We started booking this trip many moons ago and, at that time, we obviously thought 30 hours on a ferry was an acceptable duration. But in the cold light of a week to go, the reality hits and we decide on a last minute reschedule, moving our departure date by a couple of days and changing our departure port from Portsmouth to Plymouth. Instead of arriving in to Bilbao we will now arrive into Santander and the crossing will take around 20 hours. It’s a more expensive route, but it’s a compromise we are willing to make to save ourselves 10 hours. As it turns out, this was an excellent shout as Beck turns a shade of sage within the first couple of hours and spends most of the rest of the journey laid out in the cabin as the Bay of Biscay does its worst. But before any of this we take a ‘short’ detour to Falmouth to stay with Beth & Bobby. This is mainly so that, as we leave we can say “see you in Barcelona!”, much the same way that Bobby told us, “see you in Switzerland!” last time we went to stay. It’s becoming a habit! We spend a lovely evening catching up with the Falmouth clan at the Working Boat pub, which is below the Greenbank Hotel where Bobby is working as head chef. The upshot of this is that we keep getting little tasters of scallops and the new house dessert sent our way from upstairs. All are fabulous! We also find out about Jack having been selected to play for Cornwall at Rugby and debuting only two nights later (he smashed it, staying on for the full 80 minutes and the team winning 24:12). What a talented bunch!
Back on the ferry, and the morning brings much calmer seas. Beck manages to rouse herself from her sick bed to take a walk around the deck and we are immediately treated to multiple sightings of dolphins. We dock around midday and opt to take a walk on the beach at Santander complete with ice cream, rather than immediately swapping seas for road.
Having rid ourselves of the sea legs, we hit the road for Zaragoza and our impromptu extra nights brought about by the change of ferry. En route we realise that where the UK has had the snowy Beast from the East, Spain seems to have been deluged with rain, with rivers bulging and flooding commonplace. Zaragoza itself is Spain’s fifth biggest city, but it feels compact and friendly. Our hotel, Hotel Sauce (yes we did book it because of the name), is well located in the centre. The car park is not for the faint hearted but Ben shoehorns the Mazda in place and we set out to find the tapas area recommended by the hotel.
Zaragoza may not have made our first ‘cut’ of places to stay, but we enjoy a pleasant couple of days, running along the river first thing when it’s cool and then mooching around the town until late lunch calls around 1.30pm. We quickly discover the Menu del Dias as a good way to eat at a reasonable price; 12-14 euros per person usually including three courses, bread, water and ½ bottle of wine. This ensures that we don’t need anything else until around 9pm when tapas calls. We marvel at how places over here can afford to offer such reasonable menus when a similar meal in the UK would cost upwards of £25 a head.
Never let it be said, however, that the Mc’s stick to only the typical tourist activities whilst away. On this trip, we decided that a perfect way to get to know the real Spain would be to get the air conditioning on the Mazda re-gassed. As it turns out, Zaragozan mechanics are well versed in the use of Google translate and so we huddle over the computer keyboard, conversing via typing questions and responses in our respective languages. All in all, a very successful (and cooling) outing.
As our time in Zaragoza draws to a close, we pick up our original itinerary and head for the first Parador of our Parador tour, in Cardona. We’re very glad to have broken this part of the journey down, rather than tackling the six hour drive in one go, straight off a 30 hour ferry journey. Lunch is taken in Tiurana, a tiny hamlet of 76 people perched on a hill with stunning views and a restaurant that, on a Wednesday afternoon, still manages to feed us cannelloni stuffed with meat ragu and smothered in bechamel, salt baked salmon and green salad, finished off with caramel yogurt and nuts, all for about a tenner each!