Spain – Page 5 – DJmotortouring

Teruel (Aragon), Spain May 2023 (Tour 7)

We continue to potter around Aragon and the area continues to amaze us. We had not heard of Teruel but with it being just 25 miles east of Albarracin we thought we’d check it out and have lunch there before heading across to La Rioja.

Teruel, capital of Teruel Province, is a relatively small city (less than 35,000 inhabitants) but despite it’s limited size it is packed with places of interest and beauty. Given that it was a major Moorish city, it comes as no surprise to see so much Mudejar architecture but the quality of that architecture is as good as anywhere in Spain. The cathedral tower, together with the towers of San Salvador, San Martin and San Pedro are rare jewels and have rightly earned Teruel recognition as a World Heritage Site.

Parking our Van close to the city’s railway station, we made first for the nearby old town and came across the Escalinata del Ovalo. Built in Mudejar style, this grand old staircase was actually built in the early part of the 20th century but it’s mix of bricks and tiles is remarkable and a fine introduction to the more genuine Mudejar monuments in Teruel. I walked it with Nala. Vanya and Beanie took the elevator.

Teruel’s grand staircase (Escalinata del Ovalo) which connects the railway station with the old town.

The carving at the top of the Escalinata del Ovalo depicts a scene from the legend of the Amantes – more of that below.

The top of the staircase is just moments from the first of Teruel’s Mudejar Towers, the Torre de El Salvador. Unlike the stairs, this beautifully coloured bell tower, decorated with patterned tiles, is original Mudejar architecture. The Tower was closed to the public as we arrived or I would have climbed it for the views over the town.

These photos of the Torre El Salvador are not mine The photo on the left was taken before the Tower’s restoration in the 1990’s when it was faithfully restored.

The San Martin Tower is similar to the El Salvador but (supposedly) a little less spectacular. I can’t say that I noticed any significant difference between the two except that it was easier to take photographs of San Martin Tower because it isn’t situated in such a built up area.

San Martin Tower.

Another “must see” sight in Teruel and yet another impressive example of Mudejar architecture is to be found in the largely Gothic Catedral de Santa Maria de Mediavella. The roof especially is made in Mudejar style. The cathedral was built in the 12th century in a Romanesque style but received a Gothic-Mudejar makeover in the 13-14th centuries and was transformed into the building it is today.

A couple of photographs of the outside of the Catedral de Santa Maria de Mediavelle de Teruel…

The cathedral is stunning from almost every vantage point and nowhere more so than on the inside of the building where there are a number of important religious paintings, a 16th century wooden Baroque altarpiece and a particularly outstanding coffered Mudejar ceiling. Designed by Mudejar artists in the 13th century, the 32 metre long vaulted ceiling has detailed Islamic style carvings of medieval scenes and figures and has been referred to as the “Sistine Chapel” of Mudejar.

… and a photo of the inside of the ceiling.

The final Mudejar Tower, built very much in the style of the San Salvador and San Martin Towers belongs to the church of San Pedro and this is worth visiting to see it’s ceiling alone but there’s another reason to visit San Pedro’s. It has a famous legend which is worth following up on – the Legend of the “Amantes” or the “Lovers of Teruel”.

The ceiling of San Pedro’s

I’m aware of two different versions of the legend and both bear some similarity to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. There are probably many more versions but the one I favour is as follows:-

In 1217, Juan Diego Garces de Marcilla and Isabel de Segura lived in Teruel. They were lovers. Diego was a second son and as such unlikely to receive much of an inheritance while Isabel was the only child of a very wealthy nobleman by the name of Don Pedro de Segura. Despite their deep affection for each other, the romance between Diego and Isabel was doomed unless Diego could prove to Don Pedro that he was worthy of his daughter. Diego persuaded Don Pedro to agree to the marriage if he could win fame and fortune within a five year time frame. Promising Isabel that he would return to marry her, Diego then went off to war to win the required fame and fortune.

