Cudillero

Cudillero is a tourist hotspot. This is evident from the large car park to the west of the village so that only essential vehicles are allowed in the village.

The first sight is of the enclosed harbour so not very photogenic.

It gets better as you turn towards the east.

Mustn't forget to advertise the name of the village.

After that it's a short walk to the main Plaza de la Marina.

Our guide is on the far left, giving some instructions over the PA.

No doubt visitors outnumber locals during daylight hours.

This mural is in front of the steps up the  Casa Consistorial (Town Hall).

Which is this.

A map showing the routes to the elevated vantage points for the village.

At this point I got lunch at a restaurant before deciding on one of the walks.

After threading my way through narrow paths going past people's houses this is the view I got.

A sea of tiled roofs. I think the camera had difficulty joining the horizon.

This one is a little better.

I had just enough time to take another walk to another viewpoint overlooking the harbour.

The lighthouse at the point.

A wide view.

Walking back to the bus.

The enclosed harbour at the start looks better with the tide coming in.

My interest in EV chargers again.

And then it was off to our final destination for the day. 

 

Castro Urdiales

I had decided to visit Castro Urdiales on a weekday to avoid the weekend crowds. Besides the bus services were more frequent on weekdays.

I caught the tram to the Intermodal Station. Hitherto I had not seen the outside of the station because I had changed from bus to metro inside the station the day before. The bright red facade is attractive.

Castro Urdiales is only about 30 minutes away by bus, but it's right on the eastern edge of the next Spanish community, Cantabria. Being a seaside town, the major industry involves fishing and packing of sardines and anchovies, and of course tourism. It is one of those "charming little seaside towns" that attract daytrippers. Like me.

The bus dropped me near the old city with narrow streets.

A short walk took me to the seafront with the holiday hotels.

And the harbour.

Looking towards the east with the hilly coastline.

A telephoto shot of Iglesia de Santa María de la Asunción (page in Spanish) and the Castilo Faro de Santa Ana (page in Spanish) which we will see more of later.

A panorama of the seafront.

The Ayuntamiento (Town Hall).

The aforementioned church. Positively glows in the clear sunshine.

A view of the harbour from there.

And of the rocky headland.

A marina of boats.

A panorama taking in the breakwater.

By now it was time for lunch so I picked a restaurant offering a seafood meal. This is the starter soup which was very tasty.

The main course of fish was also good but the fish had a lot of bones and I spent a lot of time picking them out.

I took another picture of a narrow street. I probably had an afternoon coffee before catching the bus back to Bilbao. And the was the end of a day trip to a charming little seaside town. I saw some postcards of Castro Urdiales by night. In fact I got one from the tourist office that I scanned and turned into an e-postcard. It made me wish I had scheduled a night here.

There are no more pictures for the day, so I guess there wasn't much that caught my eye the rest of the day. 

San Sebastian by day

So, the first of a couple of full days in San Sebastian. I must have had some breakfast cereal in the hostel kitchen before venturing out. It was a sunny morning but a bit chilly as you can see from the street thermometer showing 12°C.

San Martin Merkatua is a shopping centre, and there is a produce market in the basement.

It was small but seemed to have the full complement of shop types.

Must have seafood of course.

I liked this giant pumpkin. I guess most people would buy a section of it.

At the beachfront, pigeons were warming up.

A beautiful azure day.

Tide was out, providing a canvas for sand artists.

Detail of one design.

The whole scene.

Igueldo, marking the western end of La Concha. I walked up the last visit and didn't take the funicular.

The ayuntamiento or city hall.

I would be attending a film screening in the evening in the San Sebastián International Film Festival. I noticed that it was on during my visit so I bought a ticket for one of the films. At last I can say that I've visited this prestigious festival.

The statue of Christ on top of Urgull in a telephoto shot.

A view of La Concha from the old town harbour.

On the way back to the centre of the beach, the political slogans in the sand.

London again, by day. The hotel that is.

A familiar saying rendered in Spanish: Life is too short to drink bad coffee. 👍

There is a gap of about 2 hours to this picture of my lunch. I seem to remember I shopped in a centre and bought some music CDs.

What looks like noodles in my salad are gulas. They are an ersatz version of the real thing, angulas, baby eels. The latter are so rare, expensive (think thousands of dollars per kg), and seasonal that a substitute was developed which allows gulas to be served in an ordinary lunch. It's made of the same stuff as surimi.

Next episode will be after siesta.