We decided to spend just one day/night in Bilbao to give us a chance to visit the Guggenheim Museum there. Researching online, it really didn’t appear there was much else to see there. Of course we were surprised when we arrived to their annual festival - “The Aste Nagusia”, or “The Big Week”. The festival begins with the unveiling of Marijaia, the festival mascot. I think made of paper-mache, she is maybe 8 feet tall, with arms up in the air and mouth wide open as if to be saying “Let’s party!”. Evidently, when the week is over, they celebrate with a bonfire where she is “lovingly” burned.

The town has every sort of sporting competition going on, from lumberjack competitions to boat races, football (soccer) matches, and of course bull fights. After we checked into our hotel, we went for a walk still unaware of what was going on. We walked through a park where there were hundreds of children and many rides and activities. We saw a (very) long line of parents and children taking pictures with one giant character. I took a quick picture and we eventually figured out she was the Marijaia for this years party. We also walked along the river through town and had a chance to watch some rowing races - they were like crew races but the boats are fashioned after the boats originally used for whaling. The Basques were some of the first to hunt whales and dominated the whale trade for 500 years. Going as far as Newfoundland, many believe they were in North America before Christopher Columbus. Anyway, the boats were fascinating to watch as part of the race is completing a sharp turn at one end - at full speed.

We also visited the Guggenheim - a hint - the building itself was the main draw. The exhibit's - not so much - unless you enjoy a 8’x6’ piece of canvas painted entirely black, with a 4”x2” corner that wasn’t painted…. Anyway, there was a beautiful auto exhibit (007's below), but the rest of it just wasn’t for us.

After, we were walking back toward the hotel and noticed a poster advertising for the Bull Fight’s. Since we had missed out on this due to rain a few years back while in Pamplona, we decided to give it a try. The ring was an easy walk from our hotel so we went up about an hour before start time, got a couple of tickets and went on in. I realize many people do not agree with this activity, and I do believe that over time it will end (it is already banned even in parts of Spain), but it does have a long history here, so we wanted to see it. I’ll only post a couple of picture’s - it was quite an interesting, flamboyant and yet brutal event to watch. We later found that a couple of the Matador’s were staying in our hotel. At the end of each evening during the festival there were fireworks presented by different countries - tonight was Italy.

On to San Sebastián - only about a one hour drive from Bilbao, this is an old town right on the water with beautiful beaches and a history of whaling and fishing. Now it is known for food - supposedly having more Michelin starred restaurants per square kilometer than anywhere else (except Kyoto, Japan) in the world. I’m sure they must be good, and if you make a booking a year in advance maybe you can get in. They need to be good - because the other option’s (mostly bars with Pintxos) were not so great. You can only eat so many day-old slices of bread with an anchovy on top!

Anyway the town is beautiful and we enjoyed walking and seeing much of it. One day we did a “Guru walk” - a free (but you are supposed to tip) walking tour of the town. It was a great way to get a bit of the history and see some places we would have missed on our own. I would recommend these tours in other cities as well, especially if you can do them on the first day arriving into town. It was interesting that Napoleon's troops occupied the city in the early 1800's - when the city was taken back, it was looted and basically destroyed, only to be built back a bit at a time. In the main square, which used to be the bullfighting ring, there are numbered rooms all around - they were numbered balconies that the city rented to watch the bullfights, raising money to help rebuild the city.



Another day we took a guided tour to visit the French towns of the Basque region. Supposed to be a maximum of 8 people on the tour, but it was just the two of us which was great. Our guide was Daniel and he took us first to Bayonne, and then to Biarritz and Saint-Jean de-Luz.

Each town was great and each very different. Bayonne was a bit inland, but on the river. Beautiful cathedral and old town area including a nice market. One road featured many Chocolate shops - evidently they are famous for it there.

Biarritz is on the sea, and is quite the surfing town. Beautiful beaches - looked a little like the Oregon coast sometimes. It became a “fashionable” place for royalty to visit when in the 1800’s, bathing in the sea was thought to be good for you. It is said Napoleon himself came to bathe in the waters here. But Biarritz has an even longer history as a fishing and whaling village. The towns coat of arms displays a whale with the traditional vessel above.

Saint-Jean-de-Luz is a smaller fishing village, and has some great old streets as well. The church here is quite interesting with wooden balconies. Looked more like a theater than a church inside, but it was also where Louis XIV was married.

We really enjoyed our time here in the Basque Country. And our time in all of Spain and Portugal. Now it’s time to move on to Croatia for about a month. Since we have been there several times, this will be just for a little sun and sea in familiar places. I likely won't post very much, but I’m sure we’ll find a few new things to mention.

Take care and enjoy what remains of summer.

Don’t forget to take a look at the rest of the photo’s in Albums, and other videos as well.

All the best,

Tim & Eileen