Blogs from Basque Country, Spain, Europe - page 5

Travelling again today, picked up at our apartment (transfers went very smoothly here) at 7.30am (daylight saving started yesterday, so dark) and off to the airport. Managed to check in and find the gate for our Vueling flight to Bilbao. Short flight, very squeezy!! Landed in Bilbao, pouring rain, and then the fun started - driving in the hire car, a Renault Scenic - feels huge! Drove into Bilbao (airport is outside town) to check out the Guggenheim museum - from the outside only, closed on Mondays. There was one sculpture outside - "Puppy" - a dog made of flowers. Apparently it has been there since 1992, and the flowers are actually planted, and growing! Got very wet (even with rain jackets and umbrellas as it was also very windy) walking around the outside of the ... read more

Zoe To start off the day we went to Monte Igueldo which is a mountain overlooking the bay. We took an old funicular up the mountain. At first mum and I were scared, but then we started to like it. When we got to the top we saw a hotel, it would be nice to stay in that hotel but it would get really busy. There was an amazing view of the city. There was also a theme park, it was closed. We came down in the funicular as well. After that we went to the beach. It was really fun. Bella and I built a really big sand castle with a moat. We also had fun playing in the water. A really big wave came and hit Bella and I in the head, it was ... read more

The birthday Breakfast in apartment- To start off the morning we had breakfast in our apartment for Dean's 50th. We had all sorts of breads and pastries. It was really yummy. Bella and I planned a surprise mystery trip for dad. Bella was the first tour guide, then I was second. Bella took us to a Jesus statue (Sagrado Corazon de Jesus) and fort. It was on a big mountain. That we hiked up. It was a beautiful statue. There was an amazing view of the whole city. Dad really liked it. Next, Bella took us out for lunch. It was delicious. We had hot chips and we haven't had hot chips in ages. We also got chicken wings, they had a really nice BBQ sauce on them. After that it was my turn to do ... read more

San Sebastian was the destination I was most looking forward to on this trip... It is a resort town located on the north coast of Spain, full of beaches, and a hot culinary scene with a total of 16 Michelin stars! They are also famous for pinxtos, essentially this is what they call tapas in Basque Country... but they are often served with a toothpick through them and almost al restaurants and bars serve up a least some Pinxtos. When we first got to San Sebastian, Maxine and I BOTH blew our wheels on our suitcases - what are the odds of that happening! So unfortunately suitcase shopping was now on the itinerary. Too many cobblestones i suppose :( We had some lunch on a patio in the middle of an old bull fighting arena-now-turned plaza ... read more

... Yes it was a big day and choosing photos is going to be impossible as we couldn't have had a more varied day. We left the Monastery with the sun shining, the bells ringing and a tremendous sense of peace. A number of us thought it would have been lovely to have a "down day" there as it was totally isolated and would be good for the soul but we totally understood it wouldn't suit everyone. Having said that we were rewarded with a fabulous and varied day beginning with the prettiest castle we have seen, the Royal Palace of Olite constructed in the 15th century by Charles III, King of Navarre (the region we were now visiting). It was huge with stairs up and down, turrets, arched windows, courtyards and must have been spectacular ... read more