Basque Country

June 2018

We flew to Bilbao, Spain for the start of an eight-day immersion in the food, culture and history of the Basque Country of Spain and France.  In Bilbao we stayed one night in a boutique hotel, explored Old Town and sampled the first of many pinxtos (Basque tapas).  The following day we traveled to San Sebastián where we joined our small tour group of 15.  The Hotel de Londres, situated on the Bay of Biscay was our home for a week as we traveled by coach to many small towns and villages in the Basque regions of Spain and France.  We sampled food and wine and more pinxtos, attended lectures and enjoyed walking tours through this friendly, prosperous region.  The mountains and rivers and history of iron– and steel–making are similar to Pittsburgh’s.  

Our time in Pamplona was only a week prior to the Festival of San Fermin, the Running of the Bulls.  Stout wooden barricades were being erected to control the bulls and the brave/foolish/drunken men who participate!  Pamplona is on one of several routes through Spain and France to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, the Way of St. James.  Pilgrims have been traveling the Way since the Middle Ages.  In Pamplona we saw many modern day Pilgrims hiking the Way of St. James and a few traveling it on bicycles.  This was especially interesting for us because only a month earlier, Cheryl and I visited the historic Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela during our Coastal Europe cruise.