No more Pintxos!

Throw all ideas of what you think Spain is like, out the window. You've arrived in Basque Country! No tourists. No flamenco dancing. No sangria. The wine list is simple, "red or white." And the local white wine is "txakoli". And if you think "tapas" is a type of restaurant--think again. "Tapa" means "cover" and it's a way of serving the food. And they don't even use the word "tapa"....in Basque country it's "pintxos". (The "tx is pronounced like "ch") And after eating these "pintos" for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for three days, you may never want to see a pintxos again! And if you're a fan of fried eggs, you'll be happy to know they are quite popular at breakfast time and you'll notice straight away that the yolks are very orange.

Bilbao here we come!

In the heart of Basque country is Bilbao: the home of the Guggenheim. In this modern, working city there are few tourists. (Which means no English.) Bilbao is small enough to explore on foot in one day, and easily navigable. Even John and I, who both have NO sense of direction, found our way easily...

We tackled the old city (referred to as the casca vieja) where we wandered through narrow cobblestone streets, grabbed pintxos and a beer at a Berton (more or less a pintxos chain). I really enjoyed photographing the Zubizuri Bridge (which means "white bridge" in Basque). Of course, no visit to Bilbao would be complete without a visit to the Guggenheim. Even if you're not a museum person, the place is cool. There is just as much cool art outside, as there is inside. We snapped up some pics of Puppy and took some "illegal" pics inside of the Serra exhibit.