Burgos

Friday, May 15

This was our last day in Spain and the only fixed item on our agenda was to get to an airport hotel in Madrid in advance of our noon flight tomorrow.

That gave us the opportunity to stop in Burgos, founded in the ninth century as a military stronghold in Spain's effort to regain territory lost to the Moors.  Three centuries later, with the Moors still a force to be reckoned with, Burgos was the birthplace of Spanish hero El Cid, revered for his leadership in combating the Moors.

Today, Burgos is best known for its Gothic cathedral, which is just inside Arco Santa Maria, a beautiful gate to the Old Town.  The cathedral is a beautiful construction of towers, buttresses, stained glass, and Gothic perfection inside and out.  A glorious dome embellished with a lacy eight-pointed star towers over the tomb of El Cid in the crossing of the nave and transept.  Our audioguides provided (too) extensive information about the cathedral's many side altars, sacristy, cloisters, and museum; sometimes, we find it's better to turn off the commentary and just drink it all in.

A short walk brought us to the Plaza Mayor, more commercial than graceful, and then to the Paseo del Espolon, a lovely riverside walk under an arcade of English plane trees.

Our last stop was several miles outside town at the Carthusian Monastery of Our Lady of Miraflores.  At this quiet place, still home to an order of contemplative monks, the rather austere exterior belies the glorious interior scene.  Carved choir stalls and stained glass from the 15th and 16th centuries led the way to an intricately carved altarpiece, described as a tapestry carved in wood; it's said to have been gilded with some of the first gold brought back from the New World.  In front of the altar are the tombs of King Juan II and Princess Isabel, parents of Queen Isabella.  In the form of an eight-pointed star, the royal tombs are a riot of carved alabaster, with hundreds of figures rendered in intricate detail.  As we crossed the courtyard outside the church, we could hear the monks singing; this was as lovely a final stop as we could have ever imagined for this trip...

Until -- our experience at dinner!  Though we're at a hotel very close to Madrid's airport, we're actually in a residential neighborhood, with small shops, businesses, and restaurants.  After consulting TripAdvisor, we found a high-ranking, authentic, favorite-of-locals, family-run restaurant just a couple of blocks from our hotel. We were warmly welcomed by Pepe and his wife, Carmen, who, along with assorted family members, have run their restaurant for over forty years.  Pepe advised us about menu selections, came to check on us frequently, and brought us several extras.  As the place began to fill with locals, some requested that the TV be turned on; suddenly we were closely following -- not soccer -- bullfights!  We could hear the exhortations and groans from the bar patrons; clearly, the goings on in the arena had wide appeal.  To top it all off (we thought), Pepe arrived with a special desert, served only on May 15, the feast of Madrid's patron saint, Isidore.  But wait!  There's more!  As we were leaving, Pepe came out to bid us farewell, with gifts in hand.  Tom has a new cap, emblazoned with "Madrid", and I have a lace-trimmed fan, featuring scenes of Madrid.  I think that Pepe and Carmen's TripAdvisor score will be going higher yet!

This was one lovely day, and a memorable way to end this fine trip.  We're ready to return to our real lives which, after all, are sweet, indeed.  Thanks for reading and traveling along with us.

Bilbao

Thursday, May 14

We returned to Bilbao today in order to visit the Guggenheim Museum there.  While Modern Art is not something we know (or care) much about, we very much wanted to explore Frank Gehry's distinctive titanium-clad building that's been credited with changing the very nature of Bilbao.

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The museum itself is spectacular, a fact tacitly acknowledged by the fact that the audioguide devotes a considerable amount of commentary to it; even empty, it would be an extraordinary work of art.  The only flat surfaces are the floors; everything else curves, twists, swirls, flows, spirals, splashes, and undulates.  The central atrium soars to skylights high above, is ringed by catwalks and balconies, and is open to the city, river, and green hills of the surrounding countryside.  Outside the building, terraces, a curving pool, several large installations, and extensive public spaces serve to blur the lines between the institution and its surrounding environment.  The audioguide featured Gehry's own explanations of some of the factors that entered into his design process, the materials he used (The titanium is just the thickness of tissue paper!), and the effects he was trying to create.

The largest gallery is devoted to Richard Serra's Matter of Time and Snake -- enormous sculptures of steel waves, coils, and spheres that are experienced, rather than viewed.  We walked around and through them, finding it difficult to keep our balance, orientation, and bearings; it was fantastic!  The gallery also included models, photos, and videos of the works' creation, as well as Serra's own extensive explanations of his efforts to redefine sculpture.

The museum's gallery space is located on three levels, though for most of this month the second level is closed for the dismantling and installation of exhibits.  (Unique in our experience, the admission price is reduced, depending on the amount of space open to view!)  The third floor is currently devoted to the work of Niki de Saint Phalle, feminist, sculptress, feminist, filmmaker, feminist, painter, feminist, painter, feminist, political commentator, feminist, writer, feminist, iconoclast, and -- feminist.  You can probably guess the common thread that informs her work across all media...  Especially memorable to us were examples of her "shooting" period, when she integrated cans of spray paint into her work, then took aim, and shot them with a rifle -- the expertise, the fine brushwork! A little Niki goes a long way, and there was a LOT of Niki on display here, but remember, as previously stated, Modern Art is not something we know much about -- yet!

Back on the ground floor, we resisted the impulse (or was it gravitational pull?!?) to re-enter Richard Serra's world of experiential sculpture, and left the museum to see a bit of the city beyond its wavy walls.  We walked along the Nervion River to Bilbao's Old Town and wandered around its pedestrian streets, quiet during the city's extended afternoon siesta.  We enjoyed a ride back to the museum on the modern riverside tram, and then headed back to our home base in Vitoria for the evening.

Tomorrow night, we'll be staying at an airport hotel in Madrid, so tomorrow will be our last day on the road.  We've still got places to go, and things to see, so we'll be making the most of the day as we make our way to Madrid.

On Saturday, we'll be in the air en route home, and right about now, that seems just about as welcome a destination as any we've visited during the last month!