We are newly arrived in Bilbao, in Basque country, and have just finished Jerome's FOURTH (and, surely, last?) birthday dinner.
To back up one step: We arrived in Bilbao a little after 2 p.m. today, having driven eastward a few hours from Pechón. We thought we were lost in trying to find the right exit into the city from the freeway, but the gods were with us, and our mistake turned out to give us an even more direct route to the rental car office than we had planned. It is always a relief to drop off the rental car, and we happily climbed into a cab to get to our hotel here. Our room was not quite ready, so we left our baggage and walked the few blocks to our traditional welcome-to-Bilbao restaurant, Serantes II. As always (x4), the food was excellent (beef consommé with sherry, white asparagus tips and fresh tomatoes, grilled bonito tuna), and we have made our way back to the hotel afterward for the traditional afternoon rest.
To back up two steps: We spent a lovely four days in Cantabria, largely in R&R but also deepening our acquaintance with the region. Jerome spent a couple of mornings on more research into the Indianos, the national archives for which are in Colombres, a town just a few kilometers from Pechón. I stayed at the hotel, taking walks and sketching ideas for future paintings and prints. Most afternoons we took drives in the Cantabrian countryside, with its precipitous mountains tumbling down to the sea. On our last night at the hotel, we were joined by fifty-plus Brits on their 15th "annual amble" in vintage cars. They came over on the ferry from the UK to Santander, and are spending ten days driving slowly around Cantabria. The hotel estimated that the value of the thirty cars in their garage last night came to more than 2 million euros. Pre-World War Jags, Astons, MGs, and I don't know what else. It was quite an event, and the whole village of Pechón came out to see them off this morning.
Cantabria ranks 15th in size of the 17 autonomous communities in Spain. It may be small, but it holds some of the most ancient prehistoric cave art in the world, including the cave at Altamira. (We toured the much smaller and less touristy "Cueva del Pindal" on Friday, slipping down a mud path to see Paleolithic renditions of bison, mammoths, and fish on the cave walls.) Much later, the Celts and Iberians established communities on the Cantabrian coast, and later still the Romans exploited the region's iron ore. The Moors occupied Cantabria for a while, and after their expulsion various small kingdoms of the Middle Ages vied for control. Cantabrias joined with Asturias, the autonomous community to the west, for a while, and actually only established itself in its modern identity in the late 20th century. It is a beautiful region, and the people are welcoming and friendly. (They also speak very clear, traditional Spanish, which we appreciated.) A melange of photos can be found at https://goo.gl/photos/XuXRLytX6DKEP1fL8
So we are here in Bilbao for a few days, before our departure stateside on Wednesday evening. I'm sure I will write again: we have the Guggenheim museum, among other delights, to explore before leaving. I love Bilbao, and at this late stage of the trip, I appreciate the energy and urbanity of its city-ness. Plus, Bilbao plays San Sebastian in soccer tonight (an intra-Basque confrontation much like the SF-Oakland competitions, or the Yankees vs the Mets), and we are awaiting the results of the Catalunyan vote for or against independence from Spain taking place today. We can't leave yet!
