful, huge rocky mountains going up over 3,000 feet and down again to open areas of grape vines, a land of contrasts, snow on the mountains and blossom on the trees.
Eventually we arrived on the north coast at Donostia-San Sebastian with a wide sandy bay lined with a promenade and a mix of classic old buildings, turrets with witches hats and slick modern designs.
As it was Chris’ birthday we headed for the ‘old town’ area famous for it’s tapas bars and enjoyed an evening walking around. There were so many lovely things to eat and drink, it was a perfect way to finish his special day. The following day was sunny with blue sky at last! We walked the promenade again so I could take some better photos and relaxed with a beer looking out over the beach while we watched a few swimmers and people enjoying the warmth.
Further west along the coast at Zumaia, we found a campsite at the bend of a river with views over to the wooded hills beyond. A riverside walk lead us passed a couple of large boats into the pretty town with many buildings looking like Swiss chalets with the extended roof lines, very picturesque.
Sun and blue sky do wonders for the photographs, but the wind is terrible for my hair and it was constantly in my eyes. Once out of the wind on a large sand beach I found some amazing rock formations. The Flysch is a strata that make up the cliffs that look linear with different colours, it is said that they are like the pages of a book having details of the geology and biology over 50 million years.
On the move again, 3 hours west I parked up at Somo across the water from Santander. It’s a beautiful rural spot, green fields with numerous cattle egrets, wild flowers, buzzards and red kites overhead and stone houses and buildings dotted around. Glad to stop driving we wandered off to stretch our legs and on the way into the small town spotted an amazing building completely painted in bright colours, quite a statement piece.
So the final stop over has arrived and we headed for Santander. We have been told its a good place to explore and on first look it certainly seems that way. To follow some purpose instead of wondering aimlessly, we discovered that several catastrophies had occurred in the city.
After finding an information board we learned about a great fire that happened in 1941 and how the great historic centre was lost to a huge fire. We decided to follow the ‘Fire Route’ which took us around the city showing us before and after photos of the area . It helped explain why there seemed to be many modern buildings within the immediate area and how they now fit within the framework of the city. There are set points where very clever photographic historic images are set within glass, of the ‘old view’ and a later view of a street scene from a similar angle.
Such a clever facility that we were able to see the old Santander prior to 1941 through the old photographs and how it looks now with the buildings replaced after a few years. It was so interesting and with 9 of the boards to find around the city, it gave a good insite just how much damage had been done, and what a fantastic city has risen from the ashes.
There is too much here to capture in a few words. Fabulous beaches, great rock formations, beautiful gardens and walkways, sailing clubs and wind surfing, sculptures, restaurants and bars, historic buildings and probably more that I haven’t noticed in our few hours around the area. Definitely food for thought, and a ‘must do’ holiday in northern Spain, Galicia and Basque Country.
Our motorhome adventures 