May 11, 2011

This morning we got up around 5:45 (after going to bed at 2 AM!) to fly to Bilbao.  Once we were on the plane, the officials decided that a mechanical problem could not be easily resolved and we had to deplane, take buses out to the tarmac and board another plane.  That set us back only an hour.  In fact, the solution was pretty efficient and the plane was full. The only downside was that Mario was packed in with his knees right up against the seat in front of us.  He was not very comfortable.  The flight took an hour and we had planned to visit the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.  Our guide who helped prepare our itinerary warned us not to go because there were many cars broken into in the parking lot.  We skipped it and drove to Laredo, the first view of the beach.  We had a wonderful lunch at a great price at the place we stopped for lunch. The news of Seve Ballesteros' funeral was on the TV in the bar-restaurant where we had lunch.  Ballesteros was from Cantabria, which is the region where we are now so everyone was interested in the event.  His children were carrying his ashes from his home to the church for the 1 PM funeral.

We drove to Santander after lunch and I was dead tired.  I slept for a couple of hours in the afternoon.  Our hotel is very pretty and comfortable.  It is about a block from the coast.  We walked around for a few hours,  ate some fried squid, cheese and dessert in a typical cafe and a little later had some wine and a few more snacks in a very old bar which we had spotted early in the walk.  Santander is absolutely beautiful.  The architecture is exquisite.  We took the bus up and down the coastal drive to get into the heart of the city and it was clean and efficient.  The people in Spain eat a lot, drink a lot, smoke a lot and walk a lot.  I suppose that is why in spite of all the great food,  you don't really see a lot of overweight people.  There are many older people, older couples, lots of grandmothers with their grandchildren.  It is very charming.  More tomorrow.