The Spain Wandering - Days 2 and 3

 Monday, April 21

We visited the Guggenheim Modern Art Museum today.  Quite the architectural wonder as you probably know.  We didn't find the art work itself much to our plebeian tastes but some of it was eye-catching.

First, some architecture views on our way back from breakfast at a nearby cafe:

Our hotel

Some of the stuff we saw and the angles of the building which caught one's eye:

The Puppy

The Maman

The Shuttlecock

Looking up from bottom floor

Tulips

After the Guggenheim, we took the Funicular up the nearby hill for views of Bilbao:

Fingerprint Sculpture

The Funicular Car

Then, there was more wandering about the old city center in search of Pinxtos and architectural shots:

Photo by Martha

Photo by Martha

Once again, very tired from the walking, it was an early evening for us after a short foray for Pinxtos.

Tuesday, April 22

We left Bilbao today in a rental car, a Hyundai i30.  Took me a bit to get used to a manual transmission and learning the controls but no issues otherwise.  I got the "Super Coverage" insurance but the fact that I can completely wreck the car and walk away with no financial penalties helps with my peace of mind.  Pricey, but worth it.

We drove to Hondarribia, a small town about 1.5 hours east of Bilbao, still in Basque Country and along the coast.  It lies right on the border with France as well and we'll be making a foray into it soon.

Martha found us a pretty awesome rural B&B pretty close to town, the roads to it are very narrow but fortunately there is very little traffic.

Photo by Martha

As I type this at 9:36 PM, it seems we have the whole house to ourselves.  I guess there's no other guests.

Ok, so once we were checked in and had us a nice chat with the owners: Fatima and Patxi, we headed into Hondarribia

 to get lunch and explore.

We parked the car in the Eroski Supermarket parking lot per the recommendation of Fatima and walked into the town center looking for lunch at the Gran Sol Bar.  It's apparently famous for its Pinxtos but alas, it was closed today.

We got the "Daily Menu" instead at another restaurant and it was quite filling and yummy.

Then it was exploration of the city's sights, luckily its not a big city.

The church with the "cool" altar with the ship

Moto Content, mail scooters

Dentist Office Artwork?

The main church is the St Mary of the Assumption and the Apple Tree.

I liked the way the stained glass windows opposite this altar piece reflected on the glass.

Lastly, we visited San Nikolas Gate, part of the remaining city walls back when Hondarribia used to be a walled city.

I was pretty tired by now and a bit cranky, probably had too heavy a lunch meal I think.  So we drove back to the B&B and I crashed.

Woke up sometime before 7PM and processed pics and this blog posting till 10PM.  Quite a full day since we were up before 6 in preparation to depart the hotel.

Tomorrow, San Sebastian.