We will leave this lovely B&B after only one night and head for a condo in Sonabia, close to Bilbao Spain. It is a long trek. We will drive almost 4 hours. We will leave the Eastern side of Galaicia, Cross Austurias. Then enter Cantabria, and travel east to the boarder with Pais Vasco, better known as Basque Country. Our location will be a beach town, Sonabia, surrounded by mountains, between Laredo and Castro-Urdiales, just 45 minutes from Bilbao.
All night and in the morning, it is raining. I am not pleased with the prospect of driving 4 hours along the north coast of Spain in the rain. But so be it. We have a pleasant but Spanish breakfast of toast and coffee at the B&B. The dining room is lovely; the owner has superb taste and the place is full of interesting objects. Outside, seen through a picture window, is a lovely garden. A lovely sight, though seen through a drizzle.
By the time we collect our things and leave, the rain is subsiding. I have research the drive and found two interesting towns, both fishing villages, along the way, where we can stop to break the up the trip. The first is Cudrillero, only 45 minutes away. The second Lastres, a good deal further.
Ana has noted that throughout Galacia, the homes have had red tile roofs. As we enter Austerius, the houses change from pastel colors to more typical white and cream and now sport gray slate roofs. The country side is lovely and green and the little farms line the hills just a few miles from the sea.
The rain stops as we drive and we head into Cudrillero, down a steep winding road, to find a gloomy but interesting harbor. We depart the depart the car and walk the break-wall around it to photography the steep cliffs we have descended to the sea. The break-wall is partially made of huge concrete cubes. They are piled along a traditional structure as though an artist has conceived them. Most unique.
After a short walk on the harbor, we drive into the town and luckily get a parking space close in, when another car leaves. The town of Cudrillero is a small harbor with homes rising impressively and implausibly from the sea up steep cliff walls. It is like a town of building blocks rising out of the sea. The houses are painted bright intense colors and they are stacked on top of each other rising hundreds of feet into the air. The streets are paths that climb upward and tourist are invited to climb these paths to photograph the town. On the harbor below and in the town square are continuous restaurants with bright umbrellas to allow dining outdoors throughout most of the year.
We decide to make the climb upward. First taking the red trail marked by a sailboat stamped on the walkway and then we descend following the blue trail make by a fish icon. Delightful. We snap photos along these steep paths and marvel at this kind of villager’s life.
Returning to the town square we decide lunch is the a good idea. We randomly pick a sidewalk cafe to dine and then struggle with the menu. We order,but the waitress says we have ordered two dishes that are “eaten with a spoon”, we take her warning and change the order to fish soup and a mushroom and clams appetizer. We are shock when the soup course arrives in a terrien full of broth, fish and seafood. We had expected two “cups” of soup. This is an entire meal. We try to cancel the mushroom and clams dish, but it is already prepared. It is a large “casserole” of cream sauce clams and portobello mushrooms. What a surprising lunch, we are stuffed and delighted by this experience. Cudrillero has been a great stop.
We are driving through Asturias having left Galacia behind. It is more mountainous, but still green. There are many tunnels allowing the expressway to cut through the mountains rather than ascend them. There are many long bridges spanning steep green valleys with farm to the south and the sea to the north.
We try another picturesque town Lastres to get off the expressway for awhile. It is three miles from the expressway and, like these town tend to be, down a steep hill to the water. We make our way to the harbor, but cannot find parking. Double parked we shoot a few photos and head back up to the main part of town. The little place is a tourist destination, so the town is full and the parking non-existent. We travel through it and on. The expressway driving is getting taxing and I am pleased when we approach Sonabia, our next stop. It is a seaside town, just west of the larger Castro-Urdiales, with few full time residents. Our condo has a view to the sea from a terrace on the second floor. We are packed in with other houses, but the views away from the house are of spectacular mountain scenes. Nearby, a pasture rises away from us with a heard of golden cows grazing. We can here cow bells clang. It is strange when looking a these steep mountains all around that the sea is less than a mile away. We visit a little town about a mile away to find a store and get some items for breakfast. Then we try to hike to the beach that we can view from the terrace, but it is getting dark and we turn back. Walking about the immediate area, we find a restaurant set up high with views to the sea and mountains. It has a large breezy patio and the wind is gusting a bit but warm. So, we stay for dinner eating meat as we have only had fish for several days. I order Churrasco and a plate of locally grown large sliced tomatoes that will be roasted with blue cheese and garlic on top. Sensational! Ana has veal, but it is not as good. She tastes my tomatoes, but is not as fond of cooked tomatoes as I am. We are in for the night.
European Trip 2019 