During the following five years Isabel heard nothing from Diego but she waited patiently for him; turning down countless suitors and frustrating all efforts of her father to marry her off to another. Meanwhile, Diego was caught up in the war against the Muslims to the south. He failed to return to Teruel before the end of the fifth year and Don Pedro wasted no time in arranging an alternative marriage for his daughter which took place immediately the five years was up.

Diego returned from the war rich and famous but he was too late. Isabel had been compelled to marry a man from nearby Albarracin just two days earlier. Devastated, Diego went to Isabel and begged, “bésame, que me muero” (“kiss me, for I am dying”). Isabel refused, saying she was now a married woman. He asked a second time for a final kiss but again she denied him and Diego died at her feet, there and then, of a broken heart.

At Diego’s funeral the following day, in total silence, Isabel arose from her seat in the church, walked to Diego’s open coffin and gave him in death the kiss she had denied him in life. She then fell dead. Much moved by Isabel’s expression of love, the families agreed to bury the two lovers side by side in the Church of San Pedro.

An alabaster statue of Diego and Isabel in the Church of Saint Pedro over the spot where their bodies are interred.

Anyway, after a pleasant walk around a most interesting city, we made our way back towards the small Plaza del Torico. We’d passed through there earlier in the day while exploring the old town and it seemed a very popular square and an ideal place to stop for a pinxtos lunch. The plaza is home to quite a few cafe bars and the one we stopped at did a pretty good “Delicias de Teruel”. This translates to “Delicacies of Teruel” and it comprises Teruel’s own Serrano Ham with warm toasted bread and a fresh tomato jam. Needless to say, we enjoyed it with a glass of the local wine.

Plaza del Torico is named after a small sculpture of a bull (the emblem of the city) which sits atop a tall column in the centre of the square but one could be forgiven for overlooking the almost pocket sized bull on a square that has an impressive fountain and some really progressive looking buildings. The most thought provoking of these buildings is the Casa de Tejidos El Torico (which houses the Caja Rural De Teruel). Tejidos is Spanish for fabrics (or weaving) but I think a more appropriate name would be the Casa de Josiah Wedgwood. The facade to the building is not made of porcelain but you cannot tell me that those blue and white colours are not pure Wedgwood…

Casa de Tejidos El Torico aka the Casa de Josiah Wedgwood

There’s another square, Plaza Juderia, where there appeared to be a few decent looking cafe bars serving the local ham but they will have to wait until we next return to Teruel. Certainly, I would be keen to return to this lovely little city. I would like to climb one of those beautifully decorated towers for a closer look and I would like to walk the 16th century aqueduct (Acueducto de los Arcos) which connects the historic old town to the more modern part of the city in the north. The aqueduct is visible from many parts of the town but I simply didn’t have time to find the approach to the lower level walkway.

We’ll be back.

Albarracin (Aragon), Spain May 2023 (Tour 7)

I like Albarracin. It’s another unique rural village full of character and allure. Vanya didn’t find it so pleasant but that was in part because her hip has been playing up and the village sits atop a near vertical cliff face with a great many slopes and steps (which made it difficult for her to get around) and in part because it sits at 1200 metres above sea level and was quite cold at night (the temperature went down to just 2 degrees centigrade which didn’t please her). Having said that, we would both highly recommend visiting Albarracin.

Perched on a rocky hill high above the Rio Guadalavier in a natural bowl in the mountains of Aragon’s Teruel Province, Albarracin ranks amongst the most beautiful of all the ‘Puebla Mas Bonitas d’Espana’. It was once the capital of a Moorish Kingdom (a Taifa) and is one of the best examples of a ‘Mujedar Town’ anywhere in Spain. Mujedar refers to the group of Muslims who stayed on in Spain after it was reclaimed from the Moors by the Christians. It is also a term for Mudejar art and architecture which is an attractive blend of Spanish and Islamic art.

Albarracin clings to the steep sides of a rocky crag. Above it, safeguarding the southern and western sides of the village, are a series of high castle walls some of which date back to the 10th century. The other two sides of the village, the northern and eastern sides, are protected by a deep ravine formed by the Rio Guadalavier.

Over the centuries, three different fortresses have been built into the castle walls. The one at the top of the hill in this photo is the 12th centurey Torre del Andador, a Muslim Watchtower.

