Spain – Page 3 – RV Travels in Europe and North America

April 17, 2025 Girona SP

We have been meaning to visit Girona for a while. It had a reputation as a real foody town with great restaurants which was our primary motivation. So this morning we shifted the 80 kilometers from Roses. On the way out of town we passed a car wash so we swung in and knocked some of the worst of the road dirt off François.

Girona is full of beautiful narrow streets like this. It is a town to be explored on foot which we love.

We found our aire near the center of town. It is a concrete parking lot surrounded by apartments, so not romantic, but very practical as it is only 1 kilometer from the center of the city.

Some really nice street art near our aire tonight.

The old town is built on a hill in the center of the city and has been a fortress town since the Romans. It was heavily fought over during the War of Spanish Succession in the early 1700’s when the French and Spanish fought over who was going to control Catalonia. The border was eventually settled with most of Catalonia being in Spain, and a small part around Perpignon in France. The Catalans have a slightly different feel for the story, but that is for another time.

A monument to the General who defended Girona from the French during the Napoleanic wars.

Girona is located in a very strategic spot as it controls one of the best exits from Spain into France. As a result it has suffered 25 sieges and been captured 7 times. During the period between about 715 and 980 it was basically on the front line in the war between the Christian kingdoms of France, and the Islamic rulers of Moorish Spain. During that time it changed hands multiple times.

This is the area around the Arab Baths, reflecting the Moorish influence on Girona. The church is Catholic from around 980.

Girona also had a thriving Jewish community during the middle ages that occupied an area in the center of the city. This community was forced to convert to Christianity or were expelled by the Spanish kings in 1492 (a year familiar to American educated people for a different reason).

The city is full of these pedestrian stair cases. There are many of them, some quite small that would make for a fun day of exploration if you have the legs for it.

The Cathedral in the city is located on the highest point of land in the city. The Cathedral was built on a site that the Moors had converted to a Mosque. It is Spanish Gothic. It has become famous recently as it was used in the Game of Thrones. The massive steps in front of the church are quite impressive, and fans of the show will remember them as the steps that Arya Stark fell down while being chased in Season 6.

The impressive steps leading to the hilltop Cathedral in Girona.

A lot of the walls of the city are still intact and you can walk large sections of them. We scrambled up onto them a couple of times and the views were spectacular.

This church also has some impressive steps, but it is unusual in Spain for having a spire. This is not common in Spanish Churches.

The river is crossed by multiple pedestrian bridges. The most famous is a bridge built by Gustave Eiffel who is of course famous for the Eiffel tower. Most of the bridges are stone or concrete, but Eiffel’s bridge is of course made of Iron.

The architecture along the river was more modern, and reminded me of the Netherlands where buildings are built right to, or even overhanging the river. The river was pretty low right now, but must at times be much higher based on the design of the homes.

The riverfront reminded me of the Netherlands.

We also went down to the town market right before it closed. Once again we did some recreational shopping. Ton loves these old markets, and finds the regional foods to be fascinating. Even though it was close to closing time most of the vendors were still open and doing good business.

These are the red shrimp we enjoyed so much yesterday.

Ton has enjoyed tomatoes since she was a child; so she was intrigued by this presentation.

After the walking and climbing (my Fitbit said we climbed the equivalent of 161 flight of stairs today) we had a long discussion about what to eat. Despite Girona’s reputation as a foody town (it is supposed to have the most Michelin stars per capita in the world) we opted for a very light lunch and two glasses of Vermouth. I think we were both still enjoying our meal from yesterday in Roses.

We did have enough room to try the local dessert called Xuixo de Crema. They are another great example of why fried dough makes the best desserts and nearly every culture has their version of it.

Our Xuixo’s (roughly pronounced Choo-chu).

Girona reminds me of why I like traveling without reservations or commitments. If not for our reservations tomorrow in Barcelona I think we would stay for another day here. Girona warrants another day of exploration, maybe more. But we were nervous about Easter weekend so we booked ourselves in the campground in Barcelona. So tomorrow we are off for Barcelona.

April 16, 2025 Roses SP

It was raining heavily when we woke up in the morning so we settled in and enjoyed our coffee. After we got going in the morning we checked the weather and the rain was supposed to stop around noon. We had been planning to go to Girona today, but decided to wait for tomorrow.

After the rain stopped at noon it turned into a beautiful day.

Around noon we decided to head out to the promenade and see what was happening today in Roses. On the walk down to the town it was still cold and gray, Ton took some pictures but was not happy with the result. She then told me that this region was famous for two different Prawns called Palamos and Carabinero, and handed me a list of three places we could find them.

Our restaurant where we had a great plate of shellfish and shrimp.

After checking out all three we decided on a fourth restaurant we remembered from our last stay here. We had to wait to get a table, which is always a good sign. After about 10 minutes we were seated, but had spent the time trying to decide what to order. We were still undecided when we got to the table so we used the walk to the table to look at all of the dishes. We finally decided on a plate of shellfish and shrimp.

Ton was thrilled with the selection of different shell fish and shrimp including three different shrimp and a lobster, plus a nice mixture of clams, mussels, and razor clams. The meal was fantastic, Ton was very happy.

