Two Busy Days in Bilbao, Spain....

The Port of Bilbao is beautiful.... mountains, the city, boats, the water - just beautiful.  The port in Bordeaux, Le Verdon, was isolated and flat and boring; LeHavre the same.  But not Bilbao - it's just beautiful.

Our tour took us to Hondarribia and San Sebastian -  both located on the coast and near the border with France.  So we traveled 1 1/2 hours to reach these destinations but they were well worth the ride.  Again, our tour escort was so pleasant and knowledgeable.  The buses are beautiful and Celebrity is very organized with getting you off the ship and on your tour on time!

Hondaribba was a fortress town as it is located across the water from France and all those years ago had to protect themselves from those invaders from the north.  Perhaps they still do. We toured the city - the fort is now a hotel you can stay in; had coffee and croissants; walked the cobblestone streets; lots of flowers blooming on the balconies of the houses and apartments.  We could see France from where we stood in Hondaribba (we actually saw it - not like seeing Russia from Alaska).

Our next stop - San Sebastian, which is a beautiful seaside resort city.  Originally it was just a small village but when one of the Queens of Spain was ordered to go to the seaside for her health, San Sebastian is the village they chose - so naturally it grew larger with the royals building beautiful homes and palaces on the water.  There are three beautiful beaches, all protected from the waters of the Atlantic.  We traveled to the highest point to obtain the best view of the beaches and city.  We also had a little free time to walk the main boulevard - lots of folks strolling along; street vendors selling paintings; the narrow alleyways were lots of bars and restaurants all showing football - I think Kate would have thrived in this city.  And the surf was up as evidenced by many surfers walking along the street carrying their boards and wearing their wet suits as they headed to the beach.  They had some good waves.

Then we were treated to lunch in a local hotel - 3 courses plus wine and water.  I think the reason for the wine was to get us all to sleep on the bus on the way back to the ship.  Another wonderful day - but a long one.

Then, today, we had a half day tour to the Old City of Bilbao and then on to Castro Ulraides (not sure of the spelling as I don't have my notes - so my apologies).  Up and off the ship early and into Bilbao.  The ship is at the Port of Bilbao, which is different from the city of Bilbao and the Old City.  We were walked around the old section, seeing 14th century churches still in existence.  As the city came to life, street sweepers, folks washing the windows of their businesses in preparation to open, many having their morning coffee and croissant, we attempted to blend in; although that is rather hard to do as we all wear our round colored numbered sticker from the ship identifying us as being on a certain tour.  Ed and I would attempt to move that sticker to a less obvious spot when we were freed to walk around on our own.  We did have some time in Bilbao to do just that and actually found a couple of stores and made some purchases.  Other than purchasing wine, we really haven't had the time or found the items we wanted to purchase.  Today I did and that just made me happy!


Then off to Castro Urdiales.  Another beautiful small town near Bilbao - quite a fishing village, although many of the bigger fishing boats were out as it was a Monday and time to earn a living again.  But a beautiful harbor with many, many small motor boats and sailboats.  We walked up to the old section to see the old church, now being restored a bit, as well as the fort - and a beautiful spot overlooking the ocean.  As we walked back down to the port area, men were fixing fishing lines and straightening out nets; wash had been hung from upstairs apartments as it was a beautiful day to dry your clothing.  And then back to the bus for our ride back to the ship as we will sail at 3pm today.

Spent the rest of the day on deck, reading and relaxing in the sunshine as we sailed out of Bilbao and are headed to Vigo, Spain.

I recommend a two week vacation to everyone - it's the only way to truly relax. 

Love from the Celebrity Constellation, crusing off the coast of Spain,


Betsy