UPDATE: You may notice there there is no post for REI Day 1. We met in our hotel lobby in Bilbao at 5:30pm for introductions and then had a tour of the city followed by dinner. I didn’t take many photos on the tour since I had already taken so many the previous couple of days. So, there is no post for REI Day 1. And I renamed the posts again. Hopefully they make more sense! So hard to keep up with everything!
I realized that I forgot an entire day, travelling from Bilbao to Llanes (pronounced “yahness”). This section was our first real hiking section, we were all just starting to get to know each other, and the trail had spectacular views. How could I forget it??
I also have decided to change the titles for the Spain blog posts, but I’ll include what Part Number just so you know what order to read them in. I just made most of the changes (for those reading this “later” you can ignore this paragraph)
So, here are some photos – we got on our bus in Bilbao, and first drove to a prehistoric cave to see the cave drawings. This cave is part of the UNESCO World Heritage collection of cave sites throughout this region of Spain (Asturias).
Our bus, and driver Number 1. Unfortunately he was a ‘sleepy’ driver and gave us all a big scare on our second or third day (can’t remember which now), so we got a second, temporary, driver, and then a third, ‘permanent’ driver, for the remainder of the trip.
Here’s a link to more info about the caves. We were not allowed to take photos within the cave but the site shows some of the drawings.
http://www.prehistour.eu/carp-guide/el-castillo-cave-and-visitor-centre
This sheet was made by school kids imitating how hands were painted within the cave.
The cave was “behind the green door.” Some of us chuckled when the guide said that.
After the cave it was on to Llanes for a walk around the city. The story behind the palm trees you see here and there are that people from Spain (long ago) went to the united states and when they became successful they’d return home. They would bring something home with them, which often was a palm tree!
Time for lunch!
This restaurant is a ‘sidreria’ – i.e., they make their own cider. We were all given a sample! Hard to see in the next photo, but, the proper way to pour the cider is from way high up. Impressive to watch, anyway!
After lunch, more walking around town:
Mopping the church entrance
I like the little cork star at the bottom:
Trip Leader Jorge provides us with a ‘seminar’ about the Camino markings before we embark on our first part of the trail. We will be starting on the Camino del Norte.
Here’s the group.
Back row L-R: Matt, Margarita, Calvin, Tani, Pat, Julie, Robert, Roger
Front row L-R: Cilla, me, Dorrit, Jackie, Doug
This marker indicates that the property is public
The farm animals were nonplussed at a bunch of people walking by!
Time for a little beer break:
The photo below has a funny story behind it. I walked close to take a photo of that gate, not realizing that there was a huge dog standing behind it. You can kind of see his outline on the right hand site of the darker part. As soon as I got kind of close he let out a loud bark and I jumped out of my skin! Of course, everybody saw that and had a good laugh!
A town we walked through was named “Poo” – hence, Playa Poo – Poo Beach!
More Poo (pronounced “puh”)
Hard to tell in this photo but the bull in the middle was ginormous!
This rock had a big hole in it, that when waves crashed thru it it made a noise like a lion’s roar!
Then we made it to Llanes
Our hotel was an old nunnery
After check-in we walked around a little, and bought our ‘passport’ for our hike. If we were doing the entire thing we would have to get at least two stamps per day, dated by the establishment where the stamp was received, to prove we did the entire Camino.
The ‘map’ below shows the towns we stayed in (marked with blue dots). It doesn’t show that we stayed in Sedor in between Lugo and Santiago de Compostela.
Briefing for the next day’s hike, prior to dinner
We had a great meal and got to know each other a bit more. The wine was really good, local, and very cheap!