Leaving Spain

Hello from Ireland! Sorry we have been so long between posts! We took a vacay from social media and have just been enjoying ourselves. It was a nice break, but now we are back and will get caught up over the next couple of posts. I hope you will stay with us, as we have an epic trip coming up soon! (Hint: Land of Fire & Ice. That’s all I’m gonna say about that – for now!)

The map of our trip out of Spain, and back, and out again!

Now back to our regularly scheduled travels… We spent a few days in Santiago de Compostela following my camino so that I could recuperate a bit before we hit the road. When we did finally leave, we didn’t go far.

We have been wanting to replace our 1500 watt inverter for a while now, it’s just too big for the system we have in place and we wanted to downsize to 1000 watts. We did upgrade our batteries at the beginning of the year, but the guy didn’t want to mess with installing the inverter. As luck would have it, the inverter actually went on the fritz and died so we had to get a new one. Not far from Santiago we had an appointment with a guy who said he could have it done in a couple of hours, so off we went on a somewhat overcast and occasionally rainy day.

Before starting the installation of the inverter, the guy generously offered to drive us into the little village so we could have some lunch. It wasn’t long after we finished eating and had a short walk that he came to pick us up, the job done. In the few weeks that have passed since then, I am happy to report that the combo of our new batteries and inverter has made all the difference to our ability to boondock (AND use my hair dryer!)

We drove to a nearby reservoir for what we thought would be an overnight stay, but it became three nights. As it turns out, we were literally parked right on the Camino Ingles and each morning dozens of pilgrims would pass right by Bijou. Since it was mostly raining, they were all decked out in rain gear, still a couple of days’ walk from the finish line in Santiago. I know how that feels – excited, but bone weary, ready to be done, but not.

Bijou parked up on the Camino Ingles complete with distance marker. Just a day away from reaching Santiago!

We had five or six stops planned for our trip across Spain and into France, but it got cut down to just three. I have to admit we are mostly not patient travelers. When one place doesn’t work out, we are just as likely to hit the road and go all the way to the next one as we are to poke around and find someplace else in the area. Sometimes I wish we traveled more slowly, for shorter distances, but for some reason it’s just not appealing or we are just not very good at it. We always seem to have some epic destination we can’t wait to get to.

O Cebreiro

The first stop we planned on our route was O Cebreiro, a traditional mountain village in Galicia. Nestled at an elevation of around 4500 ft., it is a popular stop along the Camino Frances as well as a tourist destination. The village has ancient Celtic roots and is home to traditional mountain dwellings of pre-Roman origin, called ‘pallozas’, basically stone igloos with thatched roofs. And of course, a church, where the priest Elías Valiña, is buried. He is known as the one who suggested the use of the yellow arrow to mark the Camino route, an important improvement for all pilgrims.

We had walked through O Cebreiro as pilgrims, but we wanted to return to spend more time visiting the town and most importantly, to make a return visit to a local restaurant that enticed us on our last visit.

Unfortunately, after winding our way up the mountain, we arrived to find the parking area we had planned to stay completely inaccessible for Bijou! It was such a steep entrance that Bijou’s bottom started to scrape along the ground and we were still a long way from reaching the entrance. We turned around to try and park long enough to walk around town only to find four giant tour buses taking up all the spaces. Sadly for us, Big Tourism has returned with a vengeance!

Astorga

We have stayed in some pretty interesting places over the years, and to that we will add a couple of nights at Astorga’s Plaza de Toros, the bullring. It is small, and one of the oldest in all of Spain. Fortunately there was no activity while we were there, so our stay was quite peaceful.

We had walked through Astorga during our first Camino in 2019 and at the time decided we would return. We passed through on a Sunday and enjoyed a couple of hours in the square before moving on, past the beautiful Roman Catholic Cathedral of Santa Maria de Astorga and the Palacio de Gaudí, a beautiful architectural design by the Spanish modernist.

Early morning view from Bijou’s window.
The cathedral and the palace bathed in the most gorgeous light.

