Monday, July 22, 2019
Our Iberia Airlines flight from Edinburgh to Bilbao included
a connection in Madrid. We were slightly late departing Edinburgh which further
reduced our connection time that was scheduled to be only 50 minutes. In
addition, since we were re-entering the Euro-zone (more formally called ‘The
Schengen Region’), we needed to clear through passport control first.
The line at passport control was long and there was only one
officer processing passengers. It was looking pretty bleak for us when another
agent showed up and suddenly the queue dwindled and we cleared processing and
were on our way to our gate which, fortunately, was not too far away.
Last time we flew Iberia on our way to Bilbao with a
connection through Madrid was on May 25th when we left Granada (Spain)
to begin our 7-day walk of the Camino de Santiago (“The Way”). On that flight,
our connection was only 30 minutes and the gates were far apart. Our OJ Simpson
Hertz-race through the airport got us to our plane as the last passengers to
board, but our bags were not so lucky. They were on the next plane.
And sure enough, history repeated itself this time too. Upon
landing in Bilbao we received a text message informing us that three of our
four bags did not make the trip. We waited at baggage claim until all the bags
arrived only to find that our fourth bag also didn’t make it. We then proceeded
to the Iberian luggage desk – a route we now knew well from our experience only
two months before. They acknowledged that the bags would be arriving on the
next flight a couple of hours later, but they only had three bags listed. We
showed them the four baggage claim stubs and they dutifully updated their
records. In addition, due to our last experience, I had taken pictures of each
of the bags so I shared the pictures with them. We were pretty sure the missing
fourth bag was one of the large duffels, but there was really no way to know.
Anxious to catch up with my sons, Travis and Jordan, who
were already in San Sebastián with their families, we jumped in our rental car
and drove the 1½ hours east to San Sebastián confident that the airline would
deliver our luggage later that evening. This turned out to be a very poor
decision on our part. The bags did not arrive that night, nor the next day. By
the third day, we had moved from our AirBnB in San Sebastián to a new one near
Santander, which is a small coastal town about 45 minutes west of Bilbao and
over two hours from San Sebastián.
On our way to Santander, Liz and I stopped by the Bilbao
airport and paid a visit to the Iberia luggage desk. They informed us that our
bags were with the delivery service and scheduled for delivery later that day
to our AirBnB in San Sebastián, a location that we have now left. We managed to
get them to instruct the delivery service to not drop the bags in San Sebastián,
but rather to hold on to them and we will drive the 1½ hours back to the
delivery service’s depot in San Sebastián and pick them up ourselves.
Unfortunately, that rendezvous would need to wait until the delivery truck
returned to the depot which wouldn’t happen until 6pm later that night. Oh, and
the fourth bag, there was still no confirmation that it was among the missing.
It was only 11am, so what to do while waiting for the truck.
During our May visit to Bilbao, we had walked around the beautiful new
Guggenheim Museum in Blibao, but didn’t have the time to go inside and view the
exhibits. This turned out to be a perfect way to kill several hours, although,
as a modern art museum, I have to say that I found the building to be far more
interesting than the art work. Just sayin.
We then drove back to San Sebastián, found the delivery
service depot (no easy feat) and were reunited with our bags. Only three of
them and the missing fourth bag was actually my smaller, black suitcase. And
although it contained all of the stuff that I put aside to wear while we were
visiting our family in Northern Spain, if we were to lose one bag, this would
be the best one. And try as they might, Iberia was never able to locate that
bag and, as of this writing, it remains lost.
But here’s my takeaway from this experience. If your airline
loses your luggage, but confirms that it is on the next flight and that flight
is later the same day – DO NOT LEAVE THE AIRPORT. Stay at the airport and pick
the bags up yourself. Do not rely on their delivery service as they allow
themselves up to 72 hours to reconnect you with your bags. And, if there is the
chance, that one or more of your bags are lost, the earlier this is discovered
the better the chances of finding it. We weren’t able to confirm that the
missing fourth bag was my smaller black suitcase until after three full days
had passed and, by then, it was hopeless. Lesson learned. In addition to having
everything I had planned to wear while in San Sebastián, the most valuable item
in the bag were my two sets of retainers that I wear at night to keep me teeth
straight. Replacing these will become a logistical challenge that will need to
be addressed soon as, without the retainers, all of the work done to straighten
my teeth over the past year will be undone.
