January 18th, 2017

It was Betty's birthday this morning and forgot to wish her a happy one.  Shit.  Forgot Babydoll's last year too and still get it thrown in my face.  I like to consider this is a family tradition.

Moving on...

December 27th, 2017 - Porto

First of all, is it Porto or Oporto.  Or O-Boy-Oberto.  Local call it Porto but the airport code and some other sources would have you think it Oporto.  We hired a guide to take us around this first morning to get our bearings and she said it was always Porto and that the "O" was some kind of prefix that got confused as being the name when they drew up some maps.

This was the last of our planned tours and we arranged it with the hotel upon arrival instead of in advance as I normally do.  Note to self...plan in advance whenever possible.  Our guide was fine, but just.  And it was way more expensive, probably by half, than I would have liked to pay.

I asked for a walking tour, but we went around town in a van.  As Porto is quite hilly, I didn't object.  First stop was the train station where the murals depicting the conquest of Portugal over the Muslims was detailed. They, and the station itself, were well done.

 Next was the obligatory stop at the cathedral at the top of the hill.  Perfectly fine, a story about the silver alter that they hid from someone or other during some conquest.  Can you tell that I have church fatigue?

 
                                   

The commanding views of a picturesque city the cite afforded was worth the effort.

 Our guide had an impressive command of dates and names and recited them clinically. 

We drove around a bit more and then headed across the river to Vila Nova de Gaia.  That bank of the river is home to the world's Port wine industry.  We were taken to the Cockburn wine lodge for an hour tour of their facility.  It is pronounced 'Coh-burn', but Paul and I had some laughs pronouncing it differently.

Here is how I understand the industry.  Grapes are grown up river in the Duoro River valley region and that area while fertile, has harsh weather.  The grapes grown there are not usually great, so an enterprising Brit figured a way to add Brandy to them and came up with a fortified wine that was sweet and palatable.  The producers names are all British sounding as they were the progenitors but don't know who owns them now.  They use a wine spirit instead of Brandy, but you get the point...high alcohol content.  Hard to be a solitary Port wine drinker that is not an alcoholic as you need to finish the bottle within a couple of weeks, and if you are taking a shot or two a night, doesn't make a lot of sense.  Am not opposed to having a pop after dinner, but am fine with a cappuccino.  It is nice that the restaurants around town will just pour you one.

The industry is monitored closely and Port wine is only called that if made there.  Tawny port is made from blended grapes that could be from different harvests/years.  The longer it is aged changes the flavor...whether you like a young or older one depends on your own taste.  Then there is Vintage, made from a single year's grapes and only in years where the harvest is deemed as being worthy.  1994, 1997, 2000 and 2003 were the only ones of those since 16963, so kind of a big deal.  These are then  far more expensive.  And there is white port, which is a waste of your time.

Visits to wineries are similar, but the science combined with the coolness factor of working in the booze industry makes them always enjoyable.

 

Bottles dating back to 1872.

 Out time with the guide over, we asked her to drop us off at the classic old coffee house in town.  The Majestic is the Belle Epoque joint where the writers and thinkers wrote and thought.  Good time.

 We strolled down the hill to our hotel, which was in the Ribeira area, and popped by the birthplace of Henry the Navigator.  Not an actual explorer, but part of the monarchy that was a big funder of explorations and was crucial in the use of the caravel as the ship of choice for exploration.  Fast and maneuverable, it is cited as critical in tiny Portugal becoming a world empire.  Every town has a main street named after him and from all appearances, is accepted as the greatest person in their history.

                                               

Was still too early for a nap, so forced the kiddies to take a stroll down to the ribiera and across the bridge.  The ribeira is the neighborhood on the banks of the  Porto side of the river.  Walking paths, restaurants and amazing views.  As we are walking towards the bridge, we see this seagull working on a snack he just found.  The Boy says to take a closer look at what he is chowing down on and it is a spent condom.

Sadly, neither of us got a great snap before it got into his belly.  We took a stroll but will detail the views and what we saw in the post for tomorrow as we had much better weather and view.  Great nap with the night capped by us finally finding a place to eat in town that we enjoyed.  A Tapas joint called Jimao.  With Spain on the horizon and eating my weight in tapas on the itinerary, we hoped we had reached a turning point.