When we left the restaurant the sun had come out so Ton was very happy again. This time she was stopping every few yards to take photos as the sea, sky, and surrounding sites were perfect for photos.

The sky was beautiful, and the sea was crystal clear.

The walk back was a very enjoyable for Ton, and I enjoyed people watching and watching Ton have fun.

I have talked about Roses in the past. It has an interesting role historically as a port during the Spanish empire and celebrates that. But mostly it is a great beach resort town with a nice vibe that really appeals to us.

It was a late start to the day, but in the end it turned into a great day at a place we really like.

April 15, 2025 Roses SP

We have been corresponding with a RV shop in Roses Spain about getting our privacy screen fixed. Yesterday they said they had a replacement screen available, but their technician said he thought he could fix the existing one. So our next stop for the day was set.

It was a cold and drizzly day but the promenade at Roses was still busy in the evening.

The drive was a little further than we thought it was going to be. When we started out looking at the distance we were going to cover on the Autopista (freeway) Ton and I guessed it was going to be a €40 toll. We were both wrong today there was no tolls. We arrived at the RV repair place and the tech looked at the problem and thru his interpreter (his wife) said it wont be elegant but it will work. He underestimated the quality of his work and while he was with us I had him fix one more small item. The repair was quoted at €700 in the Netherlands so the €108 we paid today was a great bargain.

We’ve seen some interesting rigs in Europe.

We were at the campground by 3:30 just in time for it to rain. Ton cooked a nice dinner, and then declared her day over. I took a short evening walk and then came back to relax in François.

April 14, 2025 Zaragoza SP

We really need tires for François and since Zaragoza is a good sized city we decided to take the day and see if we could find some here. A google search led me to a tire place with multiple branches in Zaragoza and one of them was near Costco so that is where we went to start the day. The store near Costco did not have any but the receptionist did a quick search and found that another branch did. She even said she would call ahead since she wasn’t sure anyone there spoke English. On arrival it was clear we were expected, and they got right to work. It was a busy place with a police car, two ambulances, a road safety truck, and a bunch of cars getting tires.

François in the middle of getting new rubber. Not NASCAR fast, but pretty efficient.

We spent time watching the cars come and go, watching a cooking show on the TV with one of the customers, and Ton tried to read the local papers. The two local papers had extensive coverage of yesterdays parade, its too bad we couldn’t read them.

The local papers had extensive coverage of the parade.

Since we had such good luck with the tires we decided to try a RV place to see if we could solve our problem with the privacy screen. A google search showed a place with good ratings that was supposed to be a dealer for our motorhome. It was only about 15 minutes away so we decided to try our luck again. Greta directed us into a BP station and said we had arrived. We looked around for a minute and saw a shop with a motorhome in front of it tucked into a corner of the lot with the BP. I went in and asked if they could look at the problem. The lady was very nice but then said no mechanic, vacation. She did come out and look at the problem, she asked where we were going next and when I told her Barcelona she actually called a repair place there and described our problem. Unfortunately, they told her they could not fix it.

Nothing from today, Ton liked this picture from yesterday so I included it today.

Figuring we still had done pretty well, and having solved our major problem we decided another trip to Costco would do us some good. After an hour of walking around Costco, and filling another cart with stuff we headed out to François to see a major thunderstorm heading towards us.

The land around Zaragoza reminds me of the mid-west which means you can see the storms coming. We beat feet for the campground, and I was just able to get set up on our site before the storm hit. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and watching the thunderstorms approach trying to guess if they were going to hit us. Two of them did, both pretty large with lots of lightning and rain.

April 13, 2025 Zaragoza SP

Today is Palm Sunday which represents the official beginning of Holy Week. Zaragoza goes in big for Holy Week with 53 processions during the week by the 23 brotherhoods in the city.

Palms for sale for Palm Sunday celebration. They came in many sizes and shapes.

I had tried to check the schedule for the processions before we left for the center of the city, and as near as I could tell there was not one until 7:45 at night, which is too late for us. But as we turned the corner onto a main road we noticed a large crowd lining the road so we joined the crowd and found a good spot looking down the road at the main Cathedral.

The road to the Cathedral that the procession would come up.

While we were waiting I did a quick Wikipedia search of these processions and found that they were led by different Cofraternity of penitents, or to use their simple names brotherhoods. The brotherhoods exist in many countries, and were initially secret male only societies. Today they are not so secret and are not male only. They exist to allow the members to make penance through charitable works, and once a year to walk the streets doing a public penance. Each “brotherhood” takes a story from the life of Jesus to base their work on and adopts a unique dress and color to tell them apart from the other brotherhoods.

This large statue of Jesus was the center piece of the procession.

One of the principles of the brotherhood is that the penitents must do this work anonymously to the community at large. So they wear what is to an American a startling piece of head gear to maintain their anonymity. It is called a Capirote and is a tall pointed mask with a face covering that we associate with the KKK in the US.

This conjures up a very different image here in Spain than it does in the US!

Today the penitents parade thru town with many of the members banging on drums and a small ratchet like device. When they went by it was quite noisy.