Santander

After leaving Astorga the highway followed along beside the Camino Frances on the Meseta. How well we remember the endless path with newly planted trees that offered so little shade. They had grown a bit in the past four years, but still not enough to mitigate the scorching sun beating down on pilgrims, of whom we saw plenty. 2023 has been a record breaking year on all the Caminos and across Portugal and Spain, we saw pilgrims just about everywhere.

In Santander, we met up with fellow motorhome travelers Kevin and Ruth. When last we saw them we were in Warsaw in the summer of 2021 and they were on their way to Germany to pick up their brand new motorhome, Max.

Santander had the busiest free aire of any city we have been to! And across the street plenty more rigs parked up along the curb. We backed into a spot on the second day here, Kevin and Ruth finally bugged out for a quieter spot along the coast. This place was just constantly busy and not very quiet!
We started off happy as clams visiting Santander along the coast and through the town. But you see that little restaurant behind us? It was a family-run place that smelled so good! This was the second day we tried to eat there and they could not accommodate us! We just knew it had fantastic food and we were desperate to get in. Alas. We ended up further down the street in a cute cafe with food that was good, but not great. It was the company that mattered, though, and we always have a good time with Kevin and Ruth!
Sights along the coast in Santander.
Santander is a seafaring town.
We spent a couple of hours walking along the beach, which included sculptures and a live show!

Saint Jean de Luz, France

After a final overnight at some random aire, we said adios to Spain and bonjour to France, as we made our way to the coast to Saint Jean de Luz, to Camping Erromardie, the second place we stayed in 2019 after moving into Bijou. We spent a few days hiking and biking before deciding to make a little detour to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary.

The cutest cars ever, right? There was always some fun activities along the coast by the campground, or we could just sit and watch the Atlantic Ocean.
Saint Jean de Luz, a cute French coastal town with lots of shops and cafes. Some parts, like the big casino right on the beach have seen better days, but mostly it is a great place to stroll, enjoy a coffee and people-watch. And hike and bike, too.
I am always in awe of the sun setting on the Atlantic Ocean. That’s not what we are used to!!

Capbreton, France

Amazingly, no one ever parked in front of us, so this space was always free and our view never blocked! Although, the sand dunes prevent any ocean view.
We left Camping Erromardie and drove north to Capbreton where we joined a few other motorhomes (!!) along the coast. This is one of the last places we stayed back in 2020 before Covid hit France hard and lockdown put us in an aire in Sens for three months! It was a good memory, so we came back to enjoy the beach once again.

Although it’s hard to beat the Long sandy Beach in Capbreton and the gorgeous sunsets and the stunning cliff walks in Saint Jean de Luz, we decided we wanted to celebrate our upcoming anniversary with a pintxo tour in San Sebastian, a foodie town if ever there was one. It goes against every fiber of my being to backtrack on our route, but this time, I was all in. I mean, there would be delicious food, what’s not to love?

San Sebastian, Spain

We checked out a few of the available food tours in San Sebastian, but ultimately, after watching some YouTube videos, we decided to just create our own tour with the places and foods that appealed to us.

