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Published: September 20th 2007
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Debs, Keith & Aina
Goodbye to Bois du Tauzan 15th September 2007
Ola Bo & Dud,
We are breaking new ground and are in Spain!!!
It’s been an action packed week - on Monday we had a day out in Bordeaux. Although we’ve travelled to this area many times, we’ve always been here during August and it’s far too hot for a city visit, so now was our chance. It is a fabulous place - the old architecture sits well alongside modern redevelopment, and, the whole place was buzzing with students and rugby supporters. We walked the length of the Rue de St. Catherine (the pilgrim route to Santiago de Compostela), enjoyed lunch down by the river while being entertained by the Miroir D’Eau and photographed elephants, camels and lions in the centre of the city!! - Cirque Pinder was in town. We also relaxed while surrounded by the cannabis fumes of students ‘chillin’ in their lunch hour.
We spent our last lovely sunset evening at Bois du Tauzan. We’ve been very happy visiting Debs & Keith here over the last few years and it was quite sad knowing that we would be leaving for the very last time. We set out on Wednesday morning for St. Jean-de-Luz
Bordeaux Central
Bordeau's answer to the 'Flat Iron Building' in New York and Biarritz but the traffic for the exit we wanted was backed up, so we kept going - onward, ever onward to Spain. Going through the passport control was interesting - we managed to get in the lane with lorries and missed it completely. A nice man in a uniform waved to me, I smiled and waved back - they are so welcoming the Spanish Customs.
You know how you have visions of what a place will be like? Well this is nothing like my vision - I expected after Bilbao, that the coastline would become, ‘village rural’, this couldn’t be further from reality. We stayed at Camping Arrien, in Gorliz - a bit slap dash of a site; park anywhere, and people did, but the facilities were clean and the bins emptied twice a day and the staff were extremely helpful (and spoke English). We were a pleasant walk away from the beach through a public BBQ and picnic area which at the weekend was buzzing with families eating and socialising. The beach was very pretty, in a horseshoe shape and set out for swimming, sailing and surfing and with lifeguard support. In the mornings the beach was
Tram in the trees
Not quite Supertram, is it? alive with the older age group (can’t say wrinkles - Howard is getting a little sensitive); and they ‘yomped’ in their cozzies (bikinies at 70+), at the sea edge, one way then the other. It was like watching something that David Attenborough would film for a wildlife programme. On the sea front was a hospital (may be a sanatorium), where patients were wheeled onto the promenade to take the air. If you were going to be ill, this is the place to be. Later in the day, and at the weekend, came the children and young people and there were organised activities - all very good natured and everyone having a great deal of fun. Howard and I have not spent so much time on a beach for years - for me swimming in the sea was a bonus.
And so, to our reason for visiting this region, a visit to the Guggenheim in Bilbao. We were able to park free of charge at the metro station in Plentzia and take the train (cheap, clean, no graffiti, on time & every 20 mins) into central Bilbao. From here it was just a short walk to the Guggenheim - this
Miroir d'eau
The Miroir looks like very flat, ordinary pavement until it begins to mist - if only we could have captured the faces of some people. art gallery is more about the building itself than the art work it contains. It is made of concrete, glass and titanium - there are no flat or straight surfaces and staircases which seem to disappear into infinity. It has a huge WOW!! factor, both outside and inside. There are 3 levels to the building with a central atrium and walkways connecting the galleries. From the walkways there are views of both the inside and outside - fortunately there are handrails, I felt quite disorientated at one point. I think this is because our eyes focus best on flat surfaces and this building is so curvaceous. The ground floor is split into sections and artists have been ‘invited’ to create for the space - I never realise that art could manifest itself in such unusual and creative materials ….. Brilliant!
After Howard had photographed the building from every conceivable angle - we had a lunch of cerveza and empanadas (lager and meat pie to you). The rest of the day we spent wandering around the town and the old quarter - and we think we’ve got history in England, there’s no comparison.
Our last day out was spent
Cirque Pinder
The performers obviously like their TV exploring the coast, the scenery is different from one bay to the next - sometimes beach or rocks or forest going right down to the sea edge. We stopped to view San Juan De Gaztelugatxe & Matxitxako (no I have not had my fingers on the wrong keys!) - this is an island linked to the mainland by a bridge and then 231 steps to a hermitage. In this very small viewing area there was a monument to sailors who have lost their lives around the Bay of Biscay - a few people began to gather around the monument, flowers were placed, and then a Priest arrived and began to conduct a short mass. There was an old chap there who sobbed throughout and afterwards spent time pointing out to sea and telling his story. We got drawn into the whole proceedings despite not having a clue what was being said - it was quite moving.
The last port of call was Bermeo, this is obviously a very wealthy fishing village the boats in the harbour were top spec and extremely colourful. It was a fete day and so very crowded, lots of stalls selling goodies and lots of
Rue de Ste Catherine
The is part of the pilgrim route to Santiago de Compostela small boys with bangers!!
I’ll tell you about supermarket shopping at a later date - we’ve only been in one so far and I was not disappointed.
Love & Hugs & Kisses
H & H x
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