Spain’s Basque Region

 

The moment you enter the Basque region you sense the change. We were here for less than a week so what we notice are surface things such as the dual languages on places and businesses of the practical things we experience. Lots more x’s and k’s, for example. But there’s also a sense that natives of the region have a feeling of otherness that runs much deeper. Our guide book gives a taste of the meaning of it, but the graffiti makes it palpable. 

Our photos here (i for information)

Bilbao

The closest available campground was in the town of Sopela, over an hour from Bilbao by walking and public transportation, because the closer one had been taken over for a weekend music event that was still being dismantled. After driving into Sopela and settling into the campsite, we did chores and noted that the campground restaurant opened for lunch at 1:30, then closed at 4 and reopened at 8:30 for dinner.  Sigh. We ate our grocery store finds for dinner, then walked steeply down to the beach. Even after 8 pm, there were lots of surfers catching good waves and families enjoying the beautiful ocean, sand and great weather. 

The trip into Bilboa took us over an hour but we were instantly greeted by a city pulsing with energy and presided over by impressive architecture. We had timed entry tickets for the Guggenheim Museum for 1 pm but I couldn’t help being stopped in my tracks by the gorgeous festooned facades of belle epoch buildings and equally arresting structures of various styles with elegant balconies. We got a light lunch at a vegetarian/coffee shop, but this being Spain, they had a ham option for Dermot. 

Museo Guggenheim Bilbao is an incredible building designed by Frank Gehry. The exterior soars and dips with twisting planes of gleaming silver scales. My photos and words, of course, don’t do it justice. A video in the museum shows how this site, that used to be an industrial wasteland, was transformed into a beautiful architectural showpiece. The exterior even has many sculptures, one is covered in blossoms and known as “Puppy.”

The whole museum is designed to provide expansive spaces required by modern installation art as well as more blocky traditional spaces. The permanent collection is filled with wonderful, thought-provoking art. There are pictures in the album and here’s the QR code for those who want more. 

I’ve also included a brief video of the immersive audiovisual installation called “Living Architecture: Gehry.” The installation had the biggest audience in the whole museum. People were sitting on couches and even lying on the floor watching. I’ve also including a photo of the explanation. I was mesmerized. Based on the viewers’ expressions of both wonderment and zen, I’d say it’s either mind control, or the favored place to go when you’re stoned or maybe it’s both.

We then strolled along the river which was thirsty work on this warm day so we headed for an Irish pub that Google maps said was open. Yet again, the Irish will not be dictated to by posted hours and it was closed. So we found another bar on a crowded street for our rest. While sipping on cider and beer we consulted our guide books and maps for the best places for pintxos (like tapas) - many of which are in a square in the historic part of town.

The plan was to go to several places ordering a small drink and two pintxos at each. Calamari was the speciality recommended by the guide at the first place we visited so we got that and one which was a quiche base. The calamari was perfect and such a large serving that we were too full for more! 

All roads in the historic area seem to lead to the cathedral. The buildings around it were in various styles but many were beautiful. Just check out the pictures!

Though we’d looked some time ago we missed out on booking a ferry straight from Spain to the U.K. which meant this last bit of the trip went from a smooth sail to a crush of planning.  Note that it’s the highest part of the high season, so our travel style of no reservations proved to be a detriment. We searched for a campsite in the recommended town of Donostia-San Sebastián (two names, one is Basque) and several alternatives without success until we found one outside the fishing village of Lekeito.

The drive there was through a winding road.  Instead of touring the pretty town we ended up spending the day doing more research and making reservations but we did get a picture of it as we drove through and from high above.

The rest of the pictures in the album were of small Basque towns taken drive-by style from the passenger seat.