Had a nice dinner at the hotel restaurant and made our way back to our room in the hope that the room would have cooled down but no such luck. So down I head to reception and see the same lass who had come up to our room. She promptly gave me keys for a different room across the hall. With memories of my previous midnight dash to change rooms in Vancouver on another holidaysome time ago (all thanks to Viv who was soooo not my favourite as a result) we moved into our new cooler room and put ourselves to bed. Didn't get a good nights sleep but no one ever died from one night's lost sleep so like a brave little soldier, I soldier on...
Bags out at 7 and on the road again at 8. We had only been driving less than 30 minutes when we were stopped by a local police officer who pulled our coach over in the outer lane of a roundabout... Has he never heard of OH&S??? Numpty... Anyway he then proceeds to go through Rui's driving logs for the last month. We all sit very politely and quietly in the coach, waiting for another vehicle to either run in the back of us or at least side swipe us, and about 30 minutes later we set off again, with Rui's paper work all up to scratch, although he was not at all happy about being stopped, simply because the local gestapo can... I was sitting near the front of the bus, and as we set off I told him that we could have taken that copper, and that we had his back! We all gave him a big clap for being such a good driver. Underway again we are driving in quite a bit of low cloud and it is about 20 degrees. We visit the holy cave of Covadonga which is a shrine to Pelayo who achieved the first Christian victory against the Moors in 722. Supposedly someone had a vision from the Virgin Mary in the cave, telling them that they would have victory over the Moors so a lovely shrine has been created in the cave where Mass is heard at least once every day, and on the other side of the hill a beautiful old basilica has been built.
Now before any of the whiny "we want photos" brigade start chanting their mantra, please understand that my access to wifi is often very limited and downloading a single photo to post on this blog is currently taking up to 10 minutes per photo and then it is really hard to position the photo in the correct part of the blog because the iPad won't let me scroll to any nominated spot. That being said I will have a few photos ready for my next post.
Right, where was I? Back on the coach and a short drive back into Cangas de Onis which is in the foothills of the Picos de Europa (Picos means spear) to see a unique and very pretty Romanesque bridge. The clouds had lifted and it is now about 23 and just perfect. We have just enough time for some quick souvenir shopping and only enough time for a cake and half a cup of coffee until we are back on the coach again to Santillana del Mar which is often claimed to be the most beautiful village in Spain. It certainly is quit beautiful with a very medieval feel with all cobblestone streets and very old buildings that tend to have little balconies with flower pots. The hydrangeas are absolutely magnificent everywhere we look, and every conceivable colour, often in the same patch. The hibiscus grow really well in the north too, and geraniums are also very popular.
We pick one of the many outdoor restaurants for our lunch. This one has a set 3 course menu with bread and a glass of water or wine for 12.50 euros so sounds good value. I had the prawn spaghetti for my entree and it was a similar sized serving to that of anything you get at Amalia's for any of you who have been fortunate enough to be treated to her ravioli, lasagne or gnocchi. We had already been given a big basket of fresh crusty bread and when our two wine glasses were put on the table we expected the waiter to pour a glass of wine for each of us, but instead he left the whole bottle! Then our 2nd course arrived and I had a huge piece of Hake with lettuce, grated carrot, onion and mayonnaise. I was stuffed by the end of it and couldn't eat it all. Then they brought around the dessert menu for our choice but neither of us could manage another mouthful, however a lovely cup of coffee was ordered. Thinking that our Spanish had let us down and in fact we hadn't made it clear we wanted to order from the set menu, we were expecting much more than our 12.5, but that is exactly what it was when I asked for Le carte. Talk about value for money, and no wonder the locals all go for a siesta in the afternoon! We had a bit more of a wander through the village and then time for back on the bus. It was now about 25 degrees. Because poor Rene had been having such a bad day by being stopped by the local constabulary and then had to drive through this last town 3 times before he could find an appropriate spot to drop us off and at one stage an obnoxious peasant in a deck chair refused to let him stop in a public car park just to let us out, I felt very sorry for him so bought him a block of locally made chocolate. He was quite surprised when I gave it to him when I got on the
coach, but it brought a smile to his face, so the gesture had the intended outcome. More lovely countryside through the green hills and on to the beach resort of Santander which will be our home for one night. The hotel is absolutely gorgeous and is aptly named Real (Royal) hotel. We have fantastic views of the beach and coastline from our first floor balcony. As it is a festival to St James, there are many sideshows and events all along the beachfront. We have about a 15 minute walk towards the Casino which is the prettiest beach front walk or about a 35minute walk in the other direction to the old town, I'm a bit old town-ed out so will be opting for the beachfront. Life is very, very good right now.
No comments:
Post a Comment