Fiesta!

The We are becoming creatures of habit again, we are lucky to have a beach immediately adjacent to the marina and we have become " regulars" along with the other habituees, of a certain age who all have their own spot.

We can see Dark Tarn when we are sunbathing as well as the other visitors to the harbour, twice a week this usually includes cruise liners. This well saw an exceptionally large one.

So large that the normal cruise liner is dwarfed by it! I was fascinated by the fact it had an observation bubble that raised up about 100 ft on s crane arm, a little like one of the gondolas on the London Eye.

However we don't spend all our time on the beach.

We also habitually frequent this cafe, the Arkupe. It's right by the transporter bridge.

Not only does it do great coffee but it has great wi-fi. Something which is becoming fairly essential to us. This cafe also has a wild bird that the customers feed, so it has now, it would appear, permission to enter the premises and I'd guess is almost , but not quite, tame.

This weekend we had considered a trip up the coast to Casto Urdialles.

We had an unofficial invite to join the race organised by our hosts the Club Maritimo

De Real. However come the weekend the light winds were very light indeed. The pontoons were full of discarded anchors chain spare sails etc. The 20 or so boats racing to Castro were obviously trying to lose weight!

We decided to leave them to it especially having recent experience off large swells in combination with light winds. A rolling struggle even though it was only for ten miles or so didn't appeal, also there was the question of squeezing into a notoriously crowded harbour with another 20 boats. There was a Fiesta being held in Getxo, the Fiesta Mercedes. It seemed to be a combination of music, food and heavy drinking.........perfect!

On Friday evening we came across these strange characters who it would appear have carté Blanche to go around hitting people with the pink balls they all carried, children were a particular target.

This could be the basis for everyone's clown nightmares!

Bon Jovi were playing on the town square. We enjoyed watching them, of course they weren't  the real Bom Jovi but no one seemed to mind.

The following day was a celebration of sardines, fresh and cooked up on the barby and served with a glass of wine and some bread for the princely price of 1€.

That night the music and revelry went on into the wee small hours, we didn't mind because I had finally figured out how the ice machine in the marina worked and we were enjoying Mohitos on the cockpit.

After the celebration of the sardine it was the turn of the Caracoles or snails.

Early the next morning, well morning anywa,y we wandered into the part of Getxo hosting the snail celebrations and realised we had turned up a little early, everyone was busy cooking up large pans of snails and chorizo. 

These were then to be entered into a competition. The degustation wasn't until the afternoon. We managed to persuade one of the competitors to sell us a container of snails which we thought would do very nicely for breakfast back at the boat.

They are not the easiest things to eat, luckily and completely inexplicably Dark Tarn was equipped with a snail eating implement, a small needle like wiggler-outer.

I have to admit that while they are quite tasty they are not the most appetising to look at. Lynne thinks they look a bit like slugs once wiggled out of their shells.

The weather was lovely and as an added bonus the tides were huge as it was the Equinox, as well as night and day being the same length an extraordinary event was due to take place on Sunday night the moon was at its closest point to earth and from Britain it was very low so seeming ( it's an illusion. ) to be very large. The press had christened it a " super moon" however it was also due to be a total lunar eclipse and I duly set the alarm to get up in the early hours to see it, there was a fair amount of cloud but I did see the ' blood moon' in a spooky red light bathing the harbour.

 Apologies for the poor photo, iPhones don't do tricky photography, later the shadow of the earth passed across the face of the moon which I felt was truly wonderful and my phone failed to capture at all! Only another 33 years before it happens again, must get my proper camera ready then..........

( apologies! 2033, or 18 years)

 

This is the light show we can see every night, the marina is at the far end and this is the Abra ( bay ) wall lit up, it cycles through different colours and is really rather pretty however you can only see it from seaward, I took this at low tide on the beach, no one walking along the front can see it.

We are settling in quite nicely.....

