"We're Not Judging You"

When someone says that, it means they are judging you. I met a very nice couple. Tom is Canadian and Orsy is Romanian/Hungarian (I.e. a Gypsy. Thats how she introduced herself).  The first day I met them I confessed to not being able to tolerate the "20 to a room" barrack style aubergues. They assured me they weren't judging me for that. Later in the day I saw them in town. They were shocked that I was wearing jeans and a cashmere sweater. I explained that the comfort was worth it because I wore the jeans every night and the sweater weighs nothing. They also assured me they weren't judging me on that, either.

There's only one guidebook that everyone (including me) seems to use. The author is not fond of today's stage from Guernica to Bilbao. At 35km its the second longest of the 32 stages and the combined vertical climb (850 meters) makes it the second or third hilliest. The book specifically warns about the second half.  A nine mile straight flat stretch followed by a 400 meter climb, then descent into Bilbao.

I think most of us stopped for lunch in the same village at the halfway point, but arrived at different times. I felt fine afterward so I put some music on and set off. As I reached the edge of the village I looked up at a blue bus marked Bilbao and made eye contact with Orsy, who was sitting by the window in the front row. She quickly looked away - like I was judging her or something!

Of course I'd never do that but I will say that they missed something great. The climb into the hills above Bilbao was nasty but freaking hills ALWAYS deliver the view. Not only that but the descent into the city was even nicer than the entrance to San Sebastian. There were three parts of the descent. The first was a lightly used road from a big park with lots of picnic tables and great views. Next was a series of pedestrian bridges and nice switchbacks that passed some beautiful restaurants (the picture of the city, which if you look closely shows the Guggenheim Museum next to a bridge was taken from the terrace of one of those restaurants) and the last third of the way down was a long, long staircase alongside a midevil cobblestone street (that's the other picture) that ended in an old plaza full of cafés and packed with people. 

Tom and Orsy weren't the only ones who took the bus. A couple of km outside the lunch village I saw three extremely nice German people I'd met earlier who were waiting at a bus stop. I'll try not to tell any of them what they missed out on because rubbing it in is almost as bad as judging.

Guernica

I'm not sure whether I'm most interested in this town because I'm a New Yorker, Jill lives in Spain or just history in general.

I saw the Picasso painting at MoMA on a class trip in high school and remember what a big deal it was when they finally returned it to Spain. I saw it again at the Prado's annex across from Retiro Park sometime in mid eighties and then again once it moved to the Reina Sofia. So I've been stalking it for years.

Right after it was painted, Guernica was important because of how it informed the world of how nasty the Spanish civil war, Franco and the axis powers were. It became even more so as a symbol of how new technology was being weaponized against innocent civilians; warning of a genie that couldn't be re-bottled.

Gernika is a nice, working class town in a valley. Not a whole lot of old buildings here, for obvious reasons.

Chula!

Most places I stay at in Spain ask to see my passport. The woman who did so today was funny. She didnt speak a word of English so I thought it was weird when she opened my passport and said "Connecticut". 

There is a Jai Alai cesta hanging on the wall so I pieced together pretty much every Spanish word I know to ask her where I could buy and authentic "pelota" (jai alai ball). 

Since this town (Markina - Exemein) is the epicenter of the Jai Alai world I mentioned that I watched a lot of it when I was a teenager. The two and two came together and I realized why she seemed interested that I'm from Connecticut. Her brother used to play at all of the CT frontons!  I asked if she'd ever heard of Aromayo and she said "the brothers?"  Made my friggin day!  For those of you who aren't Lyle, Dave, Bob or Frank, the highest profile players back in the day were Aromayo 1 and Aromayo 2.

Anyway, she claims that there are plenty of places to buy pelotas in the town I'll end up in tomorrow. I was already pretty excited about tomorrow's destination seeing as its named after a famous Picasso painting. Kidding of course, but I think the idea of walking into a town like Guernica will be a thought provoking experience.

