JC's iPhone Blog

Today was mostly a travel day, though we did manage to squeeze in a stop in the lovely town of Getaria, about a half hour directly west of San Sebastián along the coast. Jorge & Meredith had read about it (in the New York Times no less), and it did not disappoint.

When we got there, the weather was drizzly and gray, but we had to check out the beach regardless…

How about another panorama?

…and a close-up of the giant cubes of rock they use for rip-rap:

We walked all the way around the harbor to the other side, and I took this shot looking back over the boats to the town itself..

Since it was Mother’s Day in the US, we thought we should go out for lunch to celebrate the two Moms in our group. The view from the center of town called for another panorama (are you getting sick of these yet?):

After scouting out restaurants, we found a nice seafood place and had an excellent meal of a variety of fresh fish. What a treat to eat fish that had likely been caught quite recently in that very town!

Here’s how another restaurant down the street was grilling their wares:

From there, J&M drove us to the airport in Bilbao to catch our flight to Barcelona. All went reasonably smoothly along the way, and we are now ensconced in our hotel, quite near the core of old downtown. We even saw our first Gaudi building (in Barcelona) just a few blocks from here.

Now it’s time for a good night’s sleep, as we have a lot of things to pack into the next three days. Talk to you tomorrow!

We are having so much fun exploring northern Spain, it’s not fair!

Two quick notes:

1) I just changed the format of the blog so it only shows the five most recent posts on the first page. I was noticing that it took a long time for the site to load, due to the sheer volume of photos that had to download. Things should be a little zippier now, but don’t forget to load pages 2 & 3, etc., if you want to see older posts.

2) In the process of making the above tweak, I noticed quite a few comments waiting to be approved. So sorry about that, I promise to do a better job of keeping up from now on. And thanks a ton to all of you who’ve taken the time to comment; it warms a blogger’s heart!

Today was Saturday. We got up, had a nice breakfast, then checked out of our Bilbao hotel and caught the bus to the airport, where we rented a car to drive to San Sebastián!

Along the way, Jorge & Meredith suggested we stop in the town of Durango. (It turns out that this Durango is a sister city with both the Durango in Mexico as well as the one in Colorado) Like everywhere else in Europe it seems, it’s a town rich in history. The tourist info building alone dates back to the 16th century:

We ended up doing a walking tour of the town. I was impressed by how professionally produced the tour was for such a small town. One of the first stops was the Town Hall (I thought of seeing if I could stop in and meet my fellow mayor, but since it was Saturday, I was out of luck…):

A little further along, we stopped at this typically picturesque view of how a river will often be treated as it passes through small towns such as this:

We then found a place to buy some goodies for a picnic lunch. Next stop was the tiny village of Apatamonasterio, in the valley of Atxondo, which just happens to be the the home of Jorge’s ancestors. It’s pronounced Ah-tchondo; he spells his name Anchondo. It was so cool to see where his people came from more than 500 years ago. Anyway, here J&M are, next to the information sign near the village center:

We found a schoolyard bench to sit on and enjoy our lunch, then looked around the village a bit more. In the local cemetery, I found a nice example of the great little columbines we’ve been seeing all along the roadsides for the last week:

Following a little path around the village, we then stumbled across this pastoral scene. So peaceful…

Then it was off to San Sebastián for a little siesta at our hotel, before heading out on the town for the evening. First, though, we wandered past the beach…

…and then through this exquisite park that covers a steep hill right on the ocean front between the main beaches, where I couldn’t resist some sunset scenics:

[I’m loving the panorama feature on the iPhone’s camera; it’s so easy! To think you used to have to do backflips in Photoshop to accomplish that kind of thing!]

For the second night in a row, we’ve found some exceptional pintxos bars, and savored every morsel. Tonight’s one stop was called Bar Borda Berri, and man, were they good. We’ve learned that you know you’ve found a good spot when it looks like this inside:

Tomorrow we plan a relaxing day of wending our way back to Bilbao, where we’ll catch a plane to Barcelona about 6 pm. J&M think they know of another nice beach along the way. If we find it, I’m sure I’ll have some photos for you tomorrow. I know I’ll have something for you, since every day here is full of treats for the eyes!

Greetings loyal travelogue followers, from this very cosmopolitan city in the Basque region of northern Spain. We’ve had yet another amazing day seeing new horizons…

Before I dive in to tales and photos of our day here, I want to give one last shout out to Rafael and his Casa del Organista hotel in Santillana del Mar. Everything about the place impressed us, and we’d like to urge anyone who might be tempted to stay there some day!

We were met this morning by Simon from Iron Donkey, who picked up the bikes and very kindly drove us to Santander to catch our bus to Bilbao. He was a jolly Englishman, who even offered to go into the bus station with us to make sure we could get on the bus with only the email receipt on my phone (it was no problem).

Once on the bus, it was only a little more than an hour and a half to Bilbao, and Jorge & Meredith’s bus showed up about 15 minutes later. We walked to our hotel about three blocks away, dropped our bags and headed for the Guggenheim.

I’m sure most of you have already seen photos of Frank Gehry’s masterpiece, but if you haven’t, you’re about to! What a structure…

That one was taken near the entrance, and gives you a good sense of the contrast of glass and steel.

The above was taken from an upper patio where we had a quick bite to eat…

On the interior, stone and glass dominate. The elevators all ascend within those crazy glass-sheathed columns.

One of the major features of their collection is a huge multi-faceted (literally!) Richard Serra sculpture A Matter of Time.

Mal & I had a wonderful time walking beneath almost every inch of those incredible rusted steel monoliths. It’s truly an awe inspiring work of art…

After exploring the rest of the museum for a while, we headed back outside to investigate all the angles (!) of the building and its surroundings:

Then it was time to head for the old town center, and look for some good pintxos (tapas) bars for dinner!

I can’t seem to resist these extraordinarily unique and colorful streetscapes:

Jorge & Meredith enjoyed showing us some of their favorite sights, like this expansive art center with 43 individually commissioned pillars, each a original design. Here’s one of my favorites:

Nearby we definitely found the hot neighborhood for pintxos. Here we have a typical bowl of olives and a raciones of jamon iberico. Tasty!

And just to prove how hoppin’ the neighborhood was, check out the street scene as we headed for home!

I keep wondering how each day can top the last, but somehow they do. Tune in tomorrow for the report from San Sebastián!