Day 83 Balboa, Spain

Arriving into the port of Balboa today and this is what we were greeted with. Just, wow…..

I thoroughly enjoyed our tour today that took us to the two villages of Bermeo and Gernika that both have a population of around 17,000.  The two towns though are quite different.  Bermeo is a sleepy coastal town with colourful architecture as opposed to Gernika, that is a little more staid.  This is because Gernika was bombed and badly damaged in 1937 by the rebel, General Franco who was also an ally to Nazi Germany.  The bombing has been declared a war crime, post war, as civilians were largely targeted.

Our guide today absolutely made our day so much more enjoyable.  We were docked beside a Royal Caribbean cruise ship that was twice the size of our little ship.  So our guide starts the tour by saying "I hear that the smaller the cruise ship the better it is.  Of course that only applies to cruise ships".  Philip and I burst out laughing straight away (that says a lot about our sense of humour) and it took the rest of the tour group a little longer to get the joke.

Our bus driver takes us on the scenic drive to Bermeo that is about an hours drive.  The countryside is so beautiful and I can now understand why people become obsessed about living in Spain.  It is so green and our guide tells us that it rains 70% of the year.

 Once we arrive in Bermeo, that is incidentally our guide's home town, we are guided down to the port where, once we are given directions and places of interest, we are allowed free time to wander on our own.  I love doing this as we move at our pace that is much faster than the usual Regent passenger pace.  We wander up every staircase we can find and enjoying the views from every angle and believe me it is a photographers paradise.

After our free time is completed we now make our way to Gernika for a full guided tour (just like a school excursion, as our guide says).  It is not a long drive but we notice so many of the Aussie Eucalyptus Trees along the way.  In fact our guide says that they have adapted so well to the climate that they have become a weed and the government is working on controlling their number. Once we arrive in Gernika our guide leads us to a lovely outdoor cafe where we enjoy a glass of wine and a Pintxos (their version of a tapa).  It was delicious and gave us just the right amount of sustenance to continue our walking tour that takes around an hour and a half.  

The architecture in this town is so different to the colourful buildings we found in Bermeo.  Most of this has to do with the bombing of the town.  However, it is still a lovely town.  Our guide takes us to some of the most important places and also inside a tunnel that has been set up to replicate the air raid bombing that took place here in 1937.  Our guide says that the bombing has been forgiven but not forgotten.  

A good example of the size a Eucalyptus can grow given a different environment.

Pablo Picasso painted an Anti-War painting after the bombing in Gernika called "Guernica".  This painting is replicated in a large mural in the city area of Gernika.  Our guide explained the mural to us as Picasso's abstract work can be hard to understand, but I think this one is very self-explanatory.

This has been a fantastic tour and our return to the ship is along the freeway that only takes us 45 minutes.  When we are back in Balboa our guide points out to us a mansion that, at the moment, is being rented by Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones.  Its a very beautiful place with the price tag to go with it…..