Spain Road Trip Travel Diary Part Two

5.1. 20:05
Tonight was horrible. Unfortunately, I was only able to sleep for about two hours. This was due to the fact that the room in my accommodation was right next to the stairs, and every time someone walked up and down the stairs, it woke me up, and even when people spoke outside of the room, I heard it like it were right next to me. I used earplugs, but still I heard everything. So my night was pretty bad and you know Spaniards, they stay up very long, very late. At 3:30, after they woke me up for about the hundredth time, I went outside my room and asked them to be quiet because I would like to sleep. They apologised and told me that they would be quiet now but they kept on doing their stuff for another 15 minutes. And then finally around 4, it got quiet, but I was already so awake. I couldn’t sleep until 5 AM. I had to wake up at about 7:30 because I had to tell the hotel staff the day before what time I would like to have my breakfast which I put at between 8 and 8:30. Had I known what night would lay ahead of me, I would have put a later hour, obviously. But I couldn’t change it anymore, so I had to wake up, and get my breakfast. Afterwards, I continued my journey to my next stop, a lookout point that I saw on Google Maps, which was about 30 minutes outside of Bilbao, where I would spend the night. Honestly, I went there with really not a lot of expectations, and it turned out that this was almost like a small little island and it was like a hiking tour. It was about two hours, maybe a little less, and actually it reminded me a lot on Tasmania, and also a little bit on Iceland. It was so beautiful, so breathtaking, so stunning.

It was a little bit exhausting, but to be honest with you, I’ve had more exhausting hikes in my life. There were a lot of people, and you had to pay €3.50 for the parking, because there’s only about 10 free parking spaces, and they’re all taken. I’m glad I went in Winter because I cannot imagine what it would be like in Summer. I’ve spend a lot of time there.

Once I left, I already had 7000 steps and I was pretty exhausted, but I went on to Bilbao. I parked my car at my accommodation and then went to the city centre. I’m not going to lie, this is the first place that is a little disappointing. Usually I do not have any expectations. But now, when I was in San Sebastian, I really thought that Bilbao would be very similar because it’s very close, but that’s not the case at all. In fact, this is the most underwhelming place of my stops so far, and I can definitely say if you miss out on Bilbao, you did not really miss out. You don’t have to see it. It’s super boring. It’s really just nothing special. There’s not even anything to see. There’s the Guggenheim museum. But I mean, I’ve never heard of Guggenheim before I went to Bilbao, and I don’t know, there’s literally nothing. There’s like the Old Town but again, very underwhelming. Any other place I’ve been was way cooler than Bilbao. I’m super surprised. So far, Bilbao is the most boring place I’ve seen in Spain. So I didn’t spend a lot of time there, I went back to the accommodation because I was also very very tired and I’m probably gonna go to bed early today and then leave tomorrow for my next stop: Gijón.

6.1. 19:39
Where do I start? Today was incredible! It will be hard to put into words but I’ll try my best anyway. I woke up around 8. I didn’t sleep too well. I woke up twice at night. Usually, I don’t wake up during the night, but it was still better than the night before. When I woke up, the weather was really bad. It was raining, it was all grey. I cannot believe how lucky I was that arrived in Bilbao the day before when it was still sunny. So I had breakfast and then I decided to leave an hour earlier than I planned. Because I had that extra time, I looked up what places would be on my way to Gijón, and I saw this place called Santander. I decided to stop there and this was the best decision of the whole road trip I’d say, because once I arrived, I could not believe what I was seeing. This was incredible.

I don’t know how to explain how beautiful it was there. There were cliffs, there was the beach, there were hills, there was the sea. The weather was nice enough. It had this beautiful park right next to the sea, where you could look around everything. I took a lot of pictures and videos. I could not believe how lucky I was that I get to see this.

It reminded me a lot on Australia and actually even though I was very little when I was in Ireland, remembering some pictures I’ve seen, I think this could be very similar to Ireland. I was just standing there staring into the waves and thinking why the hell did I move to Valencia? The north of Spain is so much more beautiful than the south. I cannot believe that everybody only goes to Barcelona, Valencia and the southern coast all the way down to Málaga, but they do not go to the north. But it’s so pretty, it’s incredible. There’s so much greenery, there’s forests, there’s trees, it’s just unimaginably beautiful here.

Anyway, after I took a longer stop than I intended to in Santander because it was just so beautiful, I went on. But I still had a time left, so I also stopped at a second place called Comillas. And again, it was very beautiful.

It had similar vibes, but it also had this beautiful huge beach that you could walk on and be right next to the waves. It was incredible. I can only repeat myself. I can only post pictures here and you can take a look for yourself. But as you know, a picture will never be as good as the reality.

