Condom, France to Barcelona, Spain and Home again

View to the left

View to the right

Our last night in France was spent helping Pat, Val and Tony clean out their fridge, but in the most over the top manner. Right down to a flowerless chocolate cake made just cuz Val felt like doing it.

We leave our 13th century abode and head into ......

The Pyrenees....they are magnificent

Exciting and beautiful day of traveling through the mountains.  Doris was nervous because we were taking a new way, to her.  I was nervous because I wasn't totally sure the tunnels would appear where they(the maps) said they would be.  Charlie pressed on reguardless.  Again we found clear directions to the cave painting, the internet does not know all, just like GPS.Near Andorra there was lots of traffic, they could not all be camping and fishing, there has to be shopping in that area.One  mountain range looked like a string of needles in the sky but others near them were rolling and round topped.  What happened here  and when?

Charlie's Carpaccio with pan tamate

 Doris's Pate

Beth's Anchovies

We stayed at wonderful and whimsical places. Like the pension in San Sabastien with no window and the room # was C as in Closet and cost 75euros! But I never would have bet that we would stay at a Best Western In the aeroporto in Barcelona.



 July11th we headed to the areoporto and were delayed but had talks with others.  It was a chatty crowd!  An art teacher from Florida who had gone to Pratt asked if I could help her get on  the internet.(ha, ha) She had bee to a print making class in the sierra Nevada mountains and sailed some canals in Holland. Also met a couple who shop in the Greenmarket .  They had bee to Paris (sigh) and a joyful wedding in Girona where they ate at one of "the best restaurants in Spain".  Fill in the name from that article in theTimes, 3 brothers in Girona or near Roses.  5 hours of unbelieveable food!



My most memorible dish ws an amuse in Montreal, a tomato, watermelon gazpacho with anchovy goat cheese float. I will attempt to duplicate this when I return to making meals in the real world.

George Lang of Cafe Des Artistes fame died while we were in France or Spain and reading about him in the Herald Tribune, reminded me of Frances who lived in the building, worked as The Hostess and in later years would come down for a drink and dinner at the bar.  Always beautifully attired in a suit with a lace collared blouse and pearls.  What a Lady! Hello, wherever you are.

We are all home and I am finishing this up in my kitchen. Adious!

Bilboa, Spain to Condom, France

View from hotel window in Bilbao

July 5

Lots of sandy beaches on Atlantic coast

Reluctantly, we left Bilboa and the Hotel Ripa which was situated on the river so we could see the parade of Giants from the hotel window and listen to waltz music coming the bandstand across the river.  We headed for the Costa Vasca or the Bay of Biscay.  My information was that the Atlantic Coast was just steep rocks all the way down to the ocean.  Bad Information!  We headed for Bermeo.  On the way we saw how high the city of Bilboa has gone.  They really needed the funicular.  Our hotel man recommended that we stop at Mundaka for a look at the beaches.  Incredible view from above.  Sandy flats with lots of people and kyacks on both sides of the inlet.  This inlet goes right down to and through Gurnika (that town looks healthy, has lots of parks and NO parking spaces). 

Beautiful bridge for such a small town

Mostly speed boats and fishermen

a

Protected harbor

The town of Elantxobe - steep with a great harbor.  We twisted and turned along the coast road to Lekeitio - great looking town with great looking beaches and tons of people.  Charlie and I missed the cave painting town of Kortezubi.

Seven story hi-rises are the most predictable housing in this part of Spain.  Closer to San Stebastian they were 11 stories.  Personally, I think that this would cause the desparation of the Basques.

The beach towns of Lekeitio, Ondarrao, Deba and Zumia are bright shiny towns with fishermen and a tourist trade.  Lots of Grandmas pas tending to little ones while sharing coffee at cafes.  Further up the coast or further on towards France, after San Sebastian the atmosphere of life was rougher and more dire, just plain industrial but as we turned away from the coast we came to a new type of beauty - the Pyrennes.  The industry here seemed to be brick laying and logging. 

I fully recommend the Spanish roads.  They have done an incredible job of keeping them up - even in the Basque region.

Liz would go wild  in this store

More of the shop in San Sabastian

I see that I just skipped San Sebastian. HopefulIly I have a photo for you.  To paraphrase Caesar, I came, I saw, I left.