Settling in and widening the net

One of the things we are beginning to appreciate about our new lifestyle is that whenever circumstances or events conspire we can just stop and explore a place in more depth. The circumstances in this case were a series of serendipitous events one of which occurred just as I was eating a delicious sandwich, a large filling ( upper seventh ) crunched and I spit out a big piece of amalgam. I knew I should have had this troublesome tooth crowned but we ran out of time.

 I quickly located the nearest dentist, literally 5 minutes away, he got the job because his was the first nameplate I came across. To cut a long story short, translating using google we established that the tooth was fractured and needed a crown. So a month of appointments and a big wad of euros. Our dental cover would only pay for emergency treatment, luckily this could be stretched to include a temporary crown as my dentist in the UK happened to agree with the course of treatment after I had emailed him a picture of the offending tooth, so I reckoned that would be about half of the cost. As it happens health care in Spain is very good, however there is no free dental treatment, l can happily recommend however the Clinica Dental in Getxo, and Dr Eduardo Terron. I am however less than enthusiastic about Google translate, at one point Dr Terron was trying to explain a procedure, luckily one I am already very familiar with having several crowns and a bridge, it was coming out as " after sleeping the proceed necrosis root canal after wrapping up of the wheel"

My translation luckily came out as " we will remove the humongous amalgam filling that's left and check the health of the nerve, depending on the result of the investigations we will proceed either with or without a root treatment ( root canal ) and place a temporary dressing prior to taking impressions and making a ceramic crown"

I didn't need a root canal..........

Here is the photo that Dr Terron gave me to forward to my dentist in the UK. You can see the rather suspicious cracks pointing to the pin, there is also the suspicion of cracking, " fractura" in the region of said pin.

I am under stern instruction from my new Spanish dentist to avoid holding ropes in my teeth in future........

So having sorted out treatment etc. It only remained to equip for some serious exploration of the immediate area.

First up was the acquisition of a barik card.

This is a kind of universal travel card, Bilbao being blessed with an integrated public transport system this card can be " loaded" with cash at several different outlets and then used to pay for trains, trams, buses, transporter bridges, funicular railways, for all I know donkeys on the beach as well! In short it's very convenient and also cheap. It also quite neatly circumvents the essentially "self service" ticket machines with their tricky Spanish and incomprehensible Basque menus. Just swipe and go!

One of our first trips together was to find Lidl which the cunning Badques had hidden in a warehouse.

But a more uplifting trip was to the end of the Metro line, a small seaside town called Plentzia.

Strangely enough the Metro doesn't actually run here yet and we were totally confused by fellow passengers urging us off the train two stops early until one lovely woman rung her husband who spoke English, then gave me her phone so he could explain the fact that the train didn't reach Plentzia yet and we would need to catch the free bus.

We enjoyed the bus ride as it gave us an opportunity to see the countryside, which is largely composed of very steep hills and forest, with local buildings which look very alpine in character. Upon arriving at the non operational station it is necessary to cross the river to enter the town proper.

We had entertained ideas of sailing here in Dark Tarn as it's pretty much a day sail from Getxo, however on this day it was very much not an option! It's a fantastic bay for surfing with a point break and a large bay that conveniently narrows as it goes inland which had the effect of steepening any swell to very nice 1-2 metre beach break, occasionally the waves would completely cover the left hand mole which guarded the entrance to the river.

What a beautiful place though....

We wandered along the front towards a hospital, and seriously considered getting ill just so we could recouperate here.

I think Lynne was a little surprised, pleasantly but surprised still, at just how spectacular the north coast of Spain can be and especialy the Basque Country. Wait until she sees Galicia!

We stopped for our habitual afternoon coffee at a beachfront café.

It had fabulous views of the whole bay.

We followed the beach to the very end, the only concievable anchorage behind the right hand mole still not persuading Lynne to bring in Dark Tarn, a quick check over the wall and I was forced to agree.

I'm afraid as usual the photo doesn't do justice to what we saw, the far point every few minutes had 3-5 metre breaking waves crashing over rocks and the point break on the right would regularly break hollow and send reflected 2 metre waves into the mole, tricky!

