The Great Euro Trip pf 2022 Pt. 2

 Day trips from Bilbao edition:

First, to a memorial park above the city.

The Basque area was hit particularly hard by the fascist Franco regime during the Spanish civil war and WWII.  Lives lost are commemorated by this "thumb" sculpture and memorial.

Then it was off to Guernica with its replica of the famous Picasso mural, another memorial to the fallen, and inside the Basque area government hall.

The Basque area enjoys a special relationship with the country of Spain (notwithstanding the separatist movement).  Residents of the area pay taxes to the Basque government, who in turn pays a share to the Spanish government for the country's expenses.  Most signage in the area is in both the Basque language and Spanish (and some English).  Then there are the Catalonians...   Spain has it's share of issues, that's for sure.

Following the river from Bilbao to the sea, there is another area on the other side of the river with a long history.  A UNESCO site is the old bridge transferring people, and later autos, between the two river banks.

We had lunch at a nice cafe with some wine sampling.  First, a beautiful, high quality paper napkin graced our table.

Then a sampling of local wines.  Rioja is the standard red of the region.

Back to the center of Bilbao, and it's time for the big attraction...  the Guggenheim Museum!  My feeble pictures can't possibly do justice to this magnificent structure.  But here's a couple shots anyway.

And a couple inside.

And our illustrious duo...  keeping our masks handy...

Outside is the famous puppy sculpture...  pronounced "poopy" by the locals.

The day ended at a fine cafe in the old town section of Bilbao.  We were served by the best waiter ever.  The Victor Montez, with an interesting history (click on the link) is a great place to enjoy a meal (and opens early for those of us not used to Spanish meal times!).

That ends our time in Bilbao.  Off to San Sebastian.

The Great Euro Trip of 2022 Pt. 1

 

Flying in the face of any new COVID variants, we began our long scheduled Euro adventure in hopes that the plague had abated enough for us to survive.  We signed up for a river cruise way back in the middle of the plague when cruise lines were desperate for travelers.  As a result, AMA river cruises gave us 3 free days in Bilbao and the Basque Country.  After trying to negotiate the COVID protocols for travel in 3 countries (many hours of uploading VAX cards and registering on web sites), I was off across the Atlantic.

I met Miriam (who had been teaching in Lyon) at Schiphol in Amsterdam to fly from there to Bilbao.  I paid some extra bucks for an upgraded seat so I could get the famous KLM lunch.  I had experienced this lunch previously and hoped KLM hadn't cut back on services.  And I was rewarded!  Check out these pics of my lunch on the way to Bilbao.  Other airlines gotta up their game!

The box...

The meal...

Such a wonderful presentation.  I love this airline!

We arrived at the beautiful, modern Bilbao airport.  The airport is small and easily negotiated (not. like Schiphol!!!).  More on the architecture later.  The city itself is quite wonderful, with an old town and also with a very modern posture.

A view from our hotel of the park along the river

The soccer stadium (the major design structure of most European cities) and a new office building:

Just down from our (NH) hotel, was a wonderful footbridge across the river.  

The bridge, along with the airport, was designed by Santiago Calatrava, and therein lies a story.  It rains a lot in Bilbao, and parking for the airport had no connection to the terminal... creating frustration for travelers.  And the foot part of the footbridge was done in glass, so people could see the river below them, but the rain on glass created much slipping, sliding, and injury, so the glass was lined with an opaque material that allowed traction in the wet.  This led to a lawsuit by the architect.  And so it goes...

A couple more important features found around Bilbao will appear in the next installment of this blog series.  Stay tuned!

Dead Dog or Dog Tired?

Maybe just a nap...

 

Passing On

 I assume this is a bar where you drink yourself to death awaiting the afterlife of great jazz!

Happy New Year!

 

75th in the Swell

For my 75th birthday, I decided a camping trip to the San Rafael Swell would be a great way to celebrate.  Also, my son and daughter in law were anxious to try out their gear.  So the Swell would be a good way for them to get some experience and also discover why I love this area so much.

My friend Rod and I drove the Willis and Nisa down the Mexican Mountain road to one of our favorite camp grounds.

The original idea was to hike down to the head of the Black Box, where the river just enters the deep canyon.  In previous trips, we had scoped out a couple access ravines into a canyon that led to the river at the point it started carving the Black Box.  How hard would it be to follow a cow path down the canyon?

Unfortunately, we followed the wrong ravine.  A big dropoff prevented us from accessing the canyon.  But exploring the ravine was fun, and led us back to our vehicle. 

From there we drove closer to Mexican Mountain and found one of the excellent trails to a Black Box overlook.

The return hike offered a fine view of Mexican Mountain.

Upon returning to the campground, we discovered good news and bad news.  The good news...  there's now cell phone coverage in the Swell.  The bad news... there's now cell phone coverage in the Swell...

After an evening around the camp fire and looking at stars, we bedded down somewhat early.  This let Rod get up at the "crack of dawn" for this pic.

Rod's excellent nature photos can be found on his website:  swellphotographs.com.  They are available for purchase will all proceeds going to the Southern Utah Wilderness Association.

All in all a great time.  I won't recount the major and minor tragedies that occurred. let's just say the tree will probably live, and hopefully the next ravine hiker has the same prescription.

 Wild and free, sometimes sparse, other years prolific.  Found beauty...

Ah! Sun-flower

BY WILLIAM BLAKE

Ah Sun-flower! weary of time,

Who countest the steps of the Sun:

Seeking after that sweet golden clime

Where the travellers journey is done. 

Where the Youth pined away with desire,

And the pale Virgin shrouded in snow: 

Arise from their graves and aspire, 

Where my Sun-flower wishes to go.