CAMINO Del Norte - Part Two - Bilbao to Santander

Thursday, September 1, 14.5 miles. Bilbao to Portugalete was another fine day on the camino. We started our hike at 8:40 am.  I loved my final glimpse of the colorful buildings as we walked out of old town and say farewell to Bilbao.

Photo credit to Gerry for this amazing photo

It took us about 2 1/2 miles to walk out of the outskirts of Bilbao and into the hills high above Bilbao.

Good bye Bilbao

 So much can change within an hour on the camino. We enjoy the contrast as we walk into the rural area and onto trail. Mile 3 to Mile 8 were in forested, natural areas but with many steep ups and downs.

Quite the contrast from Bilbao

It was a very steep ascent to Santa Agueda chruch, where we enjoyed spectacular views, even though the climb tuckered us out. 

Saint Agueda church

Gerry is never one to decline low-hanging fruit. He picked us a few delicious ripe figs from a tree along the side of the road. We also eat handfuls of blackberries nearly every day.

This fig tastes mighty good

Here is another typical view of the Basque countryside.

The final few miles into Portugalete were a gradual downhill. It wasn't too difficult, but we were tired after a long day of walking. We were grateful when we finally approached Portugalete. 

The Bizkaia Bridge was the first ferry bridge built in the world with a metal structure. It was inaugurated on July 28, 1893 and its design was the work of Alberto Palacio. 

In 2006 it was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO for being one of the most outstanding constructions of the European Industrial Revolution and of the iron architecture.

The Bizkaia Bridge is amazing

We stopped at the  main square which is close to the famous bridge and also our hotel, the Gran Puente Colgante, Portugalete, a lovely boutique 4-star hotel. 

I pose in front of the statue in the square

It felt wonderful to take a shower and relax in our hotel room before an evening stroll and dinner.

In front of the Gran Puente Colgante. Quite a treat to be their guests.

We dine at an outside table overlooking the water. They serve us red wine, large dinner rolls and our first course: a Basque soup with chunks of tuna and potatoes with seasoning in a tomato-based broth.

We were each served a very generous bowl of this Basque soup

Gerry selects the very flavorful lamb with grilled potatoes for his entree and Mary opts for the grilled salmon with fresh salsa on the side.

Happy with our choices!

We share a mousse yogurt parfait and a fresh fruit cup for dessert.

The final touch

 The atmosphere was perfect. It was a long, relaxing, enjoyable (late) dinner. We sat down at 8:30 pm and stayed until nearly 10:00 pm. We decided we are not going to do the full 18 mile segment of the camino tomorrow. We'll figure out a Plan B instead.

The view from our dining table at dinner

Friday, September 2, 10.8 miles. Pobena to Castro Urdiales. Gerry came up with our brilliant Plan B. We took a bus from Portugalete to Pobena, which knocked off 8 miles of  scheduled hike. Our walk today was much more preferable than walking nearly 19 miles! Plus we had time for a late afternoon swim at the beautiful beach in Castro Urdiales. 

We started the day with a gourmet breakfast at the Gran Puente Colgante: coffee, orange juice, homemade yogurt, whole grain bread toasted and topped with avocado spread and smoked salmon, and baskets of assorted pastries. 

An excellent way to start the day

 It was a 40 minute bus ride to Pobena and we arrived around 9:00 am to start our hike, which began with a long, steep "flight of stairs" into the woods.

At least it was partially shaded

Thirty minutes into the hike we begin a long stretch with lovely coastal views down below to our right.

 Then the coastline becomes more rugged, with beautiful cliffs rising above the sea.

Northern coastal Spain surpasses our expectations

 We escaped the coast for a few miles and return to the hills with views of the valley in the opposite direction of the coast.

I love the daily variety of views

 We then returned toward the coast for most of the remainder of the hike. One of my favorite views is when we're perhaps four miles away from our destination of Castro Urdiales.

Wow, is this ever spectacular!

 Soon we approach the expansive, inviting beach at the edge of Castro Urdiales. (We will return here for a delightful late afternoon swim.)

There's plenty of room for everyone on this beach

We walk along the boardwalk for the last half-mile of our hike today under bright sunny skies.

On the "home stretch"

 Our lodging in Castro Urdiales, the Ardigales 11, is quite a funky place. We were assigned a very comfortable, spacious room. After our refreshing late afternoon swim we took a breather before walking over to the historic Santa Ana Castle and Lighthouse at the far edge of Castro Urdiales.