But a beautiful spot non the less.

One we would undoubtably visit again.

The river at Plentzia.

Just turn left

Apart from one occasion when we visited the other marina by dinghy we have never ventured left upon leaving the Real club maritimo del Abra. Wanted too, but had never taken the promenade past the holiday homes and palaces along the front. So we decided it was about time we did. After all we had spent a week looking at the harbour front of Le Abra sometimes through binoculars ( the buildings are fascinating ) or more usually at night when the whole harbour wall puts on an impressive light show.

I may have forgotten to mention that we had moved into the Marina after a week at anchor due to a very windy forecast. Which proved accurate if unseasonal. As usual the Capitano Alvero was very helpful and found us a nice berth.

The Marina was very convenient for town and transport links. However as previously mentioned we had never turned left to walk along the front. The vague plan was to walk as far as the old fishing village at Algorta. The various houses along the front are in differing styles and there are helpful plaques describing who had them built and when etc. at many points along the promenade. All very interesting and in a strange echo of France a very eclectic mix of styles, the local one looking a little alpine in character. Surprisingly similar to a Swiss chalet. A couple of the bigger ones are more like small castles with turrets, castellations and carved coats of arms.

We were slighty surprised to discover yet another beach as we walked past the second marina complex. Not particularly that it was there but more the size and extent. It's well developed with several hotels sited adjacent to the beach. There was a beachfront bar invitingly placed and it was playing some nice jazz and R+B so it seemed a shame not to stop for refreshment.

As we were late in the season there was a distinct lack of customers but we didn't mind!

We noticed some posters for live music and decided we would return one evening. We carried on and in a very short time we came across yet another part of Getxophoto the open air photography exhibition.

 

Lynne was busy enjoying the pictures but my eye was caught by something in the background. A funicular railway! My inner child was overjoyed....,.

Too good to miss so we paid our 20cents and rode up and back down.

Worth it for the views alone. The photography exibits are visible just behind the beach.

After a few more minutes walk along the very attractive front we came to the old port of Algorta. 

Even here, art was everywhere. Looking carefully at the old quay revealed a portrait "El Sireno de Getxo" or the Getxo merman.

The old harbour was a very attractive and charming place. The village above was precariously perched on the steep hillside.

We climbed up the steep steps to find yet more art.

Also a charming collection of winding streets, houses and small restaurants and tavernas. It seemed churlish not too and besides it had been a hot steep climb so a refreshing wine was in order under the shade of the trees.

The food on offer in the small bars was the typical "Pintxos" we were beginning to appreciate. Those on offer here had a distinctly seafood bias. On our table were the remains of a sea snail feast with the needles in a cork providing eating utensils. It's fair to say we are having a very surprising day, we had sailed past this part of the harbour at 5 in the morning without realising what treasures the daylight would have revealed.

As we drank our wine beneath the trees we were reflecting on the 100 miles sail to Hendaye and we began to wonder if we wouldn't be better staying where we were for the winter as it appeared we had barely scratched the surface of things to see and do. On returning to the marina we had a word with Álvaro and the response was typical, " of course you can stay "

So that was that! When we considered that Bilbao had an international airport, with direct flights both to Tennerife and the U.K. It seemed to make perfect sense.

We returned to the beachfront bar on Saturday evening but were too late to see the band but we thoroughly entertained by the music on offer and were given drinks on the house, I think to compensate for some offensive lyrics by an English band that the barman was playing when we arrived. The band in question were the Sleaford Mods, I believe from  Nottingham, and we weren't offended really!

The following morning was a bit of a late one for us but we were puzzled by the noises coming from the town. We had to investigate and discovered that a rowing event was being held on the Ria under Bizkaia Bridge. The boats are known as Traineras and are based on the sardine boats that would race home with the catch. There are thirteen crew and it's very popular in Basque Country, most events ( including this one ) being televised.

The racing is very close, and the banks of the river were coloured green, red and yellow by the various groups of supporters, of which there were literally thousands.

