Spain 2007 - DRKester

Leaving Spain

DRKester — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 00:00:00 GMT

Our 3 weeks are up, and it's time to head home. We had one last breakfast at the Cafe Iruna, then Jason and Helen drove us to Vitoria to catch our RyanJet flight to London.

Leaving Spain

RyanJet is definitely a bare-bones airline. The seats are one step up from a city bus, in that they were separate seats. They didn't recline or have tray tables. Food is offered for sale during the flight, along with lottery tickets and duty free goods. Still, we managed to get exit row seats, so we had leg room. Good value for one British pence each plus taxes.

Our MaxJet flight on Sunday was delayed, but the food and booze in their lounge kept us happy. After an 11 hour flight to Las Vegas, we had a 5-hour drive home.

We really appreciate the hospitality from Jason and Helen. Not only did they house and feed us, they helped us plan our trip. Jason helped us find a train to Barcelona, and booked a rental car for our drive. He also told us about Maxjet and RyanAir. Helen's command of Spanish became very useful when we were trying to translate menus, or deal with local businesses. And she lent us her camera when ours died. We really can't thank them enough.

Drive to France

DRKester — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 00:00:00 GMT

We started our last day in Spain by taking pictures of a couple of our favorite places. Rick joined the running of the bulls.

Running with the bulls

We had to have a picture of the neat underground garbage and recycling bins in the plaza.

Garbage and recycling in Plaza Del Castillo

We took a picture of some interesting buildings near Town Square.

Multi-colored houses

We decided to take a drive in the mountains towards France. We stopped in St Jean Pied-de-Port and walked around the walled town.

Gate at St Jean Pied-de-Port

We were between meal times, so we had a beer at a restaurant by the river.

View of river from restaurant in St Jean Pied-de-Port

Helen and Jason in St Jean Pied-de-Port

Afterwards we walked around some more, and Rick checked out a pig store.

Sausage and Pork shop

Back into Spain, we stopped at a viewpoint on top of a hill.

Back into Spain

We start our trip home tomorrow with a flight from Vitoria to London Stansted.

Barcelona touring day 2

DRKester — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 00:00:00 GMT

We started our second day with a tour of Casa Mila, a strangely designed apartment building designed by Gaudi.

Casa Mila

We took an elevator up to the attic room, where there were displays of Gaudi's works. The room had multiple arches of varying sizes. His inspiration was an upside-down version of the hanging chains in the picture below.

Attic room inside Casa Mila

Then we walked up to the rooftop. It stepped up and down to match the arches below. Each chimney and vent were decorated. The smokestacks were twisted to look like smoke.

Rooftop of Casa Mila

Interior courtyard of Casa Mila

Rooftop of Casa Mila

We also toured one of the apartments, which was decorated with period furniture.

We took the Metro to the Museum of Contemporary Art, but unfortunately it was closed on Tuesdays. Back on the Metro to the Picasso Museum. Interesting display of his work, but no pictures were allowed.

Street by Picasso Museum

We walked towards the waterfront and had a great lunch along the way. We walked some more to the Columbus statue at the base of Las Ramblas. We took a very small elevator to the top, where the was a very small observation platform.

Tiny elevator to top of Columbus monument

We had to get a picture at the botton on one of the lions.

Columbus Monument

Our observation of Barcelona: Worth a trip for the amazing and unusual architecture. But expect to walk a lot, since the Metro doesn't stop anywhere near the stuff you'll want to see.

Consulate door

Barcelona touring day 1

DRKester — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 00:00:00 GMT

We took the train to Barcelona on Sunday, then checked into a very modern 4-star hotel. We started our touring on Monday with a walk to the Sagrada Familia, where we had breakfast at a cafe across the street.

Sagrada Familia

After breakfast, we took the Metro to the old city, and toured the cathedral and the old Roman city. We walked over the the Ramblas, and walked down to the waterfront. We started at a section of street performers.

Ramblas street performer

The next section had artists showing their work and offering to do portraits. We went down to the waterfront, then to the Drassanes Maritime Museum. Outside they had a wooden submarine.

Submarine at Maritime Museum

The building had amazing stone arches with bays that would hold a full size ship.

Drassanes Maritime Museum

After the museum we walked across a cool pedestrian bridge to a shopping center.

View from top of Columbus Monument of harbor

We were planning to take the cable car to Montjuic, but read in our guide book that it closed for lunch in 15 minutes and we were at least a half hour away. So we had lunch at a waterfront cafe. While eating we read that there was a tram that went up to Montjuic. So we decided to take it instead. Big mistake. It went up through a tunnel, and at the top, the view was hidden by a bunch of restaurants.

So back down the tram, and on to Parc Guell. The guide maps are less than helpful in figuring out which metro stop is closest to an attraction. We guessed, and found ourselves at the closest one, but it was still a 600m walk. We can do this! Unfortunately, after 2 blocks we were directed left and up steep hill. It was so steep that it had steps on the sidewalk, and several sections had escalators. We pressed on, and found ourselves at the back entrance. Nice view, but not what we were looking for. So we walked around and down to the main entrance. The Gaudi designed courtyard and buildings made it worth the walk.

