Bilbao

   Our next outing was to the industrial city of Bilbao. The waterfront has been rebuilt in recent years and this is where Frank Gherry designed and built the Guggenheim Museum. It is more an art gallery than a museum and I was not too interested in the exhibits housed there at the moment. The building, however, is pretty impressive. From the opposite bank of the river it looks like a great silver boat. Indoors it is light and airy with lots of exposed steel and concrete. I also loved "Puppy", a huge floral dog set just outside the upper entrance.

San Sebastian

The only building that survived

These young ladies posed for us.

   We were very fortunate to be in San Sebastian on the day, August 31,they celebrated the survival of the town from a siege and fire that almost destroyed it. Only one building remains of the original old town. Despite it being a serious anniversary, there was much music, marching bands and jollity. The residents all dress up as the two opposing armies (British and French, but there were many different uniforms) and march through the streets firing rifles and banging drums. Then all congregate outside the Town Hall for more music and drumming. As well as squads of soldiers, there were groups of women and children, all dressed in their Basque national costumes and equipped with a small barrel which they used like a drum.

   The Old Town is very interesting and a popular hangout for the young people with many tapas bars and small shops. I happened to come across an evening event in which couples performed national dances, competing to see who won a trophy. They danced to live music, very exhilarating!

 

One of the squads of soldiers



From Catalan Country to Basque

Town Hall

    After 4 days in Barcelona we boarded the bus for San Sebastian. The scenery was magnificent - steep gorges and wide valleys with little habitation. What did surprise me, in the flatter areas, were field upon field of solar panels. Also, there were great quantities of wind farms.

Goya

   We stopped at Zaragoza for lunch and had a tour of the main square and cathedral. We saw one of the results of the Spanish Civil War here in the church - an unexploded bomb, said to have been dropped by a pilot who was from the area and removed the detonation in order to preserve his cathedral.
 
    The city was shared with the Moors and both a mosque and church were in the main square. The city was also the birth place of the famous Spanish artist, Goya.

   Later that afternoon we arrived on the Atlantic coast and were soon ensconced in the Hotel Londres, San Sebastian, just steps from the beach. Even at that time the beach was thronged with swimmers and sun worshippers. Although undoubtedly many were tourists, some local families were also there enjoying some relaxation after a day of work or school.

Mosque tower








Antoni Gaudi

   I have finally downloaded all my vacation photos and can start to retell the days as they occurred. Barcelona is known for its architecture and one of its most famous architects is Antoni Gaudi whose most famous work was done in the early 20th century. He was a local Catelan and built many unusual structures throughout the city. Our first visit was to an apartment building called "La Pedara" with an unusual layout around a courtyard with each circular apartment facing out with windows on all sides. The roof was also worth a visit. Another building looks like a Disney castle and "Park Guell" has a very unusual gathering area supported on pillars.

  In 1920 Gaudi also began work on the magnificent "Sagra Familia" cathedral. This is scheduled to be completed in 2020 but was dedicated by the Pope last year and is now open to the public inside. You can see the original exterior is quite in contrast to the portion being completed at this time. 



Early portion of "Sagria Familia"

"Park Guell"



Rooftop "La Pedara"

Inner courtyard "La Pedara"