Ola Todas!

I finally know what that means.

I can't begin to share how many things I loved about Spain, but I would like to tell everyone that everything I picked up on this board was very helpful.
The question people have asked me most often has been were my pockets picked. No...but that was due to the vigilance I gained on this site. We were targeted on 3 occasions, but direct eye contact and body wallets let us come through unscathed.

We arrived in Barcelona on Thursday 5/26 about noon. Our best flight option available had routed from Mpls to Chicago to Amsterdam into Barcelona.
We picked up our "EuroCar" rental, a diesel Renault, roomy & very comfy. (but stinky) After that hellacious flight, we were tired but excited to go.

After booking our flights last Feb., we found out that there were no rooms in Barcelona for the dates we would arrive there. This prompted us to use the first 9 days of our 19 days exploring the Basque Country.

My Paul was an Eagle Scout & can he read a map...man-oh-man!
We still got lost and ended up in the center of Barcelona on our way out of town. It was exciting & I wanted to get out & wander around, not Paul. He was growling about a highway & a bed.
We did eventually find the road we needed & drove to a little town named Manresa. After scoping out the town by car, we parked & entered a little place called "Cherries". We asked for directions to a hotel.
(Now I did receive a Spanish language program for Chanukah, and I did try to learn some basic phrases. At 50 yrs. old I seem to forget more each day, so learning a language feels like swimming upstream.)

Of course this nice little town does not receive many tourists, and probably very few US tourists. Everyone turned to look at us. The lady we spoke to must have realized my accented Spanish was horrible & she asked a gentleman seated at his lunch to come over & speak to us because he spoke English. He was so friendly and helpful and gave us directions to "Hotel Pere II".
We thanked him & left, only to go outside to tell each other we didn't understand a word he said & we still had no idea where this hotel was. Something about a bridge...
Manresa is not that big & after finding one hotel that was booked, they directed us to the other one the man had been directing us to, and checked into the "Hotel Pere II".

After checking out the beds, we left & began walking to find this little bar “Cherries” again. My Eagle Scout came through & we had our first Tapas & beer. We wandered around looking & visiting the Cathedral, La Seu (magnificent), the Sant Ignasi’s Cave, & the shops & the bars for several hours; we fell into bed by midnight. Not bad for old people!

We spent Friday morning walking around a bit more, eating sandwiches for breakfast!?! And then left to drive back south a bit to visit Montserrat. This was on my list of things I must see. We took the cable car up from Monistrol, what a fantastic vista! Then from the village of Montserrat we took the funicular up to the summit. We strolled around, listening to all the voices in all the languages. (This is one of my favorite things about traveling.)

Montserrat is home to a statue of the patron saint of Catalonia, La Moreneta, the dark skinned virgin. The statue had been secreted in a cave to protect her from invading forces hundreds of years ago. When the local priest & cohorts tried to remove it & take it to Manresa for placement in a new Cathedral to be built in her honor, many obstacles hindered the movement. The wise clergy finally decided that this was where the Madonna wished to be, & built the Cathedral right up there on the mountain. If you go to the top & face the front (toward the cathedral) & let your eyes wander you will spot several tiny houses, some appear to be chapels. We didn’t go closer, but there were paths marked with approximate walk times. There was a group of French speaking teens sitting at the edge of the precipice eating sandwiches, legs dangling over the edge. I wanted to pull them back to a reasonable safe spot. Paul clamped his hand over my mouth & reminded me my French was rusty.
We ate lunch at the restaurant, wrote a few postcards & decided to go to Cardona, a Parador & take a chance on an available room.
We found Cardona without a hitch, a lovely drive from Montserrat
They say that by visiting Montserrat you can earn time off from purgatory…well I don’t know about that but we managed to get a room at a Parador on a Friday night on a holiday weekend without a problem. I’d call that a mini-miracle!

Cardona is a beautiful castle, parts of which date from the 2nd century. The castle was built by the Folch dynasty, heir of Charlemagne, and belonged to the most powerful dynasty ruling during the 10th and 17th century.
We had spent a long day climbing, a late night the night before, and we decided to simply enjoy the Parador rather then visit the town. Our room was large, well equipped with all the goodies, spotless and located with a view toward the courtyard, our window surrounded by vines. I made Paul go down to the courtyard & stand beneath the window…”What light through yonder window breaks…”
(I made him take the camera.)