Two views from the Torre del Andador

Today’s Albarracin is actually a heavily restored version of the village which was badly damaged during the 1936 Civil War. When the war ended, the local authorities rebuilt the shattered houses according to centuries old traditions and plastered the walls with a red clay mix to give the place a uniform pink hue. This initiative has clearly paid off as, these days, the village’s principal income is from tourism although; there were few tourists around during our stay.

The Calle de Don Bernardo Zapater leads past the Albarracin Hotel towards the village’s main square and town hall (the Ayuntamiento de Abarracin). From this small attractive cobbled and very uneven square, various narrow lanes radiate off into the village. The whole village is a maze of steep twisting lanes and alleys (many of them cul de sacs) and hanging, crooked houses with wooden balconies some of which appear to tumble into each other.

A legend surrounds one of the more impressive buildings in the town – an old medieval defence tower known as the Torre de Dona Blanca. Dona Blanca was a princess, the youngest sister of a King of Aragon and she was extraordinarily beautiful; so much so that her brother’s wife was jealous of her and had her seized and imprisoned in the tower when she was passing through Albarracin on her way to Castile. Dona Blanca was never seen again but legend has it that she died alone in the tower and the villagers believe that every full moon in the summer, when the bells of the church of Santa María ring at midnight, the figure of a grieving woman (the spirit of Doña Blanca) can be seen wandering through the city.

Torre de Dona Blanca

Towards the top end of the village is a Roman Catholic Cathedral (the Cathedral of El Salvador). It was built in a Romanesque-Mudejar style on the site of an old mosque some time during the 16th century. Next to it is the Dolz del Espejo (the Bishop’s Palace) which was built at much the same time but was altered considerably during the 18th century. Unfortunately, both buildings were closed while we were there. I do like the tiles on the cathedral’s belltowers!

Two views of the belltower of the Cathedral of El Salvador.

This photo captures the bell towers of the Church of Santa Maria (in the foreground) and the Cathedral of El Salvador (in the background)...

… but these two are my favourites – looking down on the town from the Moorish Watchtower.

I was going to write about some of the village’s history, which in parts is very bloodthirsty (especially just after the Caliphate of Cordoba was dissolved and Albarracin was ruled by the 20 year old Abu Mohamed Hudail ben Jalaf ben Lubb – although things got even worse under his son Abdel Melic) but instead, I’ll leave it at that…

Ainsa (Aragon), Spain May 2023 (Tour 7)

And so we made our way to Aragon and the small mountain village of Ainsa, in the north of Huesca Province. Having not seen very much of Aragon during previous tours (just Alquezar, Anso and Valfarta) we thought to spend a few days in the Region before moving on to La Rioja and Castilla y Leon.

Our route took us via the Embalse de Mediano (Mediano Reservoir). The village of Mediano was completely submerged in 1969 when General Franco authorised the creation of a reservoir in the area. The inhabitants had to leave their homes as the flood started (the reservoir was opened without warning) and then watch them disappear below the waters. This story very much reminds me of Riano over in Castilla y Leon which we visited in 2021.

The turqouise of the reservoir water was beautiful. The picture of the Mediano Church (great photo) is not one of mine. This was taken when the reservoir was much depleted by drought. Ordinarily only the belltower of the church is visible.

The village of Ainsa (it is a small town really with just over 2,000 inhabitants) is located at the northern end of the Mediano Reservoir at the confluence of the Rivers Cinca and the Ara. It is close to three National Parks, the Ordesa y Monte Perdido, the Sierra y Canones de Guara and the Posets-Maladeta and in a great hillwalking area. I recently read about an interesting one day hike which takes in Ainsa and two other local villages, Torla Ordesa and Broto, and passes under a fairly large waterfall too.

Our campsite was within easy walking distance of Ainsa and after parking the Van and ensuring Vanya and the dogs were comfortable I went off on an ‘Explore’ making my way over the bridge across the River Cinca and into the more modern commercial part of the town before turning right onto the Avenida Pirenaica and then up the hill towards the old town.

