22. Bilbao and then it was goodbye as I boarded the plane home

Arriving in Bilbao we checked in at the quaint Petite Palace right on the edge of the Old Town and near the river. As our love of old town villages continued, this one didn't disappoint. On our first night we found a little bar in the piazza, Gure Toki and had the most epic fun trying the different wines and Pinxtos specials. I was a huge fan of the green olive, chilli and anchovy skewer, Dickey not so much! We loved trying to communicate with the bar staff and realized how different the basque language is to Spanish, not that we knew much Spanish. Via smiles and pointing we ordered many rounds over the next three nights as we made it our local. Sometimes we weren't quite served what we were expecting but it was so much fun! When each round was only around 3 Euros, we sure didn't mind at all.

Gure Toki delight!

Old town Piazza

Bilbao is an incredible city and a great place to see on foot. Like in many of the cities we had visited I loved taking the opportunity to get out for some great morning runs around the town. There is always a place to run and so much to see! I was so excited to see the Guggenheim in real life and despite having no idea who Frank Gehry was when we left Australia, it was now going to be our third Frank Gehry designed structure for the trip. My first glimpse was from the opposite bank of the river as I ran by and the size and layout was incredible to see in real life! The titanium exterior shining in the sun, the silver balls, Mama the huge spider, the way it has been given prime position between between the two old bridges that traverse the river and of course the flower covered giant puppy at the main entrance. It was one thing to take it in on the run, but even more impressive up close. In fact when Dickey and I returned to explore in detail later that day we were so taken by the outside that we decided not to go in and see any exhibitions and instead spent hours wandering the outside and then reading up on it all in the shop inside! Outside the main entrance the big Puppy is insane! When we were there it June he was adorned with colourful spring blooms. Changing with the seasons, apparently through winter he is all green!
The Guggenheim is certainly a statement and deservedly takes prime of place on the river looking back towards the main town center. From what we have read it did single-handedly save the struggling port town of Bilbao and put it firmly on the map. No longer as an export town, but as a tourist destination.

Since this creation of the Guggenheim the rest of Bilbao had a reason to flourish and the old buildings have been beautifully restored around the city center and the streets are spotless. The locals are without a doubt very proud of their city. There are many piazzas, green spaces and fountains. A main roundabout that is a gorgeous floral display and the building overlooking it famous because every one of the windows and balcony's are different. The architect was clearly having a laugh! We stumbled across the Azkuna Zentroa and were so very glad we did. A 1900's facade it has had the most interior renovation and all of the pillars inside are different and the design giving the illusion that the upper office buildings are suspended!

What a roundabout!

Every window is different!

Back in 2007 & 2008 I had worked on board cruise ships and had made many friends who I am still in contact with today, thanks to social media! Mariette was the first captains wife on my first ship and we became great friends. She was in fact the first one to explain the Basque/ Spanish relationship to me! By luck she was back home in Bilbao when we were there, rather than sailing the world with Sindre and she and their three year old son Markus were living near the port just north of Bilbao. We organised to go up and meet her and it was a fantastic trip. Using the super easy metro we headed out to Santurtzi disembarking the train as the first storm of the day hit. It was a blustery cold day, but between rain showers did manage to walk along the west bank of the port up to the incredible Vizcaya Bridge. This transporter bridge is incredible and one of only few still in use around the world. Back and forwards it travels every two or so minutes, loaded with people, cars and bikes covering the 160m span across the river. It was the first gondola suspension bridge in the world used to transport people and traffic and it is awesome to see it still operating. We were meeting Mariette on the opposite side of the river so the Vizcaya was to be our mode of transport too. Convinced for some reason it would be expensive and not able to understand the ticket instructions I started shoveling coins into the machine. At around 8 euros it started beeping and with a clatter out came the change. It was in fact only .40 euro cents each way for a pedestrian to cross. So cheap, we did consider doing a few trips, but thought that may be odd! 

