I really don’t know what to expect. I’ve read some guide books, and watched the movie “The Way” (currently available on NetFlix). Few details are provided about this trip. Still, I will write about what I’ve read and been told. The story will change as we live it.
Firstly, we leave from San Diego, arrive in Dallas, proceed to Madrid and then take a 1 hour hop to Bilbao. Bilbao is in Basque Country up at the northern part of Spain.
We arrive Bilbao mid-day. From there we get ourselves acquainted with the area – check into our hotel and locate Tom’s father and the rest of our comrades. Fingers crossed we will get some time at the Guggenheim.
Next day, we meet up with our walking group at the Bilbao train station. From there we head to what sounds like a very nice town called Santillana del Mar. This is in the Cantabria region. The guide book says that Santillana del Mar is known as the town of three lies for (1) it is neither holy (santi) and (2) nor flat (llana) and (3) nor on the ocean (del Mar). My guide book tells me that Santillana consists of 3 cobbled streets and a collection of squares. Here we get to spend 2 nights. The first night we orient ourselves with the journey ahead and get to know one another. The next day, we go to a place called the Altamira Caves. Interesting history. It was discovered in 1879 by the daughter of a local archaeologist; the limestone caves exhibited 14,000-year-old paintings. Of course, nothing good can go unspoiled and so it became an extremely popular tourist destination in the 1960s and 1970s. This lead to the cave being closed to tourists in 1979. But alas – a replica cave and museum was opened in 2001 very near the original site. It is here that we will tour and learn about the art created in the original caves.
After we leave Santillana, we continue toward Picos de Europa – one of Spain’s most popular national parks. It is here that I believe we will meet our biggest vertical challenge of our hike. I hope we get to do some fun things here like the Fuente De’ Cable Car – a single-span cable car that takes you 2600 feet in 4 minutes. The altitude at the top is a mere 6000 feet but promises breathtaking panoramic views.
After this, who the heck knows. We are meant to walk 8-12 miles per day…ending up at Santiago de Compostela, in the province of Galicia. We stay in small country inns, manor houses, and restored turn-of-the-century mansions during our nomadic days. Compostella is situated in the Atlantic north-west of Spain and its climate is likened to the Pacific Northwest of United States. The cathedral here is believed to be where the remains of St. James reside. Here we finish our journey. We get to spend a night here before heading out.
We head out on a two-day driving journey to Madrid. Our first stop will be Salamanca. We spend a day there before heading to Segovia. From Segovia we arrive in Madrid and take our flight back Dallas…Dallas to San Diego.
We will returned exhausted but with many stories. I hope to tell some of the stories during our trip, so stay check back on this blog and see how I do!
