An Unexpected Feria in Briviesca, Spain

Zagan the autokarabanak is in Basque country. He’s parked up in one of his favourite places, the motorhome aire in San Sebastian (or Donastia in the local Basque language), Spain (N43.30811, W2.01452). This is our fourth time here, simply because we love this city so we nip in whenever we are passing. We’ve only been here in the winter, but we like the feel of the city, the beaches, the old town and the pinxtos. It’s so easy going that no-one bats an eyelid if you walk around the streets in a wet-suit clutching a surfboard, or dressed in a full leotard and in-line skates, so running here is not a problem, it’s encouraged.

Leaving our reservoir side parking near Madrid, we had a plan. We would do a long run up to Burgos and stop there for the weekend. Jay had spotted a car park that was free after 2pm on Saturday through to 10am on Monday, and which was close to the centre. As it was quite a long drive, we decided to pay the motorway toll to enable us to skip the mountain pass we had tackled the day before. A whole €8.50 later and we were a good way into our trip on nice wide motorway, skipping around the edge of Segovia. We’ll have to visit Segovia when we come back to do all the other places we’ve missed on this trip – sometimes there is just too much to see in one adventure! Another few hours of single carriageway (some of which we had no idea what the speed limit was as Spain changed them recently, but only some it would seem) and another stint on a free motorway and we were in Burgos at 2.10pm.

With hindsight we wouldn’t have tried to park in the middle of a city on a Saturday afternoon, but Burgos seemed to have several places to choose from and I fancied seeing the grave of the real El Cid after watching the film while we were in Peniscola (part of it was filmed there, not that El Cid ever visited). The first car park was so packed that we had to reverse out of it as we couldn’t drive around it. The second, which was further out was the official motorhome aire, but as we approached it something looked out of place. Half of the parking was taken up with dodgems and teapot rides – yes the fair was in town, so of course the other half of the parking was mainly taken up with their supporting wagons and caravans. I sort of admired the few motorhomes that had squeezed in there, but neither of us fancied it, especially as you know those rides will be going to the small hours of the morning here in Spain.

Double-parked at the roadside we decided bustling Burgos will also have to go on our list of places to visit another time. A quick search on Park4Night showed an aire a bit further north just off the AP1 toll motorway. Feeling extravagant and tired, we decided to fork out and pay the toll again to speed us to our destination. As we approached the toll booths our moods lifted as we saw the neon sign – Autopista Gratuita!

In December last year the toll was dropped on the section of the AP1 between Burgos and Vitoria-Gastiez. They haven’t had chance to change the motorway signs or remove the booths yet, but the barriers are up and we sailed on through eating up the miles for free. Dropping off the motorway we made our way to Briviesca and parked up in the free aire. The aire has a free service point and is next to the local bull ring and football pitch (N42.55118, W3.32931). Fortunately, neither was having an match, so we were in for a quiet weekend – or so we thought.

After a very late lunch, for us – we’re still not on Spanish eating times, we decided to have a stroll down into the town as it wasn’t far away. As usual there was hardly anyone around and the shops were all closed – after all it was only 5pm on a Saturday! The main square was ringed by market stalls which were shut, with a churros wagon on one side (closed) and a small stage next to the band stand – empty except for a small child with a big stick beating up a cardboard box. A couple of hundred metres away in front of one of the many old churches in the town a huge stage was being erected. We were intrigued.

A quick look at the posters in the closed shop windows and all became clear – sort of. Tonight was the Feria de los Novios. I took a photo of the poster and translated it back in Zagan. Tonight was the Fair of The Bride and Groom. It involved giving gifts of claveles y almendras (carnations and almonds) which would explain the carnations hung over the roads. In the main square was a shop selling caramelised almonds (a local speciality), which handily had a vending machine embedded in its front should you have an almond craving outside of normal shop hours. We bought some truffled almonds from the machine, feeling like kids being rewarded with a treat from the vending machine after a swimming lesson.

As dusk started to fall, we wrapped up and walked back into the town joking that there will only be about 20 people there. We were wrong, EVERYONE was there, we hadn’t seen so many people in months. Most people were forming an orderly queue which wrapped its way around the square, just inside the market stalls so they could shop and queue. The front of the queue was making its way across the small stage which had ladies in traditional dress stood in a line, giving carnations to the ladies and a bag of almonds to the men. The fair was to celebrate the day of San Jose (St Joseph’s Day) which is on a Tuesday this year, and this was the closest Saturday. The fair started for commercial reasons, to enable local producers and farmers to meet and purchase or exchange livestock and seeds. The fair was followed by dancing in the main square which helped to establish contacts between families, so couples could meet and marriages be arranged by their parents (up until around the 1920s). Today the Queen and Ladies of the fair give carnations and almonds to the ‘brides and grooms’ or as it would seem, any couple in the town.

