May 15, 2011

We left Santiago around noon and headed to Vigo which on the Spanish side of the border before crossing into Portugal.  It is a gorgeous port,  and a fairly large city.  We went up to the lookout at Parque do Castro high above the city and the views are absolutely indescribable.  The weather was sunny, actually hot, around 88 degrees.  We took tons of pictures from the perch above the city where sailboats, cruise ships and the commercial traffic in the port can be viewed.  There are many pine trees in this location and the contrast of the green against the bluest skies is breath-taking.  It is one of the prettiest places I have ever seen.  We headed down to the beach where all the locals were enjoying a great beach day. 

We drove into Portugal and headed to Porto.  It is where Port wine is from.  Of course, we had some port with dinner tonight.  The city is pretty much desolate, we suppose because it is Sunday, but there is more of feel of unease here as there is more crime in Portugal.  Our hotel is adequate, but located in the downtown area with little foot traffic.  Parking is at a premium and we had to leave the car in the street about two blocks from the hotel.  We decided to retire earlier tonight to get an early start tomorrow before heading to Fatima and Obidos.  We will be spending the next two nights in Lisbon.  

May 14,2011

We began our day by walking over to the cathedral of St. James-Santiago.  This is the place where millions of pilgrims from all over the world travel to see the resting place of St. James the Apostle.  When we arrived in the cathedral, the mass for the pilgrims was just underway and we stayed for the service and were able to receive communion.  It was a beautiful and moving opportunity to see great faith in action:  old people, young families and lots of groups from all over.  The service was in Spanish, Portuguese and German, so we got most of it.  At least, we knew "where they were" in the service.  Afterwards, we did the guided audio tour and took lots of pictures.  We walked all over the area near the cathedral and we so blessed to have one of the nicest days ever in the rainiest city in Spain.

In the afternoon, we looked for a laundromat which turned out to be a total odyssey, but we found one, by divine intervention, an industrial laundry outside the tourist area.  The ladies agreed to do our laundry although we could clearly see they were mostly doing hotel laundry.  It was going to take about 3 hours to get the laundry done, so we decided on a whim to drive north to La Coruna.  That is where the lighthouse, a World Heritage site is located.  Originally constructed in the first century, the Hercules light house tower, has gone through several modifications.  La Coruna is in the far northwest corner of Spain.

In the evening, we had a nice dinner in a restaurant close to the hotel and sat next to a Jewish couple from New York, who also have a house in Wellington (Palm Beach County),  Marvin and Sherry have been to Spain many times, but this was their first time in Santiago.  We are off to Vigo and Porto in Portugal today.

May 13, 2011

Before leaving Oviedo this morning, we stopped at a 9^th Century palace and hunting lodge with pre-Romanesque architecture called Santa Maria del Naranco.  Oviedo has a lot of traffic and it was not easy to move from one place to another in a car, so we opted to go to Aviles, which was on the way to our ultimate destination, Santiago de Compostela.  There was literally no place to park in Aviles so we moved on to our next destination, Lugo.  Before we got to Lugo, we stopped at a little village for lunch.  I told Mario I felt I was eating in someone’s living room.  Mario had to get the server up from another table in another room where he was eating with his family to get the bill.  I guess we were eating in someone’s living room.  The food was homemade and delicious. 

We finally made it to Lugo about 5 PM.  There was a lot of driving today.  Lugo is a medieval city with a huge Roman wall built around it for protection in middle ages.  We were able to park and walk around the interior zone.  We visited the cathedral, another Catholic church, St. Peter’s and stopped at a few shops along the way. 

We got to Santiago tonight about ten.  It had just gotten dark out.  The days are long at this latitude.  We had upgraded to a great hotel for the next two nights.  This place is renowned as the place where St. James was beheaded and pilgrims from all over the world make this trip on bicycle or by foot.  (We took the car.)  Tomorrow we will go explore the city.  It is now after midnight.  

May 12, 2011

Today began in Santander and ended in Oviedo.  We left Santander around noon and drove to the Altamira Cave Site.  It is the place where prehistoric art drawings, among the oldest known to man (20,000 BC) were discovered at the end of the nineteenth century.  So many people visited the caves between the 1950s and 1970s that the Spanish government decided to close the site since there was so much damage due to the exposure to new bacteria and human contact.  They recreated a Neocave, which is an exact replica, where visitors can now see the drawings in the same locations, with the same colors, etc.  We happened upon a small group of senior citizens being guided by a young woman who was obviously an expert on the cave’s history and art.  One of the visitors told me, she is not a guide, she is my daughter, but she studied art history and that is why she knows so much about this site.  We just hung out with them and had a fantastic small group-guided tour.  They were from Cantabria and knew the area very well.  When we told them our next stop was sight-seeing in Comillas, they recommended another place, El Soplado, which is an old mining sight where there is a an unbelievable display of stalactites and stalagmites. 

We did stop in Comillas for a nice lunch on the beach, although it was too cold to enjoy any beach weather.  The waitress was excited about our decision to visit El Soplado.  We figured it was probably worth skipping the “more touristy” Comillas visit.  We got to El Soplado after about 2 hours of driving through mountainous roads.  The drive and the time were well worth the effort to get there.  You take a train down into a mine shaft, which happened to cut into the 20 km long natural cave and the sight is unbelievable.  We bought a DVD in the gift shop because there is no photography allowed and words cannot possibly describe its magnificence.  One of the ladies from the morning said, at the end of the day, you will say that I was right about going to El Soplado instead of Comillas.  Conchita was right.  It was an unplanned but wonderful surprise.

