Road Trip North of Spain part 1

A few months ago Yvi and i made a drunken decision to go on a road trip alond the north coast of Spain and i dont know how, but we actually did it.

On Thursday we flew to Santiago de Compostela and then hit the road going through at La Coruna, Oviedo,Gijon, Santander, Bilbao, San Sebastian then back to Barca.

In all of our excitement we ended up going out to a couple of bars and not going to sleep until 3am the night before our flight.. and may i add this flight was at 7am in the morning. We were absolutely rotten when we woke up and especially on the plane because Ryanair is just shit in everyway.

A major goal of this trip was to soak up the sun on nice beaches and to taste awesome northern Spain cuisine. Ah this didnt start off too well. Once we arrived in Santiago we were tired hungry and grumpy so we resorted to over-priced bocadillos in the airport.


well maybe the German didnt feel stupid



Then we headed to the famous old town and cathedral of Santiago and may i say wow it was soooo great. We were actually slapping ourselves once we saw all the fantastic restaurants they had in the old town offering a whole Menu del dia for less than what we paid for the stupid airport food. 



With as much enthusiasm as we could conjure up at that point we wandered the streets taking photoes here and there like good little tourists. However, we weren't staying over night in Santiago so we felt pretty damn stupid wheeling our wheelie bags around everywhere with us. 

We took a pit stop passing out in front of the cathedral.. and then i wonder why so many backpackers are in this one plaza kissing the ground and cheering. So she enlightens me with a little information that these people had walked to this plaza from either france or San Sebasian. So the fact that we flew there, had wheelie bags and were only tired because we were hungover and stayed up too late was just lame. Though we still embraced the cultural history of this town learning about the iconic 'Queso de Tetilla' this translates to 'titty cheese'. This is exactly what your thinking, cheese shaped in a triangle to represent boobs. The inspiration of this icon was the original statue of Queen Esther inside the Cathedral which supposedly had much larger boobs than the current size. It is said that locals leaders deemed them inappropriate and filed them down  and in response the towns people created cone-shaped cheese in Esther's honour. Nice, a town that loves tits.  

Well three hours later we were over it, the weather was turning shit and we just wanted a bed so we set off for our next stop La Coruna where we could crash for a bit. And of course our beds were not ready when we arrived brilliant! so we were given an umbrella and found a bench on the beach to sit for a while and within that short time we somehow lost the umbrella. oh trying to explain that in spanish was just a mission. how do you say woops in castellano?

Anyway we had our siesta, watched some cartoons on tv primarily 'beaver man' then started some more sightseeing. We were told that we should walk to the headland and see the torre de hercules 'Tower of Hercules' bah what a waste of time. It was shit! ha pardon my lack of cultural sympathy but honestly we walked 5km to see that. We were much more impressed with a statue of a sumo man with big boobs.

That night we had another unsuccessful attempt at eating authentic food. Hunger called too early 30mins too early so thought we could just have a drink and wait it out.. Then Yvi ordered a salad and bread and beer. And we were full. DAMMIT! Then she decided to fall asleep at 9:30pm and sleep for 12 hours!

Next stop Gijon. i must say this was an unexpected favourite. It is a small city but it is soo beautiful it is clean, well maintained and not flooded by tourists. While we planned to hire a car that idea went out the window because neither of us wanted to be the designated driver and again this was a city we wouldnt be staying overnight so we had to wheel our bags around.

This city was sooo great, we went for a walk onto the headland (yes dragging our wheelie bags up the grass and rock hill) The view of the beaches were worth it.

WE had quite a tough time deciding where to eat luch everywhere smelt and looked sooo good. We came across outdoor market style bbq's with paella, ribs, jamon, and more and more meat. oh and of course Kebabs. But we chose a winner because they were offing free bombay Gin cocktails for free that day. nice way to end a yummy seafood lunch!
We really didnt want to leave Gijon it was soo great! \

Next stop was Santander. but i will leave this for part two!