There were several hundred drummers in the parade. Some did not wear the pointed hats but these white hats.

Each “brotherhood” has its own unique color combination, and today the group in the procession wore blue Capirotes. Near the end of the procession there were representatives of other brotherhoods marching in support of the blue group.

Representatives of other “brotherhoods” walking with their palms in support of the Blues.

After we got over being startled by the dress it was an interesting experience. There appeared to be a lot of symbology in the dress, the statues, and the drums that went over our heads. But we enjoyed watching it.

This women surrounded by Palm bearing walkers in plain robes was near the front of the procession. These were the only people in the parade without their heads covered by some kind of cover.

After the statue with a scene of Jesus’ life went by their was a collection of older ladies dressed in traditional Spanish widow dresses. Ton wondered what that was about but I could only guess.

The widows with a couple of priests and politicians behind them.

It was a beautiful day in Zaragoza and with the processions the city center was hoping. We headed down to the Cathedral-Basilica of Our Lady of Pillar to check out the sites in the center. The Cathedral is located on a very large square. On one end is a very modern fountain, on the other end are a series of sculptures dedicated to the artist Goya who was from here, and in between is the Cathedral, what is now the parliament building of Aragon that resides in an old Mosque as Zaragoza was ruled by Moslems for about 300 years.

Another large church, with a carousel in the forefront that was doing booming business.

It is said that there are three major architectural influences in Zaragoza. It started as a Roman city, then was conquered and ruled as a Moslem city, and finally the influence of Christianity. Each has left their mark on Zaragoza.

We were not able to tour the parliament building today, but it is supposed to have some of the best examples of western Islamic art in the world. When we got to the Roman theater it was closed but we were able to look at it thru a fence and it is quite extensive though it looks like it was buried for a while so is not functional like many we have seen in Europe.

The center of Zaragoza was also full of good restaurants that were doing booming business on this beautiful Sunday. Zaragoza is the fifth largest city in Spain and seems to be a prosperous and comfortable city.

Statue fo Goya enjoying a cup of wine on the main square in Zaragossa.

After spending several hours watching processions and wandering thru the city we were getting tired so we returned to the campground and for the first time on the trip had to open up all of the windows in François to allow him to cool off. We were pretty happy about that too.

One of the old gates in the city walls. The walls appear to have been removed in the 1800’s to allow for development of the city.

April 12, 2025 Zaragoza SP

This will be short. We were up early, said goodbye for our neighbors and were on the road about 9:30. Our destination for today was Zaragoza for two reasons. We had not visited it on our previous trips, and it had a brand new Costco to visit. We are still on the hunt for new tires for François and we were hoping this brand new Costco would have doors that he could fit in to change tires.

One thing we like about visiting Costco’s over here are the interesting products that we don’t have at home. These are chicken feet. Lots of chicken feet.

The drive over was smooth though a little more expensive than we hoped for. It looks like the Spanish are catching up to the French for the cost of toll roads. We found the brand new Costco on the edge of Zaragoza and headed straight for the fuel station. This was the cheapest fuel we have seen in years and was 40cents a liter less than we have paid anywhere in the last two years. That translated into €30 savings on a tank of fuel.

Ton kept me from making a disastrous mistake. In the US diesel fuel pumps have green handles and gas have black handles, these colors are reversed in Spain. I had the green handled filler for gas in the fill spout for François and was about to turn on the pump when Ton came flying over and intervened before I started, putting gas in a diesel engine would have caused a tow, and a lengthy stay in a garage to purge the system and change all of the filters. I am going to have to pay more attention going forward.

Unfortunately, it looks like none of the Costco’s in Europe are going to be able to take François but the guy at the tire center gave us a tip for a RV place that does tires so we will swing in there Monday and see if we have any luck. We spent the next hour happily perusing Costco and we now have a bunch of Spanish goodies in our cupboards.

April 11, 2025 Orio SP

We decided to have a laid back day today so we did not plan to leave Orio. We spent the morning doing some light chores around François before heading into town for lunch.

Our neighbor had recommended a restaurant to try, and about 1:45 we started into town to get lunch as it is served later in Spain than we are used to at home. We arrived and ordered a three course lunch with a starter, a main course, and a desert for €13. The waitress spoke limited English, and I can read limited Spanish, she left us her notebook with the options (there were 4 starters, and 4 main courses to pick from), between the three of us we eventually figured out the options and we were served an excellent lunch. After we placed our order the waitress asked us if we wanted water or wine, when we said wine she returned with a bottle of wine and put it in the center of the table. It was included in the €13.

If my Spanish is correct this is a ceramic factory across the river from the center of Orio.

After lunch we decided to take a stroll thru town to burn off some of the food. We also unsuccessfully cased another grocery store looking for Basque Vermouth. On our way back to the campground we saw 2 oxen yoked together with red masks covering their eyes being led from a barn. There happened to be a bench nearby so we sat down to see what was going to happen. Eventually, they hitched the two oxen to a sled and placed a couple of large rocks on it, then a grandfather and we presume his grandson got on the sled, and the boys father led the bulls down the field.

These two oxen were being trained for a Basque sport called Idi Probak.

