October 2, 2022: We rented a car and drove from Santiago de Compostela to Bilbao. It was a beautiful drive, but not many pictures.
We took a cab from our hotel in the old part of Santiago de Compostela to the airport to pick up a car.
William drove the Seat Ibiza to Bilbao.
We stopped for lunch at a low-brow chicken joint in Oviedo. The pollo asado was a different culinary experience from what we had become accustomed to in Galicia. The bird and the fries were delectable.
Elaine opted for flan for dessert. Delicious.
Santiago to Bilbao
October 3, 2022: We arrived in Bilbao only to abandon it the next morning, when we took a bus trip to San Sebastian.
Elaine stands on a pedestrian bridge over the Nervión River in Bilbao on our way to the bus station.
Pedestrian bridge.
Looking back across the river at Bilbao.
Boarding the bus to San Sebastian.
On the way to San Sebastian.
Welcome to San Sebastian. Donostia is the Basque name for San Sebastian.
The moment we emerged from the bus station, Elaine said “this reminds me of Paris.” Do you agree?
When we met our tour guide for the day, she told us the city’s design was based on Paris.
A Paris-like bridge across the river Urumea.
Pretty gardens in San Sebastian which we passed by on a walk before we met our tour guide.
The Urumea river meets the Bay of Biscay.
Another view of the Urumea river and the bay.
The water can get pretty wild here.
The luxurious Hotel Maria Cristina, where we met our tour guide for the afternoon.
A decorative planter outside the hotel.
Bullet holes from the Spanish civil war on the side of the hotel.
Here is our tour guide telling us about the “Marcha de San Sebastian”, a moving monument to Basque heritage. She told us about the suppression of the Basque language in the past, and that the school where she teaches uses Basque as the primary language, and Spanish as a second language.
Making our way to the old town for the object of our tour, we passed an entrance to the San Sebastian open air market.
The reason we had a tour guide was to learn about pinxhos, the closest thing in Basque cuisine to tapas. This is the original pinxho, the Gilda: olives, anchovies and peppers on a wooden skewer. It’s named after the movie that starred Rita Hayworth. After this introduction to Gildas, we consumed many more, in Basque country and elsewhere.
Another pinxho. We don’t remember what it is exactly.!
Our first pinxho bar. We learned that if you’re consuming your pinxhos at the bar, you’re supposed to drop your paper napkins on the floor as a sign of pleasure.
We passed through Plaza Constitution on the way to our next pinxho bar and admired the apartment doors upstairs. This Plaza is where the annual celebration of Basque heritage begins.
Our next pinxho. Delicious tomatoes seasoned with vinegar and olive oil.
The tomatoes were accompanied by some sort of stuffed peppers.
These peppers were longer than the padron peppers we ate in Galicia, but were just as delicious.
On our way to the next pinxho we passed by this beautiful basilica, the Koruko Andre Mariaren basilika.
Our guide gave us an either/or choice for the next pinxho. Elaine chose this fish-soupy dish. She kinda regretted it, and liked what William got better.
William got the pork either/or choice.
The old town area of San Sebastian, on our way to our final pinxho bar.
At our final pinxho bar, we had dessert: French toast and ice cream. We bid farewell to our pinxho guide.
After our pinxho tour we took another walk around San Sebastian, this time along the beach. This building was in a park (Alderdi Eder parkea) at the start of the beach.
We thought these trees looked like asparagus ferns, but that’s probably not what they are. Google failed to inform us further.
The beach. We walked all the way up to the point on the left of this little bay.
We went to the point to see the Comb of the Wind, a series of monumental sculptures by Eduardo Chillida.
Elaine and William back in Bilbao.
Bilbao clothes dryer. These racks were present throughout Spain. All of our AirBnB accommodations had nice washing machines, but no electric dryers. After two days of hang “drying”, we took these wet clothes to a coin laundry to dry them.
Bilbao to San Sebastian
San Sebastian
October 4, 2022: Today we just did two things: Visited the Guggenheim and went to a park on a summit overlooking Bilbao.
On our way to the Guggenheim, we saw this sculpture by Jorge Oteitza in front of the Bilbao archives building.
The Nervión river in Bilbao
Looking back towards the archive building.
Located in the Paseo de Uribitarte, and consisting of four statues, the sculpture ‘Las Sirgueras’, by artist Dora Salazar, is a recognition of the importance of women’s work and the path to equality. The work pays tribute to the figure of the sirgueras (the rope girls), women who towed vessels along the estuary using only a rope and their own strength
Approaching the Guggenheim museum and the spider
The spider sculpture outside the Guggenheim – “Maman”
On our way to the Guggenheim we passed by these English-speaking buskers.
Their mouths were like large castenets and they clapped them and cracked wise.
The main floor of the Guggenheim.
View of Bilbao from the Guggenheim
We sad to see that the Puppy sculpture was under reconstruction.
We headed toward this pedestrian bridge on our way to the funicular.
Elaine pauses on the pedestrian bridge.
We boarded the funicular and ascended to the top.
Passing by the downward bound funicular on our way up.
William poses by the original funicular pulley from 1915.
View from the park at the top of the funicular.
We could see the Guggenheim from the park.
Love that Guggenheim!
This “Bilbao” fence kept us from hurtling down the mountain from the park at the summit.
We ended the day at the laundromat drying our still wet clothes which had been hanging in and outside of our AirBnB for two days.
Bilbao – The Guggenheim
October 5, 2022: After a morning visit to the Bilbao cathedral, we took the subway to Portugalete to see an unusual bridge. We had lunch in nearby Santurtzi, and then took the bus back to Bilbao and tried our hand at pinxho dining.
The Catedral de Santiago Apóstol in Bilbao
Cathedral nave.
Baptismal font
One of three black madonnas of the Basque country.
Lemon trees in the Bilbao cathedral cloister
William in the cathedral cloister.
Tracery and rose window.
Pretty stained glass window.
Industrial Bilbao from the train on our way to Portugalete.
Our destination that afternoon was the Vizcaya Bridge, a UNESCO World Heritage site, connecting Las Arenas with Portugalete.
Construction on the bridge started in 1891 and it was severely damaged during the Spanish civil war.
The bridge shuttles a big gondola back and forth carrying cars and pedestrians.
We crossed on the gondola and got this view of the Nervión river.
Pretty guard rail.
Statue of La Virgen del Carmen in Santurtzi harbor. She’s the canonical patroness of Santurtzi fishermen.
We had lunch at the restaurant Mandanga – Hogar del Pescador, right on the harbor in Santurtzi.
This guy prepared our lunch on these charcoal grills.
Hake for two, with potatoes. Delicious.
Interesting sculpture in Santurtzi. We have no idea whose it is. Do you know?
Sculpture of El Niño y el Perro in a park in Santurtzi.
Bus ride back to Bilbao
We visited two pinxho bars that night. WIlliam poses in front of the first one.
Pinxho bar in Bilbao where we tried out some small plates all on our own.
Our second pinxho bar of the evening. We had some delicious French fries among other things.
Bilbao to Santurtzi
October 6, 2022: We took a bus to Zaragoza and transferred to a train to Barcelona.
Before catching our bus we had breakfast at Kafic Kurrusku Kai Alde. Our server prepares fresh orange juice.
Transfering from the Bilbao bus to the Barcelona train in Zaragoza.
Almost immediately upon arrival in Barcelona, we went to the Plaça de Catalunya to pick up city tourist passes and to do some people and fountain watching.
We dined here.
Easy peasy menu. Pictures always help.
