Babymoon=SPAIN!!

Despite what I am sure will be a future full of amazing adventures with our little one, Tony and I couldn't resist one last international adventure together, sans bebé. So we were off again - this time: Spain! We split our 10 day trip across 3 different cities: Barcelona, San Sebastian (Donostia, in Basque), and Bilbao. We left Boston on April 30th and had a great ten day trip in an amazing country. I was about 22 weeks pregnant, which was the perfect time to travel.  My energy was back and I was ready to see the sights! In Barcelona we had a wonderful time walking through the beautiful old neighborhoods of El Born, El Ravel, Bari Gothic and of course we frequented the famous Ramblas pedestrian walking street. We visited La Sagrada Familia - still under construction after over a 100 years! - several other Gaudi buildings, including the famous Pedrera and took a sky-high gondola from Montjuic (where many of the Olympic events were held in 1992) down to the port side neighborhood of Barceloneta. We spent time wandering several incredible markets, including the famous Mercat de Sant Josep/La Boqueria off the Ramblas and a cheese and honey market in the Bari Gothic. And I can't forget all the delicious food we ate and cafes we visited - yum!

The exterior of Gaudi's famous Pedrera.

Me inside one of the incredible rooms of the Pedrera.

Then we had to say goodbye to Barcelona, get in our convertible Mini Cooper (!!) and head to Basque country, more specifically San Sebastian. It was a breath taking drive through the northern countryside to the beach-haven city of Donostia (Basque for San Sebastian). Though it was definitely not beach weather (during most of our trip the weather was actually unseasonably cold - averaging in the upper 50s and low 60s most days) - it was still a beautiful city to stroll around in. We saw the two famous sculptures, "Peine de los vientos" and "La Concha", that flank either side of the coastline; hiked up to the castle a top the Monte Igueldo with great views of the city below; and partook in the traditional Pintxos at dinner time (these are even smaller than the "tapas" size plates we got in Barcelona - they are no more than little appetizer type finger foods that are laid out at all the bars/cafes - while you could simply pull up a stool at one bar and spend the night tasting all their different Pintxos, most locals treat dinner as more of a pub crawl, having a little bite and a drink at one bar, and then moving on to the next place).

Our chariot! ( and Liz's dream car)

Tony by the harbor in Donostia - looking very Euro!

One of the beautiful beaches in Donostia.

From Donostia we made our way to Bilbao by way of the northern coastline - beautiful! We stopped for lunch in the surf haven of Mundaka, where we climbed down to the water and ate incredible bread and cheese amongst the rocky shoreline - oh and did I mention we were serenaded by a guitar player sitting above - heaven! Once we got to Bilbao we were set to meet up with my good friend Dorsey and her fiancé Javier. He is Spanish and they have been living in Madrid where he works for the Spanish Foreign service and she is going to business school.  It was so great that they flew up to Bilbao to share the weekend with us!  I hadn't seen her in years and was not going to be able to make their wedding as I would be in the last month of my pregnancy.  Needless to say, we all had a blast.  Javi had lived in Bilbao for some years as a child, so he was a great tour guide!  He also did some great research into the best Pintxos places - so we definitely ate well! On Saturday we spent the day at the world famous Guggenheim museum, designed by Millenium Park's own Frank Gehry. It really is a magnificent building. It was smaller inside than I thought it would be - but it had some really interesting exhibits: Anish Kapoor (another Millenium Park contributor - "Cloud Gate" aka "The Bean" is his piece),  a sculptural exhibit of work by Robert Rauschenberg, and a multi-artist Modern exhibit featuring the likes of DeKooning, Warhol and Rothko. Then, with Bilbao behind us we had to make our way back to Barcelona for our departure. Javi recommended stopping in the picturesque hill top town of Sos del Rey Católico on our way back.  It's where the famous King Ferdinand was born. It was stunning! It was the quintessential old medieval Spanish hilltop village - what a great suggestion to finish an amazing trip!

Our picturesque lunchtime view in Mundaka.

On route to Bilbao, an incredible little church stretched
out into the water off the northern coast.
Ask us about getting this shot - it was a blog entry in itself!

Gehry's incredible masterpiece!

Sos del Rey Católico - breathtaking!