On the other side of the bank we sheltered in a cafe for the next few hours as the rain poured down, but to catch up with Mariette and Markus it was worth it. It is always so good seeing a friend after many years and just picking up where you left off. We were also super intrigued that at 31/2 Markus had just been picked up from school at 4.30pm. We had presumed she meant care, but no it was in fact full time school! At three children are sent off to school in Spain and Basque from 9am til 4.30pm, with the only break being the traditional siesta after lunch. Just like everyone else! Possibly a combination of this early schooling and the fact that his parents are bilingual his language was incredible and his English clear and confident. He speaks Basque, Spanish & Norwegian as well and when starting school had been the only child able to speak anything other than Basque. We were super impressed and loved hearing his stories about going with his Dad to Australia on the ship and that he was currently sailed through Asia in and out of Hong Kong! With the rain taking a break as we said our goodbyes, hopeful to see each other again soon, we decided to head to the marina and beach nearby. The beach was perfectly groomed, but of course deserted and the cruise port and marina impressive. Watching the clouds coming in from the water we realised the next storm was headed straight for us and we rushed to find shelter. As it hit our best hope was a bus stop and we took refuge for the next 20 minutes as it poured and stormed! Slightly soaked but happy after such a great day we made it back to Bilbao for our last night.

As the trip for me drew to its final days our last journey together was to Madrid on the train before I flew home the following evening. With more leave available Dickey was set to stay on for an extra two weeks and was heading south to meet a couple of ex-pat mates in Rhonda and Seville. Despite knowing the whole time that I had to leave him eventually it was still a hard and as much as I tried to keep it together I was pretty emotional those last two days! Leaving Bilbao the train was again exceptional - fast and comfortable. As we whizzed past the baron terrain it was with a surprise when Madrid seemed to pop up out of nowhere!

For our last night Dickey had booked a room at the stunning Dear Hotel, located on the Gran Via. It was a perfect location and a great spot given we only had 24 hours. Following a wine at the roof top bar to admire the view we proceeded to accomplish all site seeing possible in a short space of time. We saw the amazing Royal Palace, many gardens, fountains, statues and monuments. The Grand Palace, Plaza Mayor and the market which was a bit to hectic for my liking! At the main train station we spent around two hours trying to purchase Dickeys ticket to Sevilla the following day but found the lifts impossible to navigate between the metro and national terminals. There were hoards of people but no assistance and when we finally made it to the correct ticket office there was literally 30 people in line ahead of us! The only good bit about the station experience was the tortise pond in the middle of the atrium. I'm not sure I've ever seen so many in one place! With the afternoon disappearing and the train network and accessibility all getting a bit too much in my emotional state it was a cab to the airport. Cutting it a little fine we were suddenly saying our goodbyes before I was pointed through customs and then on to a train to take me the 10 minute journey to the departure terminal.

Looking back and reflecting on what had been the most incredible trip and blissful learning experience I was able to acknowledge how we had changed, and not just in the obvious - that I had gone away with a boyfriend and come home with a fiance! I think when we left Australia we had both genuinely expected we would do lots together but would also spend time apart exploring on our own. After eight weeks I was pretty sure I would be fine to head on home and we would be happy to have some time apart. The reality was that we had settled in to such a smooth routine and become such an exceptional team that other than while I ran of a morning we had hardly spent a moment apart. For a couple of typically fiercely independent people in our regular lives we had become pretty used to being together! We had grown as a couple, seen amazing sites, meet incredible people along the way and drank many exquisite wines. We had deepened our love of travel, culture and architecture and were already itching to plan our next adventures, our wedding and a life together. Though there had been challenges and we had experienced issues that many possibly avoid there had been many wins and we could only be grateful for all we had learnt, seen and overcome. Truly an experience of a lifetime and after 57 days away together our Royally Dickey European Adventure was complete and it was time to get home and plan the next adventure.....

Bilbao - 13/6 - 16/6

Madrid - 16/6 - 17/6

21.​ Falling in love with the Basque Country

From Logrono we hit the hills via Vittoria towards San Sebastián. While the trip was longer than anticipated the view was incredible from the peaks and we were so glad we had hired the car and been able to experience this drive. After several wrong turns along the way and many laps of the streets searching for our hotel when we finally arrived in San Seb it was a matter of racing the bags in to the hotel and shooting off to the car hire return, making it with only about five minutes til close. My blood pressure was sky high as I ran in, only to be met by a super casual, non-plussed greeting from the relaxed Basque attendant. Opening and closing times we discovered, are merely a guide! No need to stress at all!! While wandering back to the hotel along the river bank and relaxing in to the vibe I instantly fell in love with San Seb and it only intensified in the coming days!

Pension Loalida

Another fantastic find, the Pension Loalida hotel was fully accessible, equipped with a lift and only two blocks from the Concha Beach. The foreshore that runs from Concha beach to Playa de Ondaretta is stunning and we spent so much time enjoying this part of San Seb. We loved taking in the view of the landscape, buildings on the hill behind and in particular people watching. When the sun was out there were people everywhere and so many kids playing games and doing flips in the sand. Everyone seemed so relaxed and comfortable in their own skin. Bikinis or brief swimmers were the norm for young or old and this confidence was incredibly refreshing. It really reminded us how conservative and judgmental we have become in Australia.