There was a couple sitting nearby and they were talking loud and we guessed they were on their first date.  She was for sure American but was hard to hear the dude and his accent.  Awkward first dates are always entertaining listening and at the end they ordered a desert to share.  The gal was into it but didn't want to seem like a pig and kept urging the guy to eat some.  She used the word "destroy" to describe what she was going to do/was doing/did to that desert many times.  Used it to describe things for the rest of the trip.


December 28th, 2017 - Porto

Listed on the schedule as "Whatevs in Porto" day, we had no set plan going in.  Just see what we could see on a leisurely pace.  See some sights in the guidebook of course, but also do a search with the words weird/unusual things to do in...

We started the morning by walking to what was billed as 'The Prettiest McDonald's in the World".  It was.  Art deco (my favorite) building with chandeliers and stained glass.  

 Kind of a rainy morning.  The historic core, while on a steep hill, is charming and old, and is compact, so moving about is efficient.

 Next stop was the Livararia Lello.  Kids thought I was nuts wanting to go to a bookstore, but when they found out that it cost 4 euros to go in, and that we'd have to wait in a 30 minute line in the rain to go in, they were sure that I'd lost it

 JK Rowling, before she was JK Rowling, lived in Porto and has said that this bookstore inspired a lot of the imagery in Harry Potter.  That fact explains its popularity and the quantity of nerdy kids waiting in line with their parents.  Have never read nor seen any flicks in the Harry Potter canon, but this was a must see that did not disappoint.  Would have liked it to be less crowded, but the wood paneling, staircase and glass ceiling were well worth the price of admission.

 And you would think that this was a staged photo opportunity, but Betty always has her flying broomstick.

Nearby was a pair of churches that were unusual as they were conjoined.  A kind of religious peanut butter cup.    A pretty mural and alter, but we guessed the architecture style wrong yet again, and they were musty.  It was a good place to sit out a rain squall however.  And they had a Jesus that was totally ripped.  I never read that he was a workout warrior, but the dude was buffed out.

This was the day we set aside room in our bellies to try the (in)famous Francesinha sandwich.  Detailed that experience previously but would advise any future visitors to definitely try one and to share it with a friend cause they are huge and not great.

The kids were happy for a lazy day, and it wasn't a great one weather-wise, so they opted to go back to the hotel while Betty and I did the touristy/obligatory when in Porto 1hr six bridges river cruise.  Really is a must.  You take a boat in the style of one of the ones that bring the wine down to Porto from up river and slowly cruise up an down to look at the six bridges that span the Duoro.  Our guide yesterday made a comment that Porto is the only city with 6 bridges...a claim we thought ridiculous on all levels.

The first one is the most iconic...Dom Luis 1 designed by the Gustav Eifel group.

 Another from the Eiffel period was upriver. No longer in use but a national landmark.

Along the banks are these trains that go along the steep cliffs and in/out of tunnels like a real life model train set.

 We were sitting near a multi-generational local family and the grandma spots me and asks if I'm Brazilian.  They usually can spot my American-ness from outer space so felt a bit of satisfaction that I was starting to fit in.  Seems the rest of her family was happy to have her talk to someone other than them, and she was going on and on to me about how great the beach town of Paseo in Brazil is and how I should go.  Was trying to get her attention off me and tossed Betty under the bus by saying something about her that would interest the lady.  Betty kinda (cruelly) shut her down and then she latched on to these two African ladies that were in front of us.  These two were well over 6 feet tall and absolutely stunning.

 Anyway...fantastic views and very mellow way to see the city that makes the postcards look boring.  We returned to the same restaurant and were treated as royalty.  All our meals were delish but Betty's octopus arm took the prize for most photogenic

December 29th, 2017 - Porto - Guimaraes - Santiago de Compostela

Plan today was to make the 2 + hour drive to Santiago and see something along the way.  Kinda left what that was open so we could get recommendations.  I had wanted to make a detour and drive through the Duoro River Valley and see where they grow the grapes, but we were counseled against it by all as it was crappy weather/not the right season to go/would have added more hours than any of wanted to be car bound  One of our guides suggested the town of Guimaraes that was on the right road and about half way to our destination.  

