Bilbao

We didn’t get the opportunity to revisit Salamanca as S was not feeling too good. We think he has shingles as he has a rash of blisters on the left side of his back. He had this many years ago and it was not fun. Just as well our long weekend with J and N was cancelled.

Luckily the drive to Bilbao was not too long (3.5 hours). We stayed at the Ibis central which has the narrowest entrance to its underground car park that we have so far experienced. And that is saying something here in Spain. According to the car rental lady, the worst one in existence is in San Sebastián. Apparently the number of cars returned with dents from it is legendary.

I think parking and getting in and out of Spain’s underground car parks should be made into an Olympic sport, in which case I would be married to an Olympian. S has an unsullied scorecard even though I wondered if he might have met his match at the Ibis. We reckon there was about 3mm each side wiggle room. My advice – rent a smart car and don’t take any luggage.

S was feeling revived enough for us to take a wander around Bilbao. Google took us on an interesting route getting to the old town. Very multi-cultural, the streets had a definite buzz and it was fascinating observing the bars, shops and many,many barber’s shops. However, It is not a route I’d want to do at night, it was a bit edgy.

The old town however, was a different kettle of fish. More well-heeled, traditional weekend Spanish life was taking place. Wine, beer, tapas and friends, chatting and smoking. I have a feeling everyone goes home and has a nap, then comes out again at night and repeat the process.

We made it to the Guggenheim which is impressive. Fabulous building. S wasn’t up to an afternoon of wandering around a museum but it was enough just to see the outside.

Then time for the chore of the holiday – squeezing our worldly goods back into our cases. The beauty of having a car is that you can stuff things like shoes, walking boots, dirty clothes etc into carrier bags and just leave them in the car. However, come the day of reckoning, we end up looking like hobos when we enter our final hotel, weighed down with a motley assortment of bags, rucksacks and other paraphernalia. It is a work of art re-ordering our cases, and never fails to elicit sighs and mutterings of “how did this stuff all fit in there in the first place?”

Job eventually done, it was dinner time. A huge rain storm meant that eating outside was off the menu, so we made a reservation at Goiko, a burger restaurant next door. Lucky we did. We watched so many people being turned away. The restaurant was absolutely packed. And for good reason – fab burgers. I had the veggie burger and it was heaven. The most vegetation I’ve eaten for 3 weeks other than potatoes. Obviously S went for something macho and meaty but he agreed, up there amongst the best burgers we’ve ever had. Did give the local drink a miss though – red wine and coke. What??!!

And so it ends. This morning we emerged unscathed from the second worst car park in the world, handed over the car keys with a sigh of relief at the airport and are now flying home.

For S it can’t come quickly enough, he’s feeling really rough poor thing. But it’s been a blast even if the circle turned out to be a bit loopy . How appropriate.