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Zumaia Geopark - an incredible place to explore

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 Luckily for me I am not keen on big, bustling cities and I also have wonderful friends in Switzerland who recommend incredible places to me. When I mentioned Zumaia to Spanish friends, they hadn’t heard of it. Amazingly, because it will undoubtedly be one of the biggest highlights of this trip. It was a day with a Wow factor! And it was easily done by a slow but comfortable train from near my hostel, which wound around the area just inland from the coast. Pretty scenery but not giving me any clues as to what was to come.  When you arrive at Zumaia, you still have no idea what lies ahead. Fortunately, the wind of a few days ago, which had caused them to cancel boat trips, had died down, and it was a calm, perfect day. I took the little boat from just in front of the town. Only 25 on the boat plus a highly well versed, animated guide, whose commentary i could fortunately follow without a translator, making it much more enjoyable.  Zumaia geopark is a Unesco site, as well i...
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San Sebastián and Hondarribia

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 So, off I went on my own. It seemed rather strange but the advantage is that you tend to make new contacts, and that’s exactly what happened on the train trip from Burgos, where Dennis dropped me off, to San Sebastián. I sat next to a very friendly lady, Catalina, and we chatted in Spanish all the way. You will see her later in Burgos. A wonderful meeting! I had a great room in San Sebastián with a lovely balcony. I loved the patterns of the shadows the wrought iron cast. I decided to head to the seaside town of Honarribia, having read about it in guide book. It was a very significant place during the war, being across a river from France and on the coast. Thinking it was a fishing village, I was surprised to find the main old town on a hill, which sadly having climbed the hill in the heat, I found to have one of those great lifts. The view from the top, which I had walked up to, was sensational, with mountains in the distance and lush vegetation in the valleys. It was a captivati...
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Laguardia and in and out of the Basque Country (Euskadi) of La Rioja

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 The trip from Segovia to LaGuardia took us most of the day because there was plenty of spectacular scenery and interesting villages on the way.  As we crossed the Douro, we came across this beautiful village/ town below the red cliffs above it. I don’t remember the name of the town but there was a ‘mirador’ (lookout) with stunning views over the red-tiled rooves.. The road up to it started well but soon became narrow, leading past some fascinating cottages tucked into the cliffs. The next part of the journey was gorgeous, with rolling hills, lakes and such lush vegetation. The gorges we drove through were breathtakingly beautiful.  The few rays of sunshine breaking through the dark clouds lit up the rocky outcrops at the top. I’m sure it was hard for Dennis to keep his eyes on the road, although I must admit we didn’t see much traffic coming towards us, it so reminded me of New Zealand roads! We reached LaGuardia at 6 p.m. and were greeted warmly by the owner of our beau...
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