From the bridge there are some fine views north towards the Pyrenees but I was more interested in seeing the medieval part of Ainsa and as I climbed the hill up into old town, it was the local hill, Pena Montenesa, which dominated all.

The first photo of the distant Pyrenees was taken from where the Van was parked. The other photo was from the bridge over the River Cinca. The tallest mountain in the photo (on the extreme left) is Mount Cilindro which at 3,325 metres is one of the tallest in the Pyrenees, just 79 metres lower than Mount Aneto.

Pena Montenesa, 2,295 metres high, is much closer and dominates the village.

It is the beauty of the old town that helped Ainsa gain admittance to Los Pueblos mas Bonitos de Espana – the list of ‘Spain’s Most Beautiful Villages’. The old town’s shape is not unlike that of Dozza, another hilltop ‘village’ we visited in Italy three years ago – it takes the form of a spindle; stretching the whole length of the hill and with two tapering ends. Ainsa’s main gate is at the southern end of the hill and a 12th century castle stands at the northern end. Two narrow cobbled streets of hewn uneven stone houses and shops (Calle Mayor and Calle de Santa Cruz) run inside castle walls along each side of the village from the south gate northwards to a large square (the Plaza Mayor) which in turn leads to the castle entrance.

Left: Heading north along Calle de Santa Cruz towards the castle. Right: Heading south along Calle Mayor towards the south gate.

I entered the old town via the eastern gate. Three of the existing five gates into the town date back to the 11th/12th century and the eastern gate is one of them. The view from this particular gate across to the Pena Montenesa is something else.

Pena Montenesa as seen through the eastern gate to the old town.

Two more gates into the old town. The gate on the left is the south gate . The gate on the right is the entrance to the castle and the photo shows the view south across Plaza Mayor to the 11th century Parish Church of Santa Maria.

Turning right on to Calle de Santa Cruz, after entering the old town via the Eastern Gate, the first significant building to be encountered is the Parish Church of Santa Maria which sits at the southern end of the Plaza Mayor. Plaza Mayor is large cobbled market square surrounded by medieval arcaded buildings and it was this square that helped put Ainsa on the map after it was declared a National Monument in 1965. Santa Maria is an 11th century church built in the Romanesque style on the site of an old Moorish fortress as part of a christian defensive line to protect the village against the Moors.

At the northern end of the Plaza Mayor is the old castle. During the 17th century and at the expense of well over 100 private dwellings, the castle was extended into the citadel it is now. Of course much of the citadel fell to ruin when the old town was largely vacated during the 19th and 20th centuries but it’s footprint remains and it is possible to walk most of it’s ramparts which afford splendid views both towards the Pyrenees and back over the town.

One of the older buildings on the Plaza Mayor

I returned to the Plaza Mayor later in the day with Vanya and we enjoyed a couple of beers and wines outside one of the cafe bars before taking a last saunter around the Old Town as darkness descended.

The view from the Eastern Gate as we left was every bit as good as earlier in the day.

Zarautz (Basque Country), Spain September 2022 (Tour 6)

We were at Gran Camping Zarautz earlier this year (February 2022) and enjoyed our stay. It’s a very comfortable campsite and there’s nothing wrong with the small town of Zarautz but we returned primarily because of the campsite’s close proximity to Bilbao. We were booked on the Bilbao to Portsmouth ferry for travel on 28 September and needed somewhere to while away the last hours of this 2022 tour.

Zarautz beach – as pretty as ever and the perfect place to finish this particular tour

To the east of Zarautz, just 20 minutes drive away, is San Sebastian (Donostia in Basque) which, amongst other things, is supposedly Spain’s culinary capital and where the Spanish monarchy used to spend their summer holidays. We had it in mind to visit San Sebastian but the one day we had left is insufficient to do the place justice and this particular tour (Tour 6) must end now. We’ll do it next year…

So ends Tour 6.

Getaria (Basque Country), Spain September 2022 (Tour 6)

We took the coast road from Zumaia to Zarautz stopping at Getaria on the way. We’d passed through Getaria the day before (after I’d missed the turn off to our campsite in Zumaia) and the small town looked most appealing … and certainly worth revisiting.