After a short wander around taking in the atmosphere and sniffing up the churros smells (think fun-fair donuts shaped like sticks) we were hungry. The only problem being it was now only 8pm, too early for food around here. So Jay grabbed a table outside a bar while I went in and practised my best Spanish ordering a couple of drink and tapas. The bill was €4.50 (the wine was €0.80 a glass!), so once they had gone, we had some more.

By the time our tummies were a bit fuller, the square was quite a bit emptier. The concert in the next square was beginning. We joined the crowd and enjoyed the show without a clue as to what was going on as it was all in Spanish. At one point we recognised a song from Frozen, mainly because a life-sized Olaf joined the singers on stage, but otherwise we were none the wiser. It didn’t matter though, we just loved watching the show and the crowd around us. When a song for the kids came on, cartoon characters would appear and sing alongside a woman wearing what looked like her bra and pants (something for the Dads?). When it was a well known tune couples in the crowd would dance along, and I mean properly dance along. As we swayed to the music, it felt like we were in a film as the crowd danced the Bossa Nova – not quite up to Strictly standards, but there were no toes stepped on.

At 10pm the band left the stage and everyone dispersed. But this was only an interval, after dinner they would be back on at Midnight for the second half of the show. Needless to say we were tucked up in our bed by then.

We stayed a couple of nights in Briviesca, suspecting the aire at San Sebastian would be full over the weekend. On Sunday night the weather turned and we said goodbye to the blue skies we’ve enjoyed for a couple of months. We drove through wind and rain to San Sebastian, and only got a little lost on our way into the city. The road network is a bit like a dropped plate of spaghetti, and I’m not sure we’ve ever made it onto the aire without getting lost at some point. We grabbed the last space and breathed a sigh of relief – only for several motorhomes to leave within a few minutes.

The Spanish phrase book has been packed away, we’re in Basque country now as the message on the malfunctioning ticket machine reminded us. After some lunch we chilled out for a while before setting off for a walk. The plan was to walk to the beach and see how my knee was holding up. With an extra ibuprofen and a tubagrip around it, we made it all the way to the old town, only getting a little bit rained on.

On this trip we’ve been watching an American comedy series called ‘The Good Place‘, in it they eat a lot of frozen yoghurt – I can’t tell you why as it would be a spoiler – so when we reached the old town and spotted a frozen yoghurt place jay decided to try some. Neither of us had tried it before and it was OK, but nowhere near as lovely as the ‘Sacha‘ super rich dark chocolate cake-like ice cream I had, which came with a warning from the seller that it was very rich! It was the best ice cream I have had since Italy, or maybe that was just because it was eaten straight after tasting the frozen yoghurt?

After a look around we headed to a restaurant we’ve visited a few times, I love it when you know where a good place to eat it, something that’s not always easy when you move from place to place all the time! We ordered several pintxos (which I thought was Basque for Tapa but according to tripsavvy.com apparently not), including my favourite – beef cheeks with mashed potato, it’s like a mini Sunday dinner. They were washed down with a glass of wine and draught Free Damm beer. Unlike Briviesca where the wine was €0.80 a glass, we’re now in a tourist resort so it was €2.50. I guess it’s just Spain’s way of getting us acclimatised to French and then English prices.

Having been here in 2011, 2015 and 2016 there’s not much more we can write about San Sebastian! So we’re just going to go out and enjoy the place. We always meet interesting folks on this aire. This first time here it was Chris Williams who changed our lives. We tend to meet lots of blog readers here too, maybe because we say how much we love it? Last night we shared a vino with Bev and Iain from Inverness (thanks again for the biscuits guys), and today we met Marie and Paul who have been hunting us down for years to give us slap! They finally tracked us down but decided the slap was no longer needed, as they too are also enjoying the motorhome lifestyle. We’ve booked ourselves in for three nights (once the ticket machine started working) then we’ll do a big stock up in a nearby Eroski supermarket before hitting the road to France. We’ve left ourselves a week to get to Calais which for most folks is plenty of time, but we do like to potter so it will be a few long driving days and single overnight stops. It’s been worth it to stay in Spain and enjoy the weather for a little longer though.

Ju x

Bonus Pic – Today is St Joseph’s Day, a national holiday in Spain so everywhere is busy. We avoided the packed restaurants and opted for a bakery based lunch – these were massive and super tasty!