6/20/2014   To Spain  
Didn't sleep much on the red-eye to Paris but Air France served a tasty dinner and I watched a movie after that. In the Paris airport I found free wifi so answered marathon emails during my four-hour layover. The customs official at Bilbao waved me through when he saw my American passport, and thanks to Daniel's detailed instructions I didn't have much difficulty negotiating the bus system to San Sebastian. Daniel met me at the bus stop in San Sebastian at 6:30PM, 23 hours after I left Jackson.
After dropping my stuff off in his apartment (and I think I took a nap as well) we walked downtown for a delightful dinner of seven pintxos (pronounced pinchos, Basque for tapas or small courses) with three kinds of wine at four different bars/restaurants. Highlights were the beef cheeks and the Foie at the first place we visited, La Cuchara de San Telmo, and the cheesecake at our last stop, La Vi¤a. I wanted to try Pulpo and had some at Bar Zeruko, a brightly lit place with a brilliant array fancy pintxos on platters on the counter. The Pulpo was not particularly flavorful but the squid (Cimarrones?) with caramelized onions and the steak (Solomillos) were delectable. We tried two wines there as well,a light sparkling white wine called Txakoli and a mellow Riojoa (a bit of an oxymoron) named Mauro. We wrapped up the evening by sitting on the seawall sharing a glass of sweet wine from Taverna Gandarias. A dinner of pintxos is definitely not fast food; it was 1:30AM (7:30PM NH time) by the time we got back to Daniel's apartment.

6/21/2014   Mugaritz and Ulia  
Today we ate an epic lunch at Mugaritz, a top-rated restaurant up in the green hills above Astigarrera. Our repast consisted of 21 courses over four hours and cost 530 Euros for two of us with wines. Each plate was a meal in miniature, the intense flavors and varied presentations evoking a multitude of restaurant visits and the overall experience a playful adventure, an intriguing exploration of new and familiar flavors woven into themes appreciated not only with the palate but also with mind and heart. The meal was less pretentious than my description, btw. At some point during the meal each table received a tour of the kitchen; we talked with the chef de cuisine and were served savory marshmallows made with pig's blood when it was our turn. Though the menu was somewhat different for each table, about an hour in we all received a small pre-heated iron mortar and a handful of frozen vegetables to grind in it, thereby not only participating in the preparation of our own meal but joining with the other diners in making a clinking chorus reminiscent of the bells of sheep on the hillsides around us. Waiters then distributed an aspic cube to each of us turning our mortars into bowls for a light and savory soup. Several of the entrees combined flavors of earth with flavors of the sea - fish with mushroom threads, octopus tentacles with beef sauce, cod tongues with caviar and cubes of lard. Only one contained red meat - wilted flowers and lemon sauce on the equine equivalent of veal - delicious. Our waiters escorted us to outdoor tables for desert, the culmination of which was a seven-layer stack of chocolate treats representing the seven deadly sins. How did they evoke greed in chocolate? They didn't - greed was represented by an empty bowl.
In the evening we set out on a 7 mile hike over the stunning coastal headlands of Ulia just east of the city. On the way up we met a couple carrying binoculars so I had Daniel ask them if they were birdwatching. They were, and though they didn't speak any English, we conversed for ten minutes or so about local birds. They told us about the European Shags nesting on the rocks around the point and a peregrine eyrie nearby. They also showed me a free app on their phone - Aves de Espana. Though all the text is in Spanish it does also have the English names for the birds, along with a search function which might make it useful. They were taking a different route than we were so we didn't get to bird much together. Discouraged by all the songs and calls I didn't recognize I didn't do an eBird list at the time but later I realized I'd managed to identify most of the birds I'd heard and seen, thirteen altogether. Lots of Robins and Blackbirds, and hundreds of Yellow-legged gulls nesting on the precipitous green slopes below us. The descent into the fjord-like harbor of Pasaia at sunset (around 10PM) was particularly spectacular. We took a little passenger ferry across to the village of San Juan, a cluster of old multi-story stone houses clinging to the steep shore, lining and sometimes spanning the single main street along the harbor. Rather different from the coast of Maine though we did split 3 lobsters (of sorts) for dinner. The claws were skinny as straws but the tail meat was delectably sweet. By the time we finished supper it was after midnight and the thunderstorm that had earlier threatened to dump on us had finished dumping and moved on. We were too late for the ferry and bus so had to take a 20 euro taxi ride back to San Sebastian. During the ride Daniel chatted comfortably with the taxi driver; he's become essentially fluent in Spanish and has picked up a little Basque as well. By New Hampshire time we went to bed reasonably early.
Another coastal hike planned for tomorrow, followed by dinner in and an early bedtime for a change.

