Day 4 - Further along the North of Spain (careful, kittens enclosed)
We got up, had brekkie at the hotel - lovely coffee at last, after the thoroughly burnt stuff served in France. Then we walked into town, found the Musikene, where my sister studies in a really well located park with views over the bay (beautiful building too... described as an English style cottage but Phil could not see any Englishness in it).
Trying to find the Musikene on the map (behind me, duh!)
We knew there was the possibility to hire segways so we tracked down the shop: this took us to the market, to paseo de Salamanca and toashop with designer stuff - very nice kitchenware we thought...nope, it was not kitchenware, it was dildos of all shapes. Found the segway shop but 25€ for one hour was too much so we settled for yet another coffee overlooking the Kursaal, in the café at the theatre, next to the hotel we didn't go to, the Maria Cristina (thanks for the offer, dad,but 350€ per night is too much for what the room seemed to be). Finally, we visited the centre and walked back to the car park stopping in a mock English pub which happened to have better pintxos than the other places!
Lovely old fashioned shop, found on the way
The drive to Asturias was great. We stopped at Getaria and it certainly did not disappoint us. Home to Elcano, first to circumnavigate the globe, it was a sunny fishing port with twisty scenic roads and the softest and hottest of sands at it s feet. We didn't have the time to have a swim as in La Rochelle, but we took our shoes off and after skipping like fleas to the sea - yeah, the sand was very very hot, don't you believe me? - we walked through the waterline feeling awfully overdressed and getting some looks from the people on the beach. Was it our tan? Was it our "I'm so much of a tourist" casual style? Was it the fear of us taking photos of their boobs? Some of the people were possibly on the road to having rather wrinkly and raisin-like appendages or all sorts of skin cancer with such exposure to the sun at three in the afternoon. And no, we were not interested in photographing them, only the beauty of the day.
On the coastal road
Getaria
So, after the boobs and monuments of all shapes, we kept on driving, this time on the toll road which snaked through high mountains and wonderful seascapes. Phil thoroughly enjoyed playing with the car on the winding road and I didn't enjoy it that much (scenery was great but corners were too tight).
And, after the roads and roads, we find ourselves in the wonderful "Casona D'Alevia" (clicky for great photos of the house) hidden in a hamlet on the top of a mountain. At the moment we don't how high -or not -this and the mountains surrounding us are, as the clouds are covering them, but we took some scenic photos - of the mountains and the lovely locals (3 cats with flat faces that seemed interested in our movements).
We are somewhere up there
... I mean, up here (spot the tourist)...
... and in here (little window to the garden at the Casona)
The hotel and bedroom are so nice, decorated in ye olde style from the village, that we have decided to stay here, get a platter of cold meat and a bottle of wine and eat it in the small living room within our room. I may also mention that, at this stage, some parts of our body are showing sure signs of a tan. Phil is also developing a lovely colour in his driving arms. Bellies remain as white and big as usual. Unfortunately, these do not seem to have disappeared magically after three days of holidays.
I leave you with a photo of the "locals"... who looked positively evil...
...and who were coming to get us...
... but then completely lost interest...
Labels: Alevia, Asturias, Casona d'Alevia, Donostia, Getaria, holidays, kittens, road trip
| Permalink | 
