The Basque Coast

We rented a car yesterday and drove along the coast from San Sebastian to Bilbao. Fortunately for us, the rental car company was out of the cheapo economy cars that we favor and we were upgraded to a luxury car at no extra charge. Actually, I feel that we deserved it after wrestling with Dagobert for 2 months. The sweet little BMW restored my faith in German engineering. Its little diesel motor had tons of power and torque and barely sipped any fuel. I'm sure that you can't get one in America because of emissions laws and most Americans think of diesels as stinky, smoky, and slow.

The coastline we drove is easily as picturesque as Oregon or Big Sur but because it's difficult to access it isn't on the tourist map. The roads are narrow and touch the coast at points, then dive inland and go through old industrial towns, then back out to the coast.



Our little beach in San Sebastian has been covered with trash since the big storm last weekend so it was nice to give the kids some beach time.






Jolene and I didn't own a car while we lived in Spain so we had only explored the coastline a few times, mostly when guests were in town and we rented cars. We remembered a nice little fishing village called Elantxobe where the road is so narrow that the local bus has to be put on a turntable and spun around by hand to make it back up the road.




Our one goal for the day was to visit a little church built on an island of rock. We came across it accidentally one time while out on a bike ride. As far as we know, it's not in any tourist guidebook and it doesn't see that many visitors. It is spectacular and if there was a coastal road like Highway 101 it would be on every postcard. It has a name, but I can never remember it since it's Basque and has a bunch of x's in it.







The kids are still recovering from colds so they were spared the 300 stairs to the top. I know, if there was a beach or playground at the top they would have bounded up them with enthusiasm. Maybe I'm just getting soft after 3 months of sightseeing.



Jolene ringing the bell. Quasimodo may be out of a job.




We stayed on the coast until the sun went down. Although we are on the west side of Spain, the coastline runs east-west here so the sun sets over the land. Allie and Noelle found it confusing when we first got to Europe to be on east-facing beaches and watch the sun set over the land. As west-coasters they just know that you go down to the beach to watch the sun set. I had to make a sand-diagram to explain why the sun was going the wrong way to Noelle while we were in Italy. This picture is actually a moon-rise.



The Spanish keep a schedule which takes some getting used to. The town wakes up around 9:00 am and is pretty active until about 1:00 or 2:00, then it becomes a ghost town until around 5:00 or so, when the shops open back up and the streets are full of people again. Dinner starts late and if you show up at 8:30 you would probably annoy the wait staff who is just getting ready. We are usually the first ones seated at 9:00 and after a lengthy dinner and a stroll back home we don't hit the sheets until midnight. We drove back home in the dark and still were the "early birds" for dinner.