Guimaraes is UNESCO and "celebrated" as the birthplace of the nation.  Small center core that was immaculately groomed and kept.  We tooled around walking and found the tourist office.  Was told these free on the street photo booths are everywhere, but it was my first one.  You take a picture and email it to yourself...good clean fun.

Per the tourist office, the two things to see were the Paco dos Duques and Castelo de Guimaraes that were on a combined admission fee that was reasonable.

Both were very nice and this is a decent pop in spot.  The Paco de Duques is 15th century and by its styling, wouldn't have been surprised to see it built in England.  They had folks singing period songs in 1400's era garb

 And pre-Internet games that delighted the kiddies.

 Well appointed throughout.  Some folks like paintings, but for my money, tapestries are far more evocative and impressive in their craftsmanship.

 The roofs of the dining halls and chapels were designed to look like the inverted hulls of the caravels that made Portugal wealthy

 I tried to make a fun pose picture, but failed.

The castle was one of the impregnable types that provided sweeping valley views and knee swelling climbing opportunities.

 The Boy is always up for sticking his face in these goofy things.

Hit the road towards Santiago de Compostela and said goodbye to Portugal...

When planning the trip, had never considered Santiago as it was north and added several driving hours.  After research, understood that this is a significant place in history.  After Jerusalem and the Vatican, is the place where the most Christian pilgrims go.   

The church there is said to house the body of the apostle James (Santiago in Spanish).  According to the story, James traveled to the Iberian peninsula to spread the word of Jesus.  Upon returning to Jerusalem, he was the first of the apostles that was martyred.  His body was then returned to Santiago and there are a few stories about that voyage with variations that the ship bringing them sunk but that the crew/relics survived the accident in miraculous fashion.  The pilgrimage to Santiago became a big thing during the middle ages but fell off during the plague.  A famous travel book from 1957 reignited interest and it has since become a travel destination for on average 250,000 people annually.

If you take another view, the pilgrimage area predates Jesus by millennia.  B.C. people would travel this path to go to nearby Finestra, which before GPS confirmed that it was in Portugal was considered the furthest most western point of the world.  People would travel there, and burn their clothes (and probably do some dance).  The Christians incorporated these traditions and there you go.

Let's talk about John Adams for a second.  His name and statues to him started popping up and didn't know he had a history in Spain.  

Did a search and read this article about the remarkable Spanish pilgrimage of John Adams.  To make a long story short, in 1779 he was sent to France to negotiate commercial deals and start working on a peace treaty with England as the Revolutionary war was still raging.  His ship started to sink and they barely got to Finestra before it did.  He still had to get to France and since there were no trains and such, traveled the "Camino" without really knowing he was.  He later came to regret not visiting Santiago.  The part of the story that I found most enlightening was his description of Spain at the time.

I see nothing but Signs of Poverty and Misery, among the People. A fertile Country, not half cultivated, People ragged and dirty, and the Houses universally nothing but Mire, Smoke, Fleas and Lice. Nothing appears rich but the Churches, nobody fat, but the Clergy[44] … The Houses are uniformly the same through the whole Country hitherto – common habitations for Men and Beasts – the same smoaky, filthy holes.[45]

Shitholes by chance?  As a Protestant, it confirmed a belief that the Catholic church was manipulating the masses and cemented the ideas of separation of church and state.  I don't have a problem with religious types, but when they start with the superiority crap and you scratch the surface of history, you see that organized religion is mainly about power and influence at best and have the capability of mass murder in the name of their deity.  All of them.  Don't misconstrue me blaming religion for all of man's woes as secular rule a la the Soviet Union is the other side of the same coin, but it is a powerful tool when it comes to exerting power over the people.  Blind faith makes my skin crawl.

