Vacay pics of Spain

[Matata]

Spent a few weeks touring smallish cities/towns in the Basque region of Spain. Have a few pics to post so it''ll take a bit of time.

First stop was Bilbao where we picked up our rental car. Guggenheim Museum is more spectacular outside than inside. My favorite thing was the 40 ft. West Highland White Terrier done in flowers that stands at the front of the museum.

 

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Building by Gaudi

 

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Bilbao. Lovely city, great ambiance. We stayed in the charming old town with lots of bars/restaurants/shopping

 

[princesss]

PUPI!

I lived in Bilbao for 4 months a few years ago...I miss it now! (I went to the school just across the river from the Guggenheim.)

I can''t wait for more pictures!

 

[Matata]

Pintxos bars number in the thousands. They''re fancy tapas. The bars open at 1pm and folks do the pintxo crawl visiting several bars for treats & drinks. Then all the bars close around 6 and the restaurants open at 8:30.

 

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Our first stop after Bilbao was Comillas. A pretty beach town.

 

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My favorite stop on the trip was Potes a teeny tiny town in the Picos de Europas mountains. This pic was taken from the car as we approached the mountains.

 

[Matata]

View from our room in Potes.

 

[tlh]

looks like an awesome trip!

 

[Matata]

We wanted to hike the mountains and had to take a cable car to the trailhead -- 2000 feet in under 3 minutes. And I am afraid of heights so you can be sure that my heart did not beat the entire way up & down. Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!

 

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docking station. eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!

 

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These next 3 are views from the trail

 

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From Potes we travelled to San Sebastian, holy grail party town. This is the view from our hotel room of one of the beaches.

 

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There''s a really nice promenade that meanders from one side of the city to the other, all along the ocean.

 

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To get a great view, sometimes you have to climb a bit

 

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From the top of the stairs

 

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There was some kind of festival starting our last two days there. These are giant figures that were paraded thru town.

 

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Last two pics. Sample of Basque cooking -- lamb with pumpkin sauce and frothy milk.

 

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Our last lunch was interesting due to my mistake reading the menu. I thought I was getting some sort of grilled pork but I ended up with pork knuckles. Ewwwwwww. Luckily the first course was a delicious seafood paella. I dissected the knuckles out of curiosity but couldn''t even sample them. Way too much fat & gristle.

 

[Matata]

Oops, I almost forgot about our day trip to St. Jean de la Luz in France. Loved this little place. If we ever go back, we''ll stay here rather than San Sebastian.

 

[Matata]

Pretty pedestrian shopping area with lovely markets & shops.

 

[Matata]

What I love most about our travels is how fresh all of the food is -- caught or picked in the morning and served the same day. The market in St. Jean was chock full of lovely fresh seafood, vegies, and my two favorite edibles -- fresh-baked bread & hundreds of different cheeses.

 

[Matata]

Last pic.

 

[princesss]

St. Jean is gorgeous. I loved it when I was there.