Despite my regular alarm time of 0600, I slept till nearly 0800. I had done too much in the last 2 weeks and it was catching up on me. I spent some time with admin in my room before taking a bus around 1000 to the beaches to the east of the city.
The buses here aren’t showing on Google Maps public transport but worked quite well, with PayWave accepted for ticket purchase on board.
I hopped off near Parque de la Magdalena at Playa de Camello and walked from the first to the middle of the long beach that is Playa de Sardinero. There were some grand old buildings by the road at the latter.
All the beaches were lovely with golden sand and blue waters. There was decent surf for surfers but still swimmable for me if the weather had been warmer.
I returned to where I had alighted from the bus and walked into the park located on a peninsula. I did a circuit around Palacio de la Magdalena, which seemed to be hosting an important event, so I didn’t check on entering.
On the other side of the isthmus was a nature park where a man performed with a sea lion. I didn’t expect this in Europe in this day and age but I guess you can’t just release creatures which have been born and raised in captivity.
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- Surf school near El Sardinero.
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- Nice buildings at El Sardinero.
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- Nice buildings at El Sardinero.
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- Beach at El Sardinero.
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- Beach at El Sardinero.
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- Beach at El Sardinero.
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- Palacio de la Magdalena.
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- Nature park performance.
I grabbed lunch at the bus station where I saw some good filled baguettes yesterday. It certainly didn’t disappoint as I bit into them back in my room around 1300.
By 1500, the clouds had cleared. I returned to Sardinero beach, plonking myself down further than where I had been this morning. I walked around deciding whether to swim or not as it wasn’t up to my usual temperature. Many people made faces as they waded into the water as it a little cold.
Eventually I braved it because I needed a wee and my body adjusted to the temperature pretty quickly. Despite low tide, the water level was pretty decent. I spent probably 20 mins playing in the surf before washing off and returning to my room around 1630.
I had my first proper sit-down dinner in Spain seated in the terraza of a bar/restaurant, set up in the pedestrian mall. A chicken breast salad and a tinto de verano came to much less that what I’d pay in New Zealand. I concluded my day with dessert from the supermarket. This was also my first relaxing day since arriving in Europe over two weeks ago.
My first nice sit-down dinner in Europe this trip.