I set an early alarm to get up before dark to get another time lapse attempt going. This time I promised myself I’d be a bit more patient than yesterday so I could get a bit more of the sunrise going. We planned on hiking back to the gondola this morning and heading back down the mountain and start our way back towards the direction of Madrid and the beginning of the end of my Spain trip 🙁

I managed to point my phone in the right direction and angle while it was still pitch black outside which resulted in a pretty good 3 hour time lapse. I’m happy with how it turned out.

During our stay in Picos de Europa, we’ve noticed heards of sheep and cattle being escorted by these large mastiff dogs. The hotel lobby had a sign that said they’re working so please don’t approach or feed them. They kind of reminded me of Sam the sheepdog from the old Looney Tunes cartoons who protected the sheep from getting stolen by Wile E Coyote. As we started our hike back, there was one dog that approached us and we got a chance to see it up close. To protect it from wolf attacks, it was wearing a very spikey collar around its neck.

We walked past the trail that we had hiked yesterday where I was able to grab a wider photo to better show 1/3rd of the trail we completed which I highlighted in red. It took almost almost 2 hours over 3 miles to hike back to the gondola and visitor station. The weather was now clearer than we first arrived and my hands kept sweating as I looked over the almost 6,000ft (1,800m) cliff edge.

I have to mention that bread in Spain is not very good. It’s really dense, seems to be always stale, and every meal is served on bread or with a side of bread. I was determined to give myself a bread break for at least a day. I ordered a chickpea stew with sausage and pork ribs. OMG it was so good. The stew was thick and hearty. I loved the flavor of the broth and the very tender ribs. I was probably starving because of the hike but this is exactly what I needed.

I had to double check that I had the car keys before we got onboard the gondola. Once we got back down I noticed today’s death counter was a bit higher than 2 days ago with +26 gondola deaths vs +21. As I was taking this picture to show how high up the gondola was, these two cows approached me asking if they could help me find their parked car in the parking lot.

Spain is the 2nd country that I’ve driven a car in with the other being Japan. I think I will definitely rent a car again for the next Europe trip  because you really get a taste for the country outside of the main cities. The way Luke found Hotel Aliva was looking for hiking and skiing towns. I think I’ll start using that strategy in the future as there would have been no way to get the experience we got without having a car. The car rental ended up being about $230 for 6 days and 2 drivers which is about the same as at home.

There were times on our drives to and from the north of Spain where I felt like we were driving in Southern California or South Dakota. One big thing I noticed was the distinct lack of billboards along the freeway except for this big black bull we kept seeing every hour or so. Halea looked it up and read that they were initially created as billboards to promote a new drink, Veterano brandy in the 1950s. The Spanish government passed a law prohibiting billboards along Spanish roads, as the signs could distract drivers and lead to accidents. However it became an iconic emblem of Spain so there was public outcry to keep the bulls up. In 1997, the Supreme Court ruled that the bulls could remain, as they had “ceased to be the emblem of a brand to become something decorative, integrated in the landscape.” Source

On our way down, Luke added some castle stops to our itinerary. The first castle was Castillo de Aguilar de Campoo. He was so excited he ran up the steps ahead of us and disappeared. As I approached the gate, he popped his head out above the castle walls and yelled “Ready the boiling oil!”

The second castle we visited was Castillo de Úrbel and more of a dilapidated pile of rocks that resembled a castle than an actual castle. I climbed halfway up the steep hill before running into a dead end and giving up as I did not feel like getting injured on this trip. Luke however made it all the way up and said it was amazing

I normally don’t care about architectural or historical things but his excitement was infectious and now I’m sorta into castles.

We’re planning on seeing my other co worker Ivan who lives in Segovia. He recommended that we spend a night in a small town called Sepulveda. We arrived just before dark and a kitty welcoming committee greeted us as we searched for our hotel.

I was really hungry and we picked a random restaurant to get dinner. I didn’t really recognize anything on the menu so I played a little game I call “Menu Roulette”.

I pointed at the “Revuelto de trigueros con gambas”, asked the waitress if she recommended it, she said it was good, and I hoped for the best. What came was overcooked grey scrambled eggs, smelly frozen shrimp, and some mushy green beans. I thought it was going to be some sort of stir fry dish since “revuelto” means turned or scrambled but I didn’t think it was what scrambled eggs is called here in Spain.

I was disappointed with my “meal” if you want to call it that but you can’t always end up with winners with menu roulette.