Entering España

Sun 09/09:  Stayed an extra day (Sunday night) in Arachon, since it was raining.  This afforded a nice opportunity to ride up to the waterfront to sample the local seafood.

Excellent Mussels and Frites at Le Routioutiou in Gujan-Mestras

Decide to take train to Bayonne on Monday, which involved a 12 mile bike ride back to Biganos.  While waiting for the train, I got myself a haircut... I´m noticing there´s less and less hair to cut these days.

The French town, Bayonne, bears no resemblance whatsoever to its New Jersey namesake.

On Tuesday (9/11) rode into Spain.  Noticed the difference right away.  The towns were a little more hard-scrabble in Spain, but the larger cities (like San Sebastian) were very much on par with similar-sized French cities.

My hotel (Parma) was directly across from a huge public beach and right next to the main bar-restaurant area.  Like similar towns in France, much of the ¨Old City¨ was pedestrian only.   Lively bar scene.  Lots of young'uns.

Wednesday´s ride was to Segura, a very small 1-hotel town.   
On Thursday, I rode out of Segura, which started with a long climb

 then a little descent close to the town of Olazagutía. Google Maps then directed me into a dirt road (it does that sometimes) While trying to find a way out of that one, I kept hearing what I thought were gunshots. I headed into town, and discovered the sound was firecrackers. I asked the lady at the bakery what was going on. She said ¨festival¨

I asked what the festival was about... she said ¨eating and drinking¨  My Spanish was insufficient for a follow-up question... so I left it at that.

I am now in Vitoria-Gasteiz where I had a nice dinner of Tapas and beer . Most dinners here are at bars that serve little sandwiches and skewers etc. They eat late too... kitchens don´t typically open until 8:30 PM.