Feelings of the Day: Go with the flow of any difficult event you are in. Sometimes there isn’t anything you can do about your situation at this moment. You aren’t accepting your difficulties, in fact you shouldn’t. You just have to hold on tight and wait to overcome it in the best way. Just remember to take care of yourself and those around you while you wait for your moment.
Full Day’s Events: Waking up early and packing, I had a robust breakfast at my hotel and met the RJGM gang at Leon Cathedral shortly after it opened. With the sunrise at the altar end of the building I headed there first.
The illumination within the cathedral, provided by the tinted palette of light, was calming and therapeutic. I could feel my low pulse rate drop more as I gazed around at the different effects of a dispersed spectrum on the inner walls.
The cloister had two old spires and a stone rosary, for a stained-glass window for one of the apses, to show the masonry techniques up close.
Heading back to my accommodations I checked out and waited until I got word they were ready to go to the car. After almost reading a short chapter, I received word, so a short walk and car pack later we were bundled in and ready for the next leg.
We were ready for a small lunch, after an hour on the road, so we pulled into Sasamon. The town had a fake castle, a very nice inn with a luxury pub, and a simple pub. We tried the nice one first and inside it lacked any illumination. We were directed to go across the street instead, shrugged, and did so, but they too lacked illumination. When R went to place some orders they forcefully told him only sandwiches were available as they had no power.
Thus began a cross-country quest, while always moving towards our destination, to find a place open for a full lunch that had power. Two villages were driven through and all their establishments were closed, but the third one was open with…no power, but they did have a propane powered grill!
From the owner we found out that power was not just down for the local area but for all of Spain, Portugal, and Southern France! We ordered our platters to share amongst us, ate, and left for the long leg; a two and a half hour drive to Laredo.
Dating back to Roman times, when it was a port of call, it’s now famous as a resort town for its very long sandy beach. It was a lovely place to stretch out legs for half an hour.
With an hour left to drive the power was still out. I was concerned that I couldn’t get in touch with my host or receive instructions to enter my apartment rental. Fortunately, the power came on just as we were entering the city limits for Bilbao. Hooray!
Situated in the heart of Basque country, Bilbao was founded in the latter 1200’s by the Haro family as a hub for local iron and wool to trade with others. It became heavily industrialized and has recently undergone significant urban deindustrialization, redevelopment, and modernization. Bilbao has won major world prizes for its efforts to revitalize its city responsibly.
RJGM was staying just outside the old town area while I was staying in its heart.
We reconvened at the Mercado, a market on the shores of the estuary that runs through the city. Here we had our choices from different stalls with different bites of food to eat. The tastes, textures, and flavours were a perfect introduction to Basque cuisine and the local fish…wonderful delicious fish.
After a short walk along the estuary, it was time to call it a night. 6.8km and 14 flights.
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