Parc Guell

Parc Guell entrance

Parc Guell

We walked another 1200m to the other Metro stop. This was longer, but easier, since it was just a slight downhill slope.

Drive back to Pamplona

DRKester — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT

We bought pastries and coffee from a small bakery, and took them back to our hotel room to have a smoke-free meal.

View from our hotel room

We drove to Irun, and up a road along the river. At one point we drove into France, just to do it, and because our car rental place said we couldn't.

Side trip to France

The drive up the valley was beautiful. At one point we took a small winding road through small towns, ending at Berrobi.

Looking for rocks

A sign showed a rock formation up a small rural road called Elorregi. We decided to try to find it.

Road to Eloreggi

Well, the road started out rocks, then became two-rut rocks, then started getting muddy as we went up the hill. We finally decided to turn back, before we got stuck. The only other vehicle was a tractor at the bottom of the hill just out of town.

2 rut road up the hill towards Elorregi

We continued on the road to Pamplona, and Jason's apartment.

San Juan de Gaztelugho

DRKester — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT

We drove to San Juan de Gaztelugach and to the Faro de Machichaco. This is a church built on a rock island offshore, with a stone walkway across the water.

San Juan de Gaztelugache

View to mainland from San Juan de Gaztelugache

We found a huge parking area and walked down, only to discover that there was a road all the way down. So, we asked a local for a ride up the hill to our car. We drove back down, and then hiked across the wall and up the stairs to the church. The courtyard had a basic toilet, that just was a tube to outside the wall.

Basic toilet in Machichaco

We continued driving along the coast, until the road went inland. Then we took the freeway to San Sebastian. We drove around a bit trying to find the coastal road, and places mentioned in our Michelin guide. We never found the road, so just got back on the bigger road to Hondarribia. From there we easily found the small road up the hill call the Jaizkibel Road, with an overlook back to town and across the river to France.

Overlook of Hondarribia and France from Jaizkibel Road

We found a nice hotel in Hondarribia, checked in, then walked into the walled old city. Inside the walled area is a huge castle turned into the Parador Hotel. We walked in and took a picture.

Hotel Parador in Hondarribia

Atlantic coast

DRKester — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT

We drove to Bilbao, and then went out along the Atlantic coast through many fishing villages and surf towns. We had lunch in Bakio along the water. We stayed in a beautiful hotel on top of the hill overlooking the inlet between Mundaka and Laido beach. This is a great surfing area, although it was a bit cold.

View from our hotel

View of Mundaka from our hotel

Picos de Europa

DRKester — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT

We drove through Santander and up the coast towards the Picos de Europa. First stop was an outlook high on a hill overlooking both the ocean and the Picos de Europa.

View of Atlantic Ocean from Mirador del Fito

View of Picos de Europa from Mirador Del Fito

Then we drove on south into the Picos. One of the small towns on the way, Cano, was having a Festival that blocked the only road through town. Traffic cops were directing cars and buses through one way at a time. The drive into the canyon was amazing.

Road in Picos de Europa

Somewhat like Zion canyon, only your drive 100 feet above the water, with the sides of the canyon less than 20' apart at points.

Road up the canyon

On top is a small town Oseja de Sajambre.

Town on top of mountains

On the way back drove through Congas de Onis, where they have an old "hump back" Roman bridge. Then we had lunch in Arriondas - 3 sandwiches and 2 glasses for 4.5 Euro total.

Driving out of town

DRKester — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT

When we got up this morning, there were hundreds of people with bicycles in the square. Around 9:00, they all took off. Later we rented a car and drove to Onati, a small town north of Vitoria. We walked around the town and had lunch with Jason and Helen. There also was some sort of bicycle ride or race, with cops directing traffic and lots of serious looking bikers. We continued up the hill to Arantzazu. It has the coolest church, with a façade made of stone that looked like the bottom of egg cartons. We stayed at the hotel up the hill from the church. Next morning the parking lot and along the road was filled with cars. It was foggy, so we couldn't get good pictures.

We drove on to Bilbao, and Jason and Helen headed back to their apartment. We went to the Guggenheim museum, which architecturally was very impressive.

Guggenheim museum

Inside however, was really disappointing. The whole 2nd floor was closed, and the "art" in the rest was underwhelming. One room was devoted to a grouping of picture frame parts, scattered about the floor as if left by children.

Guggenheim Museum

We walked into town and had Tapas at a local bar.

After lunch, we drove along the coast to Laredo. We checked into a hotel, and then walked the beach to the old town.

Port at Laredo

They were having a medieval festival, and had lots of food and arts vendors.

Street fair

Harris Hawk

Later, we walked back into town for dinner, and were treated to hundreds of people dressed up in medieval costumes, parading through the street. Around 10, they set off fireworks in the street. Lots of fun.

