Back to Spain.
From Segovia we drove to El Burgo de Osma which is a couple of hours north of Madrid in Castilla y Leon province. The Lonely Planet describes El Bugro de Osma as a small town of about 5000 people "infused with an air of decaying elegance", obviously we had to see this.
We stayed in a small hotel called Posada del Canonigo just down from the town's 12th century Catedral which is a bit higgledypiggledy in architectural design. It started out as a Romanesque building, was then continued in the Gothic style and has a big baroque tower on top. Odd but pretty.
We spent the evening in Plaza Mayor, drinking, people watching and eating a not quite cooked burger. The Plaza is where the action happens, dinner is consumed late into the evening and all the kids play games in the centre of the square. The charming thing about this town was how relaxed everyone was. In the plaza there is a line of benches under two rows of trees and all the oldies sit with their canes (an oldie isn't complete without their cane) and they people watch all evening. What a wonderful life.
The next day we made our way to the Canyon del Rio Lobos just north of El Burgo. We were determined to see some birds of prey that the Canyon is known for. After getting some instructions from the park officer, we wandered off still unsure of where to go. The great thing about Spanish people who don't speak English is that they will explain whatever it is in Spanish anyway, and gesticulate, point and mime a lot. Most of the time you still don't know what's going on but you agree to whatever it is anyway. This park officers mime of driving and walking were very similar so we were lucky to make it into the Canyon at all.
The walk was beautiful! We walked up to the edge of the Canyon and tried to spot some vultures, then we wandered down into the Canyon itself and along the Rio Lobos. Right at the end is a small hermitage the Ermita de San Bartolome. This particular building was built in the 13th century which is marked by the architectural transition from Romanesque to Gothic. Legend says that this Ermita's location is because when the apostle Santiago (James) was riding along the top of the canyon, he jumped off one of the cliffs and where his sword struck was the site where the present church of San Bartolo was to be made. Just across the river from the Ermita is a huge limestone cave. We aren't sure how far back it goes as there were a lot of people scrambling about in the dark up there.
We then walked back along the river and came across a miracle! It was a sign, a sign that all our catedral visits (mostly to admire the architecture) and attempts not to run over pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostella was paying off. There was a restaurant about 1km from the end of our walk at the bottom of the canyon. We were ushered in by the middle aged little Spanish lady who explained the Spanish menu to us in Spanish and tried to teach me how to count. She then fed us the best roasted pork ribs in the world, roast chicken, salad and potatoes. I think Jochen had a religious experience eating the pork ribs and has not been the same since. After stuffing ourselves to the brim we were asked by a male waiter if we would like dessert. We poked out our bellies and politely refused. Apparently in this particular restaurant 'no' is not an option. We were then set upon by the middle aged little Spanish lady again, who with a sparkle in her eye, convinced Jochen that we must eat more. She then brought us a caramel wobbly slice dessert. After many thank you's and Jochen professing his love for the middle aged Spanish lady (who he is still intent on marrying), we rolled out the door to slowly waddle the last kilometre of the walk (needless to say we didn't eat dinner that night). And after the entire trip that meal was still rated as the best!
On the way back to El Burgo from the Canyon we managed to get lost trying to get to Castillo de Osma (I think). Basically it was the first castle ruins I've seen and it was exciting. If it was Castillo de Osma it was built in the 10th century, it's fairly overgrown but the inner and outer walls still stand along with the tower. What also amazes me is that the finer stone work of the architraves around the windows is still intact, especially since the castle is on such a windy hill. Anyway I can now check castle ruins off my list! It even had an outback dunny!
Monday saw us heading to San Sebastian, I've put a couple of car photos of this drive in but it doesn't do it justice. This was one of the most beautiful legs of driving that we did. The landscape transformed from dry, brown countryside to green luscious mountains and small villages set in the hills. The gradual change from dry to wet ended in great beaches and the coastal city of San Sebastian. The city is full of one way streets where the incline was a "hope your handbrake works" deal and no parking to be found unless it was on a street you couldn't turn into. Apart from that, I wish we had more time in this place as there was lots of shopping to be done in the old part of the city and lots of crowded beach time to be had. We spent the rest of our day shopping, drinking beer and wishing we (I mean I) were closer to the handsome guitarist (along with the rest of the female population already staring at him) and enjoying beautiful sunsets eating huge ice creams with my dairy intolerant boyfriend. A lovely way to finish our 'couples only' part of the trip. Party times were ahead when we stopped in Santander to pick up a couple of wayward Aussies......
Our destination was Skryllegården near Södra Sandby (just up the road), which is a nature reserve with walking tracks through it. The forests are full of poplar trees, oaks and pines which are beautiful in the autumn as all the leaves turn. Luckily it was a sunny day for us and we had our picnic of Vietnamese fresh spring rolls and Sam's garden salad (all yummy things from Sam's garden, except the turkey). We walked and walked and took many many pictures of mushrooms, moss and trees. Then we got slightly lost. I guess we weren't on the loop track that we thought we were on. Oops. But we made it back in the end, it seems that nothing ate our trail of breadcrumbs after all. Overall it was a lovely day and I thought you might appreciate seeing some of the 'bush'!