Pilgrims' hostel, Comillas

I hadn't realised until today that Comillas, in Cantabria, where we are holidaying, is on the Camino de Santiago. In fact, I hadn't realised much at all, and am quite glad that I picked up a guidebook to Northern Spain at the airport yesterday.

Our hotel is lovely, with genial hosts and temperamental wifi. So we log on in the bar. This morning we had a walk around town. Our aim had been to walk down to the beach, but it wasn't beach weather:  grey and windy. So we picked up a map and strolled around the steep streets. Nothing is very far away, apart from TML's hotel, she and Immy are coming on Tuesday! This is where she might need the car...


I"m blipping this for her, as she walked the Camino de Santiago (but did some parts by train, owing to time restrictions) in 2009, with some friends from Bahrain. You can see the pilgrims, who look very young and fit, doing their stretches outside the hostel. The sign, which you can just see, tells how many km it is to Rome, Jerusalem, Santiago de Compostela, and another place in Spain I hadn't heard of. 

We decided to have a blow out lunch, from a seafood menu of the day, at a cheap and cheerful cafe called the Albatros. After that, it was inevitable that we should go back to the hotel for a snooze. Particularly as we'd been on the red wine. I'd forgotten about 'tinto con casero' . Red wine and lemonade, because I haven't been back to Spain since 1984. Why ever not, I now wonder?

This town itself reminds me of Dinan, in Normandy, and somewhere in the Alps. There are many stone buildings with overhanging wooden balconies with gaily coloured potted geraniums and other flowers. We are close to the Picos de Europa national park and hope to visit a picturesque little town on Monday. Right now, we are still adjusting to life, and being free from daily trouble and strife. There are some exceptional architectural buildings here, including some by Gaudi, but we haven't actually been to visit any as yet. The Capricho is on my list though. It looks highly eccentric.