Hotel Ercilla Lopez De Haro 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 ...

... distance I can make out the Pyrenees. And just on the other side, we’ll be coming in to Bilbao. Not sure if preparing myself mentally and moving my watch to Spain-time did it, but I’m feeling quite refreshed right now despite the fact that I didn’t sleep much on the flight over the ocean. The cabin is being prepped for landing so I’m quitting now, but I’ll pick up once we ...

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 ...

... or utility van. Was it worth 250 dollars? Deciding to further mull things over before throwing down for a car, we trekked up to the Bilbao youth hostel where we were relieved to find that they had space for us for two nights. We then hit up the bus station, and much to our surprise found out that we didn´t have to completely box up our bikes to take them on the bus to Lleida. (We had read on the internet that in order to travel by ...

... 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 ...

... really impressed with how well the kids did inside. We covered every square inch of the place! We take a break after several hours of the Guggenheim (which doesn't allow photography, and therefore no photos from inside). A nice walk to another restaurant. Our original plan is to take a tram to another nearby city that has a one hundred year old, really neat bridge ... but the kids appetites demand a quicker stop. We end up at a restaraunt that is more expensive ...

... cozy and so nice to just come have a place to relax. However, I really have not even been in it much other than sleeping at night. Here are a few more observations about Spain. Smoking is allowed almost everywhere. It is different, but it hasn't been too bad for the most part. The worst part is school. I really don't like the smell of smoke in an enclosed building, but it could really be worse. Oh, and almost everyone ...

... take that meal I had at an Iowa truck stop again before eating this food. Farida described her "Pastel a la Gambas", as tasting like puke, and my "Longostinos al a plancha" (grilled shrimp) were lame boiled shrimp. For second course, I suffered through a "bacalao pil-pil" (cod) plate that woud have made the folks at "Swansons TV Dinners" embarrased, and for Farida, her "Cordon Bleu" (we think it was veal) had me telling stories of ...