After settling in, we found a seat in the bar with a window. Cardona sits very high on a mount and the view is spectacular. The window faced north, we could see a patchwork of fields, houses with garden plots, the remains of an old Roman bridge, the town and the mountains to the North. A storm cloud was moving in, darkening the whole valley.
I remember sitting there feeling like the castle was ready to do battle with the storm.

We had red wine & little dishes of almonds so good I thought they were macadamias. We sat there for a couple of hours laughing & talking and planning our next move, all the while enjoying a view fit for kings. Hmmm

We ate dinner in the Parador dining room, a very large barrel vaulted room. The table settings were elegant, soft lighting and flowers. We ordered a bottle of wine, Paul ordered the suckling pig and I had the braised lamb shoulder. We both found the meats over salty. This is not unusual as we are very light salt users anyway. But the ambiance was worth the price of admission. After dinner we went back up to the bar & watched the lights in the valley, some lightning up toward the mountains and ordered the best brandy in the house.
The room had shutters on the inside, which we closed. We both had crazy dreams and woke up at 9:30AM. This seemed very late for a couple who like to rise by 6AM at the latest. We wrote it off to the wine and brandy. (Every hotel had shutters & we slept a lot later in Spain then at home).
At breakfast we discussed our dreams & came to the conclusion that the castle was definitely haunted.
Paul & I are both cooks so we tend to be a bit critical of food as a rule, but the breakfast at Cardona was nothing to write home about. Very expensive canned fruit & oily eggs.
Oh well…

The very friendly staff at the front desk called the next Parador on our route to see if there was a possible availability for Sat. evening. (It just so happened that the visit to Montserrat was still in effect and we were able to book a Saturday night at a Parador in the middle of a holiday weekend.)
I consulted with my navigator who consulted the map & we decided to drive through the mountains (as opposed to the highway, which would take us through southern France).
The next stop was to be Sos del Rey Católico , a former convent. (?)

We left Cardona after breakfast, heading North to Coll de Negro. This drive was beautiful, through rocky gorges and over a dam filled with turquoise water.
From Coll de Negro we turned onto a 12’ wide mountain road that took us 60km up a mountain, barely clinging to the sides of sheer drops into an unknown abyss.

Did I mention I have a problem with heights? I’ve been trying to prove this false all my life. I’ve para-sailed, bungee-jumped, cable car’ed , crossed one of the highest passes in the Swiss Alps, walked across that swinging foot bridge north of Vancouver and looked over the edge at Hoover dam. Nothing prepared me for this ride. At times I had my eyes squeezed shut so tight that I had raccoon marks on my cheeks from my mascara.

When we reached the top (Allah be praised) we were in the clouds. And these are just the foothills of the Pyrenees. We had stopped many times on the way up so I could put my head in a paper bag, and to take some pictures.

We were following a road toward a town named Tremp. We drove up a long way through trees & spectacular scenery, and the top was enveloped in clouds and smelled so clean and fresh, and there were houses along the way, some appeared to be vacation homes. I remarked to Paul that I would not care to run out for milk.
When we began the descent on the other side I thought I would throw-up. Now I was on the outside edge of the car. The views were again spectacular. We drove through the little towns of Boixols & Isona, that seemed to be clinging to the sides of sheer drops into valleys so far below us, that I actually felt like I was flying in a plane. There were ancient castles everywhere., all perched smack on top of the highest point on the hill.
(Frank Lloyd Wright would have choked.)
After finally reaching a regular road we stopped at a little place called Fonda Llarc in Puente de Montanena for tapas & a beer. I needed it. I asked for whiskey but they didn’t know that word.
Has anyone ever noticed that the American whiskey found in bars all over the world is Four Roses?

It was a great little place, terrific sandwiches, cold beer & tables right outside in the sunshine. There is a hostal right next door, and a pensione upstairs.

After lunch we continued our drive to Sols del Rey Catolico.

The diesel engine in this car gave us very good milage, and at .80pst per liter, that was a blessing.

As I am recording this for my journal, it probably has more detail then Madrid Mans readers care for, but it is what it is. I hope you enjoy. I need to go collect my grand-daughter for a visit, and I will write again soon.

