Travel Thursday: Basque Country, Spain

It's officially Thursday here in London, and it's only been one full day, but it feels like ages since I got back from a short weekend away in northern Spain.

Maybe it was the insane rain today (seriously more torrential than anything I ever saw in Vancouver), or perhaps the fact that I lost my personal BlackBerry and saw my productivity drop by about 20% (all those emails that require just a short "perfect, here's my address" / "what date will this be launching" / "here's my answer to that question/edit/query you sent me" were waiting for me every time I opened my laptop instead of already answered on my network-less tube journey!), but god, am I ever glad it's already Thursday.

Anyway. Last Friday evening, I met Elliot in Madrid, from where we drove straight to San Sebastian. Elliot originally wanted to go to Galicia, but I complained and nagged until eventually, we decided to go to San Sebastian and explore the Basque region a bit instead.



Alas, the weather was crappy in San Sebastian:

But you can see how this place would be jaw-droppingly beautiful on a sunny day, no? The two beaches in the picture are La Concha and Ondarreta, separated by the little rocky bit in the middle. 

Here are some photos I took on our stroll through the picturesque town. Only about an hour from France, it felt like you could see a bit more French influence on the architecture than the traditional Spanish fincas and villas elsewhere in the country.

So many interesting sedimentary rock formations!

A pretty bride, not at all bothered by the rain. She had a cute little white rabbit fur stole on.

This is the famous "Wind Comb" art piece by Eduardo Chillida, placed at the end of the bay, at the foot of Mount Igueldo, in 1977. The third sculpture is in the direction I'm facing in this photo.

We also walked through the Parte Vieja ("old town"), which felt very polished and not unlike Palma.

And, of course, we ate. I gained about a stone (which is just over 6kg, for you North Americans), I think! I could eat these little bocadillos every day, and pretty much did on this trip. Crusty white bread and fatty Iberian jamon... yum.

Elliot doesn't like them. Isn't he crazy?!!!! It drives me insane.

San Sebastian is also known for its high concentration of Michelin-starred restaurants, but I'm saving those for another little writeup. The Mr. and Mrs. Smith guide has a pretty good roundup here, though.

On the other side of the bay is Zurriola beach, where world surfing competitions are often held. We may have had bad weather, but the late fall, winter, and early spring are prime surfing times. I wanted to rent boards (they were SO CHEAP - around €15 / two hours!) but their wetsuits didn't look as warm as the ones we wore at Roxy Surf Camp back in 2009. I also can't swim worth shit, and when I took lessons in Tofino, you can touch the ground pretty much the whole time (where you learn, anyway). Basically, I chickened out.

After two nights in San Sebastian, we decided to skip town and head somewhere else. Bilbao is about an hour away, so we booked a last minute hotel there and got in the car (a Mini we rented from Madrid). 

It's impossible not to be impressed by the Gehry-designed Guggenheim; it is, after all, pretty much the FIRST thing you see when you enter the city by car. You're driving around a bend, toward a bridge, and then suddenly, there it is, in all its shiny glory, 50 metres away from you.

Our second impression of Bilbao: it's so green!

For some reason, we had been under the impression that Bilbao would be industrial and a bit dull (save for the museum), but we were completely surprised.

Beautifully landscaped, great architecture throughout and some good restaurants: definitely a very livable city.

We liked this building, which was modern but with a single wall that had been preserved from the original historic façade. It turns out the "Metropolitan" is an enormous health and fitness club.

And, of course, a few shots of the Guggenheim:

Jeff Koons' "Puppy", covered in flowers.

Ever wondered what the surface of the Guggenheim looks like up close (or, for that matter, the Disney building in Los Angeles)? I did. Also: it's titanium, in case you were wondering...

More Koons.

The view of the Guggenheim from our very-cheap-but-surprisingly-well-situated hotel!

After Bilbao, we went on to the Rioja region, where we stayed at the Hotel Marqués de Riscal (another Gehry property). I'm saving it for another writeup as well, but it was quite possibly the nicest hotel I have ever stayed at. Seriously, you gotta love a hotel with a pillow menu.

This bed was heaven. You know how sometimes, no matter how comfortable and plush a hotel is, you still can't wait to get home and back into your own bed? I experienced none of those feelings here. This was THE MOST comfortable, 18-inch-thick mattress I have ever slept on. 

The "Cloud" lamps next to the bed were also designed by Gehry.

From now on, I only want to stay at hotels that have a B&B Italia sofa in my room...

 And this kind of view from my window...

And come stocked with Caudalie products...

And complimentary, yummy red wine.

Anyway, we also got a tour of the Marqués de Riscal winery itself. I'm not a wine expert by any stretch of the imagination, but from what I do know, Marqués de Riscal is quite a "commercial" winery - widely available, consistent and good - probably similar to Mission Hill in BC. They've had some highly rated wines over the years (they've been producing since the 1800s) and are best known for their Reserva and Gran Reserva.

In any case, in addition to some of the things you see on most winery tours, we were also shown some pretty incredible parts.... all below:

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(hmm, that's pretty cool)

Holy shit. This little prison of a room is where the winery has stored between 300 - 1000 bottles of each vintage, since the 1860s. These bottles are never sold (apparently, the King of Spain once tried to buy one, and they didn't budge, even for him) but on occasion, they are opened to drink. For example, in wooing Frank Gehry to sign on to the project, they pulled out a bottle of a 1929 Rioja (the year of his birth). This apparently impressed him and he signed the deal.

Yes - those are all very dusty, very old bottles of wine.

Rows upon rows of them!

This was also quite cool: not every winery shows you where the bottling process takes place, but the engineering that has gone into the machines used for this process was pretty impressive!

And ta-da! The end result.