The bulls were being trained for a Basque sport called Idi Probak. The contest consists of having two ox yoked together at the horns, (if you look carefully at the picture you can see their horns are interlocked.) then heavy rocks are put on a sled, and the ox have to drag the rocks, the sled, and a driver around an oval for 30 minutes to 2 hours. The problem is that the way the ox are yoked together makes it difficult for them to pull in a straight line unless they are well trained, so the driver and another person who walks in front have to work hard to keep the ox on track and moving. The winners are determined by who covers the most distance and carries the most weight in the time period allotted.

The ox off on their Idi Probak training session.

After we returned we took it easy for the rest of the day. I spent some time chatting with our Irish neighbor about life while Ton watched some movies on Netflix.

April 10, 2025 Orio SP

We took our time leaving in the morning as we were hoping that the traffic in Bordeaux would die down. We have experienced more traffic jams passing thru Bordeaux than any city in France including Paris. So we lingered around the campground until 10 am hoping, but we still ran into a lot of slow traffic in Bordeaux. It wasn’t as bad as some of our other trips but it was slow crossing the city.

Once we broke out of Bordeaux the remainder of the trip was smooth sailing and we arrived at one of our favorite campsites in Orio Spain about 1:30. We had made reservations in advance, so check in was smooth, and we were settled in by 2pm. Our neighbors were Irish and English so we had a chat. with them.

Sunrise from our campsite. Not bad for $15.

Later in the afternoon we had a stroll into Orio for some recreational shopping. When we returned we were invited by the Irish neighbor to join him in the campground bar for an after dinner beer.

Ton loves the wide sidewalks in Spain. She calls them three generation sidewalks as often you see three generations of the same family out for a stroll together.

The drink turned into several, and we had a nice time learning about his very interesting life as first a Catholic Priest, and then a teacher in Ireland. Just as we were about to leave, our English neighbors arrived so we enjoyed some more time swapping stories about life in general and traveling in Europe. It was a late (for us), but enjoyable evening.

The port in Orio across from our new campground.

November 7, 2023 Roses SP

We were up bright and early as we had a 9:30 appointment at the repair place. It was an easy drive and we arrived to find a real polyglot operation. Initially they greeted us in French based on our plates, when I asked for English the person immediately switched to flawless English. She then got on the radio to have the technician come to the office and spoke what I thought was German to him, but I thought I had misheard and it was probably Catalan, later I learned it was German. The tech and I went out to the car to look at the problem and he was speaking in French until I asked for English, and he said oh good and also switched to flawless English. After a few minutes discussion in English Ton said to me in Thai that she thought he was German based on his accent. It turns out she has a good ear as he was indeed a German who had settled in the area. All of this talk of languages is because the repair itself was quick and easy and took all of 10 minutes. We now have a new latch and light for the refrigerator that seem to be working, as well as an admonishment to put less stuff on the refrigerator door shelves.

On the way to the repair shop, we saw a grocery store advertising the cheapest fuel we have seen in about 3 years. So we stopped and filled François up and probably saved about €20 over what our average fill has been lately. The gas station was attached to a large supermarket, so Ton ran in there for a few minutes while I was filling François. Well a few minutes turned into 45 minutes as we had discovered the largest Catalan owned grocery chain, and it was full of cool and cheap Catalan and Spanish food.

Ton had spotted a seafood restaurant yesterday that she wanted to try if it was open. Yesterday it was closed, but we hoped that was because it was Monday. Unlike the restaurants that are closed for the season, this one still had tables outside, and the inside tables were set with plates so we were optimistic. She even knew what she was going to order. Unfortunately, it wasn’t open. So we tried a Moroccan restaurant just up the street. We enjoyed the food, and the tea, so while disappointed that we didn’t get the seafood we wanted we still had a nice meal.

The Roses Express, using a Case or John Deere tractor for the engine.

Every town in Europe now seems to have a little train that you can take to see the sites. We have taken a couple of them over the years. The one in Roses was exceptional as the “Engine” was a big Case or John Deere tractor instead of a little modified truck like most. We had stopped and looked at it yesterday, but there was no one there. Today when we walked by there was someone manning the booth. We were intrigued so we signed up for the one hour Cap De Creus tour.

The harbor in Roses with the Cap de Creus in the background.

The tour was mostly thru narrow streets full of vacation homes, and once again I was impressed as the driver navigated this farm tractor pulling two trailers down streets I would have cringed to take François down. The tour was narrated in French, German, and English, but not Spanish or Catalan. When we signed up for the tour they asked where we were from, so I suspect there were no Spanish on the ride today.

Looking back towards Roses from the Cap de Course.

We climbed up quite a hill, and then dropped back down towards a less built up area which was part of a Spanish national park. For a short part of the trip we were on dirt roads, which is why they are using the tractor to pull the “train”.

On the tour they mentioned that the full time population of Roses is 20,000, but that during the peak of the summer when all of the hotels and vacation homes are full an additional 120,000 people are in the town! We both agreed that we were glad we were here when the population was closer to 20,000.

A loan sailboat anchored off of the promenade. All but one of the hotels in the background are closed for the season.

