Pilgrimage to the Past

We have begun another OAT adventure. They bill this one as "Northern Spain and Portugal: Pilgrimage to the Past." We're basically exploring the Basque region of the Pyrenees Mountains and following parts of the ancient "Camino de Santiago" or "Compostela" pilgrimage trail.

We left MSP yesterday afternoon and flew to Amsterdam, then on to Bilbao, Spain. The Twin Cities light rail system is down for maintenance, so we had to take Uber from home all the way to the airport at almost double the cost of our usual arrangement. However, our flights were on time and uneventful -- even if flying across the pond in afternoon rather than evening seems to make jet lag worse.

Arriving in Bilbao, we haven't encountered much that points to a "Pilgrimage to the Past." It's a bustling and modern metropolis. On a beautiful September Saturday afternoon the "centro" (city center) was full of people shopping and enjoying glasses of wine at the many sidewalk cafes. It seems people are really dressed up for a Saturday!

No program for us until evening, and some of our group members have been delayed by missed flight connections. So the two of us walked along the river and on some of the main streets, fighting to stay awake. We did enjoy a nice meal at a little hole-in-the-wall cafe.

Tomorrow we will walk into the "old town," and perhaps that will begin a pilgrimage to the past.