bay of biscay and galicia ::: part I

biarritz


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the rocket queen headed north once again. this time, the plan was to ride along the northern coast of spain, from san sebastian and ending up in galicia for a very good friend´s birthday party. as usual, the start and finishing points were both madrid, so i will skip writting about the madrid - san sebastian and vigo - madrid parts of the trip since i have written about them before.

the initial idea for this tour, was to combine mountains and beach for the summer holidays, starting with baqueira in the pyrinees, near barcelona and riding to the basque country. Of course, reality ended up being nothing like what we had planned.

we started our trip in san sebastian where we spent a few days in the jazz festival combined with a little riding along the coast and across the no longer existing border, to france.

heineken 45 jazzaldia

while in san sebastian, most tourists end up in the old part and around the port. this is something you must do if you have never been in the most beautiful city in spain, but dont think there is not much out in other areas.

boneless wings @ narru

for me the great discovery this time was narru. fantastic pintxos for a quite reasonable price, which unfortunately is the downside to eating in the basque region (it gets quite pricey). you will see, once you go in, everyone orders the house specialty for a good reason. you cant leave without trying the boneless chicken wings. everything we tried was incredibly tasty, so if you see yourself in this city and would like to go somewhere out of the ordinary and stay away from tourists... check this place out.

hendaye on the north shore and hondarribia on the south shore

the riding started from guetaria, and headed to san sebastian, along igueldo. after riding past san sebastian, we headed to jaizkibel. a similar kind of road to the one in igueldo which brings you up along a road full of curves with breathtaking views of the bidasoa river and the bay of biscay. this is a very enjoyable ride, and even in the summer, you might want to bring a jumper or a jacket with you, just in case...

lunch was in hondarribia, where you will find a great selection of restaurants along the sea walk. i have to say, it is very hard to have a bad meal in the basque country.

after lunch, we headed across the river into hendaye and again along the coast all the way up to biarritz. unfortunately we must have chosen the day when absolutely everybody decided to go to the beach in the south of france. traffic was horrible in most towns so riding through them was everything but smooth. this is why i always believed, the best time to visit this area is september, when the weather is still nice and most vacationers are gone.

in biarritz, we avoided the grand plage and headed a little north, just in front of the hotel sofitel biarritz. this part of the beach was not too crowded and a little less rowdy than the main part of grand plage. if money is not a problem, do go to the hotel du palais for coffee, or a meal. the setting is quite interesting.

biarritz

madrid on 2 wheels

as an exception to the norm... i would like to dedicate an entry to madrid, the city where i was born. it is also a city i absolutely love and i consider many people from madrid do not know as well as they could. it is a city with character and a lot of secrets... i know, plenty of cities have character and secrets, but i like the ones in madrid very much. it is after all a personal opinion, may be biased and maybe not. i could also mention things i don't like about this city, and i may point them out a little later as things to avoid, just bear in mind, you might end up liking the things i don't, but i will be as objective as possible.

for some time now, me and a couple of good friends dedicate thursday nights to good food, good cañas, and good music (there goes my objectivity). for those not familiar with spanish culture, a caña, is a fairly small glass of beer (compared to the size of glasses and jugs our neighbours in the north of europe are used to), and we do take a lot of pride in our cañas... like a pint of guiness, you don´t just pour it... it has to be served the right way. so let me start with a couple of places you might want to try a well poured caña in madrid.


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a good place to start would be "el doble" (A) which is in c/ponzano 58. its a small neighbourhood traditional bar and they are probably the best at serving cañas. on the downside... dont expect the traditional free tapa to go with it, if you eat something you will probably have to pay for it.

el cantabrico, in c/padilla 39 (B) is another place where you will have the chance to try one of the best cañas in the city. this neighbourhood bar is specialised in seafood and for a reasonable price you will have access to some of the best seafood you can get away from the coast.

my favourite place in this part of the city however, has to be "cazorla". note there are 4 "branches" of this bar/restaurant. i have only tried 3 of them and they are walking distance from each other. i will recomend the one next to "cantábrico". it´s just down the road on the corner of c/padilla and c/general pardiñas (B).

