Hotel Occidental Abando Bilbao

... our first surfing destination to dip a toe or two into a deserted Atlantic which Lym thoroughly enjoyed, however which led Annabelle to looking like an extra from a B-grade vampire movie; this following her surfboard and her face becoming rather intimate. Enough for one day, onward to our campsite at historic Santillana del Mar.<br>

... 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>

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 ...

Journeyed down the Spanish motorway through very picturesque mountainous terrain from San Sebastian to Bilbao with the primary purpose to visit the Guggenheim Museum.<br><br>The Guggenheim is amazing - spectacular building ...

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 ...

... think aboutcoming this way, know that there is TONS of construction going on here. I think in a year or two, the city will be much more enjoyable than it is now. Virtually every corner we turn down has huge cranes swinging away or demolition going on. Back to the Guggenheim for a bit ... and then I ditch Janice and kids to go back to the hotel to work for a while. They catch up with me an hour later and we head out to another nearby city, Portugalette (sp?). Its ...

... Fighting the waves is also a tough part. Once you get out there, things aren't too bad. However, they are still hard. I clearly have a lot to learn. I am very excited though. So, at one point I was getting up on my board (on a wave) and the wave literally took me under. Of course, I went to rolling in the current. I had not really been fighting it, because there are large rocks on the bottom that you can cut your feet ...

... surfing his couch for the next few nights, and exploring what this interesting area had to offer. within a short period of time i was reduced to pathetically constructed sentences of Spanish, for despite being in the country for a few weeks, I had been speaking English with other Americans, and an English couple who I will talk about in another entry. Now this whole trip I have been relatively lucky in regards to weather, but ...

Caught a sleeper train up to Bilbao to meet my old room mate Roberto. After leaving Dublin he was back living with his parents. We drank cider, ate pizza with his friends at the beach, visited the Guggenheim Museum. Great to see him in his own home town.