No Room in the Albergue

 San Sebastian was beautiful, and then on Friday we walked to a town called Zarautz. I decided to press on to the next town, but every place was full. 

I took the bus back to Zarautz and found a room in a private home, like an Air B & B. It it in a 5the floor apartment. High on a hill above the town.To get up to the neighborhood there is a tall tall elevator. You get out all the way at the top  you can’t see it from this side, but there’s a walkway on the other side that leads to the apartment complex.

In the one picture you can see this glass elevator in the center. In that picture at the bottom left there is

a little yellow Camino arrow. The second picture is from my balcony. It’s a view of the mountains south of Zarautz

. And one more picture of the beautiful countryside we hiked today.

Arrived in San Sebastián

 Hello Again, I have arrived in the beautiful beach city of San Sebastián.

The city has several gorgeous beaches and a lot of people go surfing here. I am staying on the east side of the town, so I actually will have 2 miles to walk in the morning through the city.

But I could walk along the beach so that was nice.

This morning, I finally was able to get some cash from an ATM. So I am trying to go to a hostel where I think the pilgrim who lent me €20 last night is staying.

At least I hope that he is. He is going to be a whole lot faster than me, so this is probably the last chance I will get to see him.

I didn’t trust to walk across the town to go to this hostel, because I Arrived in town so late. I’m met some really nice people today. At one point we had to take a boat across the bay. A very short boat ride, but woman from the Netherlands paid my boat ticket. Then tonight before we all went our separate ways, we sat at a table again and had something to drink.

 I will try to post pictures later.

I hope I find Jose at this hostel, it’s entirely possible he didn’t go there. But yesterday he told me he tries to go to the municipal hostels at each stage, so I think this is a good chance. And anyway, it’s totally beautiful here walking along this beach.  

Here are Nina, Mariska and I celebrating our arrival in San Sebastián.

In Bilbao for the Tour de España

Demonstration in Bilbao Today

Today I landed in Bilbao In the north of Spain.

It was my intention to get a bus to Irun and begin the Camino. But The earliest bus going east was only going to leave at 6:30 in the evening, because the tour of Spain took place today in Bilbao.

The earliest bus going east was only going to leave at 6:30 in the evening, because the tour of Spain took place today in Bilbao.

So I went out to the street and watched. Isaac was watching in LA and I wished he could’ve been here to see it. The streets were crowded. In particular there were lots of Palestinian Demonstrators, carrying flags, and chanting. I’m guessing a lot of the Basques have great sympathy for the Palestinians because of their oppression by Franco during the Civil War. He actually got Hitler to send bombers to Spain to destroy Guernica, a Basque town east of Bilbao.

Anyway, I was waiting to see the end of the race, when some men beside me said, “oh! It’s over.” They turned to go and I asked What happened?

They were watching it on their phones, and said the race organizers ended it 3 kilometers early on account of all the demonstrations going on.

I will arrive soon in Irun where I hope to start walking tomorrow. 

Arrived in Lisbon

 I’m in the airport and there’s a couple hours wait to catch the plane to the north coast of Spain. When I reach Bilbao, I need to take a bus to Irún, to start the Camino  

 So far everything has gone well. Many Americans here to  vacation and take tours. So far nobody doing the Camino  (Lisbon is actually on the Portuguese Camino). I talked to a woman from upstate New York who’s going to Bilbao to tour in the north for a week, then south to Málaga to tour there.

In 1985 I went south to Granada -mountains with year- round snow, and a huge castle!- and Nerja, down on the coast -still a charming fishing village in 1985, with a plaza called the Balcony of Europe, on a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean. I missed you kids terribly but was glad to see it. I paid $15 for a room with two double beds we all could have fit in, with a balcony overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Early in the morning, just at dawn, fishermen rowed little boats in to the beach, dragging nets they had put out overnight.  I sat out on my balcony and watched them. There were cats running around trying to get fish. It was right out of the time of Jesus (except for the cats- I think they came from the Americas.)

After I remembered my trip, she showed me her itinerary and she was going to both those places on day trips  I told her she was going to love it there. 

Just wanted to let you know I arrived here safely. Looking forward to Spain again.

Now Boarding for Spain

 Our Flight is scheduled to leave at 5:35, but I guess it will take a little bit to get loaded and ready.

This morning I got to see Jordon briefly in Philadelphia, his outbound train had some issues he had to take care of, so he was actually still in the Station after I had arrived.

We arrive in Lisbon in 6 1/2 hours, - 6am local time- then I’m supposed to arrive in Bilbao tomorrow afternoon. So the next time I write I’ll be in Europe.

There was a Lufthansa double- decker loading beside us, crazy big.  

On my Way

 Lucy kindly dropped me off at the Elizabethtown Amtrak and I’m on my way to Newark. 

Chase in Oklahoma is on his way to a state level shooting contest in Guthrie, we should send him focusing thoughts!

Just being sure I can really post from my phone. And looks as though I can. 

Going to Spain in the Morning

After looking around at different options, I decided to just add onto my Haiti blog from 2009. If everyone can find it and read it, I'll be glad. I tried to create a new one, and the site kept leading me to this old one.

So I'm just going to post under "Liz Goes to Haiti." If it doesn't work I'll get someone to show me how to do a new one. I can't seem to find a truly free one, they all seem to say "first 90 days free!" or something like that. I know it's confusing, but let's see if it works.

I have to learn how to add the pictures again inside the script. I notice the videos I posted in 2009 are no longer up, so I will just put photos on this so they can stay live. Today Clare and Amanda's families came for dinner and Amanda took this picture of Jackson, Harper and me before they left. Tomorrow is their first day of school!