We blew into town late afternoon.  My thought was that since pilgrims end their trips here, that it would have ample places to do laundry and as this was the mid way point of our trip and things were getting ripe in the car, that was on top of the agenda.  We inquired with the hotel staff and not only were there laundromats around, but that for 25 euros, they would do it for us.  Sold!  By the time we walked around the town for a couple hours, we returned to two bags of freshly washed and folded laundry.  To me, not many small pleasures in life are greater than getting laundry done for me on the road just like this

We didn't budget a ton of time here as other than the Cathedral, and there is not a ton to see or do here.  The streets were clean, but the bummer is with this being a pilgrimage destination, the amount of smelly hippies playing crap music on awful instruments for spare change was high

Our walk centered on the cathedral and the façade was said to be one of its most striking features.  Bummed to see in ensconced in scaffolding.

 We spent some time inside and it was huge and ornate in every detail.

The above is a shot of the main alter and inside are the remains of Saint James.  You aren't allowed to take photos, but you can go inside and touch the vessel that he is kept in.  What you do inside is up to you...I chose to give him a bro hug.

 The cross in the area is unique in that the points are in the shape of a shell.  The shell is a symbol of the area.  In the ancient times, people would grab a shell from Finestre to show they had completed the pilgrimage.  The shell could then be used as a bowl for pilgrims to ask for food on their journey and now the backpackers affix it to their gear to show they are on the Camino/Road.

December 30th, 2017 - Santiago de Compostela to Bilbao

The drive was to take 6 + hours and our departure time was noon.  Allowed the kiddies to sleep while Betty and I strolled around the streets for a couple hours.  It was quiet and pleasant.

 We climbed into the Seat Leon...nice little ride.  We had never heard of this brand, but it is Spanish made and are part of the Volkswagen group.

 Once we decided on this route, Betty let me know that she had friends in Gijon, which was almost exactly at the halfway point of the drive and that she'd like to see them.  As we learned more, seems she had never met these folks but had become pen pals as they are friends with one of her oldest friends.  I was becoming skeptical that this was gonna be a mess.

We hit the road and the first hour or two of the ride was through the mountains of the Galician province.  A gorgeous ride...this part of the road is called something like the 'road of windy fear'.  Giant wind turbines are always striking and we got some cool angles.

Was time for a fill-up once we hit the coast and got another great photo op.

We hit Gijon and met at a restaurant with Betty's friends.  They were lovely and felt bad about being skeptical about them.  Betty did most of the talking. 

  The restaurant was a meat shack and I had this milanesa stuffed with mushrooms and cheese.  Really good and my belly was glad to be a long way from the Portuguese border

 And it always makes me happy when the boy wears his Yo La Tengo shirt.

 The road along the northern coast of Spain passes through the heart of industrial country.  To the left were little fishing villages, right along the highway were power plants and factories, and to the right were little hamlets (with a giant church) on the foothills of some steep mountains that were said to have good hiking and recreational activities.  As it was winter, and am not a huge fan f fishing villages or recreational activities, we flew down the road at a zesty clip.  Fixed radar cams were dotted along the entire way and we were good about spotting them.  Boy says I triggered one on this leg and I know I got lit up a couple days later.  Will follow up in a few months should the Man track us down with an infraction (s).

  We hit Bilbao around 7:30 and the streets were packed.  Walked around for an hour or so to stretch our legs.   As we walked, saw a bunch of bars that were small inside and all of the revelers had poured out and were drinking on the streets. Very adult...  The places were starting to close so we retreated to our hotel bar for a cocktail.  It is nice that they are now old enough  to be able to share a drink with the kids although the drunken selfies are a bit embarrassing.

December 31st, 2017 - Bilbao

Betty has had Bilbao on her bucket list for a long time.  Don't know why, but in planning out the trip had to have it as a destination.  Most folks know of the Gerhy designed Guggenheim museum there but in my research, didn't see a lot of things to be seen.  This day was to be devoted to check it out.

Elected not to do a guided tour so did the research thing and we set out.  The hotel was well located and it was a 20 minute walk to the Googs.  Took this picture as it was the exact same one as our guide book.

Love me some European mini-marts.

This is a funny selfie.  Not that it is in itself amusing, but this is where we (kids and I) drew the line on them with Betty.  We'll pose for a picture, but it gets old after a while.  We came to an "agreement" at this stop that we would all willingly pose for two selfies per day.  It devolved into a comparison between selfies and the challenges NFL coaches are allowed to use, with penalties on us for messing up the photo.  When you spend all day with the same people for two weeks, you need dopey diversions, and this was one of them.