In front of the castle, 8:00 pm before dinner

We were given vouchers from the Ardigales 11 for dinner at the Restaurante El Puerto which is a seaside restaurant, right below this castle. 

 The entrance to El Puerto, where our dinner included a glass of wine, a large mixed salad with plenty of protein (tuna and eggs) in addition to the salad greens. Our entrees were seasoned monkfish meatball in marinara sauce, topped with thinly sliced french fries. Portions were generous, but we still had room for cheesecake and ice cream for dessert.

Who ever heard of this entree?  First time for us, and we enjoyed it.

Saturday, September 3 Today we decided to go all out on our Plan B and ignore the 18 mile camino. We still ended up walking close to 7 miles, but had plenty of time to enjoy the seaside town of Laredo, and it's famous beach which is nearly 5 km long!  It is the longest beach in northern Spain along the Cantabrian Sea and quite beautiful with fine, golden sand and excellent swimming opportunities.

We left Ardigales 11 after breakfast and walked a mile to the bus terminal. We passed by a  magnificent castle on the way.

I wouldn't mind staying here

It was a 40 minute bus ride to Laredo, the camino destination today. It cost us $2.20 each for the ride on the clean, comfortable bus.

Gerry meets a friend on a rural street in Laredo as we head toward the beach.

Their introduction

We arrive to the Laredo beach under cool, cloudy skies. Mary may have a sore knee, but she can walk on water!

Our lovely small hotel, Hotel el Ancla (the anchor) is located on a quiet part of town, a few blocks from the beach. We we in luck. They let us check-in at 12:30 pm and our duffels were here, too. We were assigned room #9 - my lucky number. 

We changed into our bathing suits and packed a bag of sunscreen and towels and first headed to the area of town where the restaurants are - a 15 minute walk. We lucked out once again and discovered cafe  Pigalle, which offered outside seating in the shade. We ordered a large portion of rabas for $9 and two medium beers at $2.30 each. The rabas (fried squid) was a score! So flavorful with fresh lemon squeezed over it.

Our Plan B is working out quite well

Fully sated, we headed to the expansive wide beach for a swim and relaxation. 

We stayed for nearly two hours until the clouds started rolling in. I describe it as an "expansive" beach because it is at least a 1/4 mile walk from the beginning of the sandy cliff to the water. The water is very shallow for another 1/4 mile, so once again, we can "walk on water" for a while until water level reaches chest-high. 

Enjoying the beach - the fresh air and tranquility

Our Plan B days are often as good as the Plan A. (Plan A is following the camino route and agenda.) Accommodations on this trip have been wonderful, a very good mix of lovely places to stay, such as el Ancla.

Our room #9 is on the left side, below the purple flowers

Sunday, September 4,  9.2 miles. Laredo to Noja.  Playing hooky yesterday was a blast!, but we decided to do the camino route today. 

Today's walk was mostly flat and along the beach, except for a short uphill stretch when it was uphill, steep and rocky. I took my time and was careful and very pokey on this 20 minute segment. The views made this challenging climb worthwhile. 

We start out with the flat easy walk along the playa. We reach the tip of Laredo after 2.75 miles and choose the option of taking the 10-minute ferry ride to Santona. It cost us $6 and cut off 5 miles of walking. It was the obvious choice. 

Approaching the ferry at the tip of Laredo

 We're seated on this ferry with about 20 other passengers. We are on a center bench, behind this woman pictured below. 

She is enjoying the view, as are we

 We dock at Santona and disembark, ready to hike the next 6 miles or so to our destination, Noja.

The ferry now heads back to Laredo

The plaza at Santona near the dock features a monument and a photo op. Gerry takes a quick snapshot of me before we begin our three mile mostly flat walk before the rugged climb.

Thanks for the warm welcome, Santona

Awe-dropping views of the Cantabrian Sea await us as wee ascend the steep rocky trail above the coast.

I will only add one three-letter word in this caption: WOW

Thirty minutes later, another spectacular view! I do not walk and view at the same time. I stop, pause and reflect. Emotions of gratitude for being here and now.

A view before our gradual descent to reach playa del Brusco

We join throngs of people out for a stroll on this Sunday late morning walk on the Playa del Brusco. It's about 1.5 miles of beach walking before we head for the paved roads and onto Noja, our destination.

