Catch-up

As our link to the internet is non-existent I'm going to have to keep a daily log and download the whole lot in one go once we get connected.

Tuesday

Left Cudillero this morning and headed of towards Bilbao. The weather was intermittment rain at first but claered up and got brighter as we headed along the coast with the Picos de Europa popping out between the clouds. It really would be a nice place to take our time through Still driving the van through the building site that passes for the southern by-pass around Bilbao( or Bilbo as it appears to be in Basque!). Anyway made our way along the expressway that heads around the east side of the city and out to our camp site - Camping Gorliz/Arrien. Once more shock and awe for our size despite the agreement that they could cope. Still we found a space, connected up and got the satellite going. What joy(?) as we could get BBC2, Channel 4 and Channel 5. Which meant CSI!! Then it started to rain - again. We had telly so it was not much of a problem even if the cats were not impressed. The season finales ( and the second part of a two part story at that) at least means we can tune in next season and know where we are.

Wednesday

Woke to the continuing rain which was of the torrential variety. Still we will go totally stir crazy if we stayed in so we head off to the station and take the tube to the city. Good service and well used but sadly there is no stop very close to the Guggenheim Museum, which we decided was a good place to go as it was under cover and well a landmark.Despite bussing as close as we could it was a pair of very soggy people who got inside and decided feeding was the most important thing! Never been to a museum/art gallery where you have to book a table at lunch-time so we stuck to the cafe which was full of people who had made our mistake. Still at 20 euros for essentially tapas and a drink it was hardly cheap. Nice enough but pricey. So into the museum proper! It is an experience rather than an art gallery with currently showing a Henri Rousseau special exhibition and one from Robert Rauschenburg called "Gluts" on the top floor. Loved the Rousseau but the other was not to my taste.
The second floor was given over to an exhibition of Anish Kapoor's work. Huge gallery spaces were devoted to his work and some was absolutely brilliant. But they should have kept him off the free audioguide. He sounded so pretentious it spoilt the clever pieces of work he had produced. Still we wandered into "shooting into the Corner" (Google it I'm sure its there as an explanation is nothing) just as the "attendant" was preparing to fire. First time I've seen anything quite like it and been stunned by the noise in a museum.
The ground floor had display of kids work done with local artists which was nice, a selection from the Guggenheim collection including a fabulous Andy Warhol (but no Kandinsky or Klee sadly), an "installation" called the Matter of Time from Richard Serra and a permanant installation by Jenny Holzer which consisted of a humber of moving LED "signs" which ran from floor to ceiling with messages. The whole effect was absolutely brilliant and one of the best things there. But once more out to the - rain. So we made our way past a soggy "Puppy" on to the tram and back to a "fosterito" (all the subway stations were designed by Sir Norman Foster) on on home. Finally as evening drew on the rain eased to be replaced by a gale. And so to bed.

Thursday

Well at least its dry but the poor old satellite dish has blown over despite being pegged down. But we can now go and take our other visit that we had promised ourselves. 60 kms down the road is Gernika-Lomo (aka Guernica). To someone who had seen the posters of the painting and read some history there really was no choice. The roads across were sweeping up and down through small villages and woods. Then we arrived in Gernika. It's not a big place and obviously most of but not all the buildings are new or reconstructions except for the church and the Basque parliament building. We wandered around until life came back at 4:00pm and went into the Parliament, which was not in session. The "Museum"/Assebly Hall has a leaded glass roof depicting the main strands of Basque life and the all important oak tree. It is a very impressive piece of post-Franco art. Then into the chamber which is an old church seating 84 members all in close contact in a elliptical chamber. Interestingly the Regional administration is in Bilbao but the Parliament meets in Gernika - as much out of history as anything else. Outside the building stands the ceremonial oak and its predecessors trunk. It is where official oaths are sworn - beats signing a pice of paper for the Chief Executive.
From there we wandered down to the Peace Museum in the old town hall. A really good piece of work with good audio visual elements and a strong sense of international justice. What I had not realised is that although the German government has apologised for the role of the Condor Legion the museum makes the point that the Spanish Army has never said sorry. Given Basque/Madrid relations interestingly they also have a section criticising both sides in the ETA conflict. From there we wandered down the Market Place which was the centre of the attack - on market day no less. The thought crossed my mind that it was like the German Air Force in WW II had blitzed Burscough village. It was certainly a fine example of state sponsored terrorism - even if Franco was not the government at that time.

