FUN-travel: Northern Spain – Cangas de Onis to Santiago de Compostela, Spain
July 21, 2012 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-travel: Northern Spain – Cangas de Onis to Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Day 11 – Friday, July 20 – Cangas de Onis to Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Parador
What I LIKE
Church of San Francisco
- coffee is strong & hot – best ever
- nicest breakfast spread
- beautiful scenic drive through Picos de Europa
- Spain is very clean
- Parador in Santiago is right on the plaza with the cathedral and most spectacular so far!
- beautiful blue skies & warm
- head out to old town – cute, cute, cute!
- 6 pm Happy Hour
- found my purse – not stolen!
- stroll thru narrow streets
- dinner @ 8 – mussels, scallops, sardines & wine
- O Beiro Vinoteca – nice wine selection
- room is pitch black – great for sleeping
What I DON’T LIKE
- 10:30 raining outside
- 11:30 depart for Santiago & parador name on reservation is different than GPS
- mountains shrouded in fog
- Ford rental seats not very comfortable for 4 hr drive
- can’t use Ipod & GPS at same timeada – car only has one plug
- GPS freezes 20 miles out of town – no bueno!
- set my things down @ happy hour bar to find Vinoteca – come back – no purse! (left in car when parking)
Old Town
FF (FUN-fact) – This is a most magical city and far from any other major city. For more than 1000 years pilgrims have trekked here to see the glorious cathedral. Our parador was the Hospital of the Catholic Monarchs.
FUN-travel: Northern Spain – Hondarribia to Bilboa to Cangas de Onis, Spain
July 20, 2012 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-travel: Northern Spain – Hondarribia to Bilboa to Cangas de Onis, Spain
Day 10 – Thursday, July 19 – Hondarribia to Bilboa to Cangas de Onis, Spain
Guggenheim Museum
What I LIKE
Atrium
- “Goldilocks Bed”
- my computer is still working
- 10 am depart for Bilbao
- Guggenheim Museum – designed by Frank Gehry is a work of art – limestone, titanium & glass – inspired by a silvery fish – evokes wind-filled sails heading out to sea
- only driving 3.5 hours before our next overnight stop
- pretty drive with mountains & lots of trees
- take “secret way” to Cangas de Onis – narrow, twisty, back roads
- see fox run across road
- drive past farms
- Cangas de Onis is 12th century monastery next to river – cows grazing across the street
Outside Sculpture
What I DON’T LIKE
- bed is a little on the hard side
- wake up to clouds & cooler temp
- my computer pop up warning saying “hard drive failure imminent”
- Garmin & Road Atlas have different exit ramp #’s to Cangas de Onis (first time this has happened)
- dinner starts @ 8:30 pm
- can’t open windows here – lots of bugs – where there’s cows there’s flies
FF (FUN-fact) – Main entrance to museum features Jeff Koons’ 42-ft-tall West Highland Terrier sculpture covered with 60,000 plants & flowers.