6/22/2014   Jaizkibel  
We spent a lazy day in the apartment. Instead of going for a hike we went shopping at the local market and bought an intriguing variety of cheeses and meats for lunch. It was a delicious lunch - Jamon deIberico (ham), Cecina de Leon (cured beef), Quince preserves, a nice and dry yet inexpensive Cidre (hard cider), a couple stoneware cups of Cuajado (sheep's milk yogurt), two soft and one hard cheese whose names I never knew and a plate of steamed zucchini (fresh and less than a euro/kilo) along with a loaf each of seed-encrusted whole-wheat bread. Afterwards though, we were catatonic for several hours so we didn't catch the train to Irun for our hike until after 6PM. Daniel selected the hike in part because we passed through a marsh where he knew I'd enjoy seeing the birds. I did, delaying our start up the ridge by another 20 minutes or so. Fortunately birds were scarce later in the hike, particularly after the fog closed in on us, so we made it down to San Juan (again) before dark.
Once back at Daniel's apartment (via ferry and bus, and just ahead of yet another rainstorm), I downloaded and installed Aves de Espana. Should be very helpful on our long hike tomorrow.

6/23/2014   Aizkorri-Aratz Parque Natural  Aitzkorri topo map
If you have a car you take a more direct route up the mountain but Daniel and I took the train from San Sebastian past his school at Andouain, past the dramatic peak of Txindoki which we hope to hike tomorrow morning, past aging factories and through dark tunnels and ever smaller towns on up the river valley to Brinkola. "Are you sure?" the ticket seller had inquired when Daniel asked for two tickets to Brinkola. Attaining the summit of Aizkorri from Brinkola requires a long traverse across limestone crags and alpine sheep meadows once you gain the ridge, and few people go that way. Having only the train for transportation, Daniel plotted out the route in Google maps satellite view and did the hike last March when mushy snow and still-intimidating cornices forced him onto the rough limestone, slow and difficult going but he nonetheless made it all the way to the top. And back in time for the 6:18 train.
We made the train but not the peak. It had been sunny and warm, a cloudless morning, when we started up. We followed a paved road up past meadows and small groves of trees to a reservoir, crossed on the dam and followed logging roads up into the woods. The native forest had probably been mostly hardwoods dominated by oak and chestnut but much of the lower hill country has been planted to small groves of pine with some plantings of larch and Douglas Fir. Up near timberline gnarled and stunted beeches form enchanting green groves; surely pagans could be forgiven for thinking that was where their gods would choose to dwell. As in the Lakes District in England the tree line is probably artificially low due to years (centuries?) of continuous browsing by sheep; a few trees and shrubs (hawthorne, beech?, juniper?, gorse?) still hang on in rougher crags.
Birds were singing in the woods - Coal Tits, Iberian Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps and Chaffinches along with some Robins, Blackbirds, Firecrests and a Short-toed Treecreeper or two. Though there were probably a few I didn't recognize but I managed to identify thirty species and submitted the first checklist ever for the area, which was already listed as a hotspot with eighteen recorded sightings, apparently from last winter, despite not having any checklists. Aves de Espana, by allowing me to search for birds by their English names and then play their songs, really enhanced my birding. Up on top raptors and corvids were numerous, mostly Griffon Vultures and Alpine Choughs but I also saw my first Egyptian Vultures and a Black Kite, and some Red-billed Choughs were hanging out with the flock of Alpine Choughs. Both Tree and Meadow Pipits were singing their aerial display songs over the pastures and we flushed Black Redstarts and a Wheatear from in the rocks. We saw butterflies too, at least six kinds mostly down in the woods though most of the flowers were up in the high country. They were numerous up there and we saw at least twenty different species despite the intense grazing pressure from sheep. Wild thyme, white fleabane, yellow buttercups and cinquefoil, white pinks, a pink penstemon and a yellow and orange pea were all common. Few flowers were more than a couple of inches tall. We passed an occasional clump of green-flowered Hellebore, their leaves mostly reduced to filagree (by insects I assume; the sheep don't seem to touch it). Up in the crags we also found an orchid with a spike of pink flowers, a very fragrant yellow Erysimum, and some flowering Pinguicula, perhaps the same species that the boys and I first saw on Big Snow Mountain in Washington some years ago.
The terrain up high was rather odd. The range is basically a single ridge is composed of layers of massive limestone dipping steeply to the south-southwest with a single layer several hundred feet thick forming the spine of the ridge. The thinner layers below it apparently vary in hardness; softer layers are capped with meadows out of which the harder layers protrude in long parallel lines of outcrops. Sinkholes form pits scattered all across the range, some a couple hundred feet across and fifty feet deep, others as small as five or ten feet across and a few feet deep. Pits in craggy areas are lined with fallen rock but in meadows, they're carpeted with close-cropped grass and often shelter a clump of stinging nettles in their depths. In aerial photos taken in early spring, the pits stand out as circular or crescent-shaped spots of snow.
We reached the ridge at a large flat meadow, a pass between peaks named Arriurdin and Artzanburur on the map. Two trails cross there. We hiked up to a meadow band just below the crest of the ridge and followed it east over gentle terrain to an imperceptible summit named Aizlear from which we could see three higher peaks ahead. The weather was changing and the second two peaks were partially obscured by gray stratus. The first of the three peaks was a blocky gray crag named Andreaitz which we avoided by following a trail through the rough limestone capping the ridge. It dropped quickly into a vast meadow on the south side of the ridge. We traversed up to a low saddle in which a small herd of friendly horses grazed next to a big green sinkhole. From there we could see the second peak, an sharp crag at the top of a long sloping meadow. We considered bypassing it on the right but the meadows on the north side of the ridge were extremely steep so from the top of the meadow we scrambled up into the gray rock. A small group of friendly goats met us there and posed for photos with us.
At the summit of the peak, named Arbelaitz on the map, we stopped for a quick lunch while we considered the daunting prospect of traversing the rough knife-edge ridge between us and the fog-shrouded summit of Aizkorri. Tall cumulus clouds to the south shaded the valley below and fog played around Aizkorri, a kilometer to the east but only fifty meters above us. Even as we ate lunch the largest of the clouds overshadowed us and began spitting big raindrops. We both had doubts about continuing but I nonetheless led the way another fifty yards or so forward until the first thunderclap turned us back. Had we caught the train an hour earlier we probably would have been on Aizkorri when the storm developed and would have had to beat a hasty retreat far down into the valley then climb back over the ridge again in fog and rain. The fog closed in behind us as we dropped off Arbelaitz and shrouded our route all the way back to the big meadow at the top of the mine road. It cleared there briefly, long enough for us to have another quick lunch looking down over the valley to Brinkola and beyond to misty hills partly shrouded in stratus. The rain, though light, never quit and by the time we crossed the dam a kilometer from town the ridge where we'd been was completely obscured. We ran much of the way down and caught the 6:18 train with eight minutes to spare.
We were grateful to have caught the 6:18 train; had we missed it we'd have had to wait in the rain for another hour or more. The heavy cloud cover gave the feeling of dusk even though the sun wouldn't set for another three hours. Here and there along the way in towns as well as in the countryside we saw small plumes of smoke rising, and even open fires bright yellow-orange in the dim afternoon light. Probably not coincidence that it falls so close to the summer solstice. That explained the marching band down by the church later that evening in San Sebastian when we went in search of pintxos (pinchos) for supper. All four of Daniel's preferred places were closed for vacation, a breather before the summer busy season starts. We ended up at Atari Gastroteka. The food quality was uneven despite their being on the recommended list from Mugaritz. The seared tuna accompanied by sweet and sour cucumber was delicious but the tuna with olive and green pepper, with all ingredients straight out of a can, was not and the Foie was uncomfortably accompanied by vanilla cream and strawberry jam. The grilled bread pudding desert was quite good but as we left one of the servers ran out after us with a second desert in hand, claiming we had ordered it. That was embarassing particularly given the honor system by which those places operate, but our server vouched for us that we'd ordered only one desert and that we had paid in full for all our food.

