A hidden place.

Bilbao.

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We had a lovely day in Bilbao, most of it was spent in the Guggenheim Museum where no photos were allowed. If you get a chance, go to the Anish Kapoor exhibit (on till the 12th of Oct.). My favourite piece was this one, called "When I am preagnant".

(Stolen photos from a google search.)

Marshell.

Thanks wita!

Llenó de cochambrosa mis zapatos de charol.

Landaberde Zaharra.

El caserío.

I watched the horses from bed.

Vidorra.

Indian chicken protecting her eggs. Don't get too close.

The two reasons why the cock keeps coming back.

Macho man (a little camera-shy).

Cebollotas poniéndose ricas!

Ñamiñami pimientos!

Acelgas!

Calabacín gigante!

Tomates que serán tomatazos!

Perita!

Human-head-sized tomato from Cristian's friend's veggie garden.

Mmmm. My favourite.

Eskerrik asko, Idoia y Cristiantxu! Estuvimos muy a gusto!

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We spent a couple of days in Idoia's and Cristiantxu's caserío in Fika. It felt so nice to introduce Phil to such special friends, to me this is a magical place that holds a special place in my heart and always will. I truly respect and admire their way of life and feel that there is much to be learned from their actions.

We felt very welcome and had interesting conversations that I'm still thinking about. Hopefully we will meet again sometime soon. The offer of staying in that spare room for a while is very tempting!

Mucho amor y a alegría a los dos, seguimos en contacto! Agur!

Calamares y txacolí.

Sunday aperitivo!
Nearby is the terrace where I had the nosevibrating laughter attack!

Getting rid of the allergy in Bermeo.

We had a little nap and a eurosalad sitting on this wall. Click to enlarge.

Fiberglass!

"I want to go fishiiiiiin."

Phil wanted to have a really close look at this painted wood.

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Phil's summer arm-allergy came to visit again, so we had to go to the doctor's in Bermeo. It's a beautiful fishing town where everybody seems to know each other. There was a general feeling of Sunday happiness and fancy hairstyles floating in the air.

24 hours after this, the allergy was practically gone!

Lovely Mundaka.

This was the view from the little beach we had all to ourselves. Click to enlarge.

Abandoned (and haunted) house in the center of Mundaka.

Mundaka has on of the longest waves in the world!

Soaking it up.

Low tide. But not low enough to walk to the other side, as we discovered after walking for quite a while.

Enjoying a euro salad.

Moments before the calamar was caught by the french man near us.

Water-sand-water.

These people like to experiment with letter kerning.

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Mundaka was probably my favourite place of the trip. Also, we were lucky with the weather here (it rained almost every day, as it normally does in the north of Spain, hence its lush, green landscapes). The camping was really nice too and we found no overcrowded beaches, even the village was pleasantly calm, without too many tourists.

Supper with a view. And a snake.

After pitching the tent in the camping near San Sebastián, we found this amazing spot to cook dinner for the first time during our trip. The view, as you can see, was incredible. I guess we were the only ones there because we didn't realise this was private property, as the owner informed us shortly after we had started cooking (and also after seeing a snake slither under our mat, eek!). The owner was kind enough to let us finish cooking, he said he would go and feed the horses (they lived in the fields you can see on the photo, the ones near the beach below) while we finished supper. Unfortunately that wasn't time enough to finish, so we slurped the pasta we had cooked while walking up the steep hill back to the camping.

Some hours in Paris.

Jardin dus Plantes. ("Plant Garden").

Gradient.

They have their own "bicing" system, like in Barcelona.

Picnic in front of Notre Dame. So cliché.

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After visiting Phil's family in Wuppertal, we decided to travel straight to Spain. We had to change trains in Paris and got to have a tiny little taste of the city, which I will definitely go back to some time soon.

Magali, if you read this, please forgive me for not calling you. I didn't have your number on me, I tried getting someone to send it to me but didn't get it on time.

I'm off.

Dear visitor,
I'm off on holiday until mid August. There will be plenty of accumulated photos to be posted by then.
Love,
Rachel

Badges for Conxa.

(This one I kept.)

I made these as an hastaluego present for Conxa.