On the road again....

24/08/2015
As we seem to have been using a very limited number of modes of transport we have decided to diversify and hire a car.

And where else would the hire car office be but at the main train station in the centre of town?

To get there we had to roll our bags over water drenched streets not because of rain but because of the enthusiastic army of cleaners in luminous overalls and their bright green trucks. Men with huge hoses spray the streets and you are in danger of having a second shower if you aren't careful!

After the partying last night there were still some young things who had yet to make it home staggering along the wet paths with their shoes in their hand. Oh the joys of being young!
10.00am
I approach the whole concept of driving in a foreign country with some trepidation I have to admit. It is certainly a test of a marriage when the navigator and the driver and Gloria the GPS all disagree and you end up going somewhere you didn't actually intend to go. We have come to the conclusion that it is better for Ewan to drive and me to navigate especially when it involves driving on the right hand side of the road.
I will report in later! !

6.00pm
The good news is that we negotiated the Bilbao traffic in our shiny blue SEAT Ibiza and  managed to arrive safely at our destination more than an hour later still speaking to each other. It only involved one u-turn which Ewan accomplished without incident. So far so good!

We sped along the freeway for most of the time: I relaxed when Gloria told us to proceed for 83kms because I didn't have to do anything for quite a while. The speed limit was 120 for most of the trip which is a little frightening when there are lots of trucks,  and a lot of drivers who seem to think that 120 is the minimal speed and they should speed by much faster!

Our destination was Altamira - a small rural town whose claim to fame is a Paleolithic cave with well preserved drawings. It's a very picturesque town with cobbled streets and stone houses and churches and lots of hotels full of visitors who have come to  see the cave. The only fly in the ointment is that only 5 people at a time are allowed in the real cave and you have to jump through hoops to claim a ticket (or perhaps bribe a few officials!). So the reality is that you have to book online to get a specific time when you can see the replica cave known as the  Nuevo Cuevo.

You can walk to the locked gate of the real cave if you are desperate to get close!

We went on the tour of the replica cave and checked out all of the roof paintings which were very beautiful if they at all resemble the real ones.  They were predominantly animals of the time: bison and deer.There is a museum attached with lots of information about Paleolithic times and some bone tools etc. One section described the making of the replica cave and it was a bit disconcerting to find that we had been oohing and aahing over something made of polystyrene, wax and limestone  powder!!

Apparently when a local shepherd and his young daughter stumbled across the cave in the early 1800s noone believed it was truly Paleolithic. Then the French found a few of their own not far away and suddenly it was verified as the same era.

Ewan assures me that the two caves we visit tomorrow will be real so we shall see!

The Hotel Cuevas in Santillio del Mar is quaint and very old fashioned: that's a euphemism for it doesn't have a lift and we're on the second floor! It does have WiFi on the ground floor though so Ewan is coping, but only just!

Soon we will wander into the old village with our sturdiest shoes on to cope with some very uneven cobblestones. Lunch was some tasty pinxtos so dinner should be good.

10.00pm

We are gradually learning to untangle the complex food vocabulary of Spain. Tonight we had some raciones for dinner with some cidreria follower by a slice of quesada.

Raciones are large tapas plates: ours were local anchovies on grilled peppers and a plate of local cheeses served with crusty bread.  We asked for a bottle of cider which we couldn't finish as it seemed very alcoholic,  and the waitress suggested we drank a little at a time.  It came in a weird contraption where we had to press a button to get it to come out, to aerate I think. 

Then we wandered around looking at lots of local delicacies: cheeses seem to feature and particularly something called quesada. I wasn't sure if it was sweet or savory so had to read the label which included sugar in the ingredients.  Eventually we bought a slice and ate it strolling along the streets.  It was stodgy and not very cheesy but had some lemon in it so a nice flavor.  We haven't seen it anywhere else so will have to try it again I guess,  so I will take a photo.

Your well fed and historically enriched correspondent

Dianne