Tomorrow we are heading north as we only have 6 days until our flight home. We are planning to cover about 300 kilometers a day, which should put us into Amsterdam with a couple of days to spare. So today was our last day of traveling without a plan, unfortunately.

Beach soccer with the Cap in the background.

November 6, 2023 Roses SP

As much as we liked Perpignan we had to leave today as the campground we were staying at is closing for the season. We looked at our options and everywhere North and East of us had rain. I pointed out to Ton that we were only about 30 minutes from the Spanish border. One of our favorite memories in Spain was a meal we had in Roses, so that’s how we ended up here in the town aire. I told Ton that we should leave early as the recent reviews kept referring to it being sold out. We arrived about 9:30 in the morning after a quick drive down the freeway and claimed a good spot. I went to get rid of some trash around 5pm and they had just sold the 70th and last spot for the night to a RV from Iceland.

This Gnome thing is in front of a now defunct amusement park called WOK and Park next to where we are staying. It looks like it could be a good setting for a horror movie.

Our memory of Roses was of a very lively resort town where we had our first and most memorable Spanish meal about 6 years ago. It was a three course meal with both an aperitif and a glass of wine for €13. We were hoping we would recognize the restaurant and see if we could replicate the meal.

The not very bustling seaside resort of Roses.

This time instead of a bustling seaside resort with lots of shops and restaurants, we found a bit of a ghost town. Out of season 90% of the hotels and restaurants shut down. We had the beautiful seaside promenade to ourselves most of the way. We found our favorite restaurant but unfortunately it was also closed for the season.

Ton likes the way they trim the trees in France and Spain.

But we did find a restaurant where we could get a three course meal for €17, but this time the wine was extra. But, the meal was wonderful, and Ton was thrilled with her first course which was a giant plate of mussels, and her second course which was a very meaty fish called a monk fish. So Roses continues to meet our expectations for good meals.

Still a beautiful place if a little cold and blustery.

We are going to spend another night here in Roses as we have to get a little problem fixed on François before beginning our trek north. A part of the latch on the door to our refrigerator has cracked. The door closes fine, but the door ajar alarm keeps going off because some circuit is not being closed. It is quite annoying to be woken up every few minutes by an alarm, sometimes it goes off continuously and sometimes it will be quiet for a few hours and then suddenly go off for no apparent reason. So tomorrow we are off to try to get it fixed.

June 8, 2022 Urragne FR

There comes a point in every trip that marks the beginning of the end, and that is the day where the first priority in deciding where to go is moving us closer to the airport. That day was today for this trip. Todays destination was based on getting us about 300km’s closer to Paris, and hopefully finding somewhere interesting.

We are located close to Biarritz which is a famous seaside resort in southern France. We are only about 20km’s north of San Sebastian in Spain which is one of our favorite cities. We decided to check on the French side of the Basque country to see how France influenced Pinxtos which is one of our favorite foods.

The campground here had the most elaborate water play area we have ever seen. I expect you would need a platoon of lawyers to write the required waivers before you could use it in the US.

The only problem was Spain had spoiled us with perfect weather for so long that we didn’t check the weather forecast and about 100 km’s before we arrived it started raining heavily and didn’t let up. So our investigation of the influence of French cooking on Basque cuisine will have to wait.

May 16, 2022 Portonovo SP

While we were sleeping a pretty good storm rolled in. We had planned to go to Vigo but neither of us were terribly excited about it so the weather gave us an excuse to just lie in for the day.

This was as close as Ton got to the beach before the blowing sand drove her back to the road.

About noon the rain finally let up, but the wind was still blowing hard, we decided to head down to the beach. When we got there sand was blowing so hard that Ton decided we had better find somewhere else to walk so we headed into town. Things here seem to be very summer oriented. There are multiple hotels facing the ocean most of which looked like they were closed up. The ones that were open looked very quiet. I can imagine during the summer when all of the hotels are full, and all of the second homes are occupied that it would be teaming with people, but right now it is very quiet.

It was a rough day on the bay, it was hard to hold the phone still because of the wind.

Ton was cold so she headed right back to François, I extended the walk and found a really nice headland with a view of several off shore islands that are part of a Spanish National Park. I tried my hand at a couple of pictures but they are not up to Tons standards.

May 15, 2022 Portonovo SP

Sometimes its a small world. Today we parked early in a nice motorhome aire near Portonovo because the weather is atrocious out. What we thought was a passing thunderstorm last night was actually a front moving thru so it rained most of the night and into the day. We made an effort to visit a town on the coast but as soon as we got about 400 yards from François the skies opened up. We were just far enough away to get a good soaking.

Our original plan was to look for a winery to visit, but the weather canceled that plan. This vineyard was across the street from the campground.

At that point we decided we would hunker down for the day and get some laundry done. As we were setting up François Ton noticed another Asian lady in a RV across from us. Just as we finished the laundry we bumped into her on the road and exchanged smiles, then she gave Ton a Sawadee Kha. So in a tiny campground in a pretty remote part of Spain two Thai married to foreigners crossed paths.