We parked on the western edge of Zumaia, just above the smaller of the town’s two beaches (Gaztetape Beach), and then walked up towards the town centre which is dominated by a monument to Juan Sebastian Elkano (1487-1526). Until then I’d never heard of Elkano but he is a most fascinating character and fully deserving of the monument. It was Elkano and not, as I once thought, Magellan who first circumnavigated the globe. Elkano was captain of one of the five ships that in 1519 formed Magellan’s fleet in the search for a western passage to the Spice Islands and it was Elkano who in 1522 brought the sole remaining ship (the Victoria) back to Spain long after Magellan was killed somewhere in the Philippines (1521). I’ve subsequently watched a Spanish TV Series, ‘Boundless’, which tells Elkano’s story in a very engrossing manner (although I couldn’t testify as to it’s historical accuracy).

*A statue of Juan Sebastian Elkano (on Elkano Square) and Getaria’s monument to Elkano. The piece at the top of the monument is a stone sculpture of the Victoria’s prow*.

*The view from the Elkano Monument, eastwards over Getaria’s second beach (the Malkorbe Hondartza Beach) towards Zarautz.*

Another famous son of Getaria is the fashion designer Cristobal Balenciaga (1895-1972) whom Christian Dior described as “the master of us all” and whose brand was ultimately taken over by Gucci. A museum dedicated to Balenciaga was opened in Getaria in 2011. I didn’t go in (it’s not quite my cup of tea) but it supposedly rotates some 1,000 of Balenciaga’s creations.

Having checked out the Elkano Monument, Vanya and I made our way down the main street (Nagusia Kalea) of this quaint medieval fishing and whaling village towards the Church of San Salvador. There are a number of pintxos bars on the main street where we could have taken brunch but, from the monument, I had seen a couple of bars on the harbour and thought to eat there and; besides, I wanted a look inside the church.

There’s been a church on this site since the 13th century but this particular church dates mostly from the 15th and 16th centuries (except for some 19th century restoration work to fire damage caused during the Carlist Wars). There’s an attractive upper gallery inside the church on which a choir was practising as I entered. They were seriously good and I had to tear myself away to rejoin Vanya and the dogs waiting outside on Nagusia Kalea.

The centre nave of the church with it’s raised presbytery. The church was declared a National Monument in 1895.

The right hand nave and (second photo) the upper gallery where the most wonderful choir were practising as I entered

We followed the main street on through a narrow tunnel (the Katropana Tunnel) which goes under the church and past a small crypt to the harbour. It was time to eat.

After eating and checking out the harbour area we walked the dogs back to the Van and then I retraced my steps to the far end of the harbour and up the small mouse shaped hill grandly referred to as Mount San Anton but better known by the locals as ‘The Mouse of Getaria’. Mount San Anton was originally a small island with a lighthouse (Faro de Getaria) and a gun emplacement which was last used in earnest during the Spanish Civil War. The lighthouse is still working but the gun emplacement serves now only as a viewpoint.

A view west from inside the gun emplacement on Mount San Anton

It occurs to me that I have not yet mentioned food and/or drink in any detail. That needs to be corrected because this area is famous for txacoli (sometimes called txakolilocal) and it’s seafood. Txacoli is a traditional Basque white wine, slightly sparkling and very dry, made with the local grape, Hondarrabi Zuri. The wine goes very well with the local fish; talking of which, the ‘Elkano’ is a Michelin Star Restaurant in Getaria which specialises in chargrilled fish. Next time.

Zumaia (Basque Country), Spain September 2022 (Tour 6)

For the last two days of this tour we are booked into Gran Camping Zarautz (a favourite site during our earlier tour this year but one which is also within easy reach of Bilbao where we are to catch the ferry to Portsmouth). This left us sufficient time to visit both Zumaia and Getaria before our journey home. We started with Zumaia.