[ 05-24-2001: Message edited by: MadridMan ]

LindaB, you've just given me the MOST delightful lunch hour today while reading your journal. And I'm CERTAIN it's EXACTLY the kind of detail MOST of us here enjoy. Those short-and-to-the-point postings are fine, but YOURS takes us all there if only for a short while. I'm sure that throughout the day my mind will wander to the parador in Cardona and the voices in Montserrat.

I think most of us who have driven through Spain have similar experiences of stopping in small towns for a bite to eat and seeing the kind of things and meeting the kind of people you met.

We all appreciate it. Finally, did you use the Mulit-Parador Pass? Isn't there some kind discounted pass for multi-visits? Or maybe the Bancotel passes could have used.

So thank you, LindaB, for sharing. I/we all have a warmer feeling after reading it.

Saludos, MadridMan

Dear Linda: Thank You for taking me on your trip thru Spain. I felt nervous with you on your descent of the Pyranees. I loved the paradors you picked for us and the paper bag over the head killed me. I am Thankful you were so Brave so we could enjoy the scenery. Please Write again soon. Regards Ski

Hi Madrid Man,

No we did not use multiday passes for the Paradors . We were not sure what would be available and we were taking it on the fly.
As I understood from reading things over prior to leaving, I could have purchased a 3 or 5 day pass, but there were restrictions on which days you could use them, and not on Fri. or Sat. As it turned out, after our lovely stay at Sos del Rey Católico , our next choices in Hondarribia and then Fuente Dé were not available. Not to worry, we made out just fine finding hotels where ever we landed.

Thanks Billy Ski and MM for enjoying my post. I have much more in stages, this AM covered 2 days out of 19!!!

LindaB

[ 05-24-2001: Message edited by: MadridMan ]

LindaB - Thank you so much for sharing your first two days in Spain - I have the feeling a any number of us might now explore Cardona and other points you painted so well in words. Keep sending installments of your journal!

Oh, Linda--how lovely!! It sounds like just the kind of trip I enjoy...lots of serendipitous twists and turns. That's one of the reasons I have decided to avoid the "ten cities in ten days" trap...otherwise, how could a person have adventures like yours? You seemed to cover a lot of ground, but at a pace that suited you and Paul and allowed for last-minute discoveries. I can't wait to hear the rest--and maybe we can get together to share photos here in Minneapolis sometime this summer (though I can't believe yours are already in albums, as you said in your e-mail to me--mine from March are still in a stack in my bedroom!). I would love to see your photos, meet Paul the Eagle Scout, and share some tapas!
Tara

Linda,

Fantastic journal... I can sense the mountains, the roads, and taste the fresh air, above the clouds. I can also see you using the paper bag so you can quit hyperventilating

If you recall, a picture is worth a thousand words. But when we don't have pictures, we use the words to create one in our minds. There's no doubt your journal has given that to us... we can see the towns... the people. All the things that have drawn us to Spain.

Give us more! We need a fix!

Wolf

Oh, I agree! It was so great to read about your experiences! I loved hearing about Montserrat. It has been ages since I was there, yet it is a vivid memory. Thanks so much for the details...I really enjoyed what you have written so far, please continue...

Oh come on!! We're OBVIOUSLY DYING to know what happened during your NEXT 2 days! SEE! We ARE interested in the details!

Saludos, MadridMan

More! More! More!

"........racoon marks on my cheek.....!!" It cracks me up to think about it!

FANTASTICO, I can't wait to read the rest of your trip. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Hi All,
More on our trip through Spain...

We arrived at Sos del Rey Católico around 5PM on Sat. 4/28, just behind a tour bus full of English travelers. I could not believe how the bus driver managed to move that HUGE bus around the tight streets in front of the Parador! I had to stand there and watch! Of course when the doors opened and people started pouring out I dashed to the desk to check in ahead of them.

The rooms were just great, large fluffy towels, large French doors that open fully onto lovely views, we were delighted!

After stowing luggage we took a stroll through the small town, and visited the Torre del Castillo (tower of the castle). Everything in Spain so far had been uphill; this was no exception. We walked up steep steps, climbed steep stairs, and reached the top of the church and the tower. From the top of the tower you could see forever! The lovely colors of the distant mountains and the green valleys, the stone houses with all the flowers kept us there for quite awhile. I vaguely remember the walk back was entirely uphill as well.