Gerry in the foreground leads the way

We stopped by Palacio de Albaicin when we arrive in Noja. It is a restored 16th Century building in a neighborhood declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1994.

Seeing the Palacio is worth the detour

We check into our hotel, the boutique Posada Spa  and then it's time to don our bathing suits and head to the beach for lunch (similar to yesterday) and a swim. What a relaxing routine...

 A similar lunch as yesterday at a beach side cafe - rabas, grilled peppers and beer.

We're getting into a (delicious) rut

And then it is beach time once again; another lovely semi-secluded beach to enjoy, and the water temperature is ideal for swimming.

 Let's walk down this boardwalk to swim and relax

We ate dinner at a beach side cafe this evening. Rabas, french fries with three dipping sauces, and a mixed salad and a few glasses of wine. Total bill - less than $30.  Nice to watch the lovely sunset.

Sunset view from our patio dining table

 Monday, September 5  11.3 miles. Our final day on the camino. We took the Plan B option. No way did we want to walk nearly 20 miles from Noja to Santander. Instead, we arranged for a taxi pick up at 8:00 am in Noja for a ride to Guemes, which knocked off 9 miles of walking. 

We walked from Guemes to Santander under sunny skies. A large portion of our walk was on the dirt paths along cliffs above the sea, passing splendid beaches.  But we began inland at Guemes with rural views

Bountiful corn fields at the start

By mile five, we are coastal, with awesome views in every direction.

I gaze to my right and this is what I see:

Yep, I'm loving this

And when I look toward the left, it is equally spectacular. I read a review and recommendation before this trip that the Camino del Norte is the camino with the most spectacular scenery.

The review did not lie

 Soon we descend . Here is one view one final beach as we exit beach side and walk up a hill and a few blocks to the town of Somo.

Gerry leads the way (like usual)

 After a well-deserved gelato stop in Somo, we board the Somo-Santander ferry, a 30-minute pleasant ferry ride ($3.30 each)  which knocked off some walking miles. When we approach Santander, our final destination of our 11 day camino, I feel nostalgic that the camino is coming to an end.

approaching Santander,the end of the camino

We disembark at the dock in Santander and walk 15 minutes to our hotel, the wonderful Abba Santander. Once again, our city hotel is in an ideal central location. Later, in the early evening we take a stroll and pass by the cathedral, about 5 minutes from our hotel.

La Catedral de Santander

Then we walk to Barrio Pesquero, an up and coming port side neighborhood, about a mile or so from our hotel. We have a delicious seafood dinner at Restaurante Vivaro, in the heart of the Barrio district.

We begin with a bottle of LAN wine with appetizers of  bread and toast with scorpion fish pate. 

Next, is a platter of succulent octopus, served on thin potato wedges, drizzled with lemon and olive oil and sprinkled with paprika.

Very tasty! 

We share a large salad with lettuce, tomato, egg, fresh tuna and olives

Our final course was a generous serving of grilled sardines. I expected a portion of four or five 5-inch sardines. I severely under-estimated. We were served 10 giant sardines. They were fresh, delicious and not overly salty.

Holy cow!

Our waiter offered us a complimentary shot of Grappa. The perfect final touch to an excellent dinner.

We toast the Camino del Norte!

Tuesday, September 6  We slept in this morning and then ate a delicious breakfast in the hotel's restaurant. It was buffet-style with plenty of options -  fruit, yogurt, an assortment of breads and pastries, juices, sliced cheese and prosciutto and even cheese cake and an egg-potato souffle.

We loaded our backpacks with our bathing suits, towels, sunscreen, water bottles, and map and set out to explore Santander - the city, the main attractions and the beach.

We pass by the Pereda Gardens with a double-decker carousel and several monuments, a short 10 minutes from our hotel. 

A colorful carousel, though it's not in operation this morning

This is the monument to José María de Pereda, a modern Spanish novelist, and a Member of the Royal Spanish Academy

de Pereda died March 1, 1906 in Santander

Next, it is on to the Maritime Museum in Santander Bay. The museum is a tribute to the seafaring culture of the Cantabria region. The 3,000 square meters of exhibits feature seafaring objects, ship models, and documents about the life of fishermen. We gained an in-depth understanding of the relationships between humans and the sea throughout history. 

Some seafaring objects

Dozens of elaborate and intricate ship models fascinate us.  I wonder how many hours it takes to build these...

 We spent more than an hour at this fabulous museum. It was well worth the $5 admission.