Zumaia is just a few miles west of Zarautz at the mouth of the River Urola. It was originally a fishing town but the harbour is now filled with leisure craft and is more of a tourist resort. The area is famous for it’s flysch. These are successive layers of rock which are in effect a 60 million year old record of the planet Earth. I know very little about geology but it seems these enormous layers of sediment stretch more than 13 kilometres along the coast and attract geologists from all over the world. They form the UNESCO recognised ‘Basque Coast Geopark’. I had to see it for myself and after parking the Van up I took off on a quick exploration.

My route took me down and across the River Urola to Zumaia’s old town; past the 13th Century Basque style Gothic Church of Saint Peter the Aposle and; up onto the cliffs. I’d take a closer look at the town on my way back. A narrow track on the cliff leads to a viewing point which provides wonderful views of the flysch (and along the coast in both directions). There’s a series of panels along the route providing rudimentary information about the flysch.

Zumaia is not a large town and can easily be seen in half a day. It’s most prominent feature is the 13th century Iglesia de San Pedro (Church of Saint Peter the Apostle) which is an austere gothic church in the Basque style and more reminiscent of a fortress than a church. It has an impressive altarpiece which has been declared a national monument.

There are two good beaches in the immediate vicinity of the town, the Itzurun and the Santiago. The Itzurun is on the west bank of the River Urola and the Santiago is on the east bank near the marina. Playa de Itzurun was being used by a group of surfers as I arrived. Part of it featured in the seventh series of Game of Thrones – John Snow is seen landing here when visiting Daenerys. Part of the flysch forms a backdrop to Playa de Itzurun and it is very pretty. On the cliff top overlooking Itzurun is a chapel dedicated to St Elmo the Patron Saint of sailors.

There is a third beach further to the west of Zumaia, the Algorri (or the Aitzgorri in Basque). It is a rocky beach and submerged each time the tide comes in. With the tide out it is considered to be the most beautiful beach in the area and the best place to view a thin black line in the flysch which dates back some 65 million years and reflects when a huge meteorite hit what is now the Gulf of Mexico and wiped out the dinosaurs.

The first of the above photos is of the flysch on Itzurun Beach. The second is of a strange carving on the same beach. I’ve no idea what it is.

Apologies. We stopped overnight in Zumaia at Camping Zumaia (a new site in this part of the country and just 10 minutes walk from the town) during the last week of September 2022 and it is now 1 November. Talk about being behind with this blog.

Laredo (Cantabria), Spain September 2022 (Tour 6)

It is a 45 minute walk from Camping Playa del Regaton to Laredo town centre, taking in the town’s immense beach on the way. The lengthy curved Playa de la Salve is perhaps the longest and most popular beach on the north coast of Spain but in September almost all of the (predominantly) Spanish tourists are gone.

Playa de la Salve. That’s Laredo at the far end of the beach.

There’s a fair sized and very historical port in Laredo but I was more interested in the appealing old town behind the marina. It’s narrow streets, dotted with a number of famous 16th and 18th century houses, lead up to the Church of Santa Maria de la Ascuncion and on beyond that to the fortress of Fuerte del Rastrillar where there are quite exceptional views over Laredo and Santona Bay.

Looking down on Playa de la Salve from the Fortress

The Gothic style church above the puebla vieja was built in stages between the 13th and 18th centuries and is renowned for it’s large 15th century painted flemish altarpiece of the ‘Virgin of Belen’ (Virgin of Bethlehem) but it also has a very attractive and unusual stained glass window.

Looking down on Santa Maria de la Ascuncion and a view inside the church of the altarpiece

I liked the contemporary stained window… such a contrast to the beautiful entrance porch

The old town is beautiful and very lived in (although as always I did my best to keep people out of these photos)

Another interesting feature of the old town is it’s unusual street art, much of which celebrates the Camino del Norte (which route passes along this coast to Santiago de Compostela) and the old town’s fishing heritage.

I timed my arrival into Laredo perfectly. The locals were eagerly erecting all manner of booths and market stalls and adorning the old town with flags, bunting and posters. A local fiesta was scheduled to begin from 6pm that day.

