Our Summer Not in Montpellier, III

Sunflowers! We saw endless fields of sunflowers!

This is the third of several blogs about our summer travels.

You can find the first one here, and the second here.

 

Oh, but it’s been hot in Montpellier of late! A real canicule, a heat wave where the nights are almost as hot as the days. It’s getting better; today is cooler (just!) but very humid. Let’s return to the cool hills and fields of Northern Spain…

Once out of Bilbao,  we were on our way, to

          Quintanilla-Montecabezas

…a tiny village out in the countryside. Paula’s goal in planning this trip was to escape the heat and avoid crowds. She was attracted to the area known as Las Merindades, which is near the city of… well, nowhere, really! That’s what made it so attractive. Her research turned up a lodging called Dreams in the tiny village of Quintanilla-Montecabezas.

And it was a dream! Our hosts were lovely, and had a beautiful house and yard, complete with swimming pool. We passed a very fine week there, slept well, and had great dreams!

Entrance to the Airbnb Dreams.

Our room is on the left.

Quite literally, the end of the road. Nothing but fields out there!

We spent our time exploring the sunflower-filled—and very uncrowded—countryside. This is in the Castile region… Isabella country.  (It was her marriage to Ferdinand of Aragon in 1469 that united the two adjoining regions and started the county that we call Spain today.)

 

This church was at the edge of town; first thing we saw a we arrived,
last thing we passed on our way out.

And several kilometers along, we come to civilization... well, more buildings, anyway.

Every afternoon, after our explorations, we would follow the well-paved but very narrow road up the hill, between the sunflower fields and forest, a few kilometers to where it ended in this tiny place of less than a dozen homes. On Sunday we took a day off from the tough job of exploring, and just hung out around the pool.

The pool; a great place to spend a relaxing Sunday.

And where did we go on our trips out? Well, we drove past many many fields of sunflowers, their, er, sunny faces turned inquisitively towards us (well, so long as the sun was behind us!). It left us wondering, Are these fields a response to the troubles in Ukraine, where sunflowers are (were?) a staple of the economy? Well, no, but kind of.

More sunflowers!

Sunflowers have been grown for oil and animal feed in many regions of Spain for a long time, so it’s not new. But as Ukraine got more involved in the international market, demand for Spain’s sunflowers dropped. Needless to say, demand is back up now, but Spain has been growing these flowers for many decades.

Wine County: Spain has many wine regions. We saw no vineyards here but we knew there were wineries nearby, and one day we set out to find them. At one point we passed through a series of short tunnels through steep cliffs, and there, on the other side, were vineyards!

 

OK, so this is the old highway, now a hiking trail.
But the real highway tunnels are just over there...

Vineyards set in the midst of a stunning landscape!
(With the also stunning Ysios Winery)

Dramatic entrance to the Ysios Winery.

At the top of our list to visit was a particular bodega known for its spectacular architecture, the Bodegas Ysios (the Ysios Winery). Its striking sinusoidal roofline mirrors and is emphasized by the jagged mountains in the background. It was quite stunning!

Another view of that fabulous roof line.

Looking out the entrance of Bodegas Ysios to the hilltop village of Laguardia. 

We followed that with a visit to the nearby hill town of Laguardia. It was charming, with its narrow streets and old stone buildings. Lunch was a bit of a let-down, consisting of several pintxos (a Basque word pronounced pinchos). We want to think of these as tapas of the kind we’ve enjoyed so much in Sevilla, but they are nowhere near that good. A pintxos is mostly a morsel of food—cheese, ham, fish, or even some delicious concoction of several of those in an excellent sauce—on a piece of bread. It can be simple, or quite good… except for the bread. (Yeah, we gotta say, once we leave France the bread—and pastries!—get very disappointing).

 

The narrow streets of Laguardia. Just as in our hometown of Montpellier,
the narrow curving streets serve a defensive function--and provide shade.

A flower-laden bicycle in the curving narrow streets of Laguardia.
Even here in Spain it's a decorative element!

Undaunted by our less-than-ideal lunch (and I will quickly inject here that we had a number of memorably good meals while on this trip… this just wasn’t one of them!) we headed to another winery known for its architecture, the Bodega Marques de Riscal. While this one was less dramatic than Ysios, it is unique, appearing as a package from a distance; a present waiting to be opened.

 

Bodega Marques de Riscal

There was a third winery we were interested in, the Bodegas Navajas, one in which we actually wanted to buy some wine. But our hosts pre-empted that need! When Paula added an extra night in Bilbao, something had to give, so she sliced off our scheduled first night at Dreams. Rather than a cash refund, our hostess offered a case of wine: six bottles of red, six of white. We were quick to accept her offer! (And spent the rest of our trip with boxes of wine tucked behind the seats… an advantage of having a car.)

A hiking bridge over the river.

At one tourist information office (always our first stop when we arrive at a new town) we found a map and description of a couple of dozen water features in the area: waterfalls, springs, pools… we had time to visit only a few of them, and mid-summer is not when you find the highest water flow, but they were cool and refreshing, even just to see! 

We didn't stop here to swim, but it sure looks good! (I especially like the inflatable unicorn.)

Along the way we stopped to visit St. Barnaby's Hermitage (Cueva ermita de San Bernabé), located in a cave. While we were assured that the cave was extensive and quite spectacular, our tour was brief and consisted mainly of the chapel, which has been exquisitely decorated—if that’s the right word—with paintings of the various tortures to which St Barnaby was subjected.

Inside the Cueva ermita de San Bernabe.

Extensive paintings on the cave walls, depicting the trials of Saint Barnaby.

