Surrey revisited

We have had a wonderful final week in Surrey. Good weather has enabled us to do several walks and we have marvelled at the fine homes in the area as well as beautiful countryside. The villages are quintessential picture book England, right down to cricket on the village green. It has been lovely to see heather in flower. Doug and Jill came down for the weekend and we enjoyed great food and company with some nice walks. 

The beautiful garden at Guildford Castle.

Hascombe village and church.

Bilbao

We transferred to Bilbao on a full bus, the summer holiday season is in full swing here. Our hotel has a nice setting between a park and the river and we are on the top floor with lovely views. Bilbao is an attractive city surrounded by green hills. 

The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao of modern and contemporary art is the main attraction in town, and it does not disappoint. In order to rejuvenate the city's decrepit port area, in 1991 the Basque government suggested to the Guggenheim foundation that they would fund a Guggunheim museum. They would pay all the costs and the Guggenheim foundation would run the museum. The architect Frank Gehry was commissioned to design something daring and innovative. The spectacular building was opened in 1997 and attracts tourists from all over the globe. The economic activity generated by tourism paid for the building costs within the first four years. The whole city appears to have had a lift from this project, as other ultra modern buildings are built. It is very pleasant to walk along the Bilbao River and admire the architecture. 

On the city side of the museum is a large structure called "Puppy". It is a 12m high West Highland Terrier covered in flowers. It was only meant to be temporary, but the people of Bilbao liked it so much, they bought it.

Bilbao is well served by public transport with a tram that links the tourist attractions and also a metro. We caught the metro up to the entrance to the port to see the Puente Colgante, the world's first transporter bridge, built in 1893, which links the towns of Getxo and Portugalete. A platform, suspended from the bridge high up above, is loaded with up to six cars and foot passengers and then glides across the river. Getxo has an extensive marina and some nice beaches, also several old mansions overlooking the ocean, reminiscent of Newport. The big old houses are an unusual sight in a country that is full of high density apartments. 

Bilbao is a good base for exploring the Basque region.

San Sebastián

San Sebastián has a beautiful setting on Concha Bay, with a long promenade linking the two peaks at either end. The countryside is lush and green, the area gets plenty of rain and we have had to use our umbrellas for the first time since we left England. It is very busy here at this time of year and it is a great location for families, with the the sandy beach, nautical activities, funicular ride and easy walks in the parks around the peaks. There are plenty of pintxos bars, particularly in the Old Town, and it can be a challenge to find a seat when you go into one. The locals don't seem to mind standing up to have a drink or snack, seats are optional.

There is a beautiful coastal walk to the next town, Pasaie, with great views from the cliff top path. At the end you descend into Pasaie, which has a nice little harbour and then catch the bus back to San Sebastián.

Pamplona

We spent two nights in Pamplona which was just recovering from the Running of the Bulls festivities. It has a very pleasant old town with many small bars. As in Vitoria there is a great selection of pintxos, so you can have a nice variety of food. There is also a good selection of wine by the glass, with probably a dozen to choose from, and only 1 euro for good quality. 

Pamplona is the first major town on the Camino de Santiago, Europe's ultimate pilgrimage walk across the top of Spain. It starts in the French town of St-Jean-Pied-de-Port and finishes in Santiago de Compestela in northwest Spain. Up to 200,000 people walk the trail each year.

We are staying at Palacio Guenderlian, a lovely restored mansion, which faces onto a small square. We wondered if we would be disturbed by late night revellers, but as we are here during the week that was not a problem. However on Monday night at 1.30 pm trucks turned up, and made quite a din, removing large bins from the square. It seems night times are not for sleeping.

Beautiful gardens at Taconera Park.

Bust of Ernest Hemingway at the bull ring. He made the Running of the Bulls into a famous event.

Entrance to the bull ring where it is all over for the bulls.

Our hotel.

Vitoria

We went by bus from Haro to Vitoria, as it was quicker and much cheaper than train (less than 4 euros for a one hour journey). We had a brand new, nearly empty bus and it was a comfortable easy trip, with a screen letting you know what stop you were approaching. We didn't have far to walk to the NH hotel, which has a lovely setting by Florida park. Vitoria is a very attractive city with much greenery, in fact it won the prize for greenest European City in 2012.  You can walk for several kilometres along tree lined, car free boulevards, and there are parks scattered around and throughout the city. There is a massive water park and we could see many people sunbathing and using the pools on a warm Sunday.

It is the capital city of the Basque Autonomous Community.

We are having fun with the language. English is not widely spoken and the written language will be in Basque and Spanish. Our limited Spanish also is not understood. It is not easy to decipher menus, because even the Spanish words for a dish may be different to down south. Pintxos are very popular - an array of small tasty dishes is placed on top of the bar, and you choose from there. So that relieves the menu problem. The main meal of the day around here is lunch with restaurants opening at 1.30 pm and people only starting to eat by about 2.30 pm. In the evenings people are sitting out on the streets, taking their time over a drink and maybe a pintxo.

We have tried the cider drink, txakoli, popular up here, but not really to our tastes. A lovely fresh white wine, Albariño, is much nicer (thanks CJ).

There has just been a jazz festival in town and on Saturday night there were bands playing in the town squares. The atmosphere was very lively with all ages out and about.

In the park near our hotel there is a bandstand and on the weekend evenings a dance band plays for the older folks with many of them dancing. Spanish of all ages seem to know how to enjoy themselves.

In the main square there were young ones rock n roll dancing to recorded music. Vitoria has a wonderful atmosphere and we are very glad to have included it on our itinerary.