Friday morning, we checked out of our hotel and traveled 3-1/2 hours to Segovia. Segovia is an old city with roman, moorish and Christian artifacts. A roman aqueduct from about 100 AD marks the south side of the old town. A beautiful Cathedral from 1500 is in the middle of the city and a boat shaped castle, the Alcazar of Segovia is at the northern tip. The Alcazar is built on top of ruins on top of ruins… The existing structure dates from around 1100.

Our hotel, Casa La Mudejar, is built on top of an ancient Roman spa. They have built an underground spa in top of the roman spa. There are several areas of the roman spa exposed to the interior of the current day spa. We spent Friday night in the spa.

On the way out, we had to deal with the automated self cleaning toilet from hell.

Donostia is on the Atlantic Ocean or probably more correctly Bay of Biscay. It’s a beach town and even though it was cold and windy, there were swimmers. We went to a true Pintxos or Tapas bar which is hard to describe. It is like a US bar, but the bar is covered with plates of food. The food (Tapas or Pintxos) is made to serve one person with 1-3 bites. You go to the bar and fill a plate with Pintxos and order your drinks. This was more difficult than you might think – but thank goodness Beatriz was with us. We had shrimp, artichoke, ham, tuna and egg. It was delicious! Cheryl had Sangria and I had Sidra or hard apple cider. Sidra is a local specialty which includes a dramatic pouring from an elevated bottle or leg tap.

Gernika has traditionally been the meeting place for the governance of the Bizkaia region. Since around 1300, the people of Biscay (Bizkaia) would send representatives to meet here. The meetings were abolished as dictators took power in Spain culminating in Franco’s rule over Spain. The Bizkaian representative governance did not resume until after Franco.

Gernika was the city offered by Franko to his allie Hitler for bombing practice by the Nazi Luftwaffe. This bombing against unarmed civilians inspired Picasso (confined to his Paris apartment during Nazi occupation) to paint his famous pacifist painting “Guernica”.

We visited Gernika and toured the Assembly House. The remnants of the original meeting tree are preserved. A new meeting tree grows by the Assembly House.

Beatriz’ family absolutely spoiled us. We shopped, drank wine (Txakolatte, spelling is definitely wrong – a white wine kind of similar to Reisling), ate Pintxos, travelled to the beach by metro and car, drank wine at the beach and ended with a hearty traditional meal of salad, chicken, beef and fish (and cerveza). We also met Beatriz’s uncle Aitor and his girlfriend Virginia who helped drive us around in their really cool Fiat. Beatriz’ father Joseba met us for dinner and cooked the beef at the table – it reminded me of an Argentina BBQ. Many thanks (Eskerrik Asko) to Aitor, Isabel and Joseba for driving us all over the place and walking us back to our hotel! And eskerrik asko for the fantastic meal!!

Too many pictures to post… But here are a few.

The Guggenheim is full of modern artwork. There is a strong overarching emphasis on the response by the art community to the changing world of the early 1900s. The world became a very ugly place and the art reflected it. The museum helps give meaning to the art work of the 1930′s – 1950′s and explains why Picasso was the hero of the day.

Our last night walking around in a light rain. This is the side of the cathedral where I thought the lighting was pretty cool.