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The return stretch back toward Barcelona kept in mind that we would later see much of Spain, our home for the next year.  Thus, for a more unique experience, we traveled along the French Pyrenees to Ax-les-Thermes, a ski village almost 400 kilometers due East, from the Atlantic Coast toward the Mediterranean Coast.

Lengthy drives require strong parenting skills, including proper video/technology allocation as well as spacing between meals and bathroom breaks.  One would hope that 500-year old castles and churches would be of interest, and they are, but even powerful history cannot prevent the “when are we going to be there?” that we all know so well.  While reading a book (or kindle) is always an option, motion sickness often prevents this.  Maggie has found a good way to stay busy when certain devices are off limits.  She actually watches reruns of her favorite TV shows in her head, really, absent any technology.  She notes that some of her favorites include Modern Family (ok, our fault for letting a 7-year-old see the real thing from time to time, but it’s a family show in our house), Phineas and Ferb, SpongeBob, Dog with a Blog and Good Luck Charlie; and she says she can pause, rewind, fast forward at any time and doesn’t need to watch any commercials.  On this particular drive, she watched an episode of Phineas and Ferb when they were cavemen.

Ax-les-Thermes exists as a ski town, a locale through which the Tour de France sometimes passes, and as the home of long standing thermal baths.  I believe “Ax” comes from water and “Thermes” hot springs.  I wouldn’t call the town picturesque (versus other mountain villages), except when looking up into the mountains.  The ski area itself, not necessarily well known, claims more than 1,000 meters vertical (over 3,000 feet) and has 17 lifts.  In the U.S., we tend to hear about the Alps, but not so much about the quality ski mountains in the Pyrenees.

As for our short visit, we did soak our legs in the springs, but the comfort of the hot water was offset by the unpleasant smell of sulphur.  Assume the gap is where Max, the photographer, had been sitting.

We were told that the town’s baths, which have evolved into a spa industry of some sort, have been around since the medieval period, when they were used to treat soldiers with leprosy.

Against what would have been better judgment, we followed up our stay in Ax-les-Thermes with a visit to the Grotte de Lombrives, a cave nearby in the Pyrenees, claiming to be the largest in Europe.  Unfortunately, the 2-hour tour lasted 3 hours and there was no way out (envision a child that needs to use the restroom).  And, there were no paintings in these caves, only stalactites and stalagmites, which can be seen and appreciated in less than 30 minutes.  That is all the time I needed to remember, once and for all, I hope, that stalactites hang from the ceiling (there is a “c” in stalactites) and stalagmites rise from the ground (note the “g” in stalagmites).  Do not go to Grotte de Lombrives!

Tags: Ax-les-Thermes, bath, cave, Grotte de Lombrives, Pyrenees, spa

The next leg of the journey was short, about an hour, but to Biarritz (still in the Basque country), and without more than a wave and a nod in terms of Spain/France border patrol. This time I had a reservation, and I picked a good hotel, not because of the locale (very central) or the rooms (just o.k., very small), or the concierge (none). Evelyn left a running shoe at the hotel during our short one-night stay. After discovering this a few hundred kilometers away after departure, she telephoned, and the manager (now we can call her “concierge”) was happy to mail the shoe to us in Barcelona at no charge, in exchange for a positive Trip Advisor rating; not a bad deal for us, and the hotel, as I am learning the power of Trip Advisor on this continent (and globally I guess). Hotel Le Saint James is now ranked 33 of 68 on Trip Advisor, a drop of a few points since before our stay.

Biarritz has an attractive main beach, a nice easy walk from one end to the other, and flanked by the prominent Hotel du Palais (saved for retirement). The setting reminded me a bit of Zihuatanejo, my favorite beach in Mexico and that of Andy Dufresne (Shawshank Redemption), not really for any particular reason other than manageable size and simple beauty, not to mention interesting local culture. French beauty and culture are certainly different from Mexican beauty and culture and both have their pros and cons, really. The beauty of this French beach may be the architecture—magnificent buildings, while the beauty of the Zihuatanejo beach may also be the architecture—simple and even rundown buildings, but this is why the unspoiled beaches of Mexico remain beautiful.

The town of Biarritz was lovely, with fabulous views from its hills, although our initial meal—lunch of croquet-monsieurs—was ruined by incoming smoke; we sat inside where smoking is forbidden yet it still poured in from the outside.  Still, we enjoyed a tasty dinner at Il Giardino (why not go to France for Italian food?….actually, an excellent meal).  As for our day on the beach, the extra wind wasn’t our friend, and made our attempt at surfing difficult…it would have been a challenge without the wind.

