Sunday, September 15, 2024
Greetings from Basque Country!
We arrived after a long day of traveling (actually two days with a brief night). Yesterday, we Ubered from home to RDU at 1 pm. Checking our bags and getting through security went smoothly. Jane ate a sandwich for lunch while waiting for our departure. (I had eaten at home before leaving.) On our 6.5-hour flight to Frankurt, Germany, Jane and I had very comfortable premium economy class seats at the bulkhead with lots of leg space. In Frankfurt, we made it through EU passport control quickly then had about five hours to wait for the next flight and for Nancy and John to arrive. After we found some coffee (and a chocolate croissant for Jane), we settled in for the long wait. Eventually, Nancy and John, who had arrived at a different terminal than us and had to go through a security scan and a longer passport control line than us, arrived. After the long wait and gate change, our flight to Bilboa, Spain, departed. Fortuntely, I managed to sleep during most of this 2.5-hour flight.
My first view of Basque country, with its beautiful green hills, was through the plane window from my aisle seat. After disembarking and claiming our luggage, we met up with, Dr. Cameron Watson, our Smithsonian Journey expert for this trip, and joined others in a van for the hour-long drive from Bilboa to our lodging, the Parador de Hondarribia. The drive was on a modern highway that paralleled the coast (although we only had a few views of water) passing through the hilly countryside via lots of tunnels.
Traveling from Bilboa to Hondarribia
Once in the small town of Hondarribia, the bus let us out to be greeted by our tour guide, Paula. Paula led us to a huge public elevator capable of accomodating all of us (over twenty people) and we were lifted from sea level up to the main streets of old town and the level of our Parador’s entrance. We then followed Paula into a large outdoor terrace surrounded by the hotel where we took seats, were welcomed, and then received our room keys. We all found our rooms, Nancy and John on the third floor and Jane and I on the second, through the maze-like but stately old buidling. Our bags were waiting outside our room when we arrived.
Parador means place to stop in Spanish. Starting in the early 20th centruy, the Spanish government set up a chain of these throughout the country largely located in fine historic buildings. Ours, is in a former castle and located on a hilltop in the small coastal town of Hondarribia. The town is on Biscay Bay with a view of the coast of France across the water.
—— Interior of our Parador ——
——— Exterior of our Parador & Public Elevator ———
After freshening-up in our rooms, our group of four set off on foot to explore some of the area. We first walked through the quaint square that the Parador borders, then downhill to the coastline. Enjoying the nice weather, we strolled along the beautiful blue bay until we stumbled upon the terminal for the ferry that crosses the bay to France. There were lots of people waiting in line to depart on this Sunday afternoon. We retraced our route along the coast then took the elevator back up to the Parador and walked through some of the town streets.
—— Rambling ‘round Hondarribia ——
We found a gate throught the old city wall and on the other side, discoveded a grassy green area with music and local folks enjoying their last weekend hours of leisure. We then found our way back to the hotel where we met with the entire tour group in the Social Salon on the first floor. We enjoyed a reception with drinks and snacks socializing with our fellow tourists and then our guide, Paula, and expert, Cameron, welcomed us again and gave us some orientation information.
—— City Wall and Gate ——
After the reception, the tour group walked together for about five minutes for dinner at the Tatapas Gastroteka. For dinner we had a salad with smoked salmon, salted cod prepared via a specific Basque method with vegetables, and apple crumble for dessert. We also sampled a local sauvignon blanc wine from the region. Cameron sat at our table and so we were able to get a preview of information about Basque history and culture from him. After dinner, I sampled orujo, a strong local drink made from the residue of wine grapes. After dinner, we walked back to the Parador and quickly retired to rest up from our long journey.
—— Our Dining Venue ——