Needless to say, Vanya and I were in Laredo long before 6pm that day… and we were there the following day. The fiesta wouldn’t begin in earnest until the weekend but we were there for the opening and, most especially for when all the booths and stalls opened up. Moreover we were there to follow the local pipe and flute band around the town and market and, when we’d had enough walking, to sit and enjoy a nice glass of wine and indulge in one of our favourite pastimes – people watching…

…and then it was a pleasant evening stroll along the beach to… where I’d parked the Van. There was no way Vanya was up for the long walk to and from Laredo.

Colindres (Cantabria), Spain September 2022 (Tour 6)

With just a few days to go before we were to board our ferry for the trip home (Bilbao to Portsmouth) we headed north to the Bay of Biscay and the small town of Colindres. Vanya had found a nice campsite on the outskirts of Colindres (Camping Playa del Regaton) which is situated on the edge of a National Park and would serve us well for a couple of days. We had things to do. Firstly and most importantly we needed to get the dogs seen by a vet (UK rules require that the dogs must have tapeworm tablets administered by a Vet shortly before their return to the UK) and a vet in Colindres had agreed to do the necessary for just 20 euros. Secondly, there was a fiesta on in nearby Laredo for much of the week and we were not going to miss out on that although it would have to be special to top the one we experienced in Puebla de Sanabria. Thirdly, there’s a hike in nearby Santona (just a short bus ride from Colindres) that I was keen to do.

The drive back to the coast through La Rioja was beautiful….

The drive back to the coast took a little over two hours because I kept stopping to take photos…

… and the views from our campsite on the beach were great.

Colindres is not a pretty town and there is little of interest there but the walk from the campsite along the Rio Tetro estuary was enjoyable enough and the town is well placed from which to visit a fair few beautiful and/or interesting places. Several UNESCO World Heritage Sites are to be found in this part of Cantabria. There’s also a wetlands bird sanctuary (now a National Park); a number of stunning beaches, including Laredo’s La Salve and Santona’s Berria Beach (sometimes referred to as Playa de San Martin) and; the nearby towns of Laredo, Santona and Liendo are all worth visiting.

There is little to see in the town of Colindres…

… but the views along the estuary as I took the dogs to their appointment with the Vet in Colindres were fine enough

During this tour, I was able to visit Laredo (a couple of times) and Santona. To get to Santona I took a bus from Colindres but next time I would be inclined to try the Laredo – Santona ferry.

Sajazarra (La Rioja), Spain September 2022 (Tour 6)

While staying over in Cuzcarrita we took the Van out to explore the nearby village of Sajazarra (a Pueblo Mas Bonitos de Espana). We also revisited Haro for another wine tasting session organised and paid for by our hotel but that is another story.

Sajazzara is small but pretty fortified village just 4 miles north of Cuzcarrita. It has a 13th century church and and a 15th century castle (which is not unlike the castle in Cuzcarrita but it too has been converted into a private residence and is no longer accessible to the public). The village has less than 150 inhabitants and that number is declining. The reality is that these small villages no longer provide sufficient employment opportunities for the young and so they move to the cities for work and rarely return. If they do return, it is often to sell the home left to them by their parents. A surprisingly high number of properties were up for sale in the village during our visit.

We parked the Van in the car park at the entrance to the village and walked around the outside. Our walk took us past the castle to an open portal by the church…

… the Church of Santa Maria of Assumption was locked and so we strolled the narrow cobbled streets of the village until we found our restaurant, the Asador Ochavo, which I think translates to the “Eighth Grill”. I cannot help but think that translation is wrong.

A primary reason for our visiting Sajazarra was because it has a restaurant, the Asador Ochavo, which was recommended by the owner of our hotel as a place to get a reasonable meal. It isn’t as highly regarded as the restaurant in Cuzcarrita but at least it remains open out of season.

This is a stock photo taken from the restaurant’s website. The place was very busy as we arrived and we had a bit of wait before getting a table…

Vanya didn’t eat but I knew we wouldn’t be getting much in the line of hot food back in Cuzcarrita and so I tucked into Grilled Morcilla (blood sausage not unlike black pudding) and Chorizo with a Spicy Salsa as a starter (jolly good it was too) followed by the biggest slab of Roast Lamb I have ever had. Not bad at all.

