Bilbao

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March 28th 2007

Published: March 28th 2007

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colvinyeates

Zaragoza

Leaning Tower of Zaragoza

BILBAO
So we leave France and scoot towards Spain. After 2 says of reasonable weather, Europe turns on us again. Under grey, gloomy skies we near the border. With no actual signs welcoming us to Spain, we look for telltale indications. Obviously the language on signs change from a mixture of Basque and French to a mixture of Basque and Spanish. More overtly is the appearance of seemingly endless dull rectangular apartment blocks with the washing hanging from the balconies, as well as interminable ugly industry in full view. a kind of Port Kembla meets Brooklyn. There is also the sudden emergence of tasteless graffitti as France disappears in the rear vision mirror.
Lonely Planet describes Bilbao as a spirited city surrounded by hills in the midst of beautiful Basque countryside. We will have to take their word for it as the hills and beautiful countryside tend to be obscured by factories and Redfernish housing commission units.
So why come to Bilbao, you ask.
For a start its real. Also, the centre of the city, particularly the Casco Viejo, is everything you´d expect of a Spanish city - colonial architecture, narrow cobbled streets, countless tapas bars/ cafes lining fun plazas, all

Zaragoza

G Yeates, street artist

enlivened by the famed verve of the Spanish people. Bilbao´s blue chip attraction though is of course the Spanish Guggenheim. The structure is a work of art in itself and the exhibitions inside feature a comprehensive collection of just a few comtempory artists, making the visit not so overwhelming for the less artistically inclined. ie. us.
Did i mention the traffic? Here´s hoping the rest of Spain isn´t as log jammed and erratic.

ZARAGOZA
Wasn´t really on our rough itinerary but seeing as we were heading for Barcelona, why not call in for a couple of days. Glad we did. After enduring the wet drive (Europe´s weather is like chinese water torture) we arrive in Zaragoza and promptly spend 3 hours trying to find any reasonable room with parking that doesn´t suck the credit card dry.
The city is impressive. Zaragoza is busy putting on her Sunday best for Expo 2008 (what exactly is Expo and does anybody actually go to it?). It's a neat city with its massive basilica standing sentry over the broad plaza on one side and the river Ebra the other. Architecturally it´s a fine blend of colonial Spanish, Roman and Moops. I wasn´t aware

Zaragoza

Back Street vista

the Moops made it that far north. We even manage about 5 hours of sunshine 1 day - luxury - befor it again turns sour, of course.
Saturday in Zaragoza and the streets are choc-a-bloc with locals from 3 to 103 enjoying life. Sitting outside an atmospheric tapas bar sipping a coldy, watching thousands fo Spanish people loving life, we felt pretty good about ourselves.

BARCELONA
The rain in Spain
falls mainly
wherever we are.
There´s supposed to be drought in Spain - HUH!
We picked up our mate Pierre Coulter at the airport as he would spend the rest of the week with us leading into easter. First matter was the purchase of an umbrella. Barcelona, aside from being wet, is a testament to Gaudi. After seeing his Sagrada Familia basilica, I begged myself the question, was Gaudi a genius or was Gaudi simply gawdy. Not being an art connaiseur, I´ll put my head on the chopping block and plump for gawdy Gaudi. Opinions could be altered with a blue sky, 6000 or so less tourists and their buses, and no cranes or scaffolding surrounding the entire structure. Anybody wants to make money in Spain, go into the

Zaragoza

St George supporters on their way to the big game.

crane making business, they´re everywhere.
For Penny´s birthday we headed south for the day to Tarragona, down towards the Costa del downpour. Typical of what we´ve seen so far, the city centre was full of character but encircled by the ubiquitous apartment blocks. Does anybody in Spain live in a house?
In the opposite and equidistant direction from Barcelona is Girona which we visited for half a day with Pierre enroute to France where we were to spend a couple of days. Girona is lovely. She even treated us to about 4 hours of sunshine (which naturally turned out to be just another tease for the inevitable cycle of grey). Wandering the the old narrow streets of Girona was a pleasant interlude between Barcelona and France.

CARCASSONNE.
We thought we´d take Pierre to France for a couple of days so decided on Carcassonne (partially on the advice of Terry Wiley), not too far from the border in the Languedoc region. W found a reasonable room but:
no eating
no drinking
no hair dryers
no noise
etc
But above all, please enjoy yourselves.
We arrive under clearish skies (we´ll settle for ISH) but very much on the brisk side. The

Barcelona

Sagrada Familia by Gaudi Cranes and scaffolding by Acme.

city is overlooked by La Cite, a huge medieval castle which sees 2 million tourists a year. Wandering through the old city you can believe that figure. It must be absolute chaos here in peak season. La Cite is damn impressive but at the same time it´s easy to be a smidgen cynical about the pseudo authenticity of the restorations and the kitschy tourist industry feeding off it. As Pierre said, it´s like a medieval Disneyland.
The food, well this is cassoulet country, a hearty bean stew with several chunks of sausage and duck. No wabbit seasons here, purely duck season. We washed this down with a Languedoc red the waiter descrived as strong. I laugh in this waiter´s face. He needs a visit to the Hunter Valley for a good dose of gutsy shiraz and then he can go home to redefine his sissy Languedoc red.
YEATESY

