Northern Spain

TRAVEL DIARY

- Thursday 28.07.88

Departure from Milan at 9 pm. We take the Milan-Turin motorway, then the Turin ring road and the Frejus tunnel. Having passed the tunnel and the border at 1 am, we decide to spend the night on the motorway with a night view over Modane.

- Friday 29.07.88 Departure from Modane at 8; we realise we've forgotten the camera at home, so we'll have to buy a new one as soon as possible. We take the road to Chambery, then the motorway to Grenoble and the road to Valance, where we arrive around 12.30 and have lunch. We set off again on the motorway as far as Carcassonne. At Carcassonne we visit the medieval city and buy the disposable camera. We take the motorway again to Toulouse, then St Gaudens and on to Tarbes, where, given the time, we decide to spend the night in a lay-by.

- Saturday 30.07.88

We leave Tarbes, covering the last kilometres towards Spain still on the motorway. The Spanish border at 1 pm is busy and we find a long queue. We therefore decide to stop at Laredo and take a walk on the beach; we collect some sand. Towards evening we arrive at Santillana del Mar, where we find a campsite. We've come all this way for the ALTAMIRA CAVES, which we'd like to visit the following day. In the evening we take a stroll around the village.

- Sunday 31.07.88

The Altamira Caves are about 3 kilometres away; we decide to reach them on foot, but they can't be visited in order to preserve them; instead, films are shown and we visit some caves with stalactites. We buy a book about the frescoes. In Santillana we visit the village and do some shopping: my sister buys a Ramirez guitar while my mother buys some porcelain as a gift. We also taste a fantastic homemade sponge cake. We visit a museum of costumes and tools; the houses are stone on the outside with interiors entirely in wood. In Santillana they've made a monument to the bison in honour of the man of Altamira.

- Monday 01.08.88

We leave the campsite of Santillana (2 nights = 2925 Pts). We continue towards Oviedo in Asturias; the houses are in wood resting on stones or logs. The road is scenic but slow. We have lunch at Ribadesella with a sea view, and at 5 pm we are at Ribadeo, a fjord. We decide to go to the beach.

- Tuesday 02.08.88

Departure from Ribadeo (campsite 900 Pts). At Bertanzos a stop to visit the church; the cellars are also open to the public and promotions and events are under way. In La Coruna we visit the port. We then visit Santiago de Compostela, a bit disappointing: only the main square of the Cathedral is beautiful. We cross the Vigo area: this area is terribly populated. At Tuy we enter Portugal from Valenca do Minho, and at Viana do Castelo we stop to sleep in a campsite.