Hotel Rural Cuadrovena Arriondas

.....or "The Christians Get Nasty Back!" We've driven out from Bilbao about 3 hrs. We drove mostly down the coast--lots like highway 1 down the California coast. Some very beautiful sights....after getting used to driving a car the size of a large anchovy can and the stick shift (which I haven't driven in over twenty years, I'm sure!) I was able to allow the sights to sink it. A few missed turns--thank ...

... saying. We were at La Playa Franca and it was BEAUTIFUL!! I call it “where the mountains meet the sea”. I have never seen anything like that before, so it was very amazing to me. The mountains were literally going into the sea. We spent an hour taking pictures and exploring and just soaking in all of the beauty.

The rest is just said with pictures.....

We are staying in a little village called Avin. We visited Cangas de Onis which is a pretty little town with an ancient bridge. We went to the seaside at Llanes and went on a cliff top walk.

Next day we went to Desfiladero de Cares. The pathway was made at the beginning of the 20th centuary by the workmen who blasted out a course for a canal to supply water for hydro-electicity for the area. The walk is from Poncedos to Cain and winds it way ...

... We rolled into San Sebastian around 10 to find the office closed!! Fortunately, they had only stepped away for a break and after setting up we sat by the camper and enjoyed some rose and regular port. 

         

... de ahora,y Susana Viso.

Mientras resolvía estos últimos asuntos Amparo, Favila, Iñigo y Pablo están en casa terminando de hacer las maletas y ultimando detalles para poder salir hacia Bilbao. Donde recojeremos a nuestros compañeros de viaje y seguiremos hasta San Sebastian, donde visitaremos algunas cosas y luego terminaremos el día durmiendo en Irun.

... were not very alcoholic but there is a special way to pour the cider, which after a couple observations of the waitress, I began to master the art of pouring the "Sidra". (Picture to follow). After a bus ride (duration in which I don't know because I was asleep), we arrived at our hotel (named Hotel Villa Rosario in an adorable town called Ribadesella. Our hotel was right on the beach looking out on the Cantabrian Sea. Although the weather was chilly, we did enjoy a nice walk ...

... road follows the riverbank through alpine meadows and then through amazing gorges, some, like the Desfiladero de los Beyos, narrow to about 20 feet wide, with cliffs towering above and the river far below. When the gorges open out there are views of the high Picos, at this end up to and over 2,500 metres (8,000 ft), jagged limestone crags with snow in the crevasses. We went as far as the Puerto del Ponton, the head ...

... geübt gefühlt, naja man will ja keine Lawine durch ständige Stürze etc. auslösen und es nervt nun einfach mal, wenn alle Anderen sich in eleganten Schläufchen den Berg runter bewegen und man selber, sich immer wieder Yetimäßig aus dem Schnee herauswühlen muss, weil man sich mittels Sturz grade darin wieder eingewühlt hat. Es war sowas von schön, dass man für ein Wochenende mit Anreise, Skipass, Unterkunft und Skikurs nur 76€ zahlen musste, dass ich mich da ...

... massive mountains all around us. It was cool but not cold and there was barely a breath of wind. After another massive ham and salad roll, our lunch everyday so far, we set out on the short walk to the base station of the cable car. The ride up was great, the cable car started to swing a bit in the breeze and Mandy barely looked out the window the hole time. When we got to the top the door swung open and it hit us. "Oh my god it's cold ...

... Museum. It is filled with art from the New York Guggenheim with a lot of local input from Matisse, Picasso and Dalí. Most of the bus emptied at Bilbao with day trippers from San Sebastián. Such is the sacrifices of the holy pilgrim. Not that Gijón is such a bad place. During the Franco era it became the resort of choice for his cronies. It still remains an almost exlusively Spanish resort. It is also ideally placed, with an ...