Vanya dithered over the menu while I tucked into the Grilled Morcilla and Chorizo with Spicy Salsa

There’s no doubt we will return to this region of Spain. We have seen quite a bit of La Rioja this trip and small towns and villages like Cuzcarrita and Sajazarra have whet our appetites for more… and, of course, the wine doesn’t get much better.

Cuzcurrita de Rio Tiron (La Rioja), Spain September 2022 (Tour 6)

This quiet little town deserves listing in Los Pueblos Mas Bonitas En Espana (i.e. the prettiest little towns in Spain) but the locals voted against it because they don’t want it invaded by tourists. I can relate with that although it is perhaps a short sighted view given the way most small villages seem to be going in this part of Spain.

A 15 minute drive from Haro, Cuzcurrita de Rio Tiron is a small town of less than 500 people. The older part of the town down by the River Tiron has a simple beauty about it. There’s the Plaza Mayor, the 18th century baroque church of St Miguel, a 15th century castle which is now a private residence, a couple of cafe bars (the holiday season is over and there were just these two open), a number of small bodegas (all busy harvesting their grapes), a couple of small hotels and I saw two small shops but, otherwise, the old town is made up of predominantly 16th century stone houses of various shapes and sizes. One of the larger stone houses, on a corner of the Plaza Mayor, was remodelled in 2015 and is now a wonderful boutique hotel – the Teatrisso Hotel Hospederia. We were booked into the Teatrisso for two nights and would have stayed longer but we were scheduled to take the ferry from Bilbao back to the UK in just a week’s time.

The Teatrisso Hotel was originally a palatial private residence and it stayed in private hands for almost 300 years until, early in the 1920’s, it was converted into a small cinema and then, in the early 1930’s, into a tiny dance hall. 1936 saw it used to house Italian soldiers assigned by Mussolini to aid Franco’s Nationalist forces during the Spanish Civil War. Thereafter it fell into disuse until purchased in 2015 by the current owners, Laura and Jose Angel, who have worked hard to transform into the quintessential boutique hotel it is now.

The Teatrisso Hotel Hospederia, a 3* hotel with 5* standards…

The Reception area and staircase up to our room.

The Teatrisso has just 12 rooms all with a cinematic theme. We chose to stay in the Africa room which was clean, comfortable, tastefully furnished and… well, just perfect. Next time we stay (and there will most certainly be a next time) we will endeavour to stay over a weekend (when Laura and Jose Angel sometimes provide food and wine tasting). Descriptions and photos of all the hotel rooms are to be found on their website ‘Teatrisso.com’.

… and the Courtyard Garden, perfect for a late night White Rioja wine and light supper paid for through the hotel’s ‘honesty bar’

And the town? There’s a cafe bar on Plaza Mayor, next to the church of San Miguel (Saint Michael). The square was popular throughout our stay and, while meals were not easily available (the town’s only restaurant was closed) the cafe bar provided pinchos with their 1 euro glasses of White Rioja and there was an honesty bar back at the Teatrisso which, in addition to providing a good range of wines, offered olives, cheese, dried meats and bread. Invariably, we were among the last to leave the cafe bar. By the way, there’s a second bar down near the bridge across the River Tiron and that wasn’t bad either.

Across the river from the old town are a handful of small bodegas and beyond these is a track leading up to a viewing point above the village with wonderful views north to the mountains and south across a number of La Rioja vineyards.

North to the mountains and south across the vineyards

Our stay in Cuzcurrita de Rio Tiron was without a doubt one of the highlights of this particular tour but, since she found the place, I will leave the final word on the town with Vanya who wrote the following trip advisor review:

“My favourite hotel ever!!! The African room was spectacular, beautifully and thoughtfully decorated, very unique. The enclosed garden, with gentle background music, was perfect to sit and drink a great bottle of Rioja from the (honesty) bar in the evening. The breakfast was fresh with plenty of choice. I didn’t want to leave but we will be back in the Spring! Thank you!

Date of stay: September 2022