Blogs from Basque Country, Spain, Europe - page 9

Basque Country, Spain 2016 Minsk to Frankfurt, 5 hour layover, airport dinner of sausages and beer Arrive in Bilbao near midnight, last bus to downtown disembark near Guggenheim Museum beautiful warm night for a walk to the hotel – about 70 degrees F only we took a wrong turn from the circular Plaza Mayu long, but interesting walk – finally found a taxi to the hotel Sunday – up early (our hotel host says Americans and Germans are always the earliest) coffee and pintxos for breakfast – pintxos are small tasty snacks served all day long then a walk along the river promenade, many people strolling, jogging then the Guggenheim Bilbao came into view amazing geometric shapes appear, mama spider sculpture, fog installation the architecture compliments the modern art inside most striking are Richard Serra’s huge ... read more

After 6 months of planning, reading, plane reservations and gathering the necessary items, next week I'm off on my 500 mile pilgrim trek across northern Spain called "The Way of St James starting at St Jean Pied De Port with a destination finale at the Cathedral in Santiago. My biggest concern of preparations is healthy feet--no doubt I can walk the miles as I have strong cardio fitness and I'm cautioned to keep my pack light--will have less than 12 pounds on my back. Unlike a hiker's trek in the wilderness, most food and water is purchased along the way. With the traditional shell on my pack, I will stay in Pilgrim Hostels (Albergues) and seek out Tapas and refreshment in local establishments along the way. Truly excited to attain another "bucket list item" and take ... read more

Quiet start to the day. Feet and legs feeling the walking from yesterday arvo. Look at options for the rest of the trip, how, when and how long. A few options that we are following up so watch this space...... Eventually out I tot he sun, after another good dump of rain this morning. Yes, we did see morning...... Out to the street and find a bar where they had Pintxos. Lots of little snacks like ham and cheese rolls (but fancier names that's that), bread with interesting stuff in it and other stuff. All went well with a sneaky little Rose. Off to the furnicular which goes up,to the hill beside our place and overlooks the cove and San Sebastián. Find that and up we travel. Pretty steep and the views agent better as we ... read more

Today we had just a short 1-hour drive to the Atlantic Ocean and the city of San Sebastian but this time we had to get through a random breath test check point, we were OK with a reading of 0.00. The only difference to Australian and NZ check points are they have a policeman with the automatic gun at the ready (finger on the trigger) for people who try to do a runner, I guess its shoot first and ask questions later. The plan was to spend some time on the beach but the clouds rolled in, so it was a walk to the beach and port area with a late lunch at one of the wonderful seafood restaurants at the fishing port. After this we took an hour’s boat trip around the local bays then ... read more

After eight months in Latin America, I was now returning back to Europe, and back to the country that I left Europe from – Spain. But naturally, I couldn’t leave Cuba without experiencing its frustrations one last time. Before spending my last CUC$10, I ask the lady at the bureau de change if there was a minimum amount that I needed to change. She smiles, and says no. So I then ask a stranger for five cents so I could buy an overpriced CUC$5.50 pizza (worth CUC$0.60 on the streets of Centro Habana) and have a nice, round CUC$5 note left to exchange into Euros. Going back to the bureau de change, she then tells me that I need a minimum of CUC$6 to change into Euros. I JUST F*CKING ASKED YOU IF I NEEDED A ... read more