Spain's north-west

Leigh at Santiago de Compostela Cathedral (UNESCO), Spain

We’ve spent the last month or so in Portugal, and now driven into north-western Spain to Santiago de Compostela. This interesting and compact old town, with its Gothic architecture and cobbled streets is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and known for its historic cathedral.

But it’s been a roundabout drive getting here because the Tour de Spain cycle race was on, and some towns and roads were closed.

Also, Leigh had a bumble-bee sting her. It flew through the open window of our motorhome, and down her back then stung her on the spine. Marg stopped the van and put ice on it and we moved on, but it was painful for some time.

Marg in Santiago de Compostela (UNESCO), Spain

Eventually, we arrived in Santiago de Compostela, found a parking spot for our big motorhome, Vanni, and walked around the town for a while. But the main attraction was the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral. 

Its on the site of what is believed to be the burial place of the apostle St. James. This has made it a centre of Catholic pilgrimage since the 9th century.

While we’ve been in Spain, we’ve seen dozens of people walking and cycling on the ‘Camino de Santiago’ (the Way of Santiago, also known as the Way of St. James). They were all headed to Santiago de Compostela Cathedral on their pilgrimage.

Marg outside the ancient town walls of Lugo, Spain

We stayed in Santiago for a night then moved on to Lugo, known for its 1700 year old Roman wall. It encircles Lugo’s old town, which is even older, dating back to 14 BC.

This huge wall with its 10 entry gates, is very imposing and surprisingly intact for its age. 

We climbed the wall for an overview of the old town, then walked down and through it. We particularly liked the ornate Baroque town hall and the main square. Then after enjoying an ice-cream from one of the many cafes, we moved on.

From Lugo, we drove to Gijón on the Northern Atlantic coast of Spain.

Marg hanging the washing at our campsite in Gijón, Spain

Arriving in Gijón, we realised how tired we were after travelling for so long, and we were happy to just spend a few days at our campsite catching up on domestic chores, emails and the blog.

After a few days, we headed into Gijón.

Gijón, began as a fishing village nearly 3,000 years ago. Now days, it has a small historic fishermen’s quarter called Cimavilla, and the rest of the city is big and industrial with lots of chimneys and very tall commercial buildings.

We visited the waterfront which has plenty of yachts, the Roman ruins, Revillagigedo Palace, and San Pedro Church, before heading back to camp.

Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain

A few days later, we drove to Bilbao, known world-wide for the Frank Gehry designed Guggenheim Museum, one of Spain's most important museums.

While there, the weather turned very wet which hampered our sightseeing. Also, this is a very big city with big distances between sights, so we settled on a drive-through so we could see as much as we could in the rain. We managed to get photos of the Guggenheim, then moved on.

It was a tricky drive through the heavy rain and past lots of trucks. But, as we drove closer to the Bay of Biscay, the sun came out and we saw broad swathes of golden sand beaches.

Leigh in Donostia San Sebastián

Our next stop was in Donostia San Sebastián, a very beautiful city on the Bay of Biscay, with great beaches and a lovely seafront boardwalk.

The architecture is very attractive with many stately buildings, and it was very vibrant.

It is a resort town and quite touristy, but we enjoyed walking around exploring there. We saw quite a bit, including old churches, an historic bridge, little cobbled streets, interesting shops, and several grand monuments. 

We liked this place quite a lot, however, the day was closing in and we had to find a place to park in our motorhome for the night.

Marg in Donostia San Sebastián

Heading off, we drove toward the Spain/France border to find something. About 30 minutes out of Donostia, we came upon a local Autocaravan stop.

We stayed the night for the ‘huge’ sum of 6.25 Euros! This had to be paid for in a complicated, temperamental money machine that only took the exact amount of coin, but it was worth it for the price.

The next day, we said a sad farewell to fascinating Spain and its wonderfully friendly people. We've spent around 7 weeks in our motorhome travelling the length and breadth of this picturesque country, and have enjoyed it immensely.

Tomorrow we head off for another adventure. This time, just over the border in France.

This blog describes part of our 6 month campervan trip around western Europe, which began in Prague in April.