Lollygagging to Comillas

San Vicente de la Barquera to Comillas
14km, 240 m

No alarm, no rush, not many kms. Off I went at about 8, and though almost every km was on asphalt, it was a nice walk on a pedestrian path.

The snow-covered Picos are now out of view, and I got to Comillas with plenty of time to see the things I’ve never visited despite several stops here on the Norte.

Gaudi’s El Capricho house is the most famous attraction, but there were plenty of other things to fill my afternoon.

I walked out to the beach, enjoyed the old town, visited the neo-gothic palace of Sobrellano and its adjacent faux-gothic church, and found the Casa del Duque, which looks like the Adams Family lived there.

This town was, in the mid 1800s, a sleepy village of 300 farmers and cattle ranchers. Then some of the town’s young men went to the Americas and made their fortunes. A building boom resulted and the young Gaudí did work on several of these projects. The over the top palace was built as a summer home, with a church next door for the family’s graves.

Comillas is now pretty touristy, and the Camino isn’t really cultivated here. I think the more up market tourist trade is what they’re after. But I had a good time here.Read more