Friday

We've decided as the weather is little better but less windy we will move south east to near Pamplona to a site who once more say they can cope with us. This has meant facing the lunacy that is the autovia system around Bilbao but for a shorter distance and then we're onto N roads - like A roads but without the by-passes! Takes us up into the mountains through oak and birch forests.The houses get sturdier lokking becoming low and squat with steep roofs and thick walls. Some have a peculiar rendering dotted with deliberate holes to show the stone walls beneath. They look like lumps of Gruyere cheese with a roof. Everyone has flowers on the balconies or patios. Its really quiet Swiss to look at. But we are clearly in Basque territory with the signs in both languages, Basque first of course, and often the local hooligans have painted over the Spanish town names so navigation is not easy as there is no commonality. So Pamplona is Iruna - which is a different place to Irun. Still we made it to Camping Etxarri at Extarri Aranatz in Navarre. And they were surprised at such a big van! Still despite the infestation of Belgians - loads of them we managed to find a spot under the tall oaks on ground that seems a bit soft but is the bast of a bad lot. Then off to the local supermarket. It might be called Netto but its not german and the prices are more like Sainsbury or even Waitrose. Still because we did not use any plastic bags we got a free bottle of shampoo!

Saturday

Woke to overcast skies - eventually. Being quiet and under the trees we slept in. Still the "Holy" mountain of Navarra is just up the road so we paid a rather windswept visit to San Miguel de Aralar. Its the oldest chuch in Navarra and it would seem home to an active pilgrimage business. Still a superb location and our old friends the vultures are back in the high mountains. From there we swept down to Lekunberri and the Ruta de Ernest Hemingway which seems to commemorate his visits to the area in the late 1950's. Sadly Lekunberri gave a very good impression of being closed. The good news was it had stayed dry but little sunshine. I bought some internet time but then discovered that the sites server was not working so I'll keep amassing the day stories.

Sunday

Again we slept in the gloom must fool the cats into thinking it's not yet morning. Cloudy skies and a Sunday meant that a trip to the coast was in order. Donostia (San sebastian) is about 60kms away so we jumped in the car and sped off down the autovia. The route is great and the views spectacular. We drove into town and like everywhere in Spain took a place in an undergound car-park near the theatre. My reason for coming was to see if it was anywhere as good as my O-level Spanish teacher at St Marys in the 60's - Harry is all I can remember - used to go on about it as he had spent time there. It was sunny by now and it seemed everyone had come to town. The buildings are a riot of French "Belle epoque", Spanish modernist and even mock Plateresque. I can bore for Britain on architectural styles - but won't. We decided to take a boat trip around the bay before lunch which seemed like a good idea as the sun might have been shining but the wind was still active creating a little thrill ride rather than a calm sojourn. Wind blown and slightly damp we went for lunch. 22 euros got us lunch(platos combinatos without the fried egg!) a drink and coffee away from the harbour whereas it would have been twice that overlooking the fishing boats. Then we wandered the streets to work off lunch admiring the views from the promenade.
And so back to the site where it was not sunny but rather chilly. Still the local weather forecast is for sunshine and better temperatures tomorrow.

Monday

We shall have to set the alarm as we awoke late yet again! But the sun is shining and two Belgians had left.
So we set about cleaning the van inside and out so it didn't look quite like it had spent the last two weeks on the Somme in WWI. Daren't wash it but wiped down the dark colours so they ceased to be grey. Then prepared a shopping list and set off after a late lunch to find a reasonable supermarket. Found an Eroski in Iruna (Pamplona but it gets painted over). Prices still a little higher but then on the way out we found Aldi and Lidl who seemed to hide themselves until it was too late. Driving back I upset a local who seemed to think that indicating left meant I was going to turn right and he could overtake me on the left. Perhaps I should have followed the local tradion and not signalled! And the best news is that the Belgians seem to have decided to follow their scouts and leave tomorrow as they are packing up their gear and having a get together at one of the vans. And they promise to fix the internet tomorrow. Well maybe.

Tuesday

The Belgians have left. Which has given us the chance to move to a pitch where the sun shines and we can get satellite. Just in time to watch England tomorrow. Spent the day re-organising ourselves. Snag is the Internet is still very flaky and we can't get some sites for some reason.

Wednesday

Woke up to find our new Dutch neighbours have left and the sun continues to shine. Paid a visit ti the mountains and followed a sign at the road side. Led us back to the Pays Vasco out of Navarra and up to a spectacular monastery. It's apparently burnt down three times and then rebuilt with a lot of modern touches about 20 to 30 years ago. Still got back to the van just in time to see Defoes goal. Bring on the Germans!