Barcelona and Northern Spain Page 2

Barcelona and Northern Spain

This is the second page of my travelogue of our mid-September 2001 trip to Northern Spain with Tauck World Discoveries. If you somehow missed the first page, click here: Barcelona and Northern Spain Page 1.

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Torreciudad - Afternoon of Day 5

This shrine was built in memory of Jose Maria Escriva de Belaguer, the founder of the Catholic lay order of Opus Dei. He passed away in 1975. It overlooks a man-made lake, called the Embalse de Elgrado. The church is made of red brick which was manufactured on-site.




Coming out of the Pyrenees, on the road to Santuario de Torreciudad.













				Views of the altar and the monastery that's located nearby.

				A very typical Spanish bar.

9/11/2001 From Torreciudad, we drove on to Huesca, a small town on the plains at the foot of the Pyrenees. We were just arriving when our tour guide Matt received a cell phone call from a friend telling him that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. Over the next few hours, we sat in the hotel bar watching the tragedy unfold on Spanish television. We had no choice but to continue with our tour; and we really had no idea if we were going to be able to return home as scheduled. From then on, every time we visited a church or cathedral, we lit candles and said a prayer for the victims and their families.

Leyre Monastery, Pamplona, and San Sebastian - Days 6 & 7 On our way to the Leyre monastery, Matt, our tour guide was able read newspaper articles to us, downloaded to his laptop from the New York Times. We made a stop in the canyon pictured below shortly after.



				The Monastery of San Salvador de Leyre was founded in the 11th century. The monastery began to decline in the 12th century, and was abandoned from the 19th century until 1954, when it was restored by the Benedictines. The 11th century crypt has unusually short columns.




				Pamplona is best known for it's festival of San Fermin and the "Running of the Bulls." This is the monument to Ernest Hemingway, who single-handedly made Pamplona a very popular tourist attraction. I've seen this monument on many travel television shows and in many pictures. It was fun to finally be there in person.




				Here are some pictures of the streets where the Running of the Bulls takes place. The featured building is Pamplona's city hall. The last picture shows the final leg into the Plaza de Toros. (The bullring).



			Why the seashell border? Santiago de Compostela was one of three holy cities of the world during the Middle Ages. From far and wide, pilgrims made their way on foot to this city in northwestern Spain to visit the shrine of the apostle, St. James. The symbol of the pilgramage to Santiago de Compestela is the scallop shell. This shell is common on the Galician coast, and because it was light and small in size, it was ideal for gathering water from a spring or as an improvised spoon on the side of the path. The pilgrims returning to their homes, which were often far inland, carried the shell back with them as a memento of their long journey to Santiago. We had lunch at Cafe Iruna, one of the bars Hemingway frequented in Pamplona. It overlooks Plaza de Castillo, a beautiful square. Unfortunately, when we were there, the entire square was fenced off and under construction!









				San Sebastian or Donostia (its Basque name) was our next stop. We arrived in late afternoon, and Matt our tour guide took us up to Mount Igeldo before we checked in to our hotel. He knew that the sun would be in the right place for fantastic pictures. This view of San Sebastain is one that I'll never forget



				We stayed at the Maria Christina Hotel in San Sebastian. Before we left for our trip, I had read that San Sebastian was once the home of the "Jet Set", but now it was a faded resort town. We didn't feel that way. The town is beautiful, and the Maria Christina is an excellent hotel. These are pictures of the hotel entrance, our room, the lobby, and the views from our balcony







				This is the Palacio del Kursaal, where the San Sebastian Film Festival is held each year.




				This beach is called "La Concha" (the Shell).




				This is San Sebastian's small port, called Puerto de Pescadores, which is very close to the oldest part of the city.








				This is Monte Urgull, which overlooks the port and the old town area. Below left is the entrance from the port to the old town section of the city.







The old section of the city is packed with shops, bars, and restaurants. In Spain, people don't usually eat dinner until about 10:00 p.m. In the late afternoon and evening, Spaniards like to go to a bar for a drink and tapas, which are a variety of heavy appetizers.

				Below is the Cathedral Santa María, located in the old town area.









	Above is the Plaza de la Constitución. You'll notice in the second picture, that each balcony is numbered. That's because bull fights were held in this plaza, and the numbers were for seating assignments.

	Bilbao and the Picos De Europa - Day 8 The center of Basque industry, Bilbao is Spain's leading commercial port. It's undergoing a transformation due to the recently completed European branch of the Guggenheim Museum.