here you will be able to have some very impressive cañas and probably the best typical southern spanish food to be found in madrid. i would have to recommend that you never leave without trying the "cazon en adobo".

my next stop would have to be la latina. this neighbourhood has been gaining popularity over the last couple of years and it has become the epicentre of the bohemian and artistic characters of the city who always seem to bring with them a series of more irrelevant spectators who are there to see and be seen without really providing any originality to the area.

you will find a generally young and trendy crowd here, although variety would be a more appropiate term to describe the many bars, pubs, cafes and clubs that populate one of the oldest parts of the spanish capital.

park your bikes where c/del almendro intersects with c/costanilla de san pedro (C) and enjoy. once you hit this area you will find it difficult to stop and go home.

a good place to start would be "la mulata", just down c/del almendro where you will be able to enjoy good drinks, including wine, and some pretty good bites... if you have not had dinner and you think it might be too late to find a place... try la mulata.

on the way back to where you left your bikes... still on c/del almendro, you have "la turuleta", one of the few places you can still have a nice cappuccino at a very strange time of the night.

opposite la turuleta you have el mentidero and well... pretty much any place on that street will allow you to indulge in some of the best food you might try in madrid.

a classic is el almendro 13, but during lunch and dinner hours it is virtually impossible to find a table and you might have to wait for a long long time. go early, its worth it for the "huevos rotos" and its "roscas".

the best mojitos you can try in the country might just be a stone throws away... in this little but always packed deli/bar called "delic" (plaza de la paja). also famous for their cakes and great atmosphere, if you are lucky you might be able to sit outside for a more comfortable experience, but i think its more fun inside ;)

also on plaza de la paja, you have the bar "timon" although this might be more suitable for when you are not so sure if you should be getting back on the bike. a good point to visit before heading to "marula cafe" in c/ caños viejos 3 (D). this is probably my favourite club in the neighbourhood (i still have to visit the very famous berlin cabaret). its not big, it has a terrace to sit outside in the summer months and they serve great drinks. if you like gin & tonics try it with hendrick´s gin and a slice of cucumber instead of lemon. music will probably be some great rn´b (the real one, not the one you hear in mtv), funk and some good house at times. you will definitely have plenty of reasons to dance ;)

you can pretty much end the night in marula or leave when its packed at 2 or 3am. then i would head to "el junco" which is in plaza de santa barbara (E). similar to marula, but slightly bigger. if you are there earlier you might catch a live band and they are regularly pretty good.

if you still have energy or you feel that you need to refuel... have a meal... hey!!! its somewhere in the range of 5 to 7 am!!!! where can you have a meal in this city????

thats when you head to lady pepa (F).

this would be worthy of a post by itself. i cant think of anywhere else where you can enjoy a nice plate of spaghetti, callos (if you like them) or lentils at 5, 6 or 7am...

you might read/hear things like "the best spaghetti in madrid...", "it is not a restaurant, it is a treasure..."

it might seem like they are the best spaghetti in the world considering your likely state by the time you hit this legend. one thing is for sure, you will never forget this experience.

go to c/ de san lorenzo and look for the "cafe teatro lady pepa", knock on the door and when it opens, tell him/her/it you are going for dinner, yes, tell them what i said regardless of the time... you will be shown the way downstairs towards a narrow long room with tables on the sides where, if there is enough space, you will be seated. its not cheap, but at those weeeeeee hours... who cares?

if you are lucky you might see someone who spontaneously decides to start playing the piano located at the end of the room, or someone playing guitar... most times everyone ends up joining and singing and clapping... until it gets too loud and isaac, the owner exercises his authority to keep noise levels down. he will confiscate the guitars if he has to, so have fun but don't get carried away. its part of the game.

by the time you are done... you will be done, literally... go home, go back to your hotel and be happy you survived.

more on madrid in a near future.