We had a nice weather day and the museum was as unusual as expected.  Funish fact, it is coated with titanium, which is not a normal material used in architecture.  60 tonnes of it pounded out to 3mm thick.

None of were fans of the type of art they have inside, so we saved the price of admission and took a snap from the ticket office looking inside.

Babydoll swore that she could jump from the walkway to the little island in the below picture.  We debated that for a good 25 minutes.

The plan was to make the half hour walk from the Googs to the old quarter and see what we could see, but sometimes it is the journey and not the destination.  The walk was along the river and it was very pedestrian friendly.  As it was a Sunday morning, people galore were out exercising or walking their dog, buscars were playing some surprisingly good jazz, and there were a bunch of art installations.

Another dopey diversion we had in Bilbao was riffing on its name.  It started innocently the night before when I said to the Boy..."you know what a person in this town says when they get hurt?"  And as I punched him said..."Bilb-Owww".  This soon devolved into any "B" word being Bilbao-ified.  Bil-Baby, Bil-Bus, Bil-Betty, which became Bil-Becky after a restaurant mispronounced her name and yelled it out a 1/2 dozen times.  I know it sounds stupid, but we would bend over laughing when someone tossed out a good one.

It was at this point that Betty said that she could envision retiring here.  By the end of the day, I had to agree.  Flat (for my knees) and affordable, lively with a pleasant populace.  The main drawback for me is that even though we speak Spanish, they don't really here.  It is Spain, and all of the signs are in Spanish, but they are also in Basque and the people speak that language.  Called Euskara, it doesn't resemble Spanish and isn't Latin based at all.  Due to the geography of the Basque region, they were more or less isolated for millenia so their culture and language developed insularly.  Basque/Euskara is to Spanish as Klingon is to English.  In Portugal, where everyone spoke English, on the hotel TV's were a dozen or more English language channels.  In this part of the country, there was BBC news in Bilbao, and not a single one the further we went.  We could obviously get our programs on the computer, but the language would be a barrier.  Not scratching it off the retirement place list, but am putting down a big con in the ledger.

We hit the old town and went into the church that was on the walking tour list.  If you've been following along, we have all had about enough of churches, but I mention it here as it had an octagonal roof!  Actually, the real reason I mention it is that this was the last one we went into for the trip...a fact I would remind the kids during the next 5 days

Next on the stop list was the Plaza Neuvo and it was lively on this day as they have a antique market there on Sundays.  There were a bunch of stalls selling antiques and parakeets

But my favorite were the stalls selling soccer cards.  Kids of all ages were trading and doing the collecting thing.  As a baseball card collector in my youth, brought back some memories for me.

The old quarter there is charming and clean...our last top was the Mercado Riberia.  The book said it was an art deco (again...personal fave) masterpiece.  The outside was OK and thought that they had embellished over its grandeur

The inside was redone beyond any art deco recognition and was filled with a giant food court.  As it was lunchtime, we indulged

This is where we first discovered the term "pintxos".  I had read that the idea of tapas originally came from this region and assumed on this day that pintxos was Basque for tapas.  We fumbled through and got a bunch of things and enjoyed them, but went home and learned that pintxo is a Spanish word for 'thorn' or 'spike' and that a toothpick is put through the food to keep them together.  I am going to go into a super deep pintxo dive next time, but heads up...effin' amazing.

It was the 31st and as it was New Year's Eve, we had a tough time getting a reservation for dinner  As there were no public firework displays in town that night, we decided to just order room service and find a movie on the computer to watch as a family.  In the days of the video store, felt like this was an easier proposition cause we must have spent an hour looking through Netflix to pick a movie we could all settle on.  We landed on Good Will Hunting.  Babydoll sorta tuned it out, and there is the Harvey Weinstein connection, but a great flick and  stand by our choice.