San Sebastián
Liz and I arrived in San Sebastián around
8pm just as Travis and Jordan and their families were also arriving, so we all
descended upon the AirBnB together. It was a beautiful 4-bedroom unit on the 2nd
floor of a new condo project with an elevator (and wouldn’t you know, we had no
luggage!) near the beach. It was great to see everyone: Travis and his wife,
Stephanie, and their three kids – Jayden (13), Addison (11) and Riley (7); and
Jordan and his wife, Ashley, and their three kids – Beckam (10), Brooks (7) and
Mckenzie (5). They had all met up in
Barcelona five days earlier and, after a day of sightseeing in that city,
headed to Valle de Tena in the Pyrenees for several days of hiking, biking and
adventure. We settled into our lovely new living quarters, borrowed some
clothes from the kids and then all headed out for something to eat.
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| The grandkids (L to R) Beckam, Jayden, Mckenzie, Brooks, Addision and Riley |
San Sebastián sits on the
northeast coast of Spain on the Bay of Biscay only 12 miles from the French
border. This is Basque country and the Basque name for San Sebastián is Donostia.
With a population of nearly 200,000 and a total metro area of twice that, San Sebastián
is not a large city, but it is very special. With two large beaches on either
side of Old Town, reliably good weather, and a renowned food culture (only
Kyoto, Japan has more Michelin stars per sq meter), it is no surprise that the
main industry here is tourism. In fact, in 2016, it was named the European
Capital of Culture.
After quickly settling into our condo, the entire group –
all 12 of us – headed into Old Town where we walked the narrow streets lined on
both sides with cute shops and lots and lots of places to eat tapas. At the end
of Old Town is the beautiful Basílica de Santa María del Coro, built in 1774,
with its two towers and gorgeous main entrance including a statue of Saint
Sebastian. Immediately behind the church is Mount Urgull rising 123 meters and
creating the perfect backdrop for this beautiful cathedral. The streets of Old
Town are crowded with tourists this night as I suspect it is every night during
the summer. We find a place to enjoy tapas then continue to stroll the streets
of Old Town when we happened upon Loco Polo a new ice cream store
created in San Sebastián.
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| Basílica de Santa María del Coro |
Tuesday, July 23, 2019
The heat wave that has settled into Europe has also found
its way to San Sebastián. Today it is 101°
and, due to our lost luggage, we have no bathing suits. Liz and I head out to a
café for coffee and pastries and then return to the condo where we find families
preparing to head to the beach. Today, they will be going to the beach on the
east side of Old Town which is known for its reliably good surfing waves. Liz
elects to stay home and hopes to spend some time shopping for essential stuff
until our luggage is delivered while I head to the beach to catch up with the
others.
By the time I reach the beach the sand is so hot I can
barely walk on it. I spot the family encampment consisting of two umbrellas,
several rented surfboards and multiple boogie boards among the hundreds of
other beach bathers. After a scamper across the hot sand, by the time I reach the
Walter compound, I am so hot that jumping in the ocean is an urgent priority. I
take off everything except my shorts and join several of my grandkids who are
riding the waves on their boogie boards. The water is a refreshing reprieve
from the heat and I catch the first perfect wave that comes by for a bit of
body surfing. Eventually, when I surface, the first thing I notice is that one
of my hearing aids is dangling from my right ear while the other is entirely
gone have sunk to the bottom of the ocean and swept away by the waves.
Yep, in my haste to beat the heat, I had forgotten I was
still wearing my hearing aids and now one was lost and the other had been
soaked in salt water. And these were brand new hearing aids that I purchased
just two weeks before we began our trip and at $5400 for the pair, this was an
expensive swim in the ocean. Miraculously, that ocean-soaked hearing aid came
back to life three days later. But what about the other? I contacted my
audiologist to see if I could get a replacement for the lost (left) device. It
was going to be tricky because we are moving around so much, but the best
option seemed to be for her to order a new one and then have my son, Jason,
bring it with him when we meet up later in Italy in early September. Ugh.
Eventually, we left the beach and headed back to the condo
to clean up and head out for dinner. Liz had only minor success purchasing
replacement items and was, otherwise, consumed with trying to beat the heat
while in the condo as the temperatures were greater than the cooling system was
prepared to handle. One of those efforts included redirecting the vents on the
in-room air-conditioner and while attempting this maneuver, she managed to
tangle her wrist in the ceiling fan that was rotating on high and applied a
nasty slice to the back of her wrist. While it wasn’t so bad to require medical
attention, she did need a bandage and it has taken weeks to fully heal leaving
a ¾ inch scar. Ouch!
