We've had a very busy couple of days but have definitely improved our ratings for the Perfect Tourist Awards.
In summary we have:
- mooched around the mountains near Santillo del Mar: very steep with isolated villages every few kilometres and complete with cows toting enormous clanging cowbells. Lots of ancient houses made from local stone many with good old geraniums or pelargoniums - see the red ones in the photo Dad!
- finally visited some real caves. Forget that Altamira faux cave made from polystyrene: these were real caves and they were stunning. The first we went to, called El Castille had four enormous chambers and lots of cave paintings dating back to Paleolithic times. We would have been better informed if the Spanish guide spoke any English at all: we spent 50 minutes listening to commentary and jokes we couldn't understand and no audio guides at all!
After an impromptu lunch of biscuits cheese and fruit we entered the La Montanes (the money) cave which had the most beautiful stalactites and stalagmites as well as columns where they still joined. The colors and the intricacy of them was wonderful. The colors changed according to the presence of various oxides: iron for red, manganese for black etc. The guide who spoke English but was only supposed to give the tours in Spanish (!) was really helpful. Some of the paintings were the clearest we had seen, especially a horse drawn with charcoal - difficult to believe it was drawn centuries ago.
- Tasted the local delicacy - cocido montanes. It's a white bean stew made with black pudding (I didn't eat that! ) ham and chorizo. It was delicious. It was part of the Menu del noches (menu of the night). The menu said it came with three courses, bread, water and wine. We assumed that 'wine' meant a glass each, but no, we got an entire bottle! We staggered back to the hotel trying not to trip over the cobblestones.
- dragged ourselves out of bed the next day to return the hire car. It would be fair to say that we had a few navigational difficulties and it seemed to take us quite a lot longer than the previous journey. A couple of times Gloria, the GPS voice, seemed to be a bit distracted and failed to say anything at important moments. She might have gone off to do her nails or something? ! And then there were times when the tangle of freeways resembled entwined noodles and we ended up on the wrong bit of the noodle altogether. Terrifying, given that the speed allowed is 120kms per hour! Somewhat the worse for wear we managed to negotiate the one way streets of Bilbao and returned the hire car (and us) in one piece.
- restored our sanity with strong coffee and a fresh croissant before setting off for the bus station to get a bus for San Sebastian for a few days of beach time. There was good news and bad news: the next bus with available seats left in 3 hours time BUT that did give us time to catch the Metro to the Museo de Belles Artes, which had been closed when we were in Bilbao a few days ago. We did the speed version to make sure we didn't miss the bus.
The most outstanding exhibition for me (but definitely NOT for Ewan!!) was an absolutely superb collection of French couture dresses from the 50s. This was the period when all of the most fabulous French fashion houses were in their heyday: lots of original evening dresses and cocktail dresses by Christian Dior, Balenciaga, etc. The work in them was remarkable and it was great to get so close to the originals and admire the styling, fabrics, beading and embroidery. Gone are those days!!
- jumped on the bus for a trip of almost two hours. Some sleep, a bocadillo (roll filled with ham tuna egg and mayonnaise - an odd combination!) and some viewing of the surprisingly green and mountainous countryside ended with us being deposited at the bus stop in Donastia San Sebastian. We had a rather forgettable introduction as it took us a couple of hours to find the airbnb after the taxi driver and Google maps deposited us at the wrong San Francisco Street. Eventually we found the right one which turned out to be a room In an apartment only two blocks from the beach. Hooray!
- swam in the Atlantic Ocean: well Ewan did. I lounged on the sand feeling totally overdressed in my one piece bathers. The seems to be two rules at the beach: keep tanning until you are a burnt brown color & wear as little as possible regardless of your age, size or shape. Being covered up is not an option so my perfectly age appropriate bathers looked ridiculous, but on the other hand. ...my body in skimpy bikinis - I don't think so.
The other noteworthy aspect of the Zurillo beach was the crowding - see photos! Ten times worse than Rosebud at Christmas. It is summer holidays here so I guess that explains it but it was really difficult trying to find anywhere to sit!
- ate more pinchos/pinxtos. SS is famous for these bar snacks. Usually they are on a base of a piece of French stick and can consist of anything savoury from cheese to raw salmon to prawns to grilled peppers or all of the above assembled like a small tower and skewered with a toothpick. The theory is that you have a drink and a couple of them and then go on to the next bar and choose a few more and keep going until you are full or so drunk you can't go any further.
For our first foray into pinchos territory we stayed at one big noisy Bar which had a huge number of them displayed on the bar. We tried some hot ones too: potato tortilla and a ham croquette. Will have to get more mobile to get with the tradition!
After a busy couple of days we were happy to collapse in bed.
Your weary and waistline increasing writer,
Dianne
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