Tags: Basque, beach, Biarritz, border, Shawshank Redemption, Trip Advisor, Zihuatanejo

From Bilbao, we headed toward San Sebastian, also in the Basque country, but I didn’t learn my lesson.  I figured that if we show up earlier in the evening, rather than at 1 a.m., there had to be some amount of available lodging.  But there was absolutely nothing.  So, we headed to the nearby (15 minute drive) town of Tolosa, situated on the river Oria.  Tolosa accommodations did save us some Euros and the town was pleasant…but as my family would agree, San Sebastian would have been better.

Giving up on me, Evelyn booked a great San Sebastian apartment for the next two nights using Airbnb.  San Sebastian was wonderful, as expected, with large beaches and pintxos galore (web definition: a “thorn” or “spike” or a small snack, typically eaten in bars, traditional in northern Spain and especially popular in the Basque country and Navarre).

Highlights of San Sebastian included those tasty pintxos, served all over the old town, as well as a bike ride we took that circled the city, passing the futbol stadium (Real Sociedad), winding through a long tunnel, and then spanning the fantastic beachfront.

Getting used to the late lunches in Spain and ready for a full meal, we found a nice spot in the old town, Ubarrechena.  The food was good, not great, while the waiters could not have been more accommodating to needy children.  At this point, after surviving on pintxos/tapas for a couple of days, we really needed a broad spectrum of choices for all, and we found it here.  We also enjoyed the company at the adjoining table of a nice Bilbao family in town for a futbol game.  While its stadium was under repair, Athletic Bilbao (or Athletic Club) was using the nearby (one hour drive from Bilbao) San Sebastian stadium for its home game against Club Atlético Osasuna, the Pamplona team.  This was our first experience with the futbol fever of Spain, and the San Sebastian streets were crowded with fans, mostly those of Athletic Bilbao, loud and at least a bit drunk, but generally well behaved.

Our friends at the table next to ours introduced us to the history of their team, noting that traditionally every player on the Athletic Bilbao Lions (team is known as “Los Leones”) comes from the Basque country; recently the team has lightened up on this policy but not much.  Other teams in the Primera Division of La Liga tend to recruit more from outside the region and country we are told, with obvious examples being Barcelona and Real Madrid.  La Liga (Primera Division) is made up of the top 20 Spanish futbol teams.  Every year, the 3 teams with the worst performance are” relegated” (moved to the second division) and of course 3 teams move up to La Liga.  Only 3 teams in La Liga have never been relegated, with these being Athletic Bilbao, Barcelona, and Real Madrid.  During 2012/2013, Athletic Bilbao finished 12th, with Barcelona and Real Madrid first and second.

Tags: Basque, bike, futbol, San Sebastian, Tolosa

Showing up in a town with no hotel reservations can work, but it is probably better to reserve a room(s) if one or more of the following is true: a) you are arriving at 1 a.m.; b) the town is hosting its annual festival; c) it is August and you are in Europe; d) you really need two rooms with your family of 5; and, e) you want your family to maintain respect for you and your trip planning abilities. Yes, in our lovely Kia (manual transmission—I stalled about 10 times but no accidents), we drove into downtown Bilbao at a few minutes before 1 a.m. and at the first two hotels, the front desk attendants offered that semi-sincere apology with a partially cruel smile that says, “you’re an idiot, it’s 1 a.m., look in the mirror and blame it on him.” We actually lucked out at the Hotel Ercilla, which happened to have 2 rooms and at reasonable, albeit not cheap rates. The beds were comfortable, and with a great location, I would recommend it to anyone heading to Bilbao.

After sleeping in, normal as we adjust to the time zone during our first week, we found ourselves at the annual Bilbao festival (“Aste Nagusia”/”Semana Grande”, Basque/Spanish for “Big Week”). While the kids section, with face painting, arts & crafts, bubble makers, etc., was no different than that of any other fair, it was worth seeing the giant puppets and frequenting the many outdoor beer (and food) halls, not to mention the bullfights (we didn’t attend). Most disappointing was that we missed the “Concurso de Feos,” or the ugly competition, where people take the stage and make the ugliest possible facial expression.

We did enjoy our first long Spanish lunch, at Larruzz Bilbao, a few blocks from the Guggenheim museum (important to build up energy in advance of a museum of

course.)  The paella was tasty but what really stood out was an amazing vegetable terrine with warm goat cheese. Service was a bit slow, only because we were in the early days of enjoying what is a traditionally lengthy experience in Spain; and the check will never come to you without asking for it, not a bad thing necessarily.  Finally, while not for everyone, the artwork (see above) was nice for our family to see.

