2012 09 San Sebastian to Bilbao

2012 09 San Sebastian to Bilbao, a set on Flickr.

3rd set of photos from our trip across Northern Spain. Click on the link to see all 48.

Bilbao: our last night in Spain

We arrived in Bilbao about lunchtime, so after a quick picnic lunch in our hotel, we wandered off to visit the Guggenheim Museum and a nearby playground recommended by people on the cookery course in San Sebastian.

The Guggenheim 

The Guggenheim is a striking riverside building; the 'scales' glisten in the sun. Walking around the outside is worthwhile to view it from different angles and to see the various external sculptures. Our favourite was the giant spider.

Eleanor and the giant spider

Inside we were lucky to see David Hockney: A Bigger Picture, an exhibition of his Yorkshire Landscapes. Some are huge and spread over a large number of canvases (some 30ish!). We both found a few that we could happily hang on our walls, should we find ourselves with a large amount of spare cash one day.

The Richard Serra installation

Eleanor and Leo had loads of fun running through a Richard Serra installation of iron spirals. They were kind of like a maze or spiral tunnel. Quite something to be inside.

We raced around the other rooms and sped off to the playground after that as the excitement got a bit much and we had scratchy children on our hands.

In Spain restaurants often don't open until 7.30/8pm for dinner. Not easy when you have two hungry children who are used to being fed by 6.30pm! As we have cooked for ourselves fairly regularly it hasn't been much of an issue, but in Bilbao we had our first (and last) real experience of how tricky it becomes. As a result we had our only disappointing meal in Spain. Not bad in a week!

The following morning we dropped the car off at the airport before flying to Florence via Barcelona. We loved our time in Spain and will be back one day.

Unfortunately, the airline managed to leave our pushchair in Barcelona. The first real hitch we've had so far. While it is annoying to have to collect it from the airport, it is better that than one of our bags being left behind!

On the upside, we are now in Florence starting the next leg of our journey.

Lovely San Sebastian

When we read about San Sebastian in the Lonely Planet, I thought it might be over-rated. How wrong!

It is the busiest spot we have visited since Santiago de Compostela, but it is not difficult to see why... the old city is a small rabbit warren of pedestrian streets, the beaches are long stretches of golden sand, the food is incredible and the wine is cheap and delicious. It is a good time to come; the temperatures and in the mid-to late 20's and the larger crowds have gone.

At the aquarium

Yesterday, after a coffee and playground stop (cafes are often conveniently located next to playgrounds here) we went to the aquarium. Eleanor and Leo were both transfixed. The sharks, rays, lobsters and their friends all drew cries of 'look mummy', 'see daddy'. The very best was saved for last; Nemo and Dory. It was fun for all of us and fantastic to see Eleanor and Leo enjoy it so much.

We had lunch at a pintxos restaurant in the old town. Pintxos are Basque finger-food sold in single serves. Apparently they should be no larger than two-to-three bites each and should include at least two or three different colours. There is a real art to preparing and presenting these small dishes.

Many are based around local fish and occasionally ham. We are in anchovy heaven; they are in many pintxos and are so much better than the tinned version. We may be ruined for the supermarket variety!

Part way up Monte Urgull

After an ice cream, Eleanor and Leo napped while we walked up Monte Urgull to the Napoleonic castle at the summit. It was a good walk in the heat pushing 45-odd kilograms of pushchair and sleeping children uphill, but worth it for the views, being away from the crowds and under the shade of the trees.

Busy at the beach

We finished the day with a swim and sandcastle building before dinner. It is very difficult to have Eleanor and Leo in bed much before 9pm in Spain as everything happens in its own time. They are sleeping until 7.30/8am, so definitely not all bad!

Pintxos

Today Adrian took Eleanor and Leo for a few hours while I went on a pintxos cookery class run by San Sebastian Food. I was with a great group of five others. We were taken to a little fishing village outside of the city by taxi and boat and had the course in a restaurant kitchen. It was a fantastic experience and eating our creations on a terrace overlooking the sea topped it off nicely. I will definitely be experimenting when we have a kitchen again! For now, here's the recipe for our dessert:

Dessert

• Two scoops of lemon sorbet
• One shot of cava (or champagne)
• Two seconds of vodka
• One shot of whipped or double cream

Blend and serve in a flute.

After the course I joined Adrian, Eleanor and Leo, who had spent the morning at a playground, at the beach for more swimming and playing in the sand. What a day!

We could all happily spend another few days here, but it is time to move on; tomorrow we drive to Bilbao, our final stop in Spain.

2012 09 Soto de Luina to Santillana Del Mar

2012 09 Soto de Luina to Santillana Del Mar, a set on Flickr.

Photos from the second part of our trip across Northern Spain. Click on the link to view them all.

Soto de Luina to San Sebastian

Playa del Silencio

When we left Soto de Luina (with all clean clothes!) we decided to start our day with a visit to a beach; surprise! Playa del Silencio is quite different to the other beaches we have seen so far. It is a steep 10 minute or so minute walk down from the car park. The beach itself is beautiful in a rugged, stony kind of way. It is peaceful and there were few others around. We disturbed the peace with shrieking, singing, and crying, threw stones into the sea then hiked back up the hill; no small task with two children who weren't keen to walk!

Cudillero

The next stop was Cudillero, a cute fishing village for a picnic, coffee and quick play in the playground, which consisted of a slide. Eleanor told us it was the best playground in the kingdom. I am not sure what the judging criteria were, but was not convinced myself!

Santillana del Mar

We spent the night at Santillana del Mar; more cute! We set off to find dinner at about 7pm only to find that no restaurants served meals before 8pm. Thank goodness for a biscuit and playground as distractions!

The next morning we walked around the old city. Adrian visited the torture museum, primarily an exhibition of instruments used during the Spanish inquisition, and discovered things he didn't want to know about humanity. We stopped by Le Cueva de Altamira, a cave containing prehistoric paintings of bison, human hands etc. the cave itself is no longer open to the public, but they have built a replica. The cave and museum were interesting to us, but Eleanor and Leo weren't impressed (it is very difficult to explain 16,500 years ago to a three-year-old who is reasonably new to the concepts of tomorrow and yesterday) so we didn't stay long.

From there we drove straight to San Sebastian. Wow! Why have we not been here sooner?

Navigation around the city is a challenge to say the least, there is a confusing one way system with the added complication of pedestrianised streets, but we found our hotel in the end. We are a street back from Playa de Gros, the surf beach. Our room has a view (between two buildings) of the sea, much to Leo's excitement.

I am going to stop now and devote a whole new page to San Sebastian. Rant warning!