It is our 49th
anniversary today. The day we and a few others piled into cars and headed for
the British Consulate in Bilbao! Wow! 49 years! A winding coast road of two
lanes and heavy overladen truck traffic meant a 4.5 Hr dive from San Sebastian….today
with the AP-8 highway it takes 1.5 hrs.
Early morning partly sunny clouds
and a cool breeze blowing in from the sea, gentle waves of 12inches, only a few
early morning walkers along the promenade by folks not thinking of a new work
week, and those walking their dogs on an empty beach. I felt compelled to go
walk on that empty beach! By the time I got down there, only a matter of
minutes, there were many more people. The machine has been out to rake the
beach, the little electric truck is making his way along the promenade emptying
the trash cans and dogs are running joyfully and making new friends and the
dashing off to check something else!
Paul waits in the room and has
his shower!
It was a wonderful walk down the
beach, the weather was mild and refreshing and there really were few people on
the beach. It is a lot different from our beach in Cocoa Beach, it is flat and
smooth, no dunes, no Atlantic Ocean to stir things up and make things difficult
,though they have had some storms here that have washed the sail boats and dinghies
up on the beach, but for the most part it is sheltered and calm. There are sea
walls all around the bay so it really lends itself to beautiful promenades all
the way around. There are always people out walking from early in the morning
to very late at night. Gardens all along the way and lots of trees and benches.
I have had a love affair with San Sebastian for nearly 50 years and today was
no different!
It used to be that in the summer,
the Spanish Parliament used to convene here to escape the heat in Madrid and
Franco’s ship was anchored out in the bay. Then, the beaches were closed from
sunset to sunrise, only crazy Americans would go skinny dipping in the dead of
night, but it happened, I was there!
Anyway, back to the present, it
was a beautiful walk but I did draw the line at going in for a swim! There were
actually some crazy people swimming, it was not warm enough for me but then I
am a wimp about cold sea water! I learned to swim in the North Sea at my
Grandparents cottage in Saltburn near Invergordon. Damn we were hardy!
I returned, went through the
shower and we headed down for some toast and coffee. After breakfast it was
time to repack and get loaded up whenever the car arrives from the garage. Everyone
is checking out at the same time no less, and one couple is taking a taxi to
the Guggenheim in Bilbao ??? that will be a hefty fair, I believe.
Carmen Garmin could NOT find her
way out of San Sebastian and somehow put us on road to Victoria. We re-programmed
her for Bilbao and began to follow road signs until she settled down again. (That
girl is a little touchy especially if you call her names) Eventually, she took
us thru Bilbao which showed us 27 C temp or 82 F with heavy lunch time traffic.
Now I must wax lyrical about the
astonishingly beautiful country we are going through. The Basque Country is
gorgeous, green, mountainous and breathtaking, with cows and sheep and horses!
Onwards in the direction of Santander
on the E-70 and smooth flowing traffic. We crossed into Cantabria which rivals
the Basque country for beauty. We arrived in Puente Viesgo at 3:00PM, time for
lunch. A piece of toast ad coffee only goes
so far! As we parked the car I spotted a couple of sheep grazing on a small
patch of grass on what appeared to be an almost vertical slope! Now, how did
they not slip down that slope?
We opted for the corner bar
opposite where Paul had red beans soup and Jane an ensalda mixta (normal he
said but huge to Jane). Merluza fish for Jane and Paul had the local prized
beef hamburgesa without bun with fries, Homemade desserts to complete the meal.
It was warm enough to sit on the terrace, which might have been a mistake!
Trucks and cars were whizzing past with no slowing down or any regard for this
small village. Turns out they are building a by-pass and all traffic is
directed into the town at the moment or at least until they finally complete
the bypass.!
Off to check in to our hotel Gran Hotel
Balneario, Puente Viesgo. Room 316 a Junior Suite was huge and well appointed,
complete with another huge rain shower in an enclosed shower stall versus a
half shower glass partition..
Time for a siesta after which we
headed over to the Spa circuit and pool. We spent a fun hour doing the circuit of
various vigorously bubbling pools and showers of differing temperatures. They
give you these obnoxious blue caps to wear. I am not sure why but I guess it
keeps the hair out of the filters and everyone looks a little odd. We love the
heated benches which run down the side of the pool. Few very few took a plunge
into the small circular pool filled with ice water. Shocking enough just to
stick you hand into the chilling water.
After changing we had Tapas and
wine to finish up the evening at the cafeteria bar opposite the hotel. It had
been a long and very busy day so we headed back to the room at 1015. Of course,
we never get to bed or sleep before midnight! Emails to check, blog to write,
FB etc. but we did sleep soundly eventually with the fumes of natural mineral
water from the Spa in the hotel.
Buenos noches!
No comments:
Post a Comment