Our first stop was in Tours (no pun intended), France. Here, we visited only two of the Loire Valley's countless chateaux--Chambord and Chenonceau. Chenonceau is the more interesting of the two, in my opinion, because its great hall is actually a bridge over the River Cher. We also stopped briefly at Clos Lucé, where Leonardo da Vinci spent the last three years of his life. Clearly, my guidebook was written before "The Da Vinci Code" was published, because it said that not many people know about Leonardo's last home. But, by the number of people lining up to get in, it was obvious that everything about his life has become popular.
I also had my first great French dinner in Tours. We've been to Paris several times, but I've never had a great French meal--African and Italian, yes, but not good French food. If you're ever in Tours, you have to eat at L'Devalière.
The second night of our tour was spent camping at Dune de Pyla, on the Atlantic coast near Bordeaux. I thought I had seen some big dunes at the Indiana Dunes and Warren Dunes in Michigan, but this dune makes those dunes look like babies. Dune de Pyla is three kilometers long! That's almost two miles. And the top of the dune was desolate. With the sand blowing against our legs, I felt like I was in the Sahara. The kids thought it was the end of the world as depicted in "Pirates of the Caribbean 3."
Our third night was spent in a new country, Spain. We camped at Covadanga, at the foot of the Picos de Europa. We had planned to drive up to Lake Enol, but only made it as far as the Mirador de la Reina, because we were low on gas. We thought we would go back into town for fuel, and then finish the drive. Unfortunately, we learned that they close the road from 10 AM to 8 PM to reduce traffic up to the lake. Only bus tours are allowed during the day. Smart! Not only does it reduce car traffic, but crowds too. I'm sure many people are like us, and say, "I'm not paying to take a bus when I have my own car." Instead, we visited a shrine to the Virgin of Covadanga built into the side of a cliff.
The next two nights were spent in Santiago de Compostela. This time we stayed in a hotel, one of the few on the Iberian Peninsula that allows dogs. Many German and French hotels welcome dogs, but Spanish and Portuguese hotels are not so pet-friendly.
In Santiago, we visited the pilgrimage church of St. James the Apostle, who supposedly is buried under the altar. Of course, Bob bought the boys walking sticks from the surrounding souvenir vendors, just to pretend that they walked the Camino de Santiago. We also found a great restaurant, Meia Pataca Meson, away from the touristy parts of Santiago, where Bob tried something that looked like tube worms, and before they were cooked, they would move in and out of their shells. They tasted great!
We made a side trip, while in Santiago, to the Rias Baixas, the Galician estuaries west of Santiago. Specifically, we visited Porto do Son, a fishing village on the Ria de Muros e Noia, and Castro de Baroña, a 2000- or 4000-year old (depending on the source) Celtic ruin. We noticed that the price of food and beer in the Rias was about half that of Santiago.
Coming Soon! Part II--Portugal
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