Gran Hotel Durango Bilbao

... pincho that Paul had and a (believe it or not) anchovy/cod concoction on bread that I had. I&#8217;ve really been venturing out on the fish thing this trip. I even had cod for lunch!!<br><br>Tomorrow we leave Bilbao for a hotel a bit in from the coast into the Picos de Europa, a beautiful, mountainous area. We should be in by late afternoon. Look for photos of the coast and the mountains next. <br><br>Cheers!

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 ...

... is astounding. The only flat surfaces are the floors. The outside is clad in titanium. Words do not do it justice.....look at the pictures. The inside was equally spectacular but we could not take photographs. The building outshone the majority of the art work unless you are a fan of self indulgent video installations!!

... the Guggenheim I suggest the much cheaper lunch in the bistro, and today there certainly didn't seem to be the long queues I read about. <br><br>One dish on the tasting menu was described as "thoughts of lamb" - when they took my order they explained this was lambs brains, and checked I would be OK with the texture.<br><br>I started the day with a walk along the Nervion river from the Guggenheim to the Maritime ...

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 ...

In the morning we drive towards the Ocean and around lunchtime we finally see it. It is the first time in a while, at least for me, but it will later turn out to be quite a costant presence in our trip...we'll see more of it in Spain, Portugal and Spain again. After a quick bite and a drink we are on the road again but we hit a huge traffic jam of ...

... then, before I knew it, we were turning off the main highway and everything started to change. The familiar buildings and powerlines and traffic began to be replaced with an odd silence, and corner stores, and villages. ... Five more miles, and we reached Barcena de Pie de Concha. "Your village", Martin said. The sun was beginning to set as we pulled in to the village. Imagine a village like the opening scene from Beauty and the Beast ... change the language to Spanish ... add about 6 ...

... museum day (who would have thunk) and as a result the entry to the guggenhiem is free for today :). I must say we seem to be having some luck. Im gonna upload some snaps from yesterday, and will upload more at the end of the day. I am also gonna try and confirm our travel plans to bordeaux, since we need to hop multiple trains to get there. This is our last destination is spain and crossing into france means shifting between 2 railways. later sam!!

After spending a very boring and drama intense time in Madrid, we decided to leave for Bilbao. I was wondering when some frustration would occur while on the trip, because we had a lot of people carrying lots of emotions of not being home with family during the holidays and being in a foreign country. Again, I was used to this type of situation because the only difference now is that i'm farther from home. Of course, I wanted to be with my family at ...