The Camino

A day of travel and fun in the sun. Car with driver (thanks to Bea) pick up the 4 of us in Bilbao and set off for Pamplona via San Sebastian. A beautiful, warm Spring day with a cloudless sky. The area had a long, wet,cold winter and Spring just started for them a couple days ago. We are so very lucky with the weather.

Arrived San Sebastian, a lovely city on the Atlantic Coast in the Basque region of Spain near the border with France. Primarily known as a "foodie" city with beautiful beaches and an historic old town. Anthony Bourdain claims that San Sebastian has more Michelin star restaurants per capita than any city in the world. Amazing!!

We spent our 4 hours, walking the old town with the usual array of shops, bars and restaurants. Coffee/tea and diet coke in a piazza between the old and new city. Next task was to figure out where to have lunch !! Settled on a TA recommendation, the Sport Bar. Pintxos AKA tapas, are the local cuisine for almost all meals. We enjoyed a wide variety of different flavors including anchovies, sweetbreads, foie gras, salmon, potatoes, calimari stuffed with crab and others I can't remember. Of course along with beer/sangria and diet coke. A walk on the beach and feet in the water of the Atlantic for Illene and Kay and a ride on the Carousel for Bea, Illene and Kay- Ibby the recorder.

Off to Pamplona to meet our driver for our self guided tour who took us to our final destination for the day of Roncesvalles, Sp. A picturesque, tiny town that is the first major stop in Spain for the Camino walk. We are lucky with our driver as he is also a guide for some of the Country Walkers tours in this area, thus highly knowledgeable. Had our orientation to determine when we will start in the AM and where he will pick us up and other trip details. Tomorrow is 7.2 miles and mostly downhill.

A walk in the area before dinner and then a very good dinner at our Hotel Roncesvalles and then to our rooms to prepare for our first day on the Camino. Stay tuned. Kay

Miles: 6.1Read more