Llanes — final evening

I think I allocated one day too many to Llanes. Sure, the hotel was comfy; I had my own room, the scenery was pretty, the weather was good, and the town had enough choice in food and drink. But there are only so many times you can visit a vantage point. For the final evening, I revisited the area to the west. This is Playa de El Sablón again, with bathers and long shadows from the evening sun.

And more walkers too, on a weekday.

A few minutes later, up on the cliff coastal path.

Moving west.

Taking in the whole scene.

This time I walked further out to the headland.

From there I looked back on the cliff path.

And had this clear view of the coast far to the east.

I was in a paddock looking at a few rocky isles offshore. I recall I had to go through a narrow stone gate to reach here; it was to mark the end of the official cliff path; I was responsible for myself past that point.

Remnant of a wall probably. 

The town in evening light.

A panoramic view.

And that was the final evening in Llanes. Westward tomorrow! 

 

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.