People We Meet – Basque Trip – Days 1 to 4

8.1.23

Dear James,

After another wonderful visit with you in Boston, I decided to share some my Basque Country trip with you. The magic of travel can include new landscapes, museums, food, climates and culture. I now realize all are more enjoyable when done with other people.  Walking a few days alongside a mom from Ireland and her 13-year-old son on the Camino portion of the trip really reminded me of this. And I do hope to walk a portion of the Camino with you some day.

And travel is made much richer when experienced with locals. So, I decided to convey the culture and personality of the wonderful Basque region through some of the encounters I had with others. In deciding to take one encounter from each day on my 17-day trip, I thought I could create a fairly brief narrative, but it turned out to be much longer than I envisioned. So, I have decided to write a series of letters with each letter containing encounters from different days of the trip.

Day 1 – Bilbao, Spain – The Germans.

During a food tour on my first eve in Spain, I met three older German couples from Frankfurt. This group does almost everything together. They started traveling as a group five years ago. During our evening together (4 hours) I had the opportunity to speak (sometimes through broken English) to each couple. As we ate and drank our way through the Old Town of Bilbao, I was reminded of how important it is to feed your friendships. Gizzy still has a plaque in the kitchen given to her from one of her friends that states, “Friends Are Presents You Give Yourself.” It is so true.

Day 2 – Bermeo, Spain – The Old Man.

I left Bilbao the next morning for a tour of the region east of Bilbao, which included the town of Guernica, the spiritual center of the Basque region, and Bermeo, a small fishing village on the coast – one of many beautiful seaside villages that dot the northern coastline of Spain. While in Bermeo, I ducked into a bar in the harbor to have a few Pintxos and a glass of local wine. Because it was early the only other patron was an older gentleman with a weather-beaten face sitting at the bar. I sat down at the bar and ordered. As I washed down my tuna pintxos with txakoli wine, I looked over at the old man.

He was very much enjoying his mid-day glass of wine. He looked at my plate and then at me. A big smile ran across his face as he pointed to my pintxos.  He put his index finger and his thumb together, put them to his lips and then with that universal gesture that expresses enjoyment, made a kiss as he took his hand away with flair.  He said something that sounded like Basque. I nodded, gave the same sign and smiled back. Seeing that I agreed, he went back to sipping his wine.  

My pintxos seemed to taste even better, knowing that another person had taken a moment to acknowledge that my simple meal was actually something very special. His acknowledgement was a gift. Your grandmother Gizzy is very good at pointing out special things – like you and me sharing a blackberry lemonade at Coolidge Corner during our visit with you in Boston.

Day 3 – San Sebastian, Spain – The Families 

On Day 3 I took a bus to San Sebastián, a train to Irun, Spain, and then walked across the border into France, where I took another train to Biarritz. I decided to stop in San Sebastian to drop off some luggage and decided to spend five hours in that beautiful city.

I hiked to the top of the small mountain that overlooks the famous beaches of San Sebastian. Once at top, I walked through the old fort there and stumbled upon a group of families with young children (maybe 40 people) enjoying a group picnic. I soaked up the laughter of the children as they ran around. Our neighborhood used to take trips like this when your dad was quite young. They meant a lot to us and to the kids.

And speaking of kids, one of the kids from that old neighborhood just got married. We attended Megan’s wedding and had a great time seeing everyone from that old neighborhood again. In her “Thank You Note” to Gizzy and me, Megan wrote the following, “Thank you for celebrating our big day with us. I am forever grateful that you were a part of my village growing up.”  James, if you are fortunate, you will live in a place where there is a real sense of community. Your Dad and uncleswere lucky. I imagine that this group of Spanish kids playing at the top of the mountain were lucky too.

Day 4 – Biarritz, France – The Young Parisian

Once my friend Pete and I met up in Biarritz, we walked the beaches and the town. Biarritz is fancy town, with high-end stores like E. Goyard, which sells dog collars for $800. I cannot imagine your parents spending that much money for Odin’s dog collar! Pete has daughters. So, he knew of this store. We decided to walk in. We started talking to one of the employees, who was a nice young man who had moved from Paris to work at this store. In excellent English, he explained how much he missed Paris, despite the opportunity he was given. He reminded me of our sons and daughters-in-law (which includes your mom and dad), who have had to make difficult decisions regarding the trade-offs between career, family, and personal lives. I am sure they will explain that to you some day as we had to do with our own children.  Believe it or not, even the French have these choices to make.