July 6

Our basque pension

these 2 tin men were on or in a traffic circle on our way back into Pamploma on July 7th

through out the north we saw a number of this type of statues.Always very expressive

We stayed at Hostel Asador Ameztia in Donostia or Doneztebe.  They are part of an association to promote this corner of the Navarra.  They are working on hiking trails and promoting trout and salmon fishing. We found the people friendly and the food ordinary.  I tire of meat very quickly.  .

July 7

Pate for Doris  at les Pyrenees

Lapin for Charlie

A many chocolated plate

WOW, What a blaze!

ack to Pamplona to pick up Doris and head to Condom, But first we stopped at Arrambide restaurant in the Hotel les Pyrenees St. Jean-Pied-de-Port for Charlie's birthday lunch.  I am told that this restaurant has a Michelin star but I can't swear to that. Beautiful service and I am quite sure it is a lovely hotel. It is family run and has lots of flowers around their public rooms. 

Acres or hectars of sunflowers

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We better find a use for this oil

the offending bell tower< great view!

  We had a rollicking ride through southern France with a ten year old map.  But we achieved our goal (Condom), made around many roundabouts with few mishaps and two backseat drivers.  Hurray for Charlie. We found our accommodations, a quaint, little 13th century townhouse, on the river, on the main hay wagon road ( an all night throughfare) and across the river from a 10th century church where Quasimodo rang the bell every 15 minutes.  As veteran New York sleepers, we adjusted.

July 8

Condom has great flowers

Traffic circles in town!

Lazed around and visited with friends.  Had dinner in town.  Saw the museum of Armagnac.

Duck and Armagnac

July 9

Fruit list at jam stand

At Narac market, Fruit list at jam stand

pimentos stuffed with duck confit

Photo of drawing of cafe in Montreal

A fitting farewell, an amuse! 

Great set up for cooking at market

Went to Narac and visited a wonderful farmers' market and the size of the aisle (that's right, one aisle) reminded me of the McCarron Park Greenmarket.  Our next stop was a beautiful, round town.  It was so small you had to wonder how they made it a town.  Then we were off to Montreal to have lunch at one of Doris' favorite bar/restaurants.  The owners' cousins from Quebec (Canada's not France's) were visiting.  Great food, good feeling, enjoyable lunch and Charlie and I understood why this is one of Doris' favorites.  Tonight is our last night in France.  We will be with Tony, Val and Pat for the french version of tapas.  Au revoir for now.

de Selva and Sailing away to Pamplona



Paella with Charlie, Beth and 10 more



Gambas with salt and garlic and
Calamari with tomate

Alba's Mom and Dad hosted a dinner for all of us foriegners. A completely Catalan meal with home cured anchovys and roasted, marinated potatoes and bread.  It was peter's name day and a wedding aniversary so there was much celebrate.   We did, in style, overlooking the Mediteranean.



Cassidy and Cocqui


 

Judy, Bill and Charlie waiting for the ship to come in

The latest in fisherman footwear

June 29


Our last day and night in Port de la Selva and my first paella!
Woke to wind and white caps in the harbor.  Wind surffing for Cassidy.  Peter and Alba taking us out on Alba VI in shifts cause boat only holds 8 at a time.  Such trials in paradise?  Rough weather shortened our ride - in 40 minutes the crazy waves had us heading back to port to Judy and Trini's relief.  Ate an incredibly delicious refrigerator sandwich lunch at the dock.  Went to meet the fishing boats with their haul of the day, watched the unloading and spoke to the owner and his wife, Cocqui, and they gave us their "share" of the day - consisted mostly of shrimp like crustaceans.  This selection meant paella for dinner.  The house came with a hugh propane cooker and pots to match.  Mosse (Alba's mom) even joined us to see if we would do the paella correctly.  I think we passed muster!  Bill was still doing dishes at midnight and all varieties of puzzles were completed.






Gambas in St Jean pere de Port

Doris on her way to receive
her Pilgrims passport



 June 30
Charlie and I met Doris Jackson in Barcalona and hit the road for Pamplona and preparing for the feria of St Fermin, a lovely saint who I gather liked fireworks, Giants and running with the bulls.  On my last trip to this part of Spain, everything was brown and really dull looking.  It has changed; as we breezed by on the AP roads there were fields of photovoltaics and wind generators on every ridge as well as fields and acres of farms all being irrigated or grain being harvested (so maybe hay) lots and lots!  Had the look of big commercial farming.  I could be wrong.  Closer to Pamplona, the farms are smaller but  the amount of construction is amazing.  It looks like highrises but the city does not seem that crowded.  With 20% unemployment you wonder who is doing all this building.  I need to do some research.


The Pilgrims begin their trek


Doris has wanted to start hiking the Camino de Santiago for years, so we are enabling her in this endeavor, this is not a religious journey for us but after one day of a saunter, I think I better ask for a little divine intervention.

 

We were not the only ones on the trek



Spelling has always been a problem, pronunciation!

 We scoped out the trail on July1st, Drove to Roncesvalles, bought shells (symbol of the trail) and then drove to France for lunch.  St Jean Pied de Port, old walled city that is quaint and washed in sunlight. Lovely lunch at Etche-Ona;  Gambas for Doris, Pipenade Basqueise with jamon and tomatoes for Charlie, and for me, salade de petite chiparones, fisiers de canard confit.  all good and then we had a delicious slightly baked chocolate treat (ni-cuit au chocolate) and a pannecotta with peche.  Siesta time!  This road is part of the grand pre, I am sure but probably wrong.

Sat around the Square in town, had tapas until 10 pm and had dinner, not up to our lunch standard, pizza at Le Mafia.

July 2nd

Hit the trail by 9 am and it moved us along.  Doris was on a mission but as mentioned earlier I like the saunter mode.  Finished by 11:30 and back in town in time for lunch at El Burladero, around the corner from our hotel.  Pigs trotters in almond sauce, Sastido Ibericos, pimento rellenos with crab and pan tostados with tomate.  Again, I let us all down and did not take pics but all was good.. 

We have only had one white wine that was unacceptible, that was in the town of Erro.  It was a biker bar, I should have known better than to order wine there.


Charlie with lamb and a salad


Dinner in Pamplona at Otano - needless to say we were in Spain and dinner couldn't begin before 10 PM - Gazapacho with trimmings, "Pochas" (green and white beans with jamon and peppers), lamb with gravy and mixed salad with goat cheese and nuts.  Dessert ("postres") was just another chocolate treat.

Closest Beth will come to running with the bulls

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'Pochas' bean soup to us


July 3
Doris and I hiked another 6 kilometers (almost 4 miles) over hill and dale, past a cement plant (looked like it had been moved brick by brick from the Hudson valley and reconstructed in Spain).  Kissed Pamplona and Doris good-bye for the time being and Charlie and headed for Bilboa and the Gehry portion of our trip.  Beatiful entry into town greeted by a view of the Guggenheim/Gehry museum.  Checked into our hotel - room with a PRV (Partial River View) and set off for "old town" in search of 15 year old memories.


Memory Lane




Cod in Old town Bilbao, note the crispy spinach




Great menu!



Jam for breakfast

 Accidentally found one of those memories in a local plaza where my sister and I had drinks back in the day.  Dinner (at 10PM of course) at a restaurant named "Delicious" where I had cod with potatoes and almonds and Charlie had Iberian steak with perigord sauce (tasted like a very good brown sauce).  Dessert was, again, a chocolate treat called Pantxineta - sounds like a revolution in the happening.

Our walk from the hotel to Museum
This town has changed in 15 years for the better

Spider Mother

One of our neighbors' desserts

Roasted Peach

Not your standard French toast

Overview of the front of the Museum

Charlie and the Museum mascot
Just to give you an idea of the scale

We loved the museum, Bilbao, the food and the music we hear from the streets

July 4

Celebrated Independence Day by walking (10 minutes) to the museum from our hotel and spending the rest of the day until siesta time being codled by Frank Gehry's modern temple to modern art, Richard Serra's rust clad steel tori,ellipses, esses and semicircles.  Mostly fantastic, some odd (post impressionists, painterly painters, abstractionist) and some just weird.  Had a great time and had lunch in the cafeteria.  I had salmon and anchovy tartare with green lemon cream, hake, eggplant and a soy/plum smudge.  Charlie had compressed lamb with a gorgeous squash swoosh.  Dessert was not chocolate.  I had not your standard french toast with coffee ice cream.  Charlie had a whole roasted peach with vanilla ice and ground almonds.  We then returned to our room for a late afternoon siesta.