So you can imagine how beautiful it was there as well and then finally, I continued my journey to Gijón. On the way, though, I saw an interesting place where I saw a lot of boats, but there was no water underneath, it looked like everything dried out. So I stopped there for a few minutes to take a better look. And I was really surprised. I looked it up online, but it said that it was normal in the morning for the water to be this low because of the ebb, and then when the flow comes, the boats would have the water underneath.

So just another interesting side stop that I did before I finally arrived in Gijón. This is the only place where I had the accommodation right at the city center and I was lucky enough to arrive on a public holiday which meant there’s less traffic than usually. Tomorrow I have to leave very early because I have to work, so I intend to arrive before I have to start to work at the next accommodation. Anyway, I arrived in Gijón, I entered the parking garage, which was a little bit tricky. I honestly hate to drive in city centers, even though it was a public holiday, there wasn’t s a lot of traffic, but it was still annoying because there’s a lot of one-way-streets, tiny alleyways and pedestrians. In general, it’s just more complicated. So this will also be the last time that I book myself an accommodation in the city center when I go by car. It’s just so much more comfortable to have it a little outside. After I checked in, I went to explore Gijón and once again, it’s really beautiful here.

All these areas appear to be very similar. I’m so happy that I decided to come here because originally I was only meant to go to San Sebastian and Bilbao nd then go back to the Madrid area. But because I had enough time, I planned it like this. And I’m so glad I did, because it’s so beautiful here. I just cannot find any other word for it.

Tomorrow comes my next stop León, but I guess I’m not going to have enough time to explore everything, because I have to work. That’s why I’ll be staying two nights there. So I get to have a little bit more time there.



7.1. 21:48
Today I had to wake up early because I had to work, and my plan was to arrive at the new accommodation in the next place León before I start work at 9 and it was about a two hour drive. I left the hotel in Gijón at 6. My plan was to leave at 6:30 actually, but then I woke up early before my alarm. So I decided to leave earlier, and it ended up being a good idea because one thing I didn’t anticipate was that it started to snow about 30 minutes in.

First, I made a little stop on the way. I thought I have enough time, maybe I can see something, but it was so dark it was still like night and so I couldn’t see anything. And that’s why I decided to just have a little breakfast at a restaurant on the way. Then I continued the drive, and by that time the GPS said I would arrive around 20 or 15 minutes before I had to start to work. I was a little unsure about the summer tyres on the rental car, but I talked it through with ChatGPT and usually as long as the road is not full with snow, it’s fine. And it was, I even had to go up a mountain, I actually felt like I was in Austria, I was a little bit sad. Like I’m in Spain, and it’s snowing. And I’m going through mountains and there’s trucks putting stones on the streets so that it’s not slippery.

Anyway, I was driving really slow. I was driving cautious because you know, I rather arrive late than never. That was my drive to León. I actually arrived about five minutes before I had to start work. And the good thing is that I researched the day before where I could park, because the hotel offered parking, but only for €20 a day, and I was going to stay two days, and I didn’t want to pay €40 for the parking. And so I parked my car on a free parking lot nearby, it was only seven minutes walking distance. I actually ended up staying in the car to start working because my laptop was fully charged, and I thought like, you know, I don’t wanna arrive at the hotel at like 9 and tell them here I am. So I decided to work in the car, and I thought maybe I go there at 10 to just drop my stuff and continue working in the hotel. But actually it was quite alright at the car, so I stayed there until about 11:30. Then I finally went to the hotel, and  this was the best decision because then the receptionist said that the room was already ready, so they let me check-in basically more than three hours before the official check-in time. And I was so happy. I was really really happy because it’s obviously way more comfortable in the room and honestly I was also excited that I’d be staying two nights, just because it’s nice to not have to check out at 12 the next day. I specifically booked it like that because I knew I had to work, and it’s really nice to not have to pack up your things and think where you can stop for work. I really enjoyed that. On the downside I also started a new online course. The time between finishing work and starting the course is just one hour. That’s all I had here today, so I used that time to get in some steps, and to get some fresh air. But obviously I wasn’t able to explore the city yet. Tomorrow I have the course again, but I’ll finish work earlier, so I should be able to get around a little bit. And then there’s just two cities left on my journey before I go back to València, which is a little bit sad. But I’m also a little bit excited to go back to pack up my stuff again because next week I will move to Gandía and I’m really excited for that to be honest. But I know there’s a busy week ahead of me with packing everything, and sorting everything out. So that’s the update for today.


8.1. 21:36
Today I had to work again, but afterwards I explored León a bit. It has a few cool buildings, but honestly nothing that blows my mind. The most impressive one was the Casa Botines, also known as the Dracula house, designed by Gaudí.

I only had one and a half hours before my online course started, but I felt like it was enough for this city. Tomorrow my plan was to go to Valladolid and Salamanca, but after a phone call with my mum, I decided to add a stop in Burgos. I can’t believe that these will be my last stops before València!