Dinner was back in Old Town, same food (tapas), different
restaurant, with a repeat of Loco Polo afterwards.
Wednesday, July 24,
2019
Today, we all checked out of the AirBnB in the morning. Liz
and I headed to the Bilbao airport in search of our lost luggage described
above while the others went to our next AirBnB at Santillana del Mar – a 2.5
hour drive due west.
After the airport, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, and a
trip back to San Sebastián to pick up three of our four missing bags at the
delivery service warehouse, Liz and I headed to meet up with the others who are
currently walking the streets of Santillana del Mar, a super cute village with
a pedestrian-only walkway ringed with shops and restaurants and a square with
the requisite old church in the center. We meet up with them just in time to
enjoy dinner at an outdoor restaurant and then drive to our AirBnB which is an
awesome farm house that was recently renovated by the owners and has room
enough for the entire crew.
Thursday, July 25, 2019
Today we drove nearly two hours into the National Park of
Los Picos de Europa to the Fuente Dé cable car that whisks you up to nearly 6,000
ft in four minutes. We arrived a bit late and had to wait nearly three hours
for the cable car, but once we were at the top, the views were incredible. The
Pico Mountains are gorgeous and the cable car takes you right into the heart of
them. Lonely Planet lists this as the top attraction in the National Park for
good reason.
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| National Park of Los Picos de Europa view from top of Fuente Dé cable car |
From the top of the cable car we then hike down nearly seven
miles in just over three hours. It’s a long hike with plenty of cows, horses
and sheep, steep in some places, but everyone makes it and the views are spectacular.
 |
| On the trail (L to R) Beckam, Brooks, McKenzie, Riley, Travis, Addison, Stephanie and Ashley |
We grab dinner on the way home and everyone goes to bed
early after a long and vigorous hike.
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| Jordan with Mckenzie who he carried this way for almost the entire seven miles, no wonder she's smiling |
Friday, July 26, 2019
The night before and into the early morning included a full
on thunder storm with lightening, heavy rain and high winds. We awoke to the
sound of chainsaws operating nearby only to discover that a large branch had
broken off a tree near where our cars were park and had managed to fall on all
three of them. Miraculously, only one – Jordan’s – showed any signs of damage
as his rear window wiper had been snapped off. We all felt sorry for him
because his car had previously been broken into while they were in Barcelona.
Someone had broken his rear window, but, fortunately, there was nothing there
to take. Still, you have the aggravation and cost of replacing the window, and
now a rear wiper.
It was still raining lightly when we left our AirBnB and
headed back to the cute little village of Santillana del Mar for coffee, pastries
and window shopping.
After about an hour, we loaded up again and drove 45 minutes
west to Cueva El Soplao (Cave of El Soplao). The caves, known for the quality and quantity
of geological formations, runs over 17 miles – six of which are open to the
public. We access the caves on a train that takes us over 500 meters into the mountains.
From here, we have a guided tour, however, since the tour is in Spanish, we are
left to our own imagination as we gawk at these massive caves and the numerous
stalactites (hanging from the ceiling) and stalagmites (rising up from the
floor) whose creation from dripping limestone began 240 million years ago. The
tour lasts an hour and it is well worth it. Really beautiful and something one
rarely sees.
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| Cueva El Soplao |
After the caves, we started our drive further west making a
stop in Ilanes for lunch. Ilanes is a traditional fishing village with a lovely
old town area complete with narrow twisting streets and boutique shops and
restaurants. We had stopped for lunch here two months earlier while on our REI
hike of the Camino, so for Liz and I this was somewhat familiar territory.
After lunch, we loaded back into the cars and head further
west to Ribadesella and our AirBnB. Ribadesella is a seaside town and our condo
is right on the beach. This is a small town with a population of less than
6,000 and a perfect family beach vacation spot. There is a nice long boardwalk,
a long sandy beach and waves that are perfect for surfing. At least two surf
camps are operational here and the beaches and surf are often crowded with
young surfers learning to surf for the first time.
