Arriaga Bilbao

Having disembarked the Pride of Bilbao, following our two day mini-cruise (the highlights of which were DVD horse races, bingo, Geordies on the lash and two memorable dining experiences at Langans Brasserie), we faced the delights of industrial Bilbao, which proved to be a fitting introduction to North Spain. Undaunted we headed to ...

... time to walk around Bilbao. <br><br>Wow! Bilbao is fantastic! It reminds me of Bogota, only cooler. It is surrounded by beautiful hills (unless you live in Texas, then they&#8217;re mountains!). You can almost smell the sea. We had a short nap after we checked in then got up and had lunch (we showed up at a bout 2:30 and the guy told us we were just a bit early for lunch, but he served us). Sure enough ...

We drove from Madrid, got a bit lost trying to find Lurdea. We thought it is a name of a village but it is not it is just the name of the Hotel/Casa Rural.<br><br>The place is amazing. Located in the hills above Bermeo, with magnificent view of the ocean. It is clean (like really clean) and has the air of a relaxing boutique hotel.<br>

... for thousands of year the history of the City and Spain As a whole. <br><br>Guggenheim Museum<br>Museo de Bellas Artes<br>Basque Museum<br>La Ría Maritime Museum<br>Museo Taurino (Bullfighting Museum)<br>Museo Diocesano de Arte Sacro (Museum of Sacred Art)<br>Museo de Reproducciones Artísticas (Museum of Artistic Reproductions ...

Theres one reason why most tourists come here. The Guggenheim Museum. And unlike most museums they come to see the building itself rather than the contents. The Frank Gehry designed building is well worth it too, an extraordinary sculpture of a building that truly is world class piece of art itself. I like it, but I wasn't too impressed by many of the contents. I liked the impressionist and the expressionist ...

... the two of us waiting. I caught most of what he said and could answer back pretty well. It's amazing the amount of people here that ask me what I think of the election. "Espero que es bien." (I hope it is good). That is usually all I can come up with: 1) because I don't know much Spanish 2) because I know even less about politics and 3) I always try to keep a positive outlook!   He helped me out by letting me know what stop to get off for ...

... the tube to head to camping Soplena. After the blow out in Ibiza we thought we'd keep it cheap and camp. The plan was to spend a few days here, then head to San Sebastien and then into France.<br><br>Camping Sopelana - DONT STAY HERE! Although the beach it is is AMAZING and beautiful, the campsite here is not. It's dirty, dirty, dirty and really ...

Saturday's plans were pretty straight forward. Wake up at 9am to pack our bags and hit the street at 10am, catch a bus to the airport, and be en route to Spain at 12:30pm. Now that I'd met Chris Crowley, we simply needed to wake up one hour earlier to add a quick stop by his place for tea. By 8:45am, we were walking the empty streets of Dublin ... about five minutes worth of walking put us at the Whitefriar Street Church, home to St. Valentine's bones. We arrived, and rang for Chris. We'd ...

... Luckily it was. We then met our landlord. She is super sweet, but doesn't speak a word of English-other than hot and cold. She gave us the rundown on the apartment. So our apartment is 3 bedrooms. We have a living room, kitchen, and a bathroom. The apartment is fairly nice. It wasn't what I expected, but I know it could be much worse. It will take some getting used to, but I am rather satisfied. Other ...

... we waited for them for 10 minutes and then got on the bus to go to Bilbao. In Bilbao we went to the Guggenheim Museum. It was so amazing. The architecture and art work was seriously breath taking. We stayed there until 7:30 and then we drove home. So, there you go. That was my deliciously fun-filled weekend in Santander. Tomorrow´s agenda: class until noon and then...who knows! More to come soon so stay tuned. love and misses (yes I meant misses-as in "I miss you all ...