Concha Beach

The old town of San Sebastián is a true highlight and of course we adored it. It was always busy but the vibe was chilled and happy. Around three weeks overdue for a hair cut one of Dickeys first tasks was to find a barber. We stumbled on the most fabulous old style barber and he lined up for a cut and razor shave, getting himself into the traditional old chair! It wasn't just a brilliant experience it was a fab cut and shave too! Everything about San Sebastián was ideal. The atmosphere, relaxed vibe, the crystal clear water, green hills behind, the old town village, the incredible food, gin and tonic appertif's, the wine and the many bars. It was total bliss with the only thing lacking being sunshine for the majority of the week.

Old town San Seb. Our fave bar was at the base of the church!

On our first morning we had noticed how packed the beaches were and declared after our siesta we would head to the water. Unfortunately when we woke up it was raining and remained overcast and rainy weather for the next four days! Talking to the locals it seemed this was normal and they were used to quick changes in weather before summer started. To the Spanish and Basque the summer starts in July, not June like the rest of Europe and they are very serious when they tell you this, so we dared not contradict them! If our week of weather was anything to go by, we believed them!! In preparation for the official launch each day we watched the beach chairs, umbrellas and mats being delivered and set up. It truly is the most fabulous beach culture and during the week when the sun did make an appearance within minutes there were people everywhere. It was as if they were packed ready and waiting! It would instantly become a hive of activity and was transformed so fast. There was always so many ball games, tag, and frisbee going on. Our favorite to watch though was the flip sets up where the groups would half bury a fitball to us as a rebounder and spend hours lined up taking turns to flip and tumbled over them!! We literally spent hours people watching.

The beach was also fantastically accessible beach too, but unfortunately not open until the start of July. The roll out mats allowed chair access to the water and there were water wheelchairs available via the lifeguards through the summer. Throughout southern Spain they were available for more of the year, but limited times in San Seb. It is only since coming home that we have seen them 'rolling out' around Australia. (There is a Port Stephens Blog coming soon and I'll tell more then!) We can only hope it will get better and look at purchasing our own water wheelchair.

Sad to leave San Seb but excited for Bilbao we had another fantastic public transport experience. We took one of the many buses between the two cities that run every 30 minutes and ALL of them equipped with wheelchair lift access. With a little trouble the driver managed to get it open and working and 70 minutes later we were in Bilbao. Despite the slight delay in departing and the extra work he had to do he couldn't have been more helpful and even with our non-existent Basque and his limited English persisted in trying to direct us to the local train network. Or at least that's what we figured. With smiles and head nods we left with our luggage and no idea what he had been trying to tell us! By chance we found the tram stop while looking for the train connection and realized it would drop us 200m from our hotel plus give us a great first view of Bilbao as we traversed the city. I got my first incredible glimpse of the Guggenheim and this gorgeous city!

San Sebastián 8/06 - 13/6

20. ​ La Rioja wine bliss

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Hitting the road in our little Audi A1 out of Barcelona we were amazed just how quickly the landscape changed. It was so dry and sandy, almost desert like. For some reason I had imagined the Spanish wine regions to look like Tuscany, but on reflection had no idea where that idea had come from.

View from the Apartment

We had two nights booked at an Air BnB apartment in Logrono, the middle of the La Rioja wine region. The next couple of days were going to be all about wine! After 5 1/2 hours on the road we arrived to find we were only two blocks from Plaza del Mercato, the town's centre and that the apartment was above the wine culture museum and old cellar tunnels. We had emailed via Google translate back and forwards and while the apartment wasn't officially wheelchair accessible we had been assured there was a lift and the bathroom could be accessed. Caro the host had done a good job making it work for us and while it wasn't perfect it was certainly better than some of the hotels we had stayed in. She had remembered a shower chair at least and had placed a cane arm chair in the bathroom! Dickey was showering like a king!

Logrono was a gorgeous old town with bucket loads of history, almost all to do with wine. Beneath the town a series of wine tunnels or cellars had been built so that the temperature could be better controlled and in the 16th century noise and car traffic restrictions existed in the streets above the tunnels as there was a belief that the wine would be of the utmost flavor and aroma if the temperature, stability, vibration and noise was controlled while the wine was in its barrels! In the 18th Century vines in France were affected by disease so the La Rioja wines began to be exported north into Bordeaux. Today La Rioja wines are world famous and exported as far as Cuba, Mexico and thankfully Australia!