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| Ribadesella Beach with surfers in the water from the hilltop lighthouse |
For the next three days, this was our home and it was
perfect. Lovely time on the beach each day, a walk into town for a meal or a
hike up to the lighthouse perched high on the hill overlooking the inlet from
the River Sella. This turned out to be everyone’s favorite place for the week
and a surprise to each of us. Super relaxing and super fun.
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| Ribadesella and the mouth of the River Sella |
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| Beckam on the boogie board |
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| Jayden on the boogie board |
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| Addison and Brooks |
Sunday, July 28, 2019
Today, I get an early start as Travis and I have decided to
hike the Cares Gorge in Picos National Park. Listed as the top one-day hike in
Spain, this hike is stunning. In 1916, a utility - Electra de Viesgo – began building
a water canal along side the River Cares in the Cares Gorge. The water canal
was used to generate hydro-electric power and the utility had built a narrow
trail to allow construction workers to build the canal. Today, the canal is
still operative, but the well-built trail is used by thousands of hikers daily
to walk deep into the Picos – a distance of seven miles (14 miles round trip).
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| Travis hiking the Cares Gorge Trail |
The hike starts in Poncebos with a steep ascent, but then
levels off for the remaining trip to Cain. Most of this time, you are walking a
narrow trail several hundred meters above the river, through a narrow gorge
with towering mountains on both sides. It is an amazing hike that I would
include as among the top five hikes I have ever done. When we arrive in Cain,
we stop for lunch at a lovely mountain hut and then back on the trail to
retrace our steps back to our car. Travis is a fast hiker and I do my best to
keep up. We end up making great time, drive back to our beach front condo and
spend the late afternoon swimming. What a spectacular day!
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| The Cares Gorge with trail to the left |
Monday, July 29, 2019
Today, we get an early start for our two-hour drive back to
the Bilbao airport for our noon flight to Copenhagen. I check in one more time
with the baggage desk, but, alas, my bag remains lost and I am now resigned to
the fact that it is lost forever.
Our time in Northern Spain with Travis and Jordan and their
families was great fun. The kids were terrific, the places we went to were
interesting, the hiking was outstanding and our AirBnB’s were all really good.
It was really great to catch up with family after our first 12 weeks on the
road.
 |
| Sunset at Ribadesella Beach |
Next up – Copenhagen.
Musings…
Let me set the stage for you… 2 1/2 days of no luggage, 101 degrees, apartment right on the beach in San Sebastián and I had no bathing suit or even flip flops. As much as I had complained about having too much luggage I am now ready to shoot myself. Total drag. I’m pretty sure I was seconds away from a total meltdown during the second visit to the airport when they informed us the bags were almost 2 hours away in the opposite direction - I think it was an out-of-body experience. But we did recover 3 of 4 bags and I got all mine back, thankfully (sorry Malcolm, but we did buy him a whole new suitcase full of new clothes). And we got to visit the Guggenheim in Bilbao which is an extraordinarily beautiful museum (even though Malcolm isn’t a fan of modern art, I thought it was great).
Hanging with Travis, Stephanie, Jordan, Ashley and all the kids was a nice change of pace. Ribadesella was a great beach town - so relaxing and exceptionally fun for the little kids (and the surfers in the family). Nice not to feel compelled to be a tourist. And the Picos National Park was delightful. I am now an even bigger fan of Northern Spain and highly recommend visiting the area on one of your future trips to Europe.
I know that many of my friends will vehemently disagree with my next statement, but I am done with Spanish food. Serious lack of veggies had set in for both of us. Not eating meat (ham especially) is a big problem when you’re in Spain. And (now I sound like a true American spoiled tourist) neither of us are big squid, anchovy or sardine fans so you’re kind of screwed. So what’s there to eat…bread & cheese, what else? But of course there was great Spanish wine, I might have had a just a few glasses.
Speaking of eating bread and cheese, when we arrived at our AirBnB in Ribadesella Travis gave Malcolm and I the front facing bedroom overlooking the beach and ocean (thank you, Trav). There was good news and bad news with this gift. The good news...we had a gorgeous view and got to listen to the sound of waves all night. Bad news…there was a scale in the bathroom. As much as I tried not to I finally caved and weighed myself. Let’s just say it wasn't the best moment of the trip. And worse than that, I made Malcolm weigh himself and he didn’t gain a pound. Are you freaking kidding me?!?! How is that humanly possible?
Off to Copenhagen to find ourselves some cooler temps. We’ll catch up on blogging one of these days, right Malcolm?
Caio!
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