We spent the rest of the evening chatting about our travels. Meow and Gerd live near Dortmund Germany. Ton enjoyed an evening speaking Thai, and we stayed up much too late. Part of the fun of traveling are the interesting people you come across. Ton was truly amazed to find another Thai and for one night there were more Thai in the campground than any nationality except the Spanish.

May 14, 2022 Pontevedra SP

We made a short move south to a somewhat undiscovered medieval town called Pontevedra. With an early start we arrived about 10 am to an already full RV parking area so we guess it is not that undiscovered. We pulled into the last available spot and I was really proud of myself for getting here early.

The medieval bridge is still in use today as a pedestrian bridge and is surprisingly wide for its age.

After we finished our coffee we headed out to take a look at the old medieval town and the market. Unlike the market in Santiago yesterday the market here was really bustling when we popped in. It is primarily a seafood market and there were all kinds of interesting and very fresh fish, crabs, and shrimp on display. Ton regretted we did not have a good way to prepare fish in François so we moved on to the old town.

Part of the market in Pontevedra most of the stalls are owned by women.

As we were leaving the market a bunch of people emerged from a building with a bass band. Leading the band was a young couple who danced along to the music. We guess it is a local wedding tradition.

This young couple was leading the band down the street as part of a wedding tradition we think.

It was about 11:30 and we were surprised how quiet the streets were. At one point we came across a small tour group of Americans who were also surprised that the streets were so quiet but appreciated it after the hustle and bustle of the other stops on their trip. The guide said that they are happy to have tourists but do not want to be overrun with tourists like other towns. As the day wore on we were surprised that the most common language after Galician and Spanish we heard was American accented English. So at least the Americans are discovering Pontevedra.

We have been seeing these crosses all across northern Spain. Eavesdropping on a tour today we learned they served to orient visitors to the town, Jesus always faced inland, Mary faced the ocean, and the other figures represented services in town and the rough direction they could be found.

Ton had picked out a bodega which in Spain is a wine bar for us to try some Gallician wines. We sampled a few and had a nice sausage plate to go along with the wine. We took a turn thru the town as the locals began to go about their weekend business. Like all Spanish towns Pontevedra is extremely pedestrian friendly. We are constantly impressed how easy it is to move around on foot in Spanish cities. It was pretty warm today and the wine and sausages starting kicking in so it was time for a siesta.

The coat of arms of the city in the ruins of a 14th century church in town.

Later in the day we joined the rest of town for the evening walk before heading back to François for dinner. We were surprised when a thunderstorm rolled in and doused us for about 25 minutes but it did cool things down.

We liked this chapel on one of the main squares. It is a way station on the Portuguese trail to Santiago. This group of bicyclists had stopped to get their trail passports stamped, according to the sign they are only 67 km’s from the end of the pilgrimage.

Asturias-Cantabria

We spent three days crossing the provinces of Asturias and Cantabria in Northern Spain. In Asturias we discovered another from of Cider that was different than the Norman and Breton ciders we had grown fond of in France. While the visits were short we enjoyed the two cities we stayed in.

May 10, 2022 Gijon SP

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Yesterday was a day that we had low expectations for and it turned out to be a great day. The walk to the market was

May 9, 2022 Gijon SP

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We were really enjoying Santander and were somewhat reluctant to leave even though we need to get moving towards Galicia and Portugal, so we compromised

May 8, 2022 Santander SP

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We enjoyed our break in Orio but it was time to move on. After a couple of days of debate we decided to head to

Galicia

Galicia was on our trip itinerary for 2022. It is a region of Spain that is heavily influenced by Celtic culture, and like several other regions has its own language that is commonly used.

It is home to the third most holy city in the Catholic church, Santiago de Compostela. Santiago is a pilgrimage city and every year thousands of people complete walks thru the countryside to the city, there are pilgrimage trails thru out Spain and France that terminate at Santiago.

Outside of Santiago it is not high on the tourist trail for foreigners, so it feels a little more authentic. It is a mountainous region with the mountains often going right down to the Atlantic. We enjoyed our time in Galicia a great deal.

May 16, 2022 Portonovo SP

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While we were sleeping a pretty good storm rolled in. We had planned to go to Vigo but neither of us were terribly excited about

May 15, 2022 Portonovo SP

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Sometimes its a small world. Today we parked early in a nice motorhome aire near Portonovo because the weather is atrocious out. What we thought

May 14, 2022 Pontevedra SP

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We made a short move south to a somewhat undiscovered medieval town called Pontevedra. With an early start we arrived about 10 am to an

May 13, 2022 Santiago de Compostela SP

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We decided that Santiago deserved another day of exploration. But it was going to be a leisurely exploration so we slept in, and had a

May 12, 2022 Santiago de Compostela SP

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The highlight of any trip to Galicia is a visit to Santiago de Compostela. The cathedral in Santiago is the end of the pilgrimage for

May 11, 2022 A Coruña SP

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Today we reached our second target for this trip. When we were looking at options for this trip it turns out both of us had

May 13, 2022 Santiago de Compostela SP

We decided that Santiago deserved another day of exploration. But it was going to be a leisurely exploration so we slept in, and had a nice breakfast before heading towards the town.