Common knowledge is that the Guggenheim museum is most compelling for its architecture and we generally agreed, with details explained during the initial sections of the audio tour; tell your kids (and your adults) that they only need to listen to the first 20-30 minutes. In addition, particularly for those interested in math (in other words, a way to make your kids care about art), Richard Serra’s large installation (“The Matter of Time”, 2005) makes for a unique stroll within the exhibition. Still, as the name suggests, it was a Matter of Time before museum fatigue set in, and we were on our way.

Tags: Bilbao, Guggenheim, Kia, museum, paella, Spain

On the drive from Barcelona to Bilbao, there must be a few dozen towns for which the romantic traveler longs; these are the cute little several-hundred-year-old villages with some amount of historical significance, and it would take weeks to drive this route and stop at all of them.  Of course, on a similar 600 kilometer drive (San Francisco to Los Angeles on Highway 5), where would we find a single one?  After a few days in Barcelona, knowing that our near-term time was limited (kids’ school would commence in a couple of weeks), we rented a car and hit the road, heading West toward the Atlantic.

We made three meaningful stops on the all day drive to Bilbao, the first being Montblanc (http://www.montblancmedieval.cat/en/), about 100 kilometers west of Barcelona.  Montblanc is a medieval town in the Catalonia province of Tarragona, with the village supported by “Catalonia’s finest piece of military architecture,” according to our guidebook.  This likely refers to the walled-in city, built in the 14th century.  When wandering the interesting roads and alleys within the walls, the gothic church of Santa Maria in the center of the town was a quick but worthy respite.   A 60 minute Montblanc diversion sufficed for our first tourist adventure, and our first hard goods purchase in Spain—a wooden toy gun that shoots corks (at sisters) when it is being used, which has been almost never, since that day.

Only about 10 kilometers further west is the Monastery of Santa Maria de Poblet, part of the “Cistercian triangle”, or the three Cistercian (an order of catholic monks and nuns) monasteries.  Besides their religious function, these monasteries “helped to consolidate power in Catalonia after it had been recaptured from the Moors,” notes our guidebook.  Monestir de Poblet was built beginning in the 12th century (when all three monasteries were founded).  Unfortunately, we arrived here around “tired and hungry and cranky time” and nothing really solved the problems, with the heat not helping; you know the kind of heat that causes a fairly sweaty back but with the addition of a backpack there is no hope?  (“How hot was it today?…Oh, it was a half strapper,” meaning so hot that there was no way you would put both back pack straps over your shoulders or else the back of your shirt would be drenched.)  So we really just took a look at the famous monastery from the outside and decided not to pay to enter…but we were there, right?  Does this count as visiting?  Please?

Further west, and approaching dinnertime, we exited in Tudela, a town of 35,000 on the southeastern side of the Navarra region.   The drive from Barcelona, west to Bilbao, runs across Catalonia, into Aragon (through the capital of Aragon—Zaragoza, named after Caesar Augustus), then through Navarra, La Rioja, and finally the Basque country; for children keeping track, we accomplished 5 of Spain’s 17 communities in one day.  Tudela is the “second city” and apparently a commercial center within Navarra (no commercial activity was really evident; it felt like a much smaller town).  It is also known for a 13th century bridge over the Ebro River with 17 irregular arches.  We planted ourselves in Tudela’s town square, a classic central meeting space, built at the end of the 17th century.  The square, called Plaza de los Fueros, was used as a bullring at one time and bullfight scenes are painted on some of the surrounding building facades.  Dinner in the square was fair, in terms of food quality, but if we had more time to search, I suspect we would have found better cuisine, due to the city’s size and what we saw through restaurant windows as we scouted the streets on our way to the car.  The ambiance in the square on a Tuesday was fantastic: beautiful dark skinned and smartly dressed locals seated at cafes chatting and smoking (making them at least slightly less beautiful and less smart), kids running around, kicking soccer balls, the slow and relaxed pace of life evident, sun setting over the old bullring square.  While it was midweek, we were surprised that the square was fairly empty by about 10 p.m. as per the photo, given the late hours in Spain.  Still, as in the U.S., the larger cities follow this rule more closely.

Tags: backpack, cistercian, medieval, Monestir de Poblet, Montblanc, Moors, Tudelo