 We watched one race then made our way to the start/finish line to watch our local team Portugaleta ( yellow) be unfortunately  beaten into second place.

We were gutted!

Culture vultures 2

Our friend Alvero had told us to go and look at the Guggenheim from the outside as there was nothing worth seeing inside, and then go to the Museum of fine arts to see some great art..........

I am tempted to agree, the following day we were again on the rather wonderful Metro into Bilbao. We got of at the nearest station and walked to the museum. On first sight it's certainly not as imposing as the Guggenheim.

This isn't even the entrance anymore, the building has been extended several times and the entrance is around the side.

Thankfully no queues this time, obviously not as big a tick, also as a real bonus , because our visit was on a Wednesday it was free!

After inexplicably getting two tickets and having them checked, I had elected to pay my two euros for an audio guide. This proved to be very informative and nowhere near as pretentious and inadvertently hilarious as the Guggenheim one yesterday.

We made our way into the various exhibition rooms and galleries following the recommended tour in the little brochure ( in English ) we had been given. We began a journey through art from Greek and Roman times with sculptures and ceramics and quickly found ourselves in the 12th and 13th centuries with some exquisite and very colourful religious art. Triptiches and alter pieces all respectfully and expertly restored and beautifully lit in the various exhibition spaces. The audio guide was proving very useful and I was so wrapped up in wandering from one room to the next and discovering yet more breathtaking treasures I neglected to attempt to take some photos, strictly forbidden anyway. We continued to move gently forward in time, the mediaeval times, the Renaissance, all flew by in a glorious riot of colour and form. The skill of these painters and artists was exceptional. Around the 18th century we needed a comfort break and as the cafe was very near we had a coffee and Pintxos ( tacos) and very reasonably priced it was too as well as being delicious.

After lunch we dived back in to some contemporary art in the fittingly more modern extension to the original building. After our overdose of the previous day we should have felt quite jaded but far from it some of the works on display were of exceptional quality.

The very high standard of display continued with lovely flat lighting showing off every work to best advantage, there were Picassos, Hockneys etc. with a fair sprinkling of lesser known artists.

There was a slight but noticeable bias towards Spanish and particularly Basque artists which was understandable and very interesting from our point of view not having had the chance to see examples of their work before, in the flesh so to speak.

Lynne found the above piece particularly interesting!

It was a long and tiring day but very worthwhile, I can honestly say I would choose the Museum over the

 Guggenheim and can heartily recommend a visit if you ever get the chance, don't forget Wednesday is free....

We had planned on visiting the old quarter and it seemed easiest to walk through the Park Republica de abando and continue along the river.

This gave us the opportunity to see a little more of the city and in contrast to the previous day it wasn't raining!

There is art and architecture everywhere in Bilbao.

It's a sometimes very disconcerting but never boring encounter of periods and styles.

We strolled past the Guggenheim again aiming to cross the river at the puenta Pedro Arrupe, which gave us a good view of the "Red Arches" on the next bridge further upriver.

After a couple of miles we arrived at the old quarter of the city, this is an area of small streets and alleys.its a compact but sizeable cluster of commerce and clutter. Fascinating.

In contrast to the wide open space and modernism of most of Bilbao this was unquestionably old and as we headed for the Cathedral of Santiago the atmosphere was very different.

The Cathedral itself is squeezed in by buildings on all sides and in some instances shops are built in to the fabric of the building. It's a very strange, the inside of the buding however is all light and space.

We actually visited three churches that afternoon and on each occasion a non too promising exterior surprised us with an astonishingly rich interior.

This is the altarpiece of the church of St John the Baptist.

The old town is full of bars and shops, hustle and bustle and is about as close as you are likely to get to experiencing the flavour of a medieval city.

This is the Plaza Nueva, and the smells at this point were making us very hungry! The Plaza is surrounded by bars all selling Pintxos ( tapas) tasty morsels of snacks, it's usual to order one or two with every drink.

After a final walk around the Plaza cloisters we had to take our weary selves to the Metro and home. Lovely if very tiring day.