Sercotel Hotel Andrea 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 ...

... few pinchos and glasses of wine. It is the favorite pastime of Bilbaoans on a Friday night. In fact, it’s 10pm and they action is just starting….but we’re settling in for bed. We’ve just been blown away by the food this time around. In the past our gastronomic experience was less than stellar. I think we just hadn’t gone to the right places. The feature tonight was a duck ...

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 ...

... by bus - sometimes it really is a problem not speaking Spanish ! If you take this route be sure you get the right bus.<br><br>2 hours later (instead of the 30 mins it took by taxi) I arrived back in Bilbao and headed off by metro in the other direction to visit the "Puente Colgante de Portugalete". (also known as the Viscaya Bridge) This extraordinary bridge is a UNESCO world heritage site, and is the oldest transporter bridge in the world. You cross the river in ...

... 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 ...

... town's patron saint (St. Peter) and so were greeted by singing, a local band, lights strung up and local Spaniards having a great time at the local park. As we unpacked our bags, the sound of music echoed through the valley. And as the kids settled down for bed, they were awakened by a chorus of explosions in the valley. FIREWORKS! We opened up the balcony in Ella's bedroom and all watched as the black night sky lit up. The valley's silence let us hear each firework as it sailed through ...

... cars. People were out everywhere walking talking drinking. We checked out a few bars and found one that looked loke it had great Tapas and set about working out how to order. The selction is incredible and we found it so hard to choose everything from fish to meats, cheese, frittata, seafood and sardines. It cost us £10 ($16) for 5 things and a large glass of red wine. 21June was spent driving to Bilbao via Gernika which is the town on which Picasso based his painting Gernika ...

As there was a rather long queue to San Mamés metro station I walked to the next one, Indautxu, which was less busy but I didn't think that the metro train would still be busy. When I arrived at Casco Viejo my rather tatty creditrans ticket refused to work so I hopped over the barriers. I walked to Pizza Via, a pizza takeaway not far from my hotel. I ordered a ...

... which were a result of this moebius strip type of structure. It was awesome to see what can be built in this day and age. This gave me a good indication that the field i was going to call my profession has no limits. It's hard to describe this beautiful mettalic buliding, but anyone who visits spain/europe should go and see it for yourself. After a few hours at this museum, we capped the day off and took a sleeper train to Paris for .....New Years!!!