Barcelo Hotel Avenida 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 ...

... to the Guggenhiem and took some photos, but left the visit for tomorrow.<br><br>Friday, October 16, 2009 <br><br>Today was a full day. Did the Guggenhiem, went up the "Funicular" up the moutain, found a nice &#8220;asador&#8221; (grilling) restaurant, took a nap and made it out for pinchos (not to be confused with &#8220;pinches&#8221;). Pinchos is the Basque version of tapas. Stopped at 5 places and had ...

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>

Bilbao, the capital of Viscaya in the county, with the nice weather and climate that is milder than in most other parts of the peninsula, rarely falling below freezing in winter or rising above 35 degree C in summer. <br><br>One of the best features of this place is the collection of Museums that exhibit the artifacts that well ...

... Sometimes on a holiday like this you become a bit jaded with fine dining, but today I was also tempted by the fact that several of the courses on the tasting menu were vegetarian, and I also felt a bit overloaded in recent days with meat and fish. Aubergine roasted in liquorice was a pleasant new experience, but all in all not a patch on the Andra Mari which I tried on Monday, and not as good value. If you ...

... game I walked back to the metro station and returned to Bilbao. I took in a few more sights of the town and found the old part to be a bit dirtier than that of Donostia (San Sebastian). It is also much more populated that the cities I had been in the past couple weeks, aside from Barcelona. Satisfied with my day's exploring I ate an early dinner and went back to the hostel.  Monday morning after a quick walk about town I boarded the bus back ...

Urghh long, long bus journey from Valencia. Sleeping tablets helped, but what didn't were the rude Spanish couple behind us who persisted on banging on the back of our seats all journey. They seemed angry that we were using the recline function which we had paid, and were entitled to use...<br><br>Anyway, arrive at about 8 or something where we got ...

... the church ... he told us about the solid oak Virgin Mary, how St. Valentine had come to rest here (a gift from the higher-ups to show appreciation), and about a boy who had been sainted after his death based primarily on his reputation for kindness. I had plenty of questions for Chris. Why the monks robes? What are friars? What was his official title? When and how had he chosen this life? Having just read The Pillars of the Earth last year (a book about monastery life surrounding the ...

... like that. I think I made it to be around 12. I passed out really. Monday was also exhausting. We were picked up at our bus stop and went to our school. It is really not a sight to see. It is rather run down---but the food was pretty good. That is a plus. We did orientation and then had to take placement exams to see what level of Spanish we spoke. We did a written test and an oral test. I found out ...