ON THE MOVE

We left Portugal three weeks ago and we’ve had quite a bit of adventure since. From Porto, we took a train to Vigo, Spain where we rented a car for the drive to Bilbao. It was a full day of driving, and we were in awe of the beauty of the northwest area of Spain (definitely on our must-go-back list!).

COVID TROUBLES

I had not been feeling well during most of our stay in Portugal (sore throat and cough) and thought for sure it was Covid except that I had several negative test results. A couple of days before we left, I was feeling fine. Then, on our drive to Bilbao, Ed started coughing.

A WILD RIDE IN BILBAO

We arrived at our Airbnb in Bilbao and discovered that it was the last night of an annual festival in the city. The old town (where our apartment was located) was packed with tens of thousands of happy, partying, drinking, dancing, singing Bilbao folks. We dropped our bags in a very hot apartment, turned on the AC, took a quick shower and headed out for a special dinner at a 2 Michelin star restaurant. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get there because there was not a single available taxi to be found. We finally found a place to eat and when we got back to the apartment it was still very hot inside and opening the window wasn’t an option (hot and noisy outside). Ed was feeling worse, and I decided a quiet, cool, comfortable hotel room was exactly what we needed. So, we walked to the other side of the city with luggage in tow (no taxis) which involved pushing our way through huge celebratory crowds singing and dancing in the street to a series of various very loud bands. The good news is that our hotel was perfect including a stunning view of the Guggenheim from the roof top terrace.

The three days we spent in Bilbao were a bit rough. Ed was sick (fever, chills, cough, some shortness-of-breath) and his Covid test was positive. I won’t burden you with all the medical drama, but it did include a call with a doctor and some close monitoring to be sure he didn’t need to go to the hospital. Thank goodness we’re both vaccinated and double boosted!

NEXT UP…Zaragoza

Of course, I’m not holding any of this against Bilbao. It’s a beautiful city and on the top of our list of places we want to visit again. After 4 challenging days in Bilbao, we masked up, kept our distance from others, and made our way to the train station for our trip to Zaragoza. Unfortunately, by the time we got to Zaragoza, I started to cough and my Covid test was positive too. My symptoms were milder, and Ed was feeling better, so we were able to wander about Zaragoza for a couple of days – masking when indoors but mostly staying outdoors even though it was very warm.

VALENCIA AT LAST

On September 1, we took another train ride from Zaragoza to Valencia. We’ve been in Valencia for just over 2 weeks and are both feeling much better and our Covid tests are negative. Whew!

Coming soon…. experiences and impressions of Valencia plus a road trip to Costa Blanca. And we’re so excited that Michael & Charlotte arrive in Valencia today!