Dawn

Dawn

Monday, June 13, 2016

The Coastal Camino Reviewed.

In contrast with the Primitivo camino of a month ago, this one was very enjoyable, with only one real low-light - the kilometre-long walk up a steep hill to our hotel on the hill south of Ribadesella.

Highlights included all the people we dealt with (save the surly waiter in Ribadesella); the good/excellent food we had almost everywhere (is it any surprise that I gained weight again?); the lovely verdant scenery, especially the Picos de Europa; the views of the sea and the beaches above Cué and Llanes; and the various weddings in Oviedo.

Of the villages/town/cities we visited, Santiallana del Mar, Villaviciosa and Oviedo stand out. Gijón doesn't, nice as the urban beaches and their hinterland must be in summer. Of the walking, day 2 - Santiallana del Mar to Comillas - was the best, followed by the last - Peón to Gijón. Adequate time for seeing the good places should be included in your schedule for this camino.

Perhaps the best treatment we received was in the Avenida Real Hotel in Villaviciosa, where the lovely Rocío proved most pleasant and helpful. And where you get a chit for a large free breakfast in the delightful nearby Café Vicente. The rooms are comfortable and pleasantly quirky, and the showers terrific.

A word of advice for those planning to stay in hostals and pensions - take a (lightweight, quick-drying) towel. Those in these cheaper places can be close to useless. Or at least very harsh. This applies to any camino, I'm sure. If you're going to stay in albergues, one of these is essential anyway.

It wasn't exactly a low-light, thank god, but I did notice that the bus taking us up and down the huge hill between Ribadesella and Peón - via a very long and winding road - had a stack of sick-bags hanging by the door.

Again not a complaint but we were surprised to see the tapas bar in Comillas closing around us at only 10 in the evening, though it was a Sunday and the waitress explained that customers were muy poco. The regulars, though, were well established at the bar and we doubted that all the staff would get home early that night.

Food note 1: This restaurant we ate in in Andrín, just before Llanes, really impressed us. So, we were surprised to see reviews of Poor and even Terrible, on Tripadvisor.  I suspect the latter complaints were more to do with quantity than quality. Equally surprising was the number of Spanish complaints that the large continental breakfast in the hotel on the Sardalla hill didn't offer meat and/or embutidos for €5.50. But one man's meat . . . .

Food note 2: Worth a mention is the 'famous' corbata pastry of Unquera, which I found delicious. Here's one recipe in English, though it's lacking the anis I thought they contained. As does this one in Spanish. So, I must be wrong.

As for the wedding fotos in Oviedo, not only did one elegant woman pull in a friend but also took a baby into her arms. I commented to my colleague that I'd probably be arrested in the UK for taking a foto of the latter, to which she replied I'd at least have to apply for confirmation from the police I wasn't a pedophile  . . .

Finally . . .  Here's a T-shirt seen outside a shop in Oviedo, for all you left-handers out there:


No comments: