Castro

We had a bit of a rolly night as the high winds persisted and a small swell set around the harbour wall. Dark Tarn continued to hold well but was still veering about in the shifting wind. The morning brought a clearing and the first hint of a blue sky. I got busy making coffee and then blowing up the dinghy. Lynne helped me, passing down the outboard motor which had been living on the stern of the boat untouched for six months. I turned on the fuel and set the choke and it started first time! I had a blast around the harbour and discovered several potential spots to land. I returned to DT and put some fresh fuel in the outboard. We decided that the sailing club would possibly offer the best security so we set off to ask permission to leave our dinghy there, it turned out that they provide a free water taxi so José the taxi man ran me back with our tender and dropped me back off at The sailing club just as another thunderstorm hit! We sheltered with some local sailors under the eaves of the club until the downpour eased enough for us to run to a café.

Coffee and Pintxos seemed to be in order so we waited in the dry for the rain to stop.

Which it did, leaving us free to explore Castro Urdiales. José had told us The Water taxi ran until 9.30 so we were in no rush. Castro turned out to be very interesting. The sailing club is at one end of the old town which meanders towards the church of Santa Ana and the inner harbour. It is very reminiscent of the old town in Bilbao being a warren of small streets.

These seemed to be packed with bars and cafés loud with locals enjoying an extended lunch. Castro is famous as a great place to eat local food and is very popular with the Spanish especially at weekends.

As usual art seemed to be everywhere.

The area around the inner harbour is surrounded by fish restaurants and cafés we had a coffee in the meson marinero which is the large white building with arches on the ground floor in the picture above.

The church dates from the 13th century and is the Iglesias de Santa Maria de la Asuncion. The castle ( which is also a lighthouse ) is the Castilo Faro it too dates from the 13th century but has only been a lighthouse since 1853.

We walked up for a closer look but unfortunately again fell into the long lunch trap and discovered neither would be open until the evening.

A hodgepodge of gothic flying buttresses! Can't wait for a look inside....

The castle and church formed part of the medieval defences for the town and being situated on a small rocky outcrop afforded a good view of the sea conditions outside the harbour wall sheltering Dark Tarn.

The whitecaps were dancing merrily from the west and the wind was 25 knots or so. We were glad to be anchored in the shelter of the Rompeolas or long harbour wall.

We walked along the harbour wall, which seems to be a very popular thing to do in Castro. Particularly in the evening.

The small square building on the rocky outcrop is the Ermita de Santa Ana and apparently has had a small chapel or similar since Roman times.

We walked through the old town and around the headland to discover a natural pool which the locals obviously used for swimming, not today though as the considerable swell still gets in through the underground cave connecting it with the sea.

If you look very closely you should be able to spot two sculptures of boys diving off the rocks.

As we continued we discovered another beach and I must say the water looked very inviting.

We made our way back into town and we were happy to discover the carrousel on the sea front was opening for the evening. It's beautiful and has a Jules Verne theme.

A quick visit to the tourist information and Lynne and I were getting sore feet, we decided to leave the church and castle until the morrow and staying another day would hopefully let the swell die down after the strong winds. We made our way back to the sailing club and used the free water taxi to return to Dark Tarn.

It had been a fascinating day ashore.

The weather was already looking to be improving. We had tea and after sitting in the cockpit watching the promenade along the harbour wall for a while we retrieved the outboard and dinghy as it seemed we didn't need it after all. It was good to know it was all working well though. 

Here is a map of Castro, courtesy of the ever helpful Tourist information.

We were looking forward to more exploring tomorrow.