The town is very medieval, cobbled streets, turrets, a very layered in time look about it. To our astonishment we found a little tapas bar! (Actually there were several.) The setting sun, a beautiful view from the balcony of this bar, a cold beer, some little snacks, we sat back for a couple of hours and mused about knights in armor, the wars and the miracles and the Catholic religion. All the while we sat there we listened to old American rock and roll. We really enjoyed looking all around us and seeing everything in sight looked ancient, except the satellite dishes. Then we noticed a busload of women unloading in front of what appeared to be a candy shop. We followed and soon had some of the best chocolate truffle we have ever tasted. (Outside of Tuescher in Zurich.) One woman asked us where we were from and said we must come to “Beelba”. It took me a second to understand she was saying Bilbao and we happily told her we were on our way there to visit the Guggenheim. She said she was happy to hear this and that we would love it there. She told us she would soon be going to visit her friend in the US, in New Mexico.
We left with a rather largish box of truffle and a bar of dark chocolate, which I have stashed in the freezer to enjoy with “Pear Williams” if I can ever find a bottle again. The chocolate truffle I’m happy to say did not make the return trip. Well…I suppose it did. I gained 5 lbs.

After the hair-raising ride through the mountains, and the drive, we decided on an early night. We ate dinner at the Parador dining room, the food was not memorable and we decided to skip breakfast there in the AM.

On Sunday morning about 8:30 AM we left Sols in the rain. Our route to Pamplona took us through beautiful farm country, remarkable fresh and dewy green, all perfectly orderly, and all the John Deer tractors so shiny green, kind of felt like Minnesota.
The roads all through Spain were wonderful, other then that one 12’ wide one.

Pamplona was not far and we arrived there fairly early. We decided to drive around a bit since it was Sunday morning and there was little traffic. What a lovely little city. Beautiful buildings and parks and not a bit of litter or graffiti to bring you into to 21st century.
We eventually found a lovely place to stop for café con leche and that exquisite orange juice that we fell in love with. All I had planned on was coffee and juice… that was all I thought I wanted…until I saw the most beautiful toasty brown wide slice of what appeared to be French toast go by on a plate, covered in what appeared to be apricot or peach jam. I followed it and in my halting Spanish, managed to order one. (with the help of a gentleman sitting on a stool next to us.) The lady behind the counter asked a question to which I nodded my head vigorously and replied Si! Si!
When this beautiful golden brown piece of food arrived covered in apricot jam/syrup, it was also covered in whipped cream! (the question). I devoured it with the help of dos café con leche. The very large thick slice of bread had a very fine texture and was grilled, had a fine crumbly surface texture and think I remember the gentleman referring to it as a Plank??? Does anyone know whay it might be called?
I figured this breakfast would need about a 25-mile walk to work off.
We walked around the center of the town for a while, debated the possibility of spending the night, but opted to head out to Bilbao instead.
Has anyone ever noticed how there are always signs guiding a traveler to the center of a town, but never a word about how to get back out?

Entering Bilbao on a Sunday mid morning, we thought, would be as easy as pie. Not true, there seems to be one way in from the highway, and everyone uses it. Everyone was also headed to the Guggenheim , to which there were many directional signs. We were swept along with the crowd and found a place to park ridiculously close to the front door of the museum.

The building is breathtaking.

We have a museum here in Minneapolis designed by the same architect, Frank Gehry. Our Weisman is located on the banks of the Mississippi on the University of Minnesota campus. Many people love it and as many think it’s awful. Both Paul and I love it and we were delighted with the Guggenheim in Bilbao .
There is no question that Mr. Gehry took Bilbao’s shipping history into account when designing the building. From many angles you can see a ships prow, a stack or a wave. The hours we sat gazing at the building was worth the entire trip.

A very helpful woman, whom we spoke with while in Pamplona, had recommended a hotel in Bilbao, the Hotel Conde Duque . It just happened to be on the opposite side of the river from The Gug, so each time we crossed the footbridge we could see the museum in a different light. To cross the river, there is a footbridge made of a marvelous combination of white cables, pulled into the shape of a sail. At night the bridge was lighted from beneath. The walkway was comprised of lighted glass blocks inset into solid concrete blocks.
(I didn’t step on the glass blocks.)
The overall effect was one of light and speed. The bridge, by Santiago Calatrava, known as the Zubi Zuri, appears as a sailboat hiked over at top speed. ( http://homepage.tinet.ie/~bilbodub/pages/zubizuri.htm )
In front of the museum is the largest living sculpture imaginable! Take the tour; it has a wonderful shot of Jeff Koons “Puppy”, all planted in ivy & petunias and violets.
Guggenheim Bilbao Museum

We spent parts of 3 days in Bilbao, so we were fortunate enough to see the Guggenheim in many different views, in rain and sunshine, day and night.