We started the day by heading towards the market. Ton had read last night that Santiago was trying to match the Barcelona market. It is a nice market but it has a long way to go to catch Barcelona. We poked around for a while and Ton was thrilled to find a paprika we had bought on our last trip. She loves this paprika and had just run out before we came, so now she is restocked with Tres Hermanas paprika.

This is a Santiago Cake, it is a simple cake made from Almonds. Simple but quite good.

My goal today was a churro. The Churros in Spain are quite a bit different than the ones we have in the US that we imported from Mexico. They are fried bits of dough but without the cinnamon and sugar, what they come with is a thick cup of hot chocolate to dip them in. As I enjoyed my churro two American women came in, one asked for a coffee to go which was greeted with a no problem, the other asked for a red wine to go which confused the girl, but she finally said she could do it, but only in a plastic cup. Ton yelled over to the one lady did you really ask for wine to go, and she came over and said it can’t hurt to ask. We struck up a conversation while there coffee and wine to go was prepared and they are on a Carnival Cruise and were from Indiana. It was a short conversation but the one lady was a character, and we got a couple of tips about places to visit in Portugal.

A nice garden on a square near the cathedral.

We decided to head over to the cathedral for some more pictures as today is much nicer than yesterday. The town is full of school groups visiting the area of all ages from kindergarten to High School. On the way we passed a busker playing a traditional Galician bagpipe just as a group of about 20 kindergarten kids went by. The teacher stopped them and told them to dance to the tune, most of them did a variation of what I guess is a traditional local dance, but one little girl decided that did not suit her and broke into an enthusiastic twerk instead, much to her teachers chagrin. The busker loved it as nothing attracts a crowd like a bunch of cute kids and adds to the tip jar.

After getting more shots of the cathedral, and a quick turn thru the old town we headed back to François for an early dinner.

May 12, 2022 Santiago de Compostela SP

The highlight of any trip to Galicia is a visit to Santiago de Compostela. The cathedral in Santiago is the end of the pilgrimage for all of the hikers whose paths we have been crossing over the entire trip. It is the third most holy place in the Catholic church after Jerusalem and Rome. The minimum distance you have to walk to be considered a pilgrim is 100km’s, though many walk hundreds of miles, and a few thousands. There are pilgrim trails that originate all over Europe and end up at Santiago de Compostela.

One more picture of the Hercules Tower. I enjoyed my morning coffee looking at the light at the top, but forgot to get a picture.

Our night in A Coruña was quiet with the Atlantic Ocean acting as a very relaxing white noise machine in front of François. We woke up around sunrise to take a look outside and see how the ocean looked, but there was a marine layer in place so the views were not very photogenic so the photographer (Ton) went back to bed, and I went out to enjoy my morning coffee in front of a 2000 year old lighthouse that is still in use. I wonder what the Romans who initially built the lighthouse would think if they new it was still in use 2000 years later. I expect they would be astounded.

Since we were up and ready to go we decided to head over to Santiago early and hope the campground would let us in. After fighting our way thru A Couruña’s rush hour we finally got onto the Autopista for our short 70 km hop to Santiago. We arrived and got our spot early, which turned out to be a good thing as when we arrived back from the city later in the day the place was full and people were trying to stuff very large RV’s into very small spots. It was our evening entertainment.

Groups of pilgrims covering the last few hundred yards to the end of the pilgrimage at the Cathedral.

After a quick breakfast we made the 2km hike into the old town joining in with the pilgrims for the last bit of the walk. The old town is quite large and maintains its medieval feel, but with the addition of modern tourism. There are lots of small shops and restaurants lining the old streets that wind thru town. We wandered around without a plan for a while, before finally consulting the iPhone to guide us to the cathedral square.

Another group of pilgrims near the end of the trail.

Twice a day they close the cathedral to tourists so that a mass can be held for the hikers to celebrate completing their personal pilgrimage. While we were waiting Ton enjoyed wandering around shooting pictures, and I took a rest in the shade.

Bicyclists in the cathedral square, they have to cover 200 km’s to get credit as a pilgrim.

The cathedral is not as large as I expected considering its status in the Catholic church, but I kind of appreciated the relative intimacy. While smaller than a lot of cathedrals we have visited in Europe it is still quite ornate on the inside.

These angels with their gold clothes reminded me of similar figures you often see in Buddhist temples in Thailand.

We spent about an hour walking around looking at the cathedral. They had many side chapels that added a unique character to the cathedral and I think we spent more time in them than the main cathedral.

The scallop shell with a cross is a symbol of the pilgrimage, and you see a lot of the pilgrims with shells attached to their packs or walking sticks.

The Catholic church has learned from theme parks and museums so the exit from the cathedral is thru the attached gift shop. Ton decided that our tourist gifts should come from there as the proceeds help preserve the cathedral so we spent some time picking up a few gifts before heading out.

We decided that a lunch was in order and Ton wanted to try a local specialty which is pulpo (octopus). There were multiple restaurants to pick from so we spent about 30 minutes window shopping before settling on a place.

Grilled octopus which is a local specialty.