First on our tour was Antonio Bar, famous for its Spanish tortilla.
We started with that and Steven added a “Gilda”, which is pepper, olive and anchovy on a stick. It got its name from the Rita Hayworth movie. Before moving on, we ordered the bacon-wrapped shrimp which was a last minute addition based on seeing what our table mates had ordered. My gosh, it was all so yummy!
Next up was Tamboril where we enjoyed mushrooms on a stick, potato salad, which I am going to say was the best I have ever eaten, and lastly, tempura shrimp. Heaven, all of it!
Now, while this next one might look yummy – ice cream cone, anyone? – it most assuredly is not something I wanted to eat. So Steven took one for the team. It is cream cheese with an anchovy!!!! He said it was interesting, but that it is a “one and done” thing for him.
We came here for a roasted pork dish, but sadly it was not available on the day we visited. So we got what looks like an enchilada, but I honestly have no memory of what it tasted like. It did not leave a big impression, but I have to admit we were getting pretty full at this point. But if it had been “ew” I would have at least remembered that, and it wasn’t!
You know that Burnt Basque Cheesecake that is all the rage? It was born right here, at the restaurant La Vina, in San Sebastián. We saved this fabulous goodie for last and it was sooooo worth it. Cream cheese that we can buy in Europe has more water in it than the stuff we get in the States, so it won’t make a sturdy cheesecake like we are used to. I’m not saying this is made with Philly cream cheese, it’s not, just that it is made with creamier cheese, and therefore it looks looser and like it has gravy on it. It was fabulous and very popular.
We strolled all along the coast of beautiful San Sebastián hoping to walk off some of those calories we ate!
Coastal beach artwork.
Happy 25th Anniversary to us!

We had a really fun time in San Sebastián and are so glad we made the effort to backtrack and spend our anniversary there. When we left, we drove to the Loire Valley in France with plans to visit a couple of famous Chateaus on our way to Paris! Stay tuned for that.

And finally, although Steven hasn’t posted his art for a while, it doesn’t mean he hasn’t been busy. On the contrary, he’s been concentrating on pencil and paper drawings lately. He is on a mission to study from the old Renaissance masters. Here is his version of a drawing by Raphael. If you would like to see more, you can keep up with what he’s doing by following his Visual Art page here.


Up next: Back in France


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28 Comments

    1. 2chouters

      My gosh, we could have done a different food tour every single day for weeks! But I have to be careful about those anchovies they like to sneak into stuff. That is a hard no for me! 🙂

    1. 2chouters

      I have been wanting to do this for a while, and now was our chance. It was so busy with pilgrims along that stretch with those little trees. I’m sure you remember that section! And in Astorga!

  8. Vernon Hauser

    Glad to see a post from you. I was checking ever so often to see if you had posted. But I had faith your post would pop up. I see Stevens art work on face book and always enjoy it. The food looked wonderful, except the fake ice cream cone. Safe travels, Vernon

    1. 2chouters

      Yeah, what was up with that fake ice cream cone?? That was just disappointment in a cone! Glad you were following along with Steven’s art page on FB, at least you knew we haven’t driven off a cliff or something. Good to hear from you!

    1. 2chouters

      Thanks, Liz! We had a wonderful anniversary and were especially happy we took the time to return to Spain so we could eat to our heart’s content! It was worth the trip. 🙂

  10. June Wonder

    Welcome back, you were missed! I’m with you on the anchovies but everything else looked delish and Steven’s photos are spectacular! And Happy Anniversary!

    1. 2chouters

      Thanks so much, June! San Sebastián is such a spectacular town with such delicious food, we had an abundance of great photos from which to choose. I’m glad you enjoyed the ones we selected!

    1. 2chouters

      Those cars look like little Disney cars! It is so fun to see folks buzzing around in them.

      The first day we arrived at the restaurant, we were an hour early for service. Too long to hang around. The next day when we returned on time, the place was full! We could see Granny cooking away in the kitchen, but it was a small place with a limited number of tables, and I’m sure they only cook just enough to serve the neighborhood folks. That’s what made it so appealing to us! It will forever be on our list of places for “next time”. 🙂

  13. Jodee Gravel

    Post COVID is definitely a busier world! So many incredible places, glad you’re back to share what we’ve been missing. How fun to return to the Camino but a bummer to miss some of the eateries you were hoping to enjoy. Love the red-bottomed boats and the cute little cars. The beach art is incredible. I’m a big anchovy fan but not sure the “cone” option is one I’d be enthusiastic about. Your anniversary pic is beautiful of you both. I’m missing those faces!!

    1. 2chouters

      Aww, thanks, Jodee. I like that photo, too. The background is so beautiful it looks fake, and then there’s that wave action going on with my hair. So, all in all, a good anniversary pic. 🙂

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