Logrono

We loved how quiet and lovely the village was, and we were huge fans of Laurel Street. It was just brilliant and lined with wine and Pinxtos bars. We had a blast there sampling MANY of the wines varieties and the different Pinxtos specialities. Logrono is also on the Camino de Santiago with the trail coming directly through the town over the still in-tact 12th Century stone bridge. The old guard houses apparently doubled as pay booths as every walker who used the path had to pay taxes to enter the city.

The surrounding winery's are world famous and the first on our list to explore was 'Vina Real' otherwise known as 'C.V.N.E'. A whole eight minutes out of Logrono our time there definitely rated in the top five of all things we had done on our trip! The building looked like half a wine barrel stuck in the hill and being newly built was completely wheelchair accessible. By pure coincidence we arrived in time to join the 1pm tour. True to form we had ignored the suggestion to book ahead, but we were in luck on this occasion. We learnt that the architect, who was a total genius, had come from a wine making family and helped to create a winery that allowed for old processes to perfectly fit with new. The circular barrel room is not just a stunning feature, it is also designed for functionality. The system is set up using a traditional gravity feed system using newly designed tanks and after the grapes are pressed they are transferred to the chosen tank, pulled into position over the tank allowed to feed through in their own time. From the tanks the wine is placed into Hungarian, American or French Oak barrels depending on the aim of the maker and then they are stored in one of the wine tunnels. The tunnels were another incredible feature and we were blown away by their size and construction. Over a period of four years the tunnels had been dug out by hand as the ground was to unstable for machinery to be used. They were then sealed, except for the natural vent sites created in the roof by the soil and water. At 120 meters long and 56 meters wide x two of them, they were mind blowing! In one tunnel there was 20,000 barrels of Criamza, let alone all the barrels of other varieties. The 2nd tunnel was full from floor to ceiling of bottles! We had read about Vina Real in a Lonely planet review that had described it as "winery meets Bond Villan Lair" and this was so very accurate!

If you love a good wine tour, then add Vina Real to the list as it was the most informative and exciting tour we have done. At 10 Euro each it is also great value, especially given the 5 very generous tastings we were given! We certainly mustn't be the only ones who loved the CVNE wine as they are producing in excess of 2.5 million bottles a year and their Reserva, made using hand picked grapes from 90 year old vines being one of their most famed wines. Next time, or for anyone planning to visit Vina Real, grab a cab as the wine is too good to sample lightly. Apparently the rule in Spain is actually zero blood alcohol while driving. we found this out later in the week, oops!

Leaving Vina Real we continued on our wine adventure heading west and spotted the little walled
town of La Guarelia perched on the hill. Inside it was only 5 blocks wide and the perfect stop off for lunch with a view. From here we could see the Ysio's winery which could have easily been mistaken for an illusion! It is off the charts incredible with its wave like architecture and from our research it seems the fact that the roof leaks and the design are more famous than the wine itself. Arriving at the door it was closed and there were no cellar door openings for the next few days. To see it up close and get some photos were enough though.

Ysios

 

Marques de Riscal was the next stop and we were excited to see the ribbon sculpture and architecture as well as try the wine we were seeing most often in Spanish bars. While the wine wasn't to our taste the building design sure was and we were again viewing an amazing Frank Ghery design. If this was simply a winery I couldn't wait to see his most famous piece, the Guggenheim in Bilbao. Words won't describe the blend of old stone buildings into the titanium ribbons so enjoy the pictures. With the Suns reflections and the mountains behind it really is stunning.

Our final stop on our drive through the region was Contino, a branch of the C.V.N.E group. Also closed it was a beautiful old homestead set in a gorgeous cottage garden and overlooking the River Ebro. It was so nice to wander the garden and enjoy the sinking sun, even if the glass of wine was missing!

Our final night in Logrono ended with a bang and we spent it on Laurel Street enjoying the St Bernabie festival. The streets were packed with as many locals as there were tourist and we joined the hoards wandering from bar to bar enjoying many wines and pinxtos. Rosada's are super popular in Spain so I was in my element and even had Dickey converted to them in the warmer weather. We had taken many photos of wine labels with the hope we would find them available back home. 

Logrono had been a great place for a few days but it was time to go north through the hills to San Sebastián ready for a week of sunshine, culture and beaches. 

Logrono 6/6 - 8/6/2016