Rest day

DRKester — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT

We decided to have an easy day, just relaxing and figuring out our next few days. Last night we went out for an amazing meal at a nearby restaurant. We had the fixed price menu of the day, which has a choice of first course of salad, pasta, soup, beans, etc., and then a second meat or fish course, and dessert. We also had some local wine. Really great!

This morning we went out to see if we could get a replacement battery for our camera, but unfortunately we couldn't. So we'll borrow Helen's camera for the rest of the trip.

We also went to the local supermercado to get a couple of items. Interesting experience. Each day they have one choice of the fresh milk of the day in either a litre carton or plastic bag. We needed peppers, but had to have the vegetable person weigh, bag and price our selections.

This afternoon, they set up some portable tables and chairs in the center of the plaza, and now a group are playing some sort of game. At about 8:30 a group from a Karate school, all dressed in white set up in the square and put on demo fights in a circle accompanied by drums. We watched for a while, then went and had wine in a bar next to a bronze statue of Hemingway.

Tomorrow we are renting a car and setting out towards Bilbao, San Sebastian, and possibly into France. Likely won't be on the Internet until we get back to Jason and Helen's apartment.

A drive in the country

DRKester — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT

We started our day with a walk to a store to buy a travel guide. Along the way we passed the post office with its unique postage slots.

Mail slot

Jason and Helen drove us out of town to Hoz de Lumbier, a really cool canyon with a trail along an abandoned rail line.

Trail at Hoz de Lumbier

We stopped by the river to skip stones

Skipping stones in cove by river

At the end of the second railroad tunnel, was a remaining support for the trestle.

Old train trestle at Hoz de Lumbier

Below us were some Roman ruins and this abandoned house.

Old stone house along the Hoz de Lumbier trail

Another view of this incredible canyon.

Hoz de Lumbier

After our hike, we went into the town center, then on to Sanguesa where we went into a beautiful church by the river.

Sanguesa church altar

We walked around the town and found these gargoyles holding human heads over a church entrance.

Ornamentation over church door

We drove on to Ujue, and incredible small town on top of a hill. Beautiful scenery and wonderful view of the countryside. Unfortunately, our camera battery died in Ujue.

We drove back to Pamplona, and Rick tried to revive/recharge the camera battery. No luck. We may have to borrow Helen's camera, since this is only the first week of our trip.

A band is playing outside in the square, and a group of people are dancing. Evidently these are folk songs with a dance to go with them that the locals know. Anyway lots of fun. Sort of like line dancing with history.

Enjoying Pamplona

DRKester — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT

la panaderia

We started our day by visiting the local bakery for some breakfast goodies.

Touring the old city

After breakfast, Rick and I wandered the town. Note the exposed wiring on the side of the building just above the ground floor.

Plaza de Toros

We walked around the bullring.

City model

After more walking, we came to the Royal Palace, where they had this incredible model of the old part of Pamplona. Jason's apartment is on the big open square in the middle of the model.

Town Hall

We worked our way back to Town Hall. We got there around 1:30, and it was full of people. After a short rest on a bench, all the locals had gone home for their mid-day meal with their families.

We continued our walk to the Plaza San Francisco, then back to Jason's apartment for some lunch.

Made it to Pamplona

DRKester — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT

We made it with minor delays along the way. We were sitting in the departure area for MaxJet, when my name was called. When I went up to the desk, I found out that my assigned seat had a footrest that didn't work, and they needed to reseat us. First they offered 2 seats together in the middle (with 2,2,2 seating that's 2 aisles), but they kept looking for a way to give us a window. They came back with row 8, seats J and K. Great. Well maybe not. When we got on, there was only one seat on the side with the bathrooms in the middle. So we gave them back our ticket stubs to handle, and reseated ourselves in the 2 seats they originally offered us. After a late takeoff, the rest of the flight was as we expected, with comfy seats and good food.

Our late arrival meant that we missed our scheduled bus from Stansted to Heathrow airport. So we paid 3 pounds to get a guaranteed ride on the next bus. Glad we did, because the folks that stood there standby didn't get on. At Heathrow, we didn't have time or energy to get a meal. Of course, after we got to our gate, we were told there was a delay. On board was awful. More delay and no AC. The seats might fit a 5' person, but even they would be cramped if the guy if front leaned back.

The arrival in Bilbao went well, and Jason and Helen picked us up for the drive back to their apartment in Pamplona. They brought sandwich fixings and other goodies for the ride. They park their car about a 10 minute walk from their apartment, so we dropped Helen off with our bags, and continued on to park the car. It was nice to walk after so much time in airplane, bus and car seats.

Not so straight hallway

Our builder would love the quirky construction around here. This is the main hall in Jason's apartment, which curves for no particular reason.

View of Plaza Del Castillo from Jason and Helen's balcony

The best part of his apartment is the view to the Plaza del Castillo. Today, we walked around the Citidel and stopped at one of their favorite restaurants for the fixed price meal. It threatened to rain, but the sun won out. Beautiful town. I can see why they decided to stay here.

We're on our way

DRKester — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT

We're heading out today on our way to Spain via London. Should be fun.

Touring the old city