Bilbao - Day 6

To Bilbao for the Guggenheim!  After a week of eating, I really was looking forward to a little architectural focus for the day as we headed to Bilbao.  The Building, designed by Frank Gehry, opened in 1997, is everything you expect from a Gehry building, lots of complexity, good light, neat relationship to water and the site.  As with most Gehry structures, you could argue some details and the "why?" of pieces and parts, but mostly it is a joyful piece of art in and of itself.

Despite the rain, the outdoor collection at the museum was then most fun from my point of view. The giant spider, topiary dog, and dancing ladies were all great fun.  Te third floor was doing an interesting exhibition of Niki De Sant Phalle- which was joyful and disturbing in equal measure, it would be fair to say it was not a hit with everyone but I liked it. The Jeff Koons exhibit is on its way, which I would love to see, but sadly, we missed it this time.

A permanent gallery houses large metal labyrinths, which were designed to cause vertigo- and succeeded admirably.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 As a going away meal, Chef's Liz and Michel took us out to La Cepa in the Old City- for a special dinner in the wine cellar. Delicious.  Even the water bottles were pretty, and the wine, Muga, went down easy.......

 

 

Saint Jean de Luz - Day 5

Today we headed to Saint Jean de Luz, a lovely fishing village, right on the coast.  We explored for a bit, including a fantastic market, before lunch at Restaurant Le Zoko Moko.  The boardwalk is really interesting, sitting at about the second floor level of the adjacent houses .

At Le Zoko Moko the food was great, but the atmosphere was just as good, with modern niceties slipped into an 18th century stone house.

                                                                      Dessert #1

Dessert #2

 

 

 

Next stop, San Sebastian, a gorgeous, bustling city just on the Spain side of the border. With mountains on one side, and the sea on the other it is easy to see why this is a very popular tourist destination.  We started out by going to the top of Mount Igueldo for a view of the bay- simply breathtaking.  You can see a giant statue of St Sebastian on the island to the far left.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For dinner, we went out for pinchos- similar to tapas but made (so they say) with better ingrediants.  Served all over the Old Quarter of town (very cool in and of itself), families go place to place in the evening and order a drink and a pincho or two, and then head to the next restaurant to do the same. There were very few places to sit, so you mostly hang out and visit as you eat- we saw moms nursing babies, school kids, friends- everyplace was packed and hopping- even late on a school night.

Everything was delicious but the Foie Gras (both sliders and on its own) was ridiculously good. 

 

 

We hit 4 places, 2 pinchos at each place, and, of course more wine. 

I may never eat again.

 

 

La Truite de Banka - Day 4

Today we headed for the mountains to the trout farms of La Truite de Banka.  As we ate trout from this farm the night before, I can speak to how very delicious they are.....

They start with 600,000 eggs every year (squeezed out of the mama trout as if she was a tube of toothpaste- very disturbing). Each egg takes about 20 days to hatch, 20% die and the remainder are taken to fresh water upstream. The farm is very beautiful (though we stayed in the lower portion only). The fish are allowed to grow for 2-5 years depending on the required size, and they have a pretty good life until the bitter end, when they are not fed for 1 week, then caught and served.

The farm dog seemed very pleasantly surprised every 10 minutes to discover that fish lived on the farm with him.

Next stop, Pierre Oteiza, a famous producer of ham and the happiest pigs in the world- pie noir du Pays Basque. The breed has almost disappeared (by some accounts down to the last 25, when the French government and local farmers stepped in.  At this farm, the farmers wife received 2 piglets as a wedding gift and now they have 45 breeding females and 400 pigs roaming the mountains. The pigs are in the mountains from about 6 weeks old until 15 months or so.  The breeding females stay closer to home in the straw/metal huts and 2 litters per year.

Lunch was in a small café at Pierre Oteiza with a fantastic spread of saucisson, cheese, bread, ham, salad, wine......absolutely perfect. See if you can spot all the pig shaped table décor.  The pig made out of wine corks was my favorite.

Bonus points to anyone who knows the proper way to serve the saucisson cones.

We could (and likely should) have stopped eating at this point, but instead we visited Chocolaterie Antton, Fromagerie Agour and L'Atelier du Piment. All were delicious, but the l'Atelier du Piment , a pepper producer, was the stand out.

Run by proud Basque women for generations, the red pepper that they grow here is particularly delicious, and we had tastings of multiple products as well, including sauces, chocolates, etc.  They also made us ham and cheese crepes and served, of course, more wine.

Dinner was intended to be on our own n Bayonne- but really, who needs more food?   Opted for a drink and conversation at the hotel bar and to bed.