October 16th, last day in Spain

These last few days have been a whilrwind trying to fit in last minute hikes, pintxos, and tramites (errands). Ash, Kepa, and I woke up super early. We dropped off my luggage at the pension-hostel in Bilbao where I decided to spend the night and zipped off to Guernika to see the town.
Guernika is symbolic for being bombed by the Nazis during the time of the Spanish civil war. It was a tragedy and Picasso painted his piece in memory of the events that happened in Guernika.
Picasso´s painting is now at the Museo Reina Sofia in Madrid(corrected because it moved out of the Prado circa 2008). Today, we a copy of his painted work (same size) in clay and tile outdoors in the center of the town. I saw the painting in 1998 when I traveled with Ellie in Spain and it was very impactful. It was interesting to be able to go to the town of Guernika this time to be able to learn more about the history.
We attempted to go a cool looking painted forest and old cave, but we ran out of time.
I took the bus to Bilbao, met a yoga instructor who sat next to me on the bus, and chatted the whole way to Bilbao.
I enjoyed the quiet Sunday in Bilbao going to Museo de Bellas Artes, and the Guggenheim in Bilbao. I squeezed in a lot of art on my last day here.
I was impressed by the exhibit by sculptor, Serra, at the Guggenheim. I enjoyed free admission because it was some anniversary for the Guggenheim. I also really enjoyed some sculptures by E. Chillida at both museums. He had one miniatures sculpture in honor of Salvador Allende. I am intersted now to learn more about Chillida. Sadly, his museum in San Sebastian had to close.
My next steps include heading to bed in time to wake up at 4:30 am to make it to the bus station to get the the airport in time for my 7 a.m. flight. eeek! My cell phone is losing charge quick, who knows why, so I got myself a cheapo alarm clock at one of the only stores open on a Sunday night here in Bilbao. It was run by a Chino who spoke broken Spanish to me who spoke broken spanish. Good fun.
I am sad to have to say goodbye to Spàin! It was tough to despedir a Ashlyn and Kepa this morning. Now It will be interesting to leave a place where I can get by speaking the language to end up somewhere where I don´t understand a word.
Turkey (Istanbul), here I come.
until later,
Arielle
My next steps are to get up early

Oct 14: haircut, bike return, exploring french coastline

Got my hair chopped off today.
Then did some bike path (bidegorri) tourism to get to the place where I turn in my bike to ship it off to Pamplona.

Pictures below are of our travels to san jusn de luz and Bearitz.

Day 7: Roncesvalles to Pamplona 52 km

Up before the sun today as we got booted out of the beautifully renovated monastery/auberge. The ride down the hill was awesome with the wind in my face making my eyes tear and my fingers tips freeze.
It was pretty much all downhill to Pamplona where Ash turned in her rented bike and headed to San Sebastian. I grabbed a bus to Logrono to continue the Camino for a few days while exploring La Rioja.
Looking forward to a day of exploring tomorrow and seeing who I meet along my way. It feels like the time I have left in Spain is getting shorter so quickly. Hay que seguir hablando practicando de Hablar espanol po.

october 13, back to San Sebastian

Up early, had some tortilla and hot chocolate and explored Burgos by bike before taking my 10;30 bus back to San Sebastian. It was fun to ride up the hill to see the outside of the Castillo. More importantly was the wonderful view at daybreak. You could see the towers of the cathedral as the fog rolled out. Then I did a little bike path tourism and road all around town on the separated bikeways just to see where it would go. I tend to like a lot of the public art here in Spain. The bike path took me past a few pieces that I liked. Hopefully I can upload them here when all my photos are off my camera.
After the long busride home, Ashlyn happily greeted me as we chatted about our last few days while I unloaded everything from my bags outside her apt. door.
I was so happy to be back ¨home¨and not have to stay in another pilgrim alberge.
Time to do laundry, go for a walk, and figure out how to get the bike back to pamplona. How nice would it be to just snap the fingers. It would be easy to do tomorrow (i don´t want to ride another bus today) except for the bus worker strike. really? Well, at least if they are going to strike, I am happy that I know about it. That way it won´t mess with my plans.
Now my bike trip has formally come to an end, it is time to revisit the highlights.
Spain bike trip including some France and camino de santiago highlights:
1. biking into puente la reina on beautiful old roman bridge
2. camping in a park next to the monastery in puente de la reina
3. admiring the different architecture of the old roman churches in the towns at the beginning of the camino.
4. riding a small boat to get across the water before climbing jaiskibel
5. views of beautiful pastures at daybreak

Now I get to enjoy the rest of my time here in northern spain. I still have to squeeze in some time to get to Bilbao, see st. jean de Luz, and Bearitz.
Once again, thanks for reading. hugs to all!!!
rel

10-12 65 km to Burgos

When you stay at these pilgrim auberges you end up getting up before the sun rises.  It is such a nice time to be on the road.  The moon was full and the sky a royal blue this morning as I set on my way.  The beginning of the day had views of dry fields and the highway.  It was lovely, but not amazing.  I rode through some small towns and passed some walking peregrinos along the way.  Ricardo decided to leave around the same time as me this morning so I cycled a bit behind my biking buddy.  He would say his ¨hola¨to the pelgrinos we passed, and I would yell ¨buen camino¨ or ¨hasta luego¨as I scooted by. 
There is a lot of camaraderie on the camino de santiago and everyone wishes each other a ¨buen camino¨.   When people respond, you get an idea of where they are from based on the way they say buen camino.  There are ¨pilgrims¨ from all over the world.  I met people from korea, france, the netherlands, canada, germany:  the list goes on. 
English was sometimes the best way to communicate from everyone all over the world.
But, thanks to my bike buddy, the majority of the time I was in a spanish immersion camino de santiago as I tried to converse in spanish while guiding my weighted bike over unpaved paths.
It was sometimes challenging to stay on the camino with my non-knobby tires as the bike would ¨patina¨or skate in english.
Anyway, today was a tough day with 2 long climbs and one of them was in the early afternoon fully exposed to the sun.  Three or four times, I would have to get off the bike and push, I was so so tired, I felt like I was taking 1 step forward and 2 back.
Many people were very encouraging and the downhill was well worth the work.
I made it to Burgos just in time for a large lunch (spanish style around 3 pm).  After showering, I explored the beautiful cathedral, then relaxed.

day 8, or is it 9? Logroño to Redecilla del camino 60 km

I have just a bit before heading to enjoy my meal at the alberge tonight.  Ash left for San Sebastian yesterday and I continued on the Camino de Santiago.  Well, I skipped a bit by taking the bus to Logroño as I had already biked a large portion from Pamplona to Logronó at the beginning of the trip.
I stared this morning before the sun rose.  The views of wine country, La Rioja, were beautiful!  I will upload photos when I can.
I biked 20 kms on my own with great pistas (dirt paths).  I only had to get off my bike once to get over some rocky areas.
I would stop on my way and chat with some walkers.  I met a cute couple from the canary Islands, and another from France.  Then I found another biker (Ricardo) going my pace and we biked 40 kms together to redecilla del camino.   
I head to Burgos tomorrow before leaving the camino to head back to San Sebastian. 
Off to dinner now and to relax a bit.

¿Day ?? I may have lost count, day 7 roncesvalles to logrono bike and bus.

text written on phone but no wifi, will try to update this when i can.