madrid - getaria

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I should start this post not talking about the ride itself, but about the badlander seat for sportsters.
Had a passenger for the first part of the trip. my friend tagged along last minute and she said she would love to ride with me. i was a little sceptical knowing how thin and lacking in cushioning the seat is. but well... we went ahead and tried. i did the first stop for fuel 75 km from madrid, just to check how she was doing back there. the comment was quite straight forward: "i cant feel my ass!" that put a little smile on my face, but she said it was all good, a little rest and off we went. 100 km later we made another stop hearing more of the same. also it was quite funny to see that after 75 km she started moving to change to a more comfortable position, quite unsuccessfully, but after a little rest we rode again. i offered the possibility of her joining our other friend who we were meeting after we passed burgos. he was driving a car and he could take her, but she insisted, she wanted to finish the whole trip.

we met carlos (the guy in the car) on the AP1 about 25 km from the starting point where the second gas station is. that´s where kelly decided she would switch and ride the car. the badlander proved to be an unsuitable seat for long trips.



regardless of comfort levels for the passenger, the trip went smooth. highway all the way to the final destination with some fast but tight turns between vitoria and san sebastian, a very enjoyable highway. the icing on the cake was the road that goes from zarautz to getaria (N-634) which carefully draws the contour of the basque coast providing a very nice view of the hills dropping into the sea. too bad it was night time, but i was going to ride it the next day anyway.


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saturday was a dream come true to me. i´ve been riding the N-634 on a moped since i was 14 years old and for one reason or another i have not been able to bring my bike there till last weekend. i remember being a kid seeing all the bikes ride along the coast to and from san sebastian and i made it a point, that one day it would be me on a harley doing the same. there was later an upgrade to the dream. there are 3 different ways (that i know off) to go to san sebastian from getaria.

the fast efficient but most boring. take the N-634 to zarautz and the A-8 to san sebastian from there.

the tour of the neighbouring villages and N-634. basically the old way, the old road, nice enough sights, trees, turns... just watch out for ass holes in tuned cars driving at ridiculous speeds thinking they are in the WRC... if they drove that well... wouldn't they be competing???

the third, less known and most beautiful way... take the N-634 east to zarautz, orio and after orio pay attention to a T junction where you should turn left towards igueldo. you will find yourself climbing the hills achieving a height that will allow you to overlook the A-8 highway and the green fields with its scattered "caserios" and the eventual herd of cattle. beautiful sight, perfect appetiser for the following view of the basque coast from some of the highest points along the coast. if you have the cash, do not miss a nice dinner at akelarre. i´m pretty sure it has 3 michelin stars, and it does for a good reason.

also, if you ride along this road you might witness some impressive sunsets, but watch out for the road. its not in its best condition, its bumpy and it has some really, and i mean REALLY tight turns which you might have to take at speeds of 10kmh... but, the beauty of the views is worth every little bump.


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sunday, before we headed back to madrid, we went for a quick visit at kelly´s parents´place in mouguerre in the south of the french basque country (one more country crossed off the list). the trip was nothing out of the ordinary, not forgetting the area is really beautiful. but kelly decided to give it another go. it was about 70 or 75 km and she seemed to be getting used to the seat already, or at least be fine for a short ride.


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At about 16:45 we started the return to madrid. this time we took the A-8 towards bilbao, then the AP-68 and on to the AP-1 to burgos. slightly longer, but faster and not too boring. in burgos i should mention the hotel landa palace. you wont have to even leave the A-1. its on the km 233 or 235... its located in an old castle, but no matter how much you might like the place, or find it a little pretentious... the food is simply amazing. i would recommend the morcilla, chorizo, the pepito de ternera and the canutillos de crema for dessert. you cant go wrong with that. don´t sit outside if you are counting the hours to get to your final destination. you might be there for a couple of hours. service outside is slow, but they are good and friendly, and inside they are pretty fast too. if you are near burgos DO GIVE THIS PLACE A GO.

after the stop at hotel landa it was already dark. we found ourselves riding towards a lightning storm and my gear shift pedals started loosening up. i stopped to get in my water proof gear, tighten the screws and continued the ride safely. funnily enough, the rain stopped shortly after i wore the waterproof pants... shit happens.

got home at around 1:35 in the a.m. almost 9 hours later.

it seems like this trips that are not supposed to be that long end up stretching themselves quite a bit!