Picos de Europa, Poncebos, Spain
May 28-29See photos below
Day 1: Our journey to get into the Picos wasn’t as smooth as we would have hoped. The day would involve, we thought, two buses; one from the big city of Santander to the smaller city of Llanes. From there, another bus would take us close to our accommodation for the night. Unfortunately, it was Sunday. If you need to do anything or get anywhere in Spain on a Sunday, you are shit out of luck. We only realized there was no connecting bus when we got off at the first station. We decided to walk into the town, which was an adorable Bavarian style town, and try to get a taxi. With no cell service, we walked into a hotel to 1) use their bathroom, and 2) ask if the woman at the front desk could call us a cab. After a conversation of broken English and a bit of Spanish, we managed to get our request across successfully. After a thirty minute wait, and a $65 price difference, we were finally in a car heading further into the mountains.
The drive was gorgeous, and pulling up to the hostel took my breath away. Situated on a crystal clear river at the foot of the mountains, we had a perfect view of what the park had to offer. That first look was the exact reason we were so excited to get out on the trails. Unfortunately it would have to wait one more day, but that didn’t stop us from exploring the surrounding area. Above the hostel was a small path that weaved behind a hydroelectric plant, revealing a new vantage point of the mountains ahead. As we were walking, we stumbled into a small herd of goats obstructing the path; they were staring quite deep into our souls. After a brief standoff, we passed them and continued up a bit further before turning back around for the hostel.
Tired from the day, we settled in and enjoyed the peace and quiet of our own room and took a quick siesta. When dinner time came around, we sauntered into the downstairs restaurant attached to the hostel, directly above the river. We each ordered the three course meal, which turned out to be a bit more food than what we were hoping for. The starter was a hearty and heavy bean stew, which is a regional Andalusian favorite. Next was our chicken entree with fries that came with a bottle of wine. The chicken was decent, the wine was cheap, but the value was solid. Dessert was a small ice cream that immediately took me back to summer camp as a kid. With our bellies full, we made our way up the room to get some rest for the long days of hiking that lay ahead of us.