	In the morning, we visited the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. Designed by the architect Frank O. Gehry, this museum is becoming a very popular place to visit. Tip...if you're planning a trip to visit this museum, you might not want to stay in Bilbao. It's rapidly changing, but it's still an industrial city and not very attractive. Stay in San Sebastian instead.










				We stopped for lunch at Santillana del Mar, one of the best preserved medieval villages in Europe. When we arrived, we were able to spend a few minutes watching a stage of the La Vuelta Ciclista a Espana. (The Tour of Spain Bicycle Race)





				We had lunch at the Parador de Santillana del Mar. This would be another great place to stay when visiting Bilbao.



				Local noblemen built their houses on the town's two main streets.









				The town grew up around a monastery, which was an important pilgrimage center. The Romanesque La Colegiata church houses the tomb of the martyr St. Juliana.

				From Santillana del Mar, we drove to Fuente De. We stayed at the Parador de Fuente De. This Parador is said to have the best location out of all the paradors. It's literally located at the end of the road to the most spectacular scenery in the Picos de Europa Mountains. We arrived in the late afternoon, and the mountains were covered by clouds. This was the only cloudy day on our trip. We expected the weather to be the same the next morning, but when we looked out our window, we were happy to see that we had a crystal clear day ahead of us.




Picos De Europa to Leon- Day 9 This beautiful mountain range is part of Europe's largest national park. The range is riddled with deep canyons and beautiful valleys.

				We came across this bull (Yes, a real Spanish bull) as soon as we walked outside the Parador in the morning. He seemed tame, but we didn't get too close, because Roberta was wearing a red sweater! The pictures below are some of my best of the trip. They're good pictures, but they don't come close to being there. The spectacular view of the mountains, the crystal clear day, and the sound of the cow bells in the distance, made this a morning I'll never forget.







				Sailors returning home from their explorations called these mountains the "Peaks of Europe" because they often were the first land feature spotted from their ships. This picture shows the cable car that travels 3,000 feet to a rock plateau with a spectacular view of the mountain.

				In the morning, we stopped at Potes, which is a small, ancient town in the eastern Picos de Europa. The town has a defensive tower that dates back to the 15th century.








The San Glorio Pass
				From Potes, we went over the San Glorio Pass on our way to Leon. Coming down out of the pass, we stopped in Riano for lunch.




		Riano is a town that was completely relocated because it was in the way of a reservoir that resulted from a dam. This picture was taken looking down from the town. The church in the picture was one of two that were relocated.

		Leon: The Monasterio de San Marcos was built in 1168 for the Knights of Santiago, one of several chivalric orders founded in the twelfth century to protect pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compestela. In the 1513, the monastery was rebuilt as a palatial headquarters for the order. The Parador Hostal de San Marcos is now a five star deluxe hotel, and we stayed overnight here.











Above, Our room and a picture of the view from our room. The Hostal is part of a complex that includes the Museo de Leon and a basilica.









	The pictures above are of a pedestrian street that leads to the great Cathedral of Leon. Founded as a camp for the Romans' Seventh Legion, Leon became the capital of a kingdom in the Middle Ages. Below, is Casa de Botines in Leon, designed by Antonio Gaudi.




		The present Cathedral of Leon was built on the site of three previous cathedrals. It was begun in the mid-13th century and was completed less than 100 years later. The most magnificent feature of the cathedral is its stained glass windows. I've visited many of the great cathedrals in Europe, and I feel that Leon Cathedral is one of the most inspiring






		After taking this night picture of the Hostal de San Marcos, I walked back inside to our room. It was late on a Saturday Night, and on the way to my room, I must have past at least four wedding parties. Matt, our tour guide, calls the Hostal de San Marcos a Wedding Factory.

This is my best picture of the trip. The Hostal de San Marcos originally provided shelter for pilgrims. The sculpture in the foreground is of a weary pilgrim on his way to Santiago de Compestela. According to legend, in 813, the apostle St. James' bones were discovered in Santiago de Compestela. During the Middle Ages, 500,000 pilgrims per year traveled to visit the cathedral that was built to house his bones. The cathedral is one of the great shrines of Christendom, and during the Middle Ages was the third most important place of pilgrimage, after Jerusalem and Rome. The ancient road to Santiago is called the El Camino de Santiago (The Way of St. James).



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