London/Paris Cruise Oct 2013 - Part 4: Bilbao

Hotel Marques de Riscal

Our next port was Bilbao, Spain.  I did not know much about the final three ports on our trip, and in hindsight, I am glad I didn't.  Bilbao is in the north west of Spain, in the Basque country.  I did not realize how regionalized Spain is.  There are different dialects and even different languages in certain areas of Spain.  In Bilbao, the Spanish language was a little different from the norm, but they also spoke Basque.  Signs were written in both Spanish and Basque.  Bilbao was a much larger city than I expected, with a large amount of activity in their port.  Bilbao was another over night port, so we had two days to tour the area.

Basque Wine Country

Our first day in Bilbao started with a coach ride outside of the city into the Basque country towards the wine country.  The terrain of this area was much different than either of the French ports.  La Havre and La Rochelle were very flat with leafy trees and a lot of agriculture.  Bilbao was almost mountainous, more hilly, but comparatively it was mountainous, with some pine type trees.  We drove through and over the hills (not to grandmother's house), and on the other side the terrain was very flat and almost arid.  It did not take long before we saw plots of grape vines everywhere.  It was gorgeous.  The ground was mostly tan and brown, so the green grape vines popped more so than in France.  Our first stop was a vineyard called Marques de Riscal in the town of Elciego.  The tour started in their shop, but then we walked across to the hotel.  Wait, they have a hotel.  As we are walking to it, Dave, the architect of the group, was in shock.  The hotel was the Hotel Marques De Riscal, which is a Frank Gehry designed building.  Frank Gehry is the architect that designed the Guggenheim.  This place was incredible.  It is part of the Starwood Luxury collection and only has 43 guest rooms  The flowing metal design represents the colors of the vineyards that surround it.  We watched a movie about the vineyard and hotel and then walked out to the vineyard.  We happened to be there at the perfect time:  harvest.  The grapes were plump, purple and ready to be picked.  As our tour guide, who was awesome, walked us through the vineyard, she explained that most of the grapes were tempranillo.  In Europe there are governing bodies that regulate what type of grapes can be grown in specific areas of the continent.  In this case, tempranillo is one of the few grapes that is allowed to be grown.  Interestingly enough, our tour guide showed us that they had several plots that were Cabernet Sauvignon.  Those grapes are not technically allowed in the region, but the vines were actually planted before the regulations were put in place so they were grandfathered in.

After walking through the vineyard, we went back to where the wine is produced.  This winery is much larger than the one we saw in Bordeaux.  They ship all over the world (we found some at Lukas liquor in Kansas City when we got back).  Their facility used a lot more technology than the French as well.  They had touch screens all over and their specs were on flat screen TVs.  After walking through the fermenting containers, we walked out to a courtyard and got to watch workers pick and sort the grapes.  This was really cool.  We got to eat some too.  They were really good.  This was a treat.  Lisa and I have been to several wineries both in California and locally in Missouri and Arkansas, and we have not been able to see this process.  It was awesome.

Hard at work picking the best grapes

Mmmm......Grapes!

After finishing the tour, we got to taste the wine.  They gave us a red Rioja and a white Verdejo.  They were delicious.  Fruity and easy to drink.  They were both great wines to sit on the deck with some snack and friends and just hang out.  They were both light and a little fruity, but not overly fruity.  They would be great with tapas.  After the tasting, we went into the gift shop and they had several other wines that we could pay per taste.  There was one called Baron de Chirel, which is 80% tempranillo and 20% "other".  I asked the tour guide about it and she said the other is cabernet.  Since they are not technically allowed to grow cabernet, they cannot put it on the label, so they call it "Other".  This was delicious.  We bought a bottle to bring home.

Enjoying a delicious beverage

Tempranillo and "Other"

We then loaded back up in our coach and headed to La Guardia, a town that dates back to the 12th century.  This place was great.  We couldn't drive into the town.  The coach parked outside the walls of the town and we walked through to the town.  The town was very quint and very quiet.  There were not many people here.  The attraction at La Guardia was the clock in the square.  On the hour, figures would come out of the clock and dance.  These are not people, they are mechanical figures.  It looked like a giant coo-coo clock.  We had lunch here, which was pretty tasty.  After walking around La Guardia after lunch, we loaded up and headed to Vitoria, the capital of the Basque region.  Vitoria was an interesting mix of urban and historic.  There were sections that we all new buildings and then others that were still historic and unchanged.  There were not many attractions per se, it was more of a walking tour of the city.  I thought it was a great experience to see a "typical" Basque city.

Streets of La Guardia

Clock in La Guardia

View of Wine Country leaving La Guardia

Plaza de la Virgen Blanca in Vitoria

After our tour of Vitoria, we headed back to the ship.  When we got there, a few of us hung out on the back of the ship and watched the sun go down behind the port.  Bilbao was a more scenic port than the first two (La Havre was secluded and La Rochelle was in an industrial area).  It was a beautiful, relaxing evening.

Next up, more fun in Bilbao......

London/Paris Cruise Oct 2013 - Part 3: La Rochelle (Cont.)

