THROUGH SPAIN TO PORTUGAL north to the coast, then east

At the end of June Dan and I left Barcelona heading for the beaches and mountains to the north. Many others were heading on their vacations, too. First we would head toward San Sebastian noted for its food choices and Tapas, or small amounts of tasty foods, on the northern coast of Spain. Arriving in about three days we found the traffic unmanageable, we then bypassed that city in favor of the museum city of Bilbao in the Bosque region, and spent two nights in that city enjoying it fully.

From blog maps

pics in the city.

At the Fantastic Gugginheim Museum, a flower meow about two stories high and fresh flowers.

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A fantastic mosaic bar ceiling

Close up of flowered cat.

Best children's park I've ever seen.

With shade and drinks served for the parents

Inside the museum

Outside walls are compared to fish scales in irridecence

Street theater at night

Tapas

Err... there was a gay pride group

A street musician

BEFORE arriving at Bilbao, Spain we spent some interesting days traveling, stopping when a place seemed interesting or for a rest or food.
 Pictures below show our driving Red Sea Star non- highway road trip to Bilbao, ancient and modern Lugo,  the fabulous mountains of Picos de Europa and on to Portugal.


Weather had been fabulous for about the month- not one drop of rain.  This has caused Dan and I to rethink the gear we were carrying on this trip.  We lightened our load a bit by sending things back with Christa and Steve; long pants, guidebooks and shoes.  We traveled with water, peanut butter and fruit, although we never seemed unable to find a stop when needed.  The constant nightly quest to find a place to stay often weighed heavily on us by noon, but we usually traveled until 4:30-5:30 and then checked Bookings.com for a place near where we would probably arrive to, and that worked well.

This Posada was perhaps the most beautiful place we stayed on the trip.

Dan at the Posada

Alubius soup from Spain.  A solid lunch meal and delicious.

We liked the way this dog evaporated into the stones of the wall.

Daughter of the owner of our next agritourista

The beach and we are in full gear with jackets and puffy pants.  It did look inviting.

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Fanciful puppets and witches in the windows!

Friendly bicyclists in the mountains

Walking route of dirt roads for the pilgrims heading all across Spain each year.

A cozy hotel which also accepts the unwashed pilgrims, feeds them and sends them on all for free.

Well known trekking in these Mts.