HASTA LUEGO, IBERIA!
I write this at Bilbao airport, sipping a very acceptable craft beer — look it’s past 11 AM, I’m still in Spain, don’t judge me! — awaiting the flight to Madrid to connect with our flight to Rome. After seven weeks on the road, ’tis time to bid the Iberian Peninsula farewell. Or rather, as they say in these parts, ‘hasta luego’.
‘See you later’. Which I undoubtedly will.
We have had such a wonderful seven weeks here, working our way up from southern Portugal (the Algarve) to the very north of Spain (the Basque Country) via all sorts of sights, sounds, scents, tastes, and touches along the way. I spent a lot of time in Spain in my youth — my parents moved to Andalucía when I was 18. I loved the Iberian way of life then, and I do now. The cafes and bars, the wines, the late-night tapas crawls, the 11 AM beers, the markets, the vistas, the plains, forests, mountains, the fabulous ever-changing Atlantic Ocean, the wonderful hospitality of the people. Portugal and Spain share much more than a border. Their citizens have a similar attitude to life — that it is for living, at a pace that is dictated by the climate, by the rhythms of the day, by human nature. Shops in both places close for siesta/sesta. Re-open to bring people thronging onto the streets. To see, be seen, take part in society.
This of course is a generalization. Seven weeks does not make me an expert on either country. There will be people who have very different experiences in each of them — the marginalized, the hustlers, the poor, the immigrants. I can only speak as the privileged Western male I am, able to indulge in the good stuff.
I also suspect that, like most such longer journeys, it will require some retrospection in front of the fireplace when I finally get back home in order to reach any deeper conclusions. For now all I can do is pick out some moments — and rate the ‘Best’ of some places and experiences. (I’ll add a few ‘Worst’ too. After all, can one achieve a proper perspective on the positive without experiencing some negative?).
I have written about most of these in other posts. Still, from the lofty height of my table at Bilbao airport, I can now look down and back.
(To spare our blushes, I will not list what were obviously the very best moments: each moonlit stare into Cat Cooper’s eyes)
Best city:
5) Lisbon
4) Aviles
3) Porto
2) Bilbao
1) Oviedo
Saddest: Foz (nice beach though — see end)
Best Tourist experiences:
8) Rugs at the Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon
7) Sandeman Port Tour, Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal
6) Walking Tour, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
5) Ler Devagar Bookstore, LX Factory, Lisbon.
4) Kayaking the caves, Lagos, Portugal
3) Battlefield, Aljubarrota, Portugal
2) Cromlech do Almendres, Alentejo, Portugal
1) Guggenheim, Bilbao tied with Museo Pax, Gernika, both Spain
Most over-rated: Pena Palace, Sintra, Portugal.
Best beaches:
4) Playa de Llas, Foz, Galicia
3) As Catedrais, Galicia, Spain
2) Mundaka, Basque Country, Spain
1) Burgau, Algarve, Portugal
Best vistas:
5) Porto, from across the river in Vila Nova de Gaia
4) Driving through the oak forests of the Alentejo
3) As Catedrais, Galicia, Spain.
2) Douro Valley, Portugal
1) Galician valleys from Feve trains.
Best apartments:
3) Casa Valeria, Burgau
2) Calle Iturrbide, Bilbao
1) Páteo Lima, Valverde, Alentejo
Worst: Airbnb, Sintra, Portugal.
Best hotels:
3) Palacio Valdes, Aviles, Asturias
2) Agua del Mar, Vigo, Galicia
1) Soho Boutique, Oviedo, Asturias.
Worst: Villa de Foz, Foz, Galicia.
Best cafes/restaurants and food/drink:
5) Holy Wine, Lisbon. Organic wines in a hole in the wall bar.
4) Aggarate Catalina, Aviles — Casasitas ‘Mushroom Pies’ and Pinon del Rey white wine in the porticos.
3) Antxoa, Bilbao — All kinds of anchovy tapas with red vermouth on tap.
2) Palacio do Grilo, Lisbon — Douro Red
1) El Boca a Boca, Oviedo — vegan mushroom risotto
Best runs:
3) Porto through the cemetery
2) Bilbao along the river to the Guggenheim
- The run along the Pinhão river, in the Douro Valley — starting with the startling of herons, ending at the Roman bridge.
Best drink:
3) Una Mixta — White and Red Vermouth, Santiago de Compostela market, Spain
2) Twenty-Year-Old Tawny Port, Quinta do Bonfim, Pinhão, Portugal
1) Pint of Barbudo (8% ruby ale) in the beer garden of the Letra Brewery, Porto.
Best Single Moments:
5) The incense burner swinging through a sunbeam before the altar at the Pilgrim’s Mass, Santiago de Compostela cathedral.
4) Watching the kite surfer for an hour at Mundaka.
3) Walking to the dolmen near Valverde, Portugal
2) Catching the perfect wave in Burgau, Algarve.
1) The little boy reaching out and holding my coat as I exited, quite upset, the Museo Pax, Gernika. (See my last post)
Worst: A kid splitting my suitcase by sitting on it on the train from Lagos to Lisbon (Pretty small potatoes, really)
Best ‘I’m not in Kansas anymore’ moments:
6) The discovery of erotic waffles, Bilbao.
5) The Ochote (eight) voice singers in Plaza Nueva, Bilbao.
4) The Cofee (sic) Café, Porto for drunk, shouting, one-legged, throat-boxed clientele.
3) 2 AM streets of Lisbon after partying at the wild 18th Century Palacio do Grilo.
2) Full moon, crashing waves, all alone, Burgau Beach
1) Marzan and Reinante Feve train stations, middle of nowhere, Galicia
There are so many more places and experiences I could list — and I am certain I have forgotten several. I know I will return someday to have more — just as I am returning to Rome this evening 39 years after I first threw a coin into the Trevi fountain. However if I was forced to choose only one of these wonderful countries to return to, it would have to be…
Spain.
I can hear the outraged cries of Portuguese and Portugal-lovers alike! Believe me, I enjoyed so much of the country and its delightful people — just consult my lists above. I will certainly return to take in the vast amounts I didn’t see, even in a month. But for so many reasons, Spain has a hold on my heart. And the north — Galicia, Asturias, the Basque Country — a new and special corner of it.
After all, I have chosen that building in Oviedo to return to and write my next novel, right?
Now, what will I make of Rome on my fourth visit? Stay tuned! And again, hasta luego, Iberia! Till the next time.
