Day 12 -- Bilbao

One quick day in San Sebastian and were off to Bilbao to see the Guggenheim, and fly back to Barsa before our big flight home. Bittersweet is appropriate as we are sad the honeymoon is coming to an end but excited to get home.
There are 2 things to do in Bilbao, the Guggenheim and walk around the Old Quarter, but today we just went to the 'Goog'.
Without getting to think into Architectural commentary.. I love this building. I find it exciting and almost impossible to photograph. Every photo you frame up you see new curves and forms you want to capture. So what you end up doing is shooting tons of pictures and force yourself to seek more abstract compositions. Although this building is seemingly chaotic, it has a nice elegance that allows for balanced images. We had a great time exploring all the galleries inside, but sadly no pictures are allowed. Anyways here are some pics from the goog:

Day 11 -- San Sebastian

Today we drove to San Sebastian. We were a bit sad to be leaving the Rioja, but a little hopeful of better weather on the coast. Not knowing anything about the Basque region the drive itself was surprisingly beautiful. Steep green farms and forests of pine and fall color lined the windy mountain road. I actually felt as if I was driving in a video game where they can make up a pretend landscape, but instead we were in reality driving through it!

San Sebastian is a summer getaway for sure but was nice to see the city without all the tourists. We walked from our hotel to the ocean and the main part of town.

Overlooking the Playa de la concha



San Sebastian is a beautiful old town that looks more like Buenos Aires or Paris.





Apparently the thing to do hear is the 'tapas crawl' Where you walk down street after street lined with 'pinchos' bars.

One of the streets lined with the tapas bars


All the food (big hors d'ouvers) is out on platters across the bar. Everyone stands around and points or picks up what they want, has a few, a glass of wine or canya(draft beer) and moves on to the next one. Its basically a city wide cocktail party, except you have to pay. But only a euro or two per pincho. We did this for lunch an dinner. It was quite an event as the Spanish here in the Basque region sounds nothing like spanish, and has too many x's, z's and two few vowels to even try and fake. Not to mention we had no idea the etiquette for getting food. But though trial and error and correction from the bartender we got the hang of it and had a great cultural experience!

Day 10 -- Rioja day 2

Today we had an enligh (whohoo) tour of the Muga bodega. It was excellent. They showed us everything to do with the wine production and storage. They even make their own barrels here (very rare). That was really cool to see. They also walked us along the bottling assembly line where they add the labels and corks before going off to age.
Turns out the US is Muga's biggest market right now (that said we'll just buy some at home!)





We are so lucky to see this valley in the fall, the red and yellows and oranges are spectacular!



Frank Gehry's Ciudad hotel in Elciego was our next stop. Beautiful! Said to be modeled after a flamenco dancer's skirt. Security is super tight here. They have guards everywhere and wont let you walk around the outside even......unless you eat there. Soooo we made lunch reservations! Access was granted the next day for our lunch. The dining room is on the second floor where you can see the one lone window in the photo below. The food - amazingly good! The meal won for being our most expensive yet - but so worth i! They brought the chef out to meet all the diners as well, nice touch, he was surprisingly quite young, but cooks up some excellent hake fish and truffle meatballs! mmmm



Here we are upstairs at our table inside the hotel.

Day 9 -- Rioja day 1

We arrived late afternoon yesterday. Laguardia is a 16th century medieval walled city (no cars in the whole town! Nice for walking!)
Anyways, we pull up to a door to the city, park the car on the side, and walk in....First of all what an amazing town, second..where the heck is the hotel? We asked the fruit market guy and he directs us to the correct place.
We find the hotel and through a series of slow spanish and half pantomime we check in and figure out the nice lady wearing a maids costume with a nursing hat will help us with the bags. The hotel is very old with a bodega underneath! We got to visit this and one other bodega in our town and taste a little wine as well. Wine here is much different than in California, but good!

Here is what every quaint street in this little town looks like:


Laguardia is a hill town with 360 views. Here are some of them...


Morning view as we walk to our car


Everywhere you drive looks like this!






A tree line park surrounds the edge of the city walls. Im thinking these beautiful trees are Platanus acerifolia? Just gorgeous!

Day 8 -- leaving Barsa

Hey everybody!
Its been a few days since our last blog. We have been out of Internet contact for our stay in the Rioja. Thanks so much for all of your comments and we love knowing that you are all out there following our adventure.
Today is Friday, but Im going to pretend its Tuesday, the day we left Barsa.

So today we leave Barsa for the Rioja. . .Laguardia to be precise.


4 hour drive or so and we'll be there!

