Spain

Barcelona May 3 - 5

The ship docked in Barcelona early in the morning, so we took a taxi to our hotel for the next three nights, the Lamaro.  As expected our room wasn't available, so we dropped our luggage and headed out. We took the subway and a very busy local train to Monserrat, about an hour outside Barcelona. The big attraction in Monserrat is the Monastery, which is on top of a mountain, reached by car, train or cable car. 

By the time we actually arrived at the Abbey, it was almost 1pm. Our first stop was to grab a quick lunch - a ham sandwich and a drink. We decided not to go into the Abbey as we were already concerned about getting  back to Barcelona in reasonable time, so we had a walk around the top of the mountain, before heading back down on the funicular.

We finally arrived back at our hotel around 5pm.  We found a nice restaurant for dinner and as it was a lovely warm evening we ate al fresco.

The next day, we headed to the Park Guell, which is a complex of parks and gardens designed by Antoni Gaudi. It was originally going to be an exclusive residential neighborhood, with luxurious houses built throughout the park. However, the project failed and only two houses were ever built. In the end , it became  a municipal park.

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped to admire some Spanish pastries.  We resisted the urge and didn't buy any.

 That night, we went out for dinner and had a traditional Spanish meal, paella

On our last day in Barcelona, we started out at  the MOCO museum, a private museum of Modern Art.  There were works by various modern artists, including Banksy, Andy Warhol, Basquiat and Keith Haring.

We finished our day with with a walk along the main tourist street of Barcelona, Las Ramblas. 

We spent another quiet evening in the hotel ready to leave for Bilbao the next day

Bilbao May 6 - 8

We took the train from Barcelona to Bilbao, the only direct train of the day.  The first part of the journey was on flat land and went quickly, but once we started to climb the mountains, we slowed down considerably and arrived in Bilbao in the middle of the afternoon. We took a taxi to our hotel, The Artist Grand Hotel, which was across the street from The Guggenheim Museum.

After a day with the Guggenheim, we spent our second day exploring the rest of Bilbao, including a boat trip on the river.

May 9 to 13 - San Sebastian

After three days in Bilbao, we rented a car and drove to San Sebastian, about an hour up the coast. San Sebastian is a resort town, so there were plenty of other tourists. The next day, we went for a walk along the sea front. The beach is known as La Concha

It was a little chilly that day, so we walked back towards the modern town and came across a group of musicians playing a mixture of drums and brass instruments. The drums looked like small barrels and the group obviously had a connection to fishing and boats as one man was carrying a harpoon and another man an oar. The drums were marked "1924" but we never did figure out exactly who they were.

As we walked around the town and stopped for lunch, we saw them several more times.

As in Barcelona, not everyone was happy with the influx of tourists

The next day, we went to a nearby Science Museum, but sadly, as these places often are, the exhibits were designed to be "hands on" for schoolkids, but many were broken and there was little evidence that the kids were learning anything from those that did work.

The view of the bay from the top was spectacular

Apart from the view, the big event at the top of the mountain was a rather seedy fun fair. We almost left without doing any of the rides but at the last minute we couldn't resist the old fashioned dodgem cars. There were a couple of local kids riding as well and we thought that perhaps they didn't quite get the idea of how dodgems work, but after we smashed into them and each other a couple of times they got the idea. The ride operator looked quietly bemused at a couple of people in their 70's having such a good time.

The next day, we drove across the border into France, to the small port town of St Jean de Luz. It was nice to be back in France, although it wasn't all that different from Spain. It didn't hurt that the sun was shining and the weather was a little warmer.

And the food was French as well. 

We also took a quick look inside the Church of St Jean, which had some interesting architecture with a huge altarpiece filling the end of the church. The galleries around the inside of the building were also interesting.

Pamplona - May 13

After our first night in Biarritz was cancelled by the hotel, we decided to stay one night in Pamplona.  The scenery as we drove inland was unexpectedly pretty.

Once we arrived in Pamplona, we headed straight for the bullring - where "The Running of the Bulls" ends. Of course, we were a little early in the year for the actual "running" so we had to settle for the various exhibits around and inside the ring.

After the bull ring, we had lunch and spent the afternoon wandering around the old town of Pamplona. Three quarters of the original city walls still exist. They date back to the 15th century and parts were still in use during the Spanish Civil War in 1939. 

We also stopped by a famous cafe, the Iruna founded in 1888. It has a fantastic Art Decor interior and is mentioned by Hemingway in "The Sun Also Rises." Hemingway was a frequent visitor when he was in Pamplona and the cafe has always been at the center of the artistic and cultural society of Pamplona. Originally, we were planning to have dinner at the restaurant but in the end changed our mind.

Biarritz and Bayonne - May 14 and 15

We drove from Pamplona to Biarritz using mostly side roads and the scenery was wonderful. We stopped in Bayonne for lunch and visited the cathedral.

In Biarritz, we stayed at the Hotel du Palais, built as a hotel in 1894 on the site of a palace built by Napoleon.

Unfortunately, the weather in Biarritz was rather cold and rainy, so we didn't get to make long walks on the beach or around the town. 

After two nights in Biarritz, we drove back to Bilbao airport and flew to Malaga, where we were met by our friends, Ken and Jenny

Benalmadena May 16 - 18

Ken and Jenny met us at the airport and took us to our hotel at the Benalmadena Marina, the Mac Puerto Marina.

We met Ken and Jenny that evening for dinner at The Toro restaurant across the street. 

The next day, we took an Uber to their apartment and spent the afternoon and evening with them.

On the second day, Paul went to the beach by himself and Kris pottered around the marina and the shops.

In the evening, Ken and Jenny picked us up at the hotel and we went into Benalmadena for dinner. They dropped us off at the hotel and the next morning we took an Uber to the airport, for our flight to Manchester.

Click on the button below for our last stop.