We walked another mile or so to our next stop: the Royal Palace of La Magdalena, built between  1908 and 1912 for the Spanish royal family.

We admire the Palace architecture

 We took a leisurely walk around the property and also admired the panoramic coastal vistas, including this lighthouse "island" located near the far tip of the castle property.

Some simple math: blue skies + blue waters = lovely

 After we exit the Royal Palace grounds we walk down to Playa del Sardinero, an expansive stretch of golden-sand shoreline with crystal-clear turquoise water. 

Playa del Sardinero

 There were some gentle waves which made for some fun body surfing and swimming. 

I go first, and then it's Gerry's turn

We then took the bus back toward our hotel. We were running out of time and needed to get a quick bite to eat before our 3:30 pm pick-up for the tour of the Caves of Altamira and the charming historic town of Santillana del Mar. (I had booked this tour online about a month before our trip to Spain.) 

Our tour guide Gabriela was excellent. After she picked us up in her van she drove to another hotel to pick up another couple. The other couple was from Chicago. We lucked out. The tours can range from four people to 14 people. Having only four of us (plus Gabriela) made for a nice, intimate English-speaking tour.

It was nearly an hour drive to the Altamira Museum and the Neocave, which is the replica of the famous Cave of Altamira, declared a World Heritage site by Unesco since 1985.

 The meticulous and exact reproduction of the original cave, the Neocave, reconstructs the cave of Altamira as it was between 22,000 and 13,000 years ago, when it was inhabited by groups of hunter gatherers.

The colorful roof of the cave has paintings of bison, horses, deer and goats, as well as engraved symbols. The three pictures below are only a very small sample of the spectacular embodiment of cave art!

The medieval town of Santillana del Mar is less than a 15 minute drive from Alatamira. This medieval jewel of a town is in a perfect state of preservation with its cobbled streets, flower-filled balconies and a huddle of tanned stone and brick buildings, some that date back to the 12th century.

An ancient building in Santillana

 It had such a beautiful, elaborate entrance! Below is a close-up of the doorway.

Happy to see this has been preserved.

The Collegiata, or Collegiate Church, in Santillana del Mar is the most important religious Romanesque monument in Cantabria. Over the course of the 11th century it was transformed into a collegiate church, and the building visible today dates from the 12th century.

And glad that the Collegiata is here, too. Quite magnificent.

We arrived back to the Abba Santander at 8:15 pm. After a quick freshen-up, we walked three blocks to the Amarella Cafe for dinner. We ordered shrimp coquettes, a salad, and peppers stuffed with fresh tuna with a tomato sauce. We ate at outdoors, as usual, and our waiter was very nice, personable and attentive. 

We dish out portions of our stuffed peppers with tuna

 What an eventful day this was! Pretty packed with places to go and things to see. We deliberately decided to make our final day of vacation, tomorrow, very mellow.

Wednesday, September 7  The final day of our vacation. Feel nostalgic already. Our plan is to just walk around different areas of Santander. 

Our first stop is the Mercado de la Esperanza, known for its displays of regional cheeses. We buy three different varietals to take back home with us.

The infamous Mercado de la Esperanza

We rode the Funicular del Rio de la Pila, a free funicular that ascends a few blocks up the side of one of Santander's many hilly streets. There are three or four stops along the way.

One of the funicular stops.

The view from the top stop is a panoramic view of Santander, from the city to the sea.

Santander proved to be an excellent choice for our final few days

We explored some of the streets, and tried to find some of the street art we were told is here in unexpected locales. We succeed,

Sure beats the rest of this bland-looking building

This next one is my favorite mural.

Very clever, artistic, and makes me wonder

 The final mural we see covers an enormous wall with multiple pictures that portray the life of living near the sea.

We returned to our hotel and got ourselves organized for our early Thursday morning departure. 

***

I reflect upon the trip and appreciate the wonderful vacation that it was. Truly spectacular scenery! A nice combination of seeing some of the larger cities - San Sebastian, Gurnika, Bilbao and Santander, and also the rural towns in between. The beaches and coastal views really added to our enjoyment. We swam in six different locations on six separate afternoons - Zarautz, Mutriko, Castro-Urdiales, Laredo, Noja and Santander. And the food was exquisite. Very grateful that Gerry was so supportive and helpful orchestrating our Plan B vacation, since hiking the entire segments wasn't an option due to my knee issues.

This camino surpassed my expectations!  I highly recommend a visit to northern Spain!