Our tour of the museum took about 2 ½ hours. The entire 2nd floor was closed for an installation. We did see the Giorgio Armani, 25 years of fashion design. There were beaded evening gowns and beaded tuxedos for women and sophisticated “body conscious” suits for men. Various periods are presented in clusters expressing motifs from throughout Armani’s career. Neither Paul nor I are very conscious of our “look”, but we enjoyed the exquisite fabrics and designs in the exhibition.
The main floor held an interesting sculpture exhibition. Huge steel plates, mazes and both florescent and halogen light installations. You know…Paul has a theory on conceptual art.
He call’s it a “Bean”.

It began a few years ago here in Mpls., at the Walker. We were strolling through the conservatory in the sculpture garden, and came upon an exhibit named
“The Traveling Bean.”
Some enterprising “artiste” had been able to secure arts funding to buy a packet of seeds, plant them… harvest them, take the seeds from the full grown plant… travel to another country… plant them… wait for harvest… collect seeds… travel to yet again another country…hmmm.

Yes, we are under-educated in the arts…

I better get ready for work, seems it's later then it should be.

More later..
LindaB

[ 05-24-2001: Message edited by: MadridMan ]

[ 05-24-2001: Message edited by: Antonio ]

[originally posted by LindaB on 5-26-01...]

5/26/01

After our visit to the museum we checked into the hotel, parked the car and began our exploration of the city, which began by finding lunch and umbrellas. We walked back to the “Puppy” and headed up the street and found our first tapas bar. It was located about ½ block from the museum on Iparraguirre. The place had all the hardhats from the construction workers who worked on the museum, hanging around the top of the room, and a number of framed prints depicting sailing boats, freighters, ships etc.
The bar had a friendly atmosphere and a lovely selection of tapas.

In Bilbao the tapas (or pinchos as they are called in the Basque country) portions are large. I loved the crab salad mounded on a slice of baguette; a ham salad served the same way and the wonderful olives. Now I know I love olives, and those thing we buy in the US in jars called Spanish olives…what a joke! Same thing goes for tuna…it is a delicious food in Spain. No matter what brand I buy in the US, it’s flavorless!
We had the marvelous dry ham with cubes of cheese served on toothpicks, a couple of small beers each, and then left to go in search Bilbaoan culture.
We walked up the avenue, admired an old church, the Iglesia de S. Jose, walked around the Plaza de Fredrico Moyua, and strolled the “Gran Via de D. Diego Lopez de Haro”.
(No wonder the Spanish people talk so fast, they have a lot to say!) We window shopped for a while, strolled through lovely parks full of passionate lovers and eventually we felt a tapas attack coming on. We dropped into a terrific bar, claimed to be the oldest in Bilboa, the Café Iruna; marvelous tile work. Café Iruna served a large selection of pinchos, we ate a very dry ham on a hard roll, an open faced tuna, layered with the wonderful Spanish mayonnaise, and a layer of shredded cheese. Paul is allergic to seafood, and I felt bad that he could not eat the gambas with the green sauce; I had to eat them all by myself.

By now it was about 7PM, we finished our beers & waddled back out to the street discussing the quantities of food we had consumed and where we should head for our next morsel and what we might like for dinner…

Our timing throughout the trip was spot on! No matter where or when, we would walk into a bar, get a great table for dinner or spot at the bar for tapas, and within 5 minutes the place would be jammed full of people. Crazy!

We walked back toward the Plaza and took a different street off of it and just strolled along with all the people who were also just strolling along. It was chilly, the windows of the cafes and bars were a bit steamy and they all looked so inviting. We found ourselves in front of a bar with a fat wooden bar man standing out front; “ Proudly Serving Cruzcampo Cervasa…we stepped in to observe the tapas and immediately ordered the beautiful Tortilla Espagnol, hot from the kitchen. It was fluffier & far more tender then I have been able to create here at home, I have a lot of work to do.
It started to rain and we sat & talked and nibbled from little plates of olives with sardines, open faced tuna with lettuce & tomato on a crusty roll, sautéed mushrooms with cheese and ham on a slice of baguette and anchovies with small hot peppers and olives skewered on toothpicks. Finally it was time to consider dinner. … aaargh!
(All I really needed was a crème brulee, a hot shower and a backrub!)

