2019 Europe: Basque Country

We Ubered to the Compania train station, leaving the hotel about 7:15. It took us about 15 minutes to make the journey. Though the taxi’s are competitively priced with the Ubers here in Porto I prefer the Uber because you know the cost up front and you track the whole operation on your phone. The train for Viro Spain left from track 13 and was setting there waiting on us. I bought a bottle of water and a coffee for Vicki at the café and we bordered the train. Our seat assignments were less than desirable but fortunately there was some one in them and the train was pretty empty. We selected other seats and the plan was to move if someone came or the train got full it. It never did. It was an express and

only made three stops and in our carriage only added 4 people. The train was ok but was in need of a deep cleaning. At the start the Portuguese conductor came through and compared our ticket to a list of names he had on a piece of paper. At the border and Spanish conductor came through with a electronic device and read the Q-codes on the tickets. The ride was comfortable through the hills and along the ocean and the river and in a little of two hours and a few minutes late we arrived in Vigo.

A small clean train station and Vicki confirmed that by inspecting the bathroom and reported they even had toilet paper.

Outside we grabbed a cab and headed for the Hertz office about 19 km’s away. The taxi ride was the same price as the train tickets almost. The train tickets were 11 eur for Vicki and 17 for me. She got the senior discount when she bought them in advance and showed her id. The Hertz people were great. They had the car ready to go and the processing took about five minutes. Then Andrea took us out and showed us the car and I asked the usual questions: How do you open the gas tank (we had a problem one time and could not figure out how to open the gas tank but now they are almost all just push the door) and where is the spare? She kindly programed the included GPS, at no charge, to English for me. Vicki had not eaten last night with the rest of us so she was hungry and Andrea directed us down the road two hundred meters to hotel and restaurant. This was a one star hotel. The start has nothing to dowith service like in the US, but is a governemt rating indicated room size and available service. The restaurant did not open for another twenty minutes, 1 o’clock, but they seated us anyway. There was lots of staff so I assumed there was a lunch rush coming and I was right. Right at one people starting flocking in. There must have been a fixed menu as everyone started with great looking calamari. Vicki had a pork dish and I had a salad and the total was $15.

Back the car we launched into to Spain. It was close to two in the afternoon and our destination Leketio was over seven hours away. Surprisingly we both had come up with the same desired overnight, Leon. I went to Booking.com and selected a mid-priced hotel close to the old city. That dart hit the bulls eye. The Plalacete Colonial is a small boutique hotel with only twelve rooms. It is one of the finest rooms I have had anywhere. It is probably the largest I have ever had in Europe with a king size bed, high in linens, marble bathroom with a great shower and push button everything including the water in the shower and the sink. It great subdued lighting. The whole room was a smart room. If you opened a window the tiny control box next to the door would know and turn off the air-conditioning. You could override that if you wished. It knew if you were in the room or not. When you walked in it would turn on the lights automatically. Then the challenge came on how to turn them off, but we quickly learned what switches next to the bed did what.

Settled in, off we went for a stroll. The walking street was very busy and though I did not interview them, I believe they were mostly locals. It is tradition in Europe for the family to go for a stroll at seven. The reason I believe they were locals is because by nine the majority were gone. Quick service here does not exist. Worse than the rest of Europe. We discovered this and when I went on line to read reviews the number one complaint was lack of service. After having a drink on the square, that we started outside but the cold drove inside, we went off in search of dinner. I found a restaurant on a side street that opened at 8 and I thought this might be a more local bar than all the restaurants on the main walking street.

I was correct in everything but price. Tonight we swapped roles. Vicki had the salad and I had the veal cutlet. It was very large and covered the whole plate. Big enough that I left half of it for Frank to eat later. People would come into the bar, have drink, visit with the owner and leave. This happened the whole time we eat. It was interesting to watch the flow of people from the restaurant in the next room.

Done, we headed home. Instead of using my internal GPS that is pretty damn good but starting to get a little age on it, I used that modern think on the smart phone. It was not a success. I am going back to the maps.

Goodbye Portugal

Those barges on the river are mussel farms

Our taxi ride

Hertz's was excellent. I have not rented from Hertz in awhile but here in Europe they
email the damage form and pictures of all scratches. Cool.

As noted, the hotel was wonderful. This is the first time I have ever gotten a hand written note.
No it was not expensive. Less than $100 a night in the heart of town.