BILBAO
As we drive along the freeway, Gary asked if I thought there would be a sign telling us we had reached Spain. ¨No, there will be no sign but you will know when you are in Spain¨. and within a few minutes of reaching Spain, Gary commented ¨I think we

Barcelona

Gawdy Gaudi

must be in Spain, graffitti, rubbish and general chaos amongst the traffic.¨ We arrive on the outskirts of Bilbao across frojm the freeway and a walkway to some mega shopping mall. So with Guggenheim planned for the following day and my birthday pending, I find a hair salon open til 10pm and have a cut, colour, blow dry to look half human again. One thing about the Spanish, they do like to party and stay open til late.
The Guggenheim was beautiful and gauche at the same time. an amazing building described by the audio commentary ¨like sails of a yacht encapturing its surrounds¨, but I would probably describe it more as ultra modern (titanium panels) looking onto an ugly bridge and even uglier old apartments. However, apart from the rain, it was nice way to spend a number of hours. And when the rain just won´t let up, well a tapas bar and a glass of wine/beer is a great way to see the afternoon out. I´m not so sure about the crustacean number but the others were all yum.

ZARAGOZA
I do love Churros, and Zaragoza had cafes with people lined up in the streets to buy

Barcelona

Birthday girl

it. I could smell it a few blocks away and followed the smell. Delicious - the closest thing at home is fresh hot donuts without the sugar coating. The locals take their´s with a cup of chocolate to dip it into, but for me its just heaven plain. With the pending Expo in Zaragosa, there are plenty of free exhibitions on offer. A local artist (of last century) had a major display which I loved - shame I can´t remember his name.
We have quickly slipped into the Spanish lifestyle, rising at 8ish in the morning, and having a quiet drink about 8pm before dinner / tapas about 9 / 9.30.
We saw a number of people (both adults and children) wearing outfits that resembled a colourful KKK. I guess with Easter less than a week away, it probably has something more to do with that. However, watching large processions of hooded people carrying candles, and accompanied by bands heading down the plaza looks a little unusual (even for the girl brought up as a catholic).

BARCELONA
Wishing for good weather just wasn´t going to happen. The city of Barcelona is crowded with more tourists than we have come

Tarragona

Coffee experiment gone wrong

across anywhere else (even in the rain). But there is lots to see (with or without rain). We now have Pierre in tow, we navigate the extensive metro system to visit the unfinished Sagrada Familia. The crowds flock there even while under major construction - imagine another 100 years when it is finished how many tour¡sts there will be. The concessus from the three of us, is they should probably quit now. Barcelona is easy to get around on foot, so we pursue the rest of Gaudis work, similar impressions from us all - a bit gawdy. We walked to Las Rambles and the Marina, and now all have a 5 euro umbrellas as the rain won´t let up.

TARRAGONA
It´s my birthday and I am looking forward to a day trip to Tarragona, in the hope of some better weather. The plaza in the centre is quaint and I decide on a coffee at the aptly named cafe ¨Cappuccino¨. Pierre who has not had a coffee for more than 16 years, says as it's my birthday he would try a coffee. The result - outright failure. He thought it was just as bitter and disgusting as the last

Gerona

Old city through the arches

time he had tried one, and is just as happy to never try one again. At least I ended up with 2 coffees.

GERONA
On our way north, we had a lunch stop at the charming town of Gerona. With our baguette, cheese and tomato, we head for a sunny spot in the park. We walk around the city for a few hours and take in the cosmopolitan shops and the church high on the hill. I don´t push my luck with Pierre for another coffee sample, so find a take out instead.

CARCASSONNE
You can´t travel around with a 'Pierre´ in your company without doing something French, so we head for the border and the fabulous town of Carcassonne, complete with a cinderella castle. The weather has turned cold, but at least it is not raining. The boys want to try the local dish, Cassoulet (white beans, duck and sausage) and we look for a vegetarian option for me. Before going to Carcassonne Gary had talked about having a hot air baloon ride over the town, but it was extremely expensive. After the cassoulet, the boys produced enough methane to fuel the hot air baloon for several

Carcassonne

Cinderella Land

hours. Pity the cleaning staff at the hotel.
Good Friday we leave Carcassonne as Pierre's journey is over with us. We leave blue skies and warm weather and head back to Spain without our ´French´ companion.
Penny

GUEST CONTRIBUTOR
It was a great 5 days on the Gary and Penny tour of southern Spain and France. I had vowed never to return to France until I had learnt the language. Thankfully this wasn´t required as I fell into the shadow of linguist Yeatsey. The 5 well planned days saw us through Barcelona, Tarragona, Gerona in Spain and Carcassonne in France, with each day punctuated by a shared cheese and tomato baguette for lunch, then the regional speciality at night. except for Gary´s recommended Spanish restaurant which did not realise paella was a Spanish dish.
Finally, a big thankyou to Gary and Penny for going out of their way to look after me for the week. Also a special thankyou to Tomtom who as long as he can stay stuck to the windscreen will continue to be a remarkable keeper of the peace.
(ps) I have stollen your 5 euro umbrellas- there will be no more rain in Spain!!)
Greg