This was just the fourth day on the Norte but so far it has been better than I'd even hoped it would be. It's extremely strenuous compared to any other four day stretch I've done but the combination of mountains and seascapes is outrageously beautiful.

There are lots more people on it then Montpellier to Pau. I even feel like my old unsociable self again, avoiding people!

Rainy Day. Now In Zarautz

I just wish I could have found an excuse to spend another day in San Sebastian. There is so much energy there and for the one night I was there the food exceeded my expectations. I ended up sitting down for pinxtos (basque tapas) and the food was out of this world. The highlight was a little filet mignon (solomio) for €5.

I'm embarrassed to have to say this but I'll go back to San Sebastian before Toulouse!  I'll be done with this camino in about four weeks. Who wants to join me in San Seb for a.couple of days?!

Utterly Spectacular

I knew at dinner last night that shifting north was the right decision. I wandered around Irun and stopped at a bar or two and at 8:30 found a friendly looking restaurant so I stopped in. I was the first guest but it was full within a half hour. As if the staff wasn't nice enough, the family sitting next to me (couple with three kids between 12 & 20) were above and beyond welcoming and even tried to pick up my dinner tab!

I found the camino with no problem. It's weird that on three of the five routes I've been on, the first day has the reputation for being the hardest. but let me tell you:  It was goose bump spectacular. The first hour out of Irun was a big climb and the view of the city was incredible.

Days like today make me glad that I don't bother researching the day ahead because the surprise of what came next made it all the better. Four hours or so into the day I came across a really dramatic looking cove. I was several hundred feet up but could see and hear some lively bars down by the water.  I was certain that the trail went all the way around the back of the cove and was confused when the yellow arrows pointed down a long, steep set of stairs. They went between houses and through people's yards all the way down to the water. The yellow arrows pointed down a ramp to a floating dock. Sure enough, for 70 cents a small ferry boat pulled up and hauled a bunch of us to the other side of the cove. Once I got in to San Sebastian I looked it up and the town on the cove is called Pasaia and has a very colorful history.

On the far side of the cove an even longer and steeper set of stairs went up and the trail ran along the north side of the hill with beautiful views of the Bay of Biscay.

Finally the trail led down to San Sebastian. No drab suburbs or outskirts - right from the scenic trail into the heart of the scenic city.

A lot of people consider San Sebastian to be the culinary capital of the western world. I'm going to do some research and find some good eats. 

Pulled the Rip Cord!

I'm headed to Irun to start the Camino del Norte and have seen more backpacks in the last two hours then in the previous four weeks.

The Pau train station is at the bottom of a cliff from the rest of the city. There's a "funicular" that shuttles up and down from the train station to town, but it's closed for maintenence until the 27th. I resisted the temptation to wait for it to reopen and walked around to the bottom of the cliff. There were backpacks galore.
I'm sure most of them were headed to St. Jean Pied de Port.

I'm in Dax waiting for a connecting train to Irun. I got a haircut in Dax a couple of years ago!

Giving Myself A Pep Talk

11:00AM - I still don't know what to do.  I'm most tempted to continue with my latest plan which is to keep going to Puente la Reina, walking back to Pamplona & taking a train to Iruna or San Sebastian.  It feels like that will take forever though.

4:30PM - Still pondering.  If I do the above It'll take me ten more days to get to Pamplona and by then I dk if I'll have the will to start a whole new camino in Irun.  I'll be more likely to continue on the traditional route, which I've already done.  I really don't want to spend another day thinking about it in Pau.

5:00PM - I flip-flop on this every 10 minutes.  The case against continuing this route includes the fact that the rest of it is more very long days (30km +) with few bail-out options.

5:45PM - If I walk to Oloron St. Marie tomorrow, it will be my last chance to get a train to Irun until I get to Pamplona.  The route from Irun is compelling because of the scenery (all along the coast), food, and the fact that it would be all new.  On the other hand, I'd be missing out on crossing the Pyrenees.  I just checked the weather for the Somport Pass.  100% chance of rain on Sunday & Monday.  Hmm.