We decided to skip dinner and just stop for a nightcap on the way back to the hotel. Paul spotted a bar not far from the Zubi Zuri footbridge so we went in and came to a screeching halt! WOW…who designed this place? It was so heavily decorated with angels spouting little horns, a very large satan was painted on the wall in all his evil grinning glory, carvings of devilish little horned angels danced on the bar and the walls, even the light fixtures were adorned with little angels floating on tufts of cotton above the shades. The highly decorative painted, ecclesiastic ceiling was covered with angels and also (in case there weren’t enough already) with large plaster angels. We took a couple of stools at the bar and gaped.
We found out that if you order a drink in Spain, you get a very large pour. Paul ordered a scotch and it was about 6 oz. I ordered vodka on ice and had to tell her to stop pouring! Yikes! It took over 1½ hours to work our way through that drink and we decided bed was a very good idea.

On Monday morning, 4/30, we decided to stay another night at the Conde Duque, and to spend the day in Donestia/San Sebastian. The drive took about an hour, and at 11AM we parked our car & started grazing.
First stop was a cash machine, which wasn’t working, lines were down. We had brought along travelers checks just in case, and now we needed to cash one. The man who cashed the travelers check did everything except draw my blood. He photo copied my passport and my drivers license, spent time looking at me and my photo, made me sign in 3 places, then left the room for a while. I think he was recording my face on the security monitors. Finally, 15 minutes later we had some tapas money!
Donestia is on the Bay of Biscayne. A large crescent shaped bay, with elegant old buildings crowding for a view. Apparently this city became fashionable when the Queen’s physician recommended “taking the water” here as a medical benefit.

We spent about 5 hours walking around the streets, visiting the Buen Pastor Cathedral, watching people swim in wet suits…and eating. I remember the food in Spain so vividly. We would walk and take a picture, stop and drink a beer and eat a tapa, then walk until the need to use the WC, then stop for a beer, use the WC, then the cycle would start again.
In Donestia we found a great place for tapas. It is called Bar San Marcial, and it is located at the far back walkway off San Marcial 50. We would have missed it if I hadn’t been looking in shop windows. It was filled with people, and the bar was crowded with stacks of plates full of foods lined the bar. There were hams hanging from the ceiling, along with sausages of different sizes & shapes. We watched a man making croquettes, for every piece he put into the dough, he popped a piece of ham into his mouth.
The bar itself was decorated with tiles and dark wood and very brightly lit. We ordered a La Rioja, “Bordin” red wine and the slice of baguette with Roquefort cheese, ham and anchovy with long thin green peppers. I tried the croquettes that everyone was eating; they were so good!
We then walked along the Playa de La Concha, enjoying the scenery, and decided this would be a place we would like to re-visit. After seeing as much as was possible in the time we had, we headed back to Bilbao.

Funny thing, we were hungry when we arrived back at our hotel.

I had spotted a pair of shoes I liked, and when I remember an item for more then a day, I’ve learned to go buy it or it will haunt me for a long time. My Eagle Scout told me he thought he could find the shop again so off we went. About 10 minutes into our search, it began to pour! In no time we were soaked to the bone, and searching for a place to buy umbrellas. We circled around 2 or 3 blocks and found a little shop selling umbrellas, bought 2 and resumed our shoe search. All the while of course, stopping in for a tapa here, a pincho there… True to form, my Eagle Scout came through, he found the shop, Frontux, and I tried on the shoes. They were too wide at the heel!!! They didn’t fit…I left with a lump in my throat…they were cool.

More later

[ 05-29-2001: Message edited by: MadridMan ]

[originally posted by Eddie on 5-26-01...]

I also stopped at the Conde Duque in Bilbao in April, 2000 (the 'Art of the Motorcycle' exhibit was at the Guggenheim). We returned in September, 2000. Fernando Fernandez, the Hotel Manager was very amiable.

Did you miss the la Begonia Cathedral? How about the Casco Viejo and the 3-story market on the river Nervion? You'll have to go back! You didn't complete your assignment.

I am waiting! Where is the rest of the trip?