We’ve had an exciting week driving and walking around in Spain. We started off with a few days of hiking in the Pyrenees, then we spent time in Basque country and Galicia. We’ve had lots of adventures, so this is a longer post.
We picked up our rental car in Barcelona and headed right for higher ground. We started with the striking monastery complex at Montserrat. We took the cable car up and walked around. It’s a very touristy place and there are a lot of pilgrims coming through, so it seemed like everything had an entrance fee. Because of that, we took a little walk, hopped on the cable car down, and moved on. We took the very long, very scenic route through the mountain towns, and WOW! Every valley was breathtaking and beautiful. There are several national parks on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees and we kind of just chose one and booked a place in the small town of Boltaña. We spent three days driving into the different parts of the Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park to hike around and gawk at the amazing scenery.
One feature that we learned about on these hikes is a “faja”, which is a narrow path along a cliff where there is a natural ledge. On our first day of hiking, we encountered a park ranger who told us about what was on our planned path. He said that part of the path was a faja and there were three places where there were chains to hold onto. It was a really cool hike down a steep and deep gorge carved out by the river. The faja was no big deal.
The next day, we wanted to go to a different part of the park to see another valley. I will interject here that I have had a weird injury on my right foot that I have been mostly working with for maybe the last six weeks. Well, it was not happy with the more strenuous activity,but I was doing ok and didn’t want it to interfere with the opportunity to hike around. When we chose our hike for this day, it was a combination of two faja trails, finished off with a hike on the valley floor. The faja the day before was a piece of cake, so we set off. It was an immediate steep ascent to get to a waterfall and the turn for the faja. Oh, and did I mention that I have trouble with heights, especially exposed rocks and cliffs and such? As soon as we turned to take the faja, I knew it was not going to be fun, but I figured I could just muscle through and I would be happy when I was on the other side of it. This faja was very different from the tree-insulated trail of the previous day. It was very high, very narrow, and very exposed. I have to say that there were tears and a definite moment of hyperventilation. We were maybe halfway through the first faja when two ladies that had passed us returned on the trail and informed us there was a snowy part. Since I was having trouble without snow, we decided to turn back. It was not fun, but it was really beautiful. Nathan was really patient with me. We returned to the valley floor to hike up to three stunning waterfalls. My feet and legs were hurting and I was feeling a bit defeated by my panic moments, but it was still a good day. We hiked about 12 miles that day.
On our way back to our place, we stopped for a bite to eat. The news was on in the little restaurant, and I kept seeing the headline “caos” and what I thought said “Aragon” which was the region we were in. Then I realized it said “apagon”, which is a power outage and they were showing images of the huge traffic jams in Madrid and people stuck in the metro and at the airport. Well, we were obviously not in the middle of all of that and there was power at the restaurant, so we thought it was probably just in the city. Well, we learned slowly that it was pretty much all of Spain and Portugal being affected. Our power at the Airbnb was out and we feared that they wouldn’t get it back on for days. We went to bed early-ish (because there was really nothing else to do) and when I woke up a little while later, the power was back on. I know it was a big headache for a lot of people, but we only got a little taste of it. The next day, we chose yet another valley and a shorter hike up to a glacier and another waterfall. This one fell over maroon-purple rocks and was so lovely! The Pyrenees did not disappoint.
The next day was a three-city day: Zaragoza, Pamplona, and Donostia/San Sebastian. We drove west and then north, stopping to walk around the towns and see the very different styles and cultures within just a day’s drive. Zaragoza is the capital of Aragon, with a beautiful and huge baroque cathedral. Pamplona, of course, is the famous site of the Festival of San Fermin and the running of the bulls. We walked the short route of the run and you can really see how that one long, narrow street leaves no escape for the runners and for the bulls. Crazy! Then it was further into Basque Country to the gorgeous and green coastal town, San Sebastián. It was a joy to walk around the old town and sample some pintxos, the Basque version of tapas.
The next day, it was time to walk again. We wanted to walk a leg of the Camino de Santiago, the pilgrim route across Spain to the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela purported to house the remains of St. James. There are many different routes across the country, but we wanted to do some of the “northern way”. We walked through the city, along the high hills above the Bay of Biscay, through neighborhoods and farms, and finished in the beachtown of Zarautz. It was hard because it was long, but we encountered friendly people along the way and saw some beautiful country. It was fun to take part in something that has been happening for over a thousand years and to connect in a small way to so many faithful seekers. We did about 16 miles that day by the time we got to the bus stop and found some dinner.
Unfortunately, bad beds and achy joints took their toll and I was not in good shape the day we left San Sebastián. The weather was rainy and dreary and I was, too. We headed for Guernica to tour the Peace Museum there. The museum does a good job of relating the horror of the bombing of the town during the Spanish Civil War through the testimonies of those who survived it. The most chilling part is that throughout the dictatorship of Franco, these people couldn’t tell their stories because the official line was that the bombing never happened and that the town was burned down in retreat. Terrible! From there, we went to Bilbao to visit the Guggenheim Museum. I’m ok with modern art, but just like the Guggenheim in NYC, I’m mostly in it for the building. Frank Gehry’s creation did not disappoint. It is a huge, undulating sculpture of a building, built from limestone, titanium, and glass and set on the river. Truly amazing! My favorite art was the famous “Puppy” by Jeff Koons outside and the enormous sculptures “The Matter of Time” by Richard Serra inside. The weather had cleared up a bit, but I was still hurting from our days of hiking.
We had to get up early because we had tickets to go tour one of the many caves near Bilbao and Santander that contain paintings and evidence of Paleolithic dwellings. The most famous one is Altamira. They don’t let you tour the cave there, but they have reproduced the paintings in the museum. I was feeling a bit stubborn and really wanted to visit a cave and see actual paintings in situ. Unfortunately, tickets for the few sites that still do that were slim pickings. But Nathan was persistent, and we were booked for the first tour of Cueva El Pendo. It was actually the first cave in the area to be discovered, even before Altamira. The archeologists found tools and other evidence of very early humans. Astonishingly, they had been studying the cave for over 100 years before they discovered the cave paintings. There are beautiful depictions of several deer done in red iron oxide. They are stippled into the surface of the rocks. The archaeologists say that the cave was inhabited by Neanderthals as long ago as 84,000 years ago and by Cro Magnons and Homo Sapiens. The paintings are over 20,000 years old.
From the cave, we were bound for the far west and Galicia. To break up the long drive, we stopped just outside of Gijon for another walk. They have a trail called the Via Verde de la Camocha, which is an urban trail. It was nicely wooded and there was even a section that goes through a tunnel. Our final destination for was day was the pilgrim town of Santiago de Compostela. We are here soaking up the good vibes from people excited to reach the end of a long journey. We also took it slower here to rest up and recover from our long week of hiking and hard-core touring.The cathedral here is remarkable. We’ve also eaten really good seafood here. We’re off to Madrid tomorrow so stay tuned for a bit more Spain and then for new places and new experiences.