I am staying in Gijón, Spain because of its proximity to small towns for day trips and it looks like a nice city to visit. I am also curious about the Asturias. Every region of Spain has a different culture and I want to get to know them all.
I didn’t end up doing any day trips from Gijón (with the exception of the day I left) but it was a nice town to hang out and relax for a couple days. My visit had pretty much no sightseeing on the agenda but I did wander around Gijón.
Nice beach city in the Bay of Biscay. Everyone was soaking up the sun.
One fun activity is watching these insane boys jump into the water. They kept jumping in and running back up to jump again.
A favorite is viewing the mother of immigrants (La madre del emigrante). Her sad and worried face will haunt you.
My only complaint about Gijón is that I couldn’t even sit down to eat dinner until earliest 8:30 PM. I am not a late night person. The kitchens close after lunch and do not open back up until 8:30-9:00PM. Late dinners has been one of the biggest challenges for me in Europe since I am such an early bird.
During my northern Spain road trip I schedule a stop at El Capricho de Gaudí in Camillos. Comillas is a small town along the northern stretch of Spain. It is busy with day trippers like myself but the big drawl is Gaudi’s work.
El Capricho is one of Gaudi’s earlier works and one of the few outside Barcelona. While building El Capricho he is working on his craft but this is definitely the most “normal” of works I have seen by him thus far.
GreenhouseHallway around the greenhouse. Nice use of natural light.
One of the best things to do in Logroño is take a tapas stroll down Calle del Laurel. It just so happens that my hotel room is located in the middle of it all.
I only scheduled one evening in town so after some daytime sightseeing I return to my room to freshen up for my food crawl.
During the day the street is easy to navigate but at night it becomes very busy
Logroño does pintxos right. You can find a few cafes that will offer many choices like below.
But what is different about most of this crawl is that there are specialty stops, meaning many places have their item that they do well. In addition most places are paired with a local vintage. So basically you have unique food and wine pairings at each spot.
Logroño really knows how to eat well!
As it gets later the street gets more crowded.
Probably my favorite of the night is Bar Volapie. There are many choices to eat but the specialty is the peel and eat prawns. I enjoyed my prawns and wine.
The crowd keeps getting thicker and I keep getting fuller so it is time to go back to my room. What a great night!
My cute little room
I definitely recommend Logroño as a stop in the region.
Logroño and the Rioja region are beautiful. I regret not spending more time in the region. It deserves multiple days at least.
Logroño is a charming town in the middle of Rioja. It is part of the greater Camino de Santiago (French route) as you can see with all the hikers with their muscular legs and huge backpacks walking all over town. It is a hike I may do some day but definitely not this trip. Only day hikes for me for now!
Today I leave Bilbao for the road trip portion of my Spain journey. I take the airport bus back to the airport to pick up my reserved rental car. This is my first rental car experience in a foreign country in 12 years. Last time I at least had companions to navigate or share the driving; but not this time, this time I am on my own.
I am talked into upgrading my car. I can only can drive automatic (I blame my mom who had no patience while I stalled her manual car) so I am limited in choices. In Europe automatic cars are rented at a premium and are often bigger than the manual transmission cars (which is a big disadvantage on tight narrow streets).
It is big car or big fancy car with navigation system. I agree to the upgrade with a navigation system and it was the best decision I could have made. I had no co-pilot, how was I ever going to read a map while I was driving?
The car must have come from France because only French locations were programmed in and it took me 20 minutes to get it to Spain mode.
Look at this fancy thing. I hope I don’t injure it.
The navigation was a great idea however navigation system missed telling me about an exit at some point? Didn’t notice until I stopped for a soda and snack. Luckily I get back on track.
I am heading to Logroño today for my visit to the Rioja region. Things go smoothly until I casually miss another turn.
The GPS reroutes me up a mountain route through an old town with a road that keeps get getting narrower and narrower until it gets to the point where really only one car can fit on it. I feel like I am on a bike trail. I also feel like the car will fall off the road at some points if I have to yield to a car coming in opposite direction.
Ended up down increasingly narrow road.
The drive causes a little anxiety for me because I am a little scared I am going the wrong way but eventually I stop to appreciate the pretty sunflowers and small towns I see. It is a rural view I would not have gotten if I didn’t take the wrong turn.
I go up a mountain and down a mountain. Luckily the car can handle it all.
I get a beautiful view of valley and the wine country
I eventually pass La Guardia small town. I want to stop but I really want to get to my lodging and relax. Why did I only schedule one day in this region? I know better than that.
I am happy when I finally arrive and find a great spot to park my car overnight in an underground garage. It is not clear how to pay yet but hopefully my car will be there when I leave the next day 🙂
Growing With Leala 