The drive proved to be beautiful! The country side here is more and more amazing as we drive from fields of grape vines, to mountains, and tons of fall color!

Day 7 -- Barcelona pt 2`

After a morning of rest, Jenny was feeling up for a little tour. We headed to the Sagrada Familia, and I have to say my favorite part was walking out of the metro station with the temple behind us telling Jenny to turn around and see her first reaction. It is an amazing site to see, and when you realize that the tallest spires are yet to be built you can't say anything but wow.

After that we had some much needed pizza, and headed to Gaudi's La Pedrera, and Casa Batllo.

I'll upload some pics later tomorrow I hope.

Day 7 -- Barcelona

Its Sunday morning and a bit quieter outside then normal, and I'm blogging in the morning because jenny is really under the weather today. =(
Fever and nausea has left us in the room for the morning. The medicine seems to be helping and perhaps we can go out this afternoon. Im going to get some reading done and maybe watch some 'office' dvd's while Jenny rests.

No new pics as of now...perhaps this afternoon

Day 6 -- Barcelona walking tour #1 part 2

As promised. . . some more pictures from Day 6 in 'Barsa'.

I really like the new lens. This is from the botanical gardens.


On our way to the climbing spot you overlook the rugby field. There was a game going so I snapped a few.




If you walk around and follow the correct streets you end up right next to the rugby field, but more importantly you end up at the local climbing spot. I don't want to call it a gym, bucause there are no fees, no rentals, but it is plastic holds. A completely user driven climbing area in this tunnel. There are established routes and user made holds all over this place. The interesting part is that there is this weird combination of real and fake rock down the way...This tunnel seems to be the workout/warm up beginners area, and then behind where I am standing for this picture there are some real rock faces but the last 15 feet or so is shaped textured concrete with more plastic on them. Kinda cool as it adds an additional 15 feet of climbing, but kinda weird as it takes the natural lines you find in nature out of the equation.
Needless to say I really wished I had my gear with me so I could 'have a go'.




Here is the real rock topped with concrete




Couldn't resist...had to do a few moves in the tunnel!

Day 6 -- Barcelona walking tour #1

Today is a walking tour of the area know as montejuc. On the hit list is The Mies Van Der Roe Pavilion, the bonatical garden, the Olympic park and the local climbing area.
6.3 miles later we are resting our legs and writing this blog. Thanks for tuning in!






View from our room. I trying out my new 'Lensbaby' selective focus lens



This is actually from last night on our way out to dinner



Some crazy guys riding seat-less bikes doing some freestyle










There was a whole tree full of these guys eating the nuts



Can't seem to upload photos anymore, I'll put the rest up tomorrow

Day 5 -- Off to Barcelona

Traveled to Barcelona today, not too exciting, Although I was pleasantly surprised on how easy the car return was.
Its only a 45 min flight and was only 0 mins to our hotel via taxi. I can't tell you how happy I am not to be driving, but even more happy to be in Barcelona where I have been before and feel a little more familiar. The hotel is nice and in a residential area close to the University. A bit smaller, i mean quite a bit smaller rooms than Son Julia, but a really cool contemporary style. Hotel Villa Emilia will be our home base for the next 3.5 days. Were making our plan for the week and off to dinner at L'Olive for some authentic Catalan cuisine.

More pics tomorrow

Day 4 -- The drive to Soller

This morning there is either 90% chance of rain or clear all day, it really depends on what weather report you believe. weather.com says rain..bbc.com says clear. Im betting on clear as there are almost no clouds in the sky. So today we are driving the south and east coast to Soller, stopping at all the small towns along the way.

First stop is Santa Ponca a fishing village with some beaches and nice views:






The next few towns are connected by a supper windy mountain road that is full and rightly so of bikers pedaling their asses off...or coasting down s curves with amazing views. We get to drive it which is good because it is less tyring on the legs. Here are some vistas of that road










Eventually you arrive at the mountain set town of Deia where the real Mediterranean style can be seen. Set against the amazing mountains and cliffs, Deia is a beautiful spot on the island:



Last stop in Soller, a larger city with a port counter part (we did not go) but Soller is nice and has an interesting mixture of old and new.








So the drive was long but beautiful, although after a few hours of windy road some straight highways were a relief. Having not driven a manual in years and now doing so in the hillside I am proud to say my stall count is only at like 4 or 5.





We are off to Barcelona tomorrow morning and probably won't have any pictures until the next day. so please enjoy some photos from our Wedding that our amazing photographer Jerry Frazier has kindly posted on his blog: Link to his blog.

stay tuned!