While hardly ancient, these paintings were done in the 18th century.

The outside of the cave was impressive, as were the surroundings, with steep cliffs above and green meadows below.

The outside of ermita de San Bernabé

We  had heard of a music festival in the area, in the town of Frias. Curious as to what that might be like, we stopped in to check it out on the way back to our place of Dreams. Not much was happening while we were there; I expect things were chill during the day and the real action was at night. But it was another pleasant hill-top town, this one with a fortified castle.

Accommodations for the music festival.

Parroquia San Vicente Mártir (Parish of St. Vincent the Martyr)

One advantage of a hill-top town: fantastic views! From San Vicente in Frias.

This cute pizza stand was closed when we came by, but I'll bet it was hopping at night!

Pica Peñamellera seen in the distance from the road;
a hint of what was to come in the Picos de Europa.

With some regret to leave of our place of Dreams, and our very lovely hosts, we took to the road.  We had more to see: mainly, the town of Las Arenas and the Picos de Europa mountains. But we’ve come to the end of the page, so we’ll have to save that for the next posting!

On the road again... and sunny sunflower fields under a threating sky.

Our Summer Not in Montpellier, II

 

The islet of Gaztelugatxe, about a half-hour drive north of Bilbao.

This is the second of several blogs about our summer travels.

You can find the first one here.

 

Bilbao

We had few expectations for this major city on the north coast. It has the Guggenheim Museum; that was what we knew. We weren’t particularly interested in the city and so planned only one night here, more as a rest stop than anything.

Then we got to talking to a French couple we knew, Cecile and Jean-Francois. They had quite liked their visit, and recommended a hotel overlooking the city. Paula booked us a couple of nights, and we’re glad she did!

Bilbao at night, from our hotel high above the city.

Bilbao is an old city, a traditional city; a modern, quirky, artistic city. Upon arriving at our hotel we saw the city far below, stretched out before us, but didn’t get it, yet. We didn't get how great Bilbao really was. We had some other sightseeing to do first.

Paula looks out at Gaztelugatxe on a rainy day.

The hermitage San Juan de Gaztelugatxe, atop its rocky outcropping.

Ready for the climb up!

And now it's a long way down...

The next morning we drove north to the coast, to visit the rock outcropping called Gaztelugatxe*—or, for GoT fans, Dragonstone. (Yes, this was another film location for the Game of Thrones series). It’s an impressive sight! We were very pleased to spend a few hours climbing down (and down!) to the water, and then up (and up!) to the church of San Juan de Gaztelugatxe at the top of the rock.

^*And no, I have no idea how to pronounce that!

 

Above: San Juan de Gaztelugatxe.
Below: Dragonstone! (enhanced with a bit of CGI...)

After Gaztelugatxe we drove along the very good but narrow and very windy road to the coastal town of Bermo, the main city in this region. It one of many fishing towns along the coast in Basque Country. The towns are connected by well-paved roads, but they do require patience to drive!

The thriving coastal city of Bermeo.

Bermeo's endlessly interesting port.

Campesina camino del mercado, a statue honoring the fishsellers of Bermeo.
 According to the sign, these women would carry the morning's catch to sell in Bilbao (30 km away!).

Vendedora de pescado, another statue of a fish seller.
(Two statues! They must be an important part of Bermeo's history.)

It wasn’t until our second day, the day we planned to leave, that we visited Bilbao itself. There was a funicular—a cable railway—near the hotel that ran down into the city. We drove the few kilometers to the station, left the car at the extensive parking lot, and rode down into Bilbao.

We board the funicular, built in 1901.

Bilbao follows the river in a narrow valley, surrounded by hills.

Bilbao's magnificent old City Hall (Bilboko Udaletxea in Basque)

We really liked the juxtaposition of the old and new.

A sweeping pedestrian bridge

What a marvelous old café, set among the modern buildings of the city.

We were delighted with the city as we strolled along the river, marveling at the well-preserved older buildings and the beautiful modern ones that seemed to complement the classic originals. There was also plenty of public art, massive sculptures dotting the greenway along the river, some quirky, some inexplicable, some both!

A statue honoring Ramón Rubial Cavia, an important figure in the anti-Franco struggle in Bilbao

Las sirgueras by Dora Salazar; depicting women towing boats through the Ria de Bilbao,
recognizes the importance of the work done by women.

The Guggenheim was a further surprise. We did not go inside (our time was limited), but the plaza in front was lively with people strolling, selling wares, busking, or just hanging out.

The Guggenheim with folks playing music, selling things, or just strolling.

Entrance to the museum... I think.

I hate spiders. This sculpture held a strange fascination for me!

Spiders... Why did it have to be spiders?

Orange dots reflected.

Even the bandstand in the park seems special!

Our time in the city was brief, but we will be going back!

This highway bridge is a massive art project
(and yes, those are real people coming down the green stairs!)

 Once clear of Bilbao our next stop was far out in the country. We would need provisions! We planned a stop at a supermarket on the outskirts of Bilbao to avoid the traffic that is always found in big cities (right?).

Unfortunately, the roads were confusing, and much to our consternation, we ended up smack dab in the middle of Bilbao, where we did find a good supermarket. The traffic wasn’t so bad, we found a parking spot on the street, and were soon on our way. City driving was actually ok; it was the highways that were confusing!

This is the second episode of our summer travels. Next comes our week in the country with sunflowers and a few vineyards; then the mountains and some beaches, and then... well, you'll have to keep following to know!

The sky during our travels was rarely clear. We had this great display over the port city of Bermeo.