The very busy square. Not all the senior citizens on the bench.

These are electric tricycles and the kids where having a blast. They can do 360 degrees and every
time one of them went around a corner he over steered and did the 360

Dinner......

....and they guy who cooked it.

Lekeitio Sep 23-27

The check out time was noon so, with just four hours of driving to go, Vicki slept in. I walked around town and found a nice little coffee shop and had a croissant and a coffee. The town is clean and bright and people were just starting to come in to work and shops were receiving goods. My favorite time in the European cities is when I can watch them wake up. Deliveries are done almost daily so things arrive fresh.

By eleven we were on the road. We are using the auto-route for traveling. In the old days and still pretty much now, I avoid them. However, we are destination minded, not journey minded on this part of the trip. And, following the roads through the mountains takes forever. On the auto-route we were doing thirty km's every fifteen minutes. When we left it to drive to Leketio, that thirty km's took forty five minutes.

We reached one of our favorite hotels in the world late in the afternoon Hotel Silken Palacio Uribarren. It is still a great hotel, it just cost a lot more from when we first came here about fifteen
years ago. When we first came the Basque were still in conflict with the Spanish government in Madrid. Che Guevara and signs of protest were everywhere. After they received semi-autonomy from Madrid things became peaceful again and in came people like Rick Steves and friends. Still, not a lot of tourist here now as it is off the beaten track. But the when the hedge fund took over the hotel, the prices changed a lot. The one that really gets me is the twenty dollar a day parking charge. But then again, there is no parking in town. "We did not come here to save money." We worried the hell out of the front desk girl who was forever patient as we tried to get just the right room. 208 was our prefered room, but it was not available and settled for 108. The magic here is the large balcony with the wonderful view of the water and the marina. That is were we spend most of out time.
There was once a Palace on the spot where the hotel stands but was burnt down in one of the conflicts with Madrid in the last century. It's only clam to fame was Prince Zita the widow of the last Hungry-Austria king lived in it with her six children in exile in the 20's. Her exile seemed to be like a unwanted relative. She got to stay until they kicked on down the road to another country. The hotel has been called Emperatriz Zita, Aisia Zita and now Sliken Palace Uribairen. We have stayed in all.

The little restaurants on the waterfront are great once you get used to the hours. No lunch until two and no dinner until eight thirty. However.....you can have pinchos all day long. Every bar has about a dozen to choose from. These are a whole array of foods on bread from eggs to anchovies and any combination in between. Any one is one euro fifty. I go down in the morning and have coffee and a pincho or two. Lekeitio is a seafaring town and three of it's sailors sailed with Chris Columbus when he went off to discover America.

We spent five wonderful days here doing not much of anything except setting on the balcony, walking the town, setting on the balcony and going for a meal or two. Most evening meals were pinchos on the balcony. I love it.

Our only foray in the car was to the Urdaibai Bird Center/Bird Airport. A great place that is very well done. The young girl at the front desk was very friendly and we had a nice visit. I told her a good friend of ours was Dr. Thomas Lovejoy a famous ornithologist. She quickly googled him and her face lite up when she read aloud that he is credited for the word and theory of "bio-diversity" . From there we wandered back down to the ocean to the small town of Laido and set outside at the beach and had a beer and wine. The life guard set in his chair dutifully watching no one in the water. Only serving pinchos at this location we walked a ways, their probably aren't a dozen houses in this place, and found a restaurant. At first we thought it was just pinchos, but as we have found over and over , you have to walk in and look around. In the back were a few tables set with table clothes and glasses. We chose one and had one of the best meals yet. Three courses, a bottle of wine, a bottle of water, bread that is normally a euro, all for fifteen euro. Heck of a deal.

This morning we are off for France and the next adventure. We drive to Hendaye, just across the border to catch the train tomorrow to Paris where we will stay on night. To do this we drive to the train station hotel, unload the luggage, drive back across the border to the San Sebastian airport and turn in the car. From there we will walk or taxi back across the border. The border has no formalities but if you drop the rental car across the border that is a very, very large drop charge.

the balcony

sunrise

every day students come a do some type of water sports from paddle boarding, kayaking etc.

lunch

for the first time I noticed there are no docks and wondered how you got to your boat.
Fortunately someone came along and explained there are floating platforms that you use to
paddle out to your boat. The are permanently roped to the dock so then next guy and pull them back