6/24/2014   Punta Pikatxia  
My last day in San Sebastian. Daniel was teaching, his last day at school, in the afternoon so we got out in the morning though not on our intended hike up Txindoki because the mountains were socked in clouds. After dithering over breakfast we decided to hike back up to Punta Pikatxia, the first promontory east of town, because I wanted to go verify that the cormorants we saw on our first day out actually were European Shags. Some people visit churches while traveling abroad but I prefer Shags.
Attempting to get down to the point, we explored some of the smaller trails that branch off the main trail. Some led only to secluded little picnic spots tucked away in the thickets but eventually we found the route down to the point, and even better little "picnic" spots. Unemployment among young people is very high in Spain so unable to afford places of their own, or even shared with friends, many live with their parents. Privacy, particularly for sexual trysts, is at a premium and we speculated that that might be the reason we passed so many little picnic spots hidden in the bushes. Some even had little piles of condom wrappers by their entrances. Fortunately all were unoccupied at midday on a Tuesday afternoon. The very best spots were down on the point, enclosed by colorful hedges of pink hydrangea and opening out to the ocean for spectacular views of sea cliffs with Yellow-legged Gulls wheeling overhead. Getting there wasn't easy; the trail skirted precipitous overlooks and meandered through old stone forts, but the destination was worth the trouble.
Out on the point I photographed gulls diving on Daniel and got a few distant Shag shots as well. They were European, and not the Great Cormorants which are (maybe?) more common in the area. Thanks to Aves de Espana and eBird, I was able to confirm that the little brown birds singing in the bushes were Melodius Warblers, another new species, but I wasn't able to get any photos of them.
I'd hoped to go back after lunch but was too tired. When Daniel got back we ate supper out on his balcony, a less elaborate affair than our lunch the other day but good to share one more meal together, and good conversation. I don't think we've ever shared such comfortable and personal conversation as we did during this visit. I didn't want to come to Spain but I'm so grateful that I did. Daniel has been a gracious and thoughtful host, and being with him has brought me more joy than I've felt in a long time. The birding (54 species), the hiking (42 miles) and the food have all been wonderful but the best part has been just the time we've spent together.

6/25/2014   Home  
I didn't dread returning home the way I sometimes have but it was a long trip, some 28 hours door to door. My plane was late leaving Paris but fortunately the flight to Seattle from Boston was delayed as well; otherwise I'd have missed it. I slept from Bilbao to Paris, read a book on my Kindle from Paris to Boston and slept again from Boston to Seattle. My ankles were swollen for the next two days. Compression socks might be a good idea next time.