Cognac, France

Our second day in La Rochelle took us to Cognac.  I know, I thought Cognac was a beverage.  Well, it is, but it is also a town in France.  Before our coach took us to Cognac, we got a bus tour of La Rochelle.  It is a nice small French port.  The highlight was the German U-boat pens, which were used in the movie Das Boot and Raiders of the Lost Ark.  The rest of the group had been to Normandy and we had been through areas like La Havre that had been extremely damaged in WWII, but this was one of the first remnants from World War II that Lisa and I had seen on the trip.  It was actually a little spooky.  La Rochelle is another historic city.  We drove by the picturesque Harbor Towers, which were constructed in the 14th and 15th centuries.  They were pretty impressive.

From La Rochelle, it was a little over an hour to Cognac.  When we got there, it was a little before lunch time so we walked around the town a bit.  Justin and I found a tobacco shop and we bought a few Cuban cigars.  We continued on, and guess what Lisa found?  A fabric shop, of course.  We travel  all the way to Cognac, and they have a fabric store.  She found some that she wanted and then waited to pay.  I waited outside and it took a long time.  She finally came out and said that the lady ahead of her was just chatting with the store clerk and they were in no hurry to check out.  No sooner than Lisa walked out of the store, they closed.  All of the shops around us closed.  we checked the time and of course, it was noon.  The French are serious about their break times.  Most shops were closed from noon to 2:00 for lunch.  We found a spot to eat that was nice.  We got to sit outside and enjoy the mild, clear weather.  Most of us got sandwiches, but I decided to get foie gras.  When in Rome, right?  Well, it was extremely rich, creamy and slightly warm with a ring of fat or something around it.  I am generally a fan of foie gras but this I did not like.  It actually upset my stomach.  Everyone else enjoyed their lunches.  This was also the lunch that I was reminded of the kleptos that I travel with.  Two members of our group snatched wine/beer glasses from the restaurant.  The glasses were really cool because they had the name of the restaurant on them.

Streets of Cognac

After lunch, we were on to a cognac tasting.  Our tour and tasting was at one of the most well-known producers of Cognac, Hennessy.  The facility was on the river and we got to take a boat ride around the river and across to the storage facilities where they had a very interactive tour.  Several people in our group mentioned how it was like Disney World with alcohol.  They showed us where the grapes come from and how they make cognac, which is a distilled wine (I didn't know that before).  As most of you know, I really enjoy wine and I have been known to drink a few distilled beverages as well.  At the end of the tour, we got a tasting of Hennessy.  I found that I do not like cognac.  Wow, that is some strong stuff.  They had different levels of tastings depending on the quality of cognac you wanted to taste.  Well, Lisa and I got the base level tasting, which was the entry level cognac.  Lisa couldn't drink it.  I barely did.  Justin got the step up, which was older cognac.  It was better, but to buy a bottle was very expensive and I didn't like it enough to consider buying any.

Back to the tour, the grapes are actually from the Champagne, which is close to the town of Cognac.  This is the same region where Champagne sparkling wine is made.  As we went on the tour, we got to an area where they had vintage barrels of Hennessy.  They had barrels that were over 100 years old.  The oldest barrel was from 1800.  The barrels were very interesting because over the years they had to add metal hoops to keep them sealed.  Overall, Hennessy was very interesting, but I did not enjoy the product as much as other places on the trip.

Really old barrels of Cognac

This barrel is almost as old as the USA

After Cognac, we headed back to the ship.  We left the port at 6:00pm and Lisa, Justin and I had reservations at one of the specialty restaurants on the cruise ship, Qsine.  This was a quirky modern restaurant, very different from the more traditional main dining room.  There was an extra charge, but it was well worth it.  When you walk in, there are lamps on the ceiling that are hanging upside down.  They served wine glasses that depending on the amount of wine in the glass, it was stand up on its side.  The menu was all on iPads, and you could order as much as you wanted (so we did).  The waiter, who was awesome, walked us through the menu and directed us to start with 5-6 and see how it goes.  The menu items were different takes on common items.  For instance, we got Sushi Lollipops.  They were just sushi rolls on lollipop sticks stuck into a tray so they were displayed in a playful manner.  The other items we ordered were:  Treseviche, 3 types of ceviche; Meat Ball Trilogy, 3 kinds of meatballs; "Popcorn" Fish N Chips, Lava Crab, and Lobster Escargot.  Our favorites were the ceviches, lobster escargot and the Lava Crab.  The Lava Crab was one of the most interesting things I have eaten.  It looked like a birds nest and there were 2 of them.  When you cut into it, it was like a bread bowl with a creamy crab sauce inside.  They were awesome, but very rich.  After eating those 5 items, we were stuffed.  Then we had dessert.  We got the Chocolate Tombstone, which was all kinds of chocolate items.  It was very good as well.  Then when we thought we were done, they brought out chocolate ganache balls that we got to pick one.  Now we were really full.  It was a great meal, and we almost did it a second time, but it never worked out.  I think it was actually the best meal on the ship.  After our report back, several people in our group tried it later in the trip and also enjoyed it.

Next stop:  Bilbao, Spain.......