We left El Soplado and started to head to Oviedo.  After much frustration with the traffic and directions we received in Oviedo, we ended up at the wrong hotel and finally made it to the right one after 10 PM.  The garage was full so we had to leave the car a block away and walk to the hotel.  We went out to dinner afterwards, yea, like 10:30 to the “Sidreria” street where all the restaurants serve cider…spiked, of course.  It was  teeming with locals, but again, worth the time and effort to experience the night life.  We kept thinking how much the Spaniards are on Mario’s schedule.  We wonder how anyone can get up and go to work the next day after having such a heavy dinner at midnight…and do this several times a week. 

May 11, 2011

This morning we got up around 5:45 (after going to bed at 2 AM!) to fly to Bilbao.  Once we were on the plane, the officials decided that a mechanical problem could not be easily resolved and we had to deplane, take buses out to the tarmac and board another plane.  That set us back only an hour.  In fact, the solution was pretty efficient and the plane was full. The only downside was that Mario was packed in with his knees right up against the seat in front of us.  He was not very comfortable.  The flight took an hour and we had planned to visit the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.  Our guide who helped prepare our itinerary warned us not to go because there were many cars broken into in the parking lot.  We skipped it and drove to Laredo, the first view of the beach.  We had a wonderful lunch at a great price at the place we stopped for lunch. The news of Seve Ballesteros' funeral was on the TV in the bar-restaurant where we had lunch.  Ballesteros was from Cantabria, which is the region where we are now so everyone was interested in the event.  His children were carrying his ashes from his home to the church for the 1 PM funeral.

We drove to Santander after lunch and I was dead tired.  I slept for a couple of hours in the afternoon.  Our hotel is very pretty and comfortable.  It is about a block from the coast.  We walked around for a few hours,  ate some fried squid, cheese and dessert in a typical cafe and a little later had some wine and a few more snacks in a very old bar which we had spotted early in the walk.  Santander is absolutely beautiful.  The architecture is exquisite.  We took the bus up and down the coastal drive to get into the heart of the city and it was clean and efficient.  The people in Spain eat a lot, drink a lot, smoke a lot and walk a lot.  I suppose that is why in spite of all the great food,  you don't really see a lot of overweight people.  There are many older people, older couples, lots of grandmothers with their grandchildren.  It is very charming.  More tomorrow.

May 10, 2011

Today is Mother's Day in Mexico so we are remembering all our friends and family who are mothers in Mexico for today; and those who celebrated on Sunday.  Hope you got to rest and enjoy! Tonight Mario and Mario will take Laura and me to dinner and whether they know it or now, we will be celebrating!

This morning we went to the Picasso Museum and spent a few hours there.  There is a permanent exhibit with some of his very early work, but also important pieces from the turn of the century and his blue period.  There is some of his very late work there, as well as ceramic pieces.  I thought his very early work which he signed P. Ruiz-Picasso was very interesting.   It was well worth the visit.

The museum is in the middle of the Gothic neighborhood and it has a fantastic atmosphere, but you have to be careful.  There are many tourist and many pickpockets.  Mario and I averted one when we saw one woman give the signal to a guy and when he started to follow us, Mario turned around and looked right at him a couple of times.  We had both seen the "sign." After a couple of menancing looks from the big guy, this guy just walked quickly ahead of us.  Of course, I was saying, "Mother Mary, keep us safe."  I know those people are busy, Mom,  but this was an emergency.  

We went to the Cathedral which is only open from 1-5 and got there in good time to really explore all the art and architecture dating back to the 1200's.  We even got to go up on the roof for our 6 Euro (each) ticket.  Mario got some beautiful shots.

Finally, we went down to the seafood market "La Boqueria" down by Las Ramblas.  It was still early and daylight so we were okay.  There is a wonderful display of seafood, fruit, vegetables and sweets.
After walking so much, I insisted we take a taxi back to get a shower and change before dinner.  So, see you all tomorrow.  We are flying to Bilbao in the morning.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Today we went  back to La Sagrada Familia and waited in a line that wrapped around the block for about 45 minutes.  We were really questioning if it was worth it to wait, but we did, and it was fortuitous for a couple of reasons. First of all, we decided to get the audio-tour which was well worth it.  There are 14 stops and if you didn't hear all of the explanations, you would miss most of what to look for.  Gaudi was a genious and the inside of the basilica is filled with light.  It is beautiful.  Mario went to return to headphones while I picked up a couple of mementos.  When I came out, he was talking to Mario and Laura Arreguin from Mexico City.  Mario went to Ibero University with Mario more than 35 years ago and they have been close friends ever since!  Mario was attending a business conference here in Barcelona and it was pure coincidence that we ran into them...or shall I say, divine intervention?  We made plans to have dinner with them tomorrow night.

Afterwards, we went to Montserrat which is high up on a mountain top one hour outside of Barcelona.  It is a magnificent sanctuary and Bendictine monastery to the Virgin of Montserrat, also known as the "Black Madonna."  It was peaceful, very spiritual and moving.  We did the four hour tour which is partially guided and partially on your own.  We had spectacular weather and the views are breathtaking.

Finally, we came back down to city and walked around to go "tapa-hopping."  We had some good ones and also some Sangria which was great.  Mario had a seafood paella which he thoroughly enjoyed.  I am tired after walking, hiking and trekking and the sangria really slowed (me) down.  More tomorrow.