N. Spain 22 days

I’m loving your report, I hope you will continue posting as you go!

Enjoying your report too!

Continuing:
We caught the train and headed to Santiago de Compestella (SDC) under cloudy skies ending our string of perfect sunny days. We walked to a descent hotel outside the historical center The afternoon was spent wandering the old town in an intermittent mist. The cathedral is quite impressive from the pilgrim packed Plaza Mayor. SDC was by far the busiest place we had been to but still quite pleasant. There were truly dozens of very appealing eateries with daily menus posted outside. We chose one at random and had a very nice dinner. The next day we did the complete tour of the cathedral, museum, crypt and other sights. Found another delightful cafe and finished the day with gelato and people watching.
The next day we picked up our car from Avis to begin the driving portion of our trip. The exit from SDC was about what you would expect with minimal (non zero) confusion/anxiety. We were heading through beautiful lush countryside to the coastal town of Rubideo. Rubideo is located at the mouth of a river with a beautiful harbor and estuary. In our two days here we went to the amazing Cathedrals beach fantastic cliff/rock formations and sandy beach at low tide. There are little villages like Rinlo along the coast and a lighthouse here and there. The coastal walking is great with many different trails. The perfect weather had returned!
We had planned on continuing along the coast but we had run into Spain's National Day aka Columbus Day. (no kidding)
All hotels were booked along the coast. Here we made lemonade out of lemons. We detoured up into Somiedo Reserve for two nights in the charming mountain town of Pola. We spent a full day hiking up the beautiful Valle de Lago to ,you guessed it, Lago de Valle. This is a beautiful glacial basin with the lake at the head. The hike up the Valle was through beautiful alpine pastures with cows with their bells on. We were enchanted. Had lunch at a cafe with jaw dropping views up the Valle. This was a very memorable stop on a very memorable trip. We wound up there totally by chance Viva Serendipity!
From Pola we continued on to Cangas de Onis(CDO) to get our first peak at the Picos de Europa(PDE). CDO was very busy still a holiday or just the weekend with great weather?
The next day we got on the shuttle bus to Covadonga and the Lagos de Covadonga. The bus reminded me of getting on the bus to Amalfi in Sorrento. we waited for three busses before boarding. Up an attention focusing road to the truly beautiful lakes. Hiked around and had a picnic lunch and caught the bus down...another 3 bus wait. Had planned on stopping in Covadonga on the way down but passed due to the crowds. I know this is heresy Covadonga is the birthplace of the Reconquest 'and there is a shrine and Pelyo but I just couldn't. First church I passed on this trip.
The next morning before leaving there was a cheese festival so we loaded up on the local product.

Continuing:
With the holiday and busy weekend over we headed back to the coast to Ribadesella a coastal town on the Sella River with a beautiful estuary that stretches for several miles inland. We settled in to the wonderful hotel Don Pepe, with full ocean views.
We could walk for a mile on the sand or the boardwalk. The town was an easy walk to shops and waterfront cafes. The big attraction for me here was the cave art at Tito Bastillo cave. Some of these cave paintings are over 15,000 years old. At Tito Bustillo you get to go inside the cave and see the actual art. We were in a guided group of 6 including ourselves. The guide was very kind and explained the art in what he felt was poor English. His English was fine of course and much appreciated. Thinking of these people going way down into a dark cave and painting by torch lite truly boggles the mind. This is as good as it gets for one who loves his art in situ.
We left Ribadesella and headed for Potes by way of Santinilla del Mare, pueblo eye candy. Potes is a small town, gateway to the Picos De Europa(PDE). We found a good hotel and the next day took the cable car at Fuente De up to the PDE. spectacular mountain scenery we live in the Sierra and this was great... massive rock walls. Hiked a few miles to a rifugio for lunch then hung out at altitude for the afternoon. When we got down I felt it was time for a nap in the car while Linda walked over to check out the Parador. We were ready to spend another night but the town was sold out. On the way out we visited the Monestary of Santo Toribio De Liebana where the big draw is the Lignum Crucis. That's right the true cross way out here i n the middle of nowhere.
We headed down to Leon for what turned out to be 4 nites. The town was nearly sold out but we pulled the rabbit out of the hat and got what could have been the last room in town as the rain came down. And a great room it was. Leon is full of sights, a great cathedral with an amazing cloister, Roman walls, a Gaudi palace and an insane Saturday bar scene with young people packed into a medievl barrio. A day trip to Astorga that was too short with another Gaudi building. We got our Covid test with just a minor hiccup, a great relief to get the negative result! Caught the train to Madrid and spent the last nite in the Ibis at MAD. No Airport shuttles due to Covid but the cab worked fine. Delta to Atlanta with an early pushback and lots of empty seats to spread out.
Loved It!

Thanks for writing, brad. I don’t know much about this part of Spain yet, but need to! It sounds like you didn’t make all your lodging reservations ahead of time - but just as you went.

We enjoyed our travels through this area. Santiago de Compostela is such a gem and the coastal towns are wonderful to explore as you described so well.

Mom

We had reservations for Salamanca and Zamora. We typically check ahead on booking to see if vacancies are tight and book accordingly. We use Booking to get a list of candidates before moving on without a reservation. Works well for us but we always travel off peak.

Brad, thank you for that awesome trip report. I never heard of a lot of these places and your writing really brought them to life.

Great report and gave me a lot of ideas. We have done Madrid, Barcelona, Toledo, Seville and Granada but no other areas of Spain.
How was the weather this time of the year. I am assuming that you went the beginning of October?

We’ve never driven overseas, was it easy to do and figure out the navigation? I’ve always booked all rooms ahead of time so impressed that you winged it with your hotels.

Mboggs1
Our dates were Sept 27-Oct 21. The weather was outstanding a little drizzely mist at SDC and a rainy nite in Leon.

This is my second Spain trip with a car. The driving is not intimidating at all. The roads are great with light traffic, we never even got on a toll road. Just remember NEVER drive into a big city.
As far as navigation we had a AAA Spain road map and Map.me on my Ipad. Never got lost. You can get to some really great places with a car. Brad

Thank you for the excellent trip report. May I ask where you stayed in Santiago? Would you recommend it?