We have tried a few meals now in northern Spain and have found the food to lean towards hearty. Things are simply cooked with minimal spices and often both meats and seafood are grilled. Meals are served with heaping amounts of potatoes. It serves the purpose but we think other regions of Spain have more interesting food.

Razor clams grilled in olive oil, simple but delicious.

May 11, 2022 A Coruña SP

Today we reached our second target for this trip. When we were looking at options for this trip it turns out both of us had Galicia in mind, so today we jumped on the freeway and headed to one of the most famous places in Galicia.

The Tower of Hercules. The rectangular part of the tower is about 120 feet tall and is Roman. The smaller part on top is from the 1700’s.

The Tower of Hercules in A Coruña is the oldest Roman light house still in use today. It is a UNESCO world heritage site. The lighthouse was built around 100 AD, and has been in continuous use since. It is built on Cape Finisterre, which the Romans believed was the end of the world. Since it has been in continuous use for 2000 years it has gone thru multiple modernizations, but the core of the first 120 feet of the tower is the Roman construction. It got its name from the myth of Hercules who is said to have slain a giant named Geryon who was preying on the local people. Geryon’s head was buried at the site of the tower and Hercules told the people to build a town here and A Coruña was born.

A sculpture of Geryon, the giant killed by Hercules.

The grounds are nice around the lighthouse with some artwork, and lots of wildflowers. A Coruña itself is not particularly inspiring architecturally, and most of the buildings look like they are from the late 20th century. The main square looks like it is from the 1800’s.

Part of the “road’ Greta Garmin decided to send us down today. We fit pretty easily.

We are parked in a parking lot tonight facing the ocean adjacent to the Tower of Hercules. Getting here was a bit of an adventure. The total trip was 278 km’s and the first 274 km’s were a breeze on a good Spanish freeway. The freeway ended near the city center and we were following Greta Garmins directions when I suddenly noticed all of the cars turned left. The lane we were in looked ok, but I suspected it might be a bus lane, but at that point we were committed so I continued on, she had us making a left in 150m’s (for an American think 150 yards). When we got to her left turn it was a pedestrian mall so we couldn’t go there! Luckily there was a roundabout just in front of us, and as we came to it I saw a sign saying buses only in 50m’s, so we went around the roundabout and doubled back to where all of the cars had turned left. As we approached the turn there were three cops near the intersection so I thought we might be in trouble, but they ignored us. Just as I was thinking everything was ok, Greta demanded a quick right turn. The road was narrow but one way, but I had a bad feeling. As soon as I looked at the map on Greta I knew the turn was a mistake as it was clear she had directed us into the medieval part of the city, where we had no business. Fortunately after ziging and zaging around and squeezing down one narrow ally we finally made it to the nice modern road we should have been on from the beginning and arrived at our parking place. Greta has been struggling the last couple of days, as the only way she would send us to the campground yesterday was the wrong way down a one way road. I’m going to have to keep an eye on her in the future.

Our free view for today from the front of François. Definitely worth the trouble.

May 10, 2022 Gijon SP

Yesterday was a day that we had low expectations for and it turned out to be a great day. The walk to the market was strenuous but the return was fun because of the moving sidewalk. The drive over to Gijon was quick and easy. The campground lunch was cheap and we learned about another kind of cider, and it ended with us meeting a great couple that we spent several hours talking about travel and life in general. Because we had so much fun we decided to extend here another day.

The view going up to the cidery was beautiful, though I didn’t get to enjoy it much as the road was a bit narrow and the drop offs caused a few gasps from Ton.

The plan was to visit a local cidery that had good reviews to learn more about cider and have a lunch. It didn’t open until noon so we planned to sleep in. Yesterday afternoon there were a couple of pieces of construction equipment on site in the afternoon and it was a little noisy. Today about 9 am an entire road construction crew showed up to begin resurfacing the roads. On top of that they were doing a lot of maintenance on the shrubbery around the pitches so our quiet morning was interrupted by the sounds of heavy equipment, and power tools around us.

We headed over to the cidery a little early to get away from the bustle of the campground. It was a nice drive up into the mountains, though the last couple of km’s were on pretty steep roads. The place occupies multiple buildings in a small village. We wandered around for a while until we found the restaurant. We asked the first person we saw if they were serving lunch, she said yes and pointed us into the dining room. When we entered, there were a couple of waiters scurrying around, but when we asked about lunch we were told no. So we were a little confused, so we moved on. Ton said that there was supposed to be a store on site so we went off looking for it, and eventually found it. In the store we found a helpful person who told us that the tour we were hoping to see was only done on the weekend this time of year, and that the restaurant should be open. We bought a couple of bottles of cider from her, and then debated whether to go back up to the restaurant or give up for the day.

A sample of the sausage aisle in Al Campo.

We decided that we would use today to go shopping instead. We found a giant Al Campo supermarket where we killed about an hour shopping around, before heading back to the campground/construction site. We were both famished having had a very light breakfast expecting a huge Spanish lunch, so Ton whipped up a wonderful early supper and we settled in for the day.

Yesterday far exceeded our expectations, and today missed our expectations. I guess that is life on the road.