After the movie, I went downstairs to see what was happening (cough cough) on the street and was wearing my Roma soccer team jacket.  I bought it years ago and love wearing it when in Europe as I think that they are perennial losers, so not offensive.  Like wearing a Cleveland Browns shirt.  Kids yell out "Roma!" at me all the time and it is usually an ice breaker.    On this night though it attracted a dude that wanted to talk.  He spent the next 10 minutes on crazy talk; he was going to Palo Alto to tell Apple CEO Tim Cook to give him his money as he came up with some hot application or something, his ex-wife's father had a bounty on his head,  was a conspiracy that killed off rock stars at the age of 27, but Bob Dylan circumvented it by writing the song 'Blowin' In The Wind'  and peppered his nutty talk with classic rock song lyrics.  I was annoyed at first, but as this dudes insanity unfolded I became intrigued.  Finally had to shut him down though  as he got adamant about Spain having the best cuisine and told me American food was shit.  I don't know about you, but I love Spanish food in Spain...or Moroccan food in Morocco, whatever, but in the States (I'm talking big cities now), I can get the second best "name your cuisine" any day of the week.  Can I get good Thai food in Bilbao?  No...some damn fine pintxos, but what about the other 6 days of the week?  In Seattle, I know several quality tapas/Thai/Indian/Italian/Chinese/Moroccan/Turkish...  For a brief moment, I saw in his eyes that he had been beaten, but then he went off on Kurt Cobain's death wasn't a suicide and I bid him adieu.


January 1st, 2018 - Bilbao - Guernika - San Sebastian (Donostia)

The original plan was to have an easy day today, seeing as how it was New Year's Day and most stuff shuts down.  In between the original plan, was listening to a new episode of the BBC podcast In Our Time about the Picasso painting Guernika.  Seeing as how it was a 20 minute detour on our way today, had to stop by.

I recommend podcasts in this space a lot, and have recommended this series a few times before, but if you have any interest in art or history in the last 70 years, I urge you to check out this episode at is one of there finest. Will even give you the link.  Not only does it put the reasons behind the reason for his painting it in focus, and the description of the technique  Picasso used was interesting, but the history and symbolism that the painting spawned in every single conflict or political movement since was eye opening.  45 minutes of your time would be well spent.  I thought so highly of the episode that I brought it along in the car and played it for the family.  Betty latched on and she became nearly as obsessed as I with the whole tale of it.

We arrived mid-morning and felt like we were the only ones awake.   Not much to see as the town was the first to be fire bombed, so was totally reconstructed, but we did see their sacred tree

And took one of our two daily selfies in front of the painting mural they have in town.  The original painting is in Madrid and you'll have to wait to hear if we made the time to go see that.

Pulled into San Sebastian (which in Basque has the name Donostia) around noon.  Our apartment wasn't gonna be ready for a couple hours so we headed to the old quarter for lunch.

San Sebastian wasn't on any list of places to visit that I'd ever seen, and can't remember where I heard it, but it was described as the home of tapas and it was immediately added to the itinerary.  After yesterday's exposure to pintxos in Bilbao, we were intrigued.

It is a coastal city and the beach is shaped almost perfectly like a scallop with it being protected from the fiercest waves by rock outcroppings.  Many surfers were out in the January cold water getting great rides.  I don't have any good photos of it, but look it up and you'll see that it is the stuff of postcards.

The town hall building, originally constructed as a casino, was the only one in town that was photo-op worthy.

So we learned about pintxos a bit yesterday and today, we went into one that was open for lunch.  A bigger selection and was a beautiful sight.

We shared a couple plates and had glasses of cheap wine (my favorite kind) and it was really good.

Church to see was closed...everyone was delighted

And had fun posing with a graffiti montage

Seeing that this pintxo thing was more involved that we thought, went back to the apartment and spent the next couple hours researching it.  How to order, what to order, where to go, etc.  Was loaded with info for dinner, but all of the places on our list were closed for New Year's.

We managed to eat well and resolved that since we had another day, would attack the list tomorrow.

The last place on our list was open and that was the one with the award winning cheesecake.  Charred on the outside and perfectly creamy on the inside.  We were in hog heaven and thought that if the other places on our list was this good, we were onto something.

Tomorrow...Pintxo Tuesday