Thursday, July 18, 2019 Goodbye Scotland Travel Day From Edinburgh To Bilbao, Spain

Goodbye Scotland. Thanks for your hospitality. I have really enjoyed my visit. I have given Scotland a hard time about their National flower, the thistle, and their National dish, haggis, but I really do love their National motto: “No one provokes me with impunity.” I would expect no less from a country that is proud to say that the thistle is their National flower.

My flight leaves at 8:40 AM so I had to get up at 5:00 AM to shower, shave, pack, police the room, check out of the hotel and get down to the tram station to take the tram to the Edinburgh airport. I never sleep well the night before an early morning flight. I am always worried that will oversleep and miss the flight, in spite of the fact that I have never overslept and missed a flight.

I really enjoyed my time in Scotland. Glasgow was a very interesting city and Edinburgh is a world class tourist destination. You could spend a month in Scotland and not run out of things to see and do. And Kelly was right, the Scottish people are amazingly friendly. They make it so easy to enjoy your time in Scotland.

After I checked out of the hotel I stopped by the Cathedral to light a candle and say a prayer for Anna. The Cathedral was closed so I sat on the steps and said a prayer for Anna and everyone else on my prayer list. I do believe in the power of prayer. And as my Father always says, “It can’t hurt.”

I decided to take the tram out to the airport instead of a cab. It is a new, very comfortable tram with great high speed internet. And it is only six pounds. What a great deal.

My first flight is from Edinburgh to Bristol, England. From Bristol I take a connecting flight to Bilbao, Spain 🇪🇸, where I spend the night before taking a bus 🚌 to Irun, Spain.

It is going to be hot 🥵 in Spain. I am talking mad dogs and Englishmen hot. I am talking Omaha in July and August hot. I am talking Illinois State Fair hot. Well, I guess you get the picture. And on top of that it will be very humid. What was I thinking 🤔. As usual, I wasn’t thinking.

I am becoming an old hand at getting through the bag check and security at Euro airports. As I was walking to get to my gate I had to walk through the duty free shopping area. It appears that alcohol and perfume are the big sellers in the duty free shopping area. The two ladies holding trays in the middle and on the left hand side of this picture were handing out free shots of gin.

They want you to buy a bottle or two of gin and you wouldn’t want to do that before you sample a shot of three or four types of gin. And it’s only 8:00 AM! I can’t imagine throwing down multiple shots of gin at 8:00 AM. Even if you are a nervous flyer, that kind of gin consumption this early in the morning seems excessive. I took a pass on the gin and decided that I would wait until I arrive safe and sound in Bilbao and find my hotel before I imbibe.

I am flying easyJet from Edinburgh to Bristol and then Bristol to Bilbao.

This is what easyJet calls a point to point trip. That means when I get to Bristol I will be required to retrieve my bag and then go through the bag check process and the security process before I can board my easyJet flight from Bristol to Bilbao. Hey easyJet, you are not making it easy to fly easyJet. Wouldn’t it make sense to check my bag all the way through to my final destination. It seems like easyJet is going out of their way to make this trip as difficult as possible.

I had to show the gate agent my passport to board the flight in Edinburgh. Abe noticed this passage from his Gettysburg Address on the first page of my passport.

Abe sure is proud of his Gettysburg Address, as well he should be.

I arrived in Bristol about 30 minutes late but I have a long layover so that shouldn’t be a problem. This is lunch at the Bristol airport. It is a traditional Cornish pasty. Not too tasty.

It is a lot of dry pastry and a little bit of beef, potato and gravy filling. What do yo expect from airport food in England?

I arrived in Bilbao and checked into my hotel room.

They even gave me a stamp for my Pilgrim Credential. It is a very basic room but they are very nice and spent 30 minutes with a map showing the best places to eat and visit this evening.

I spent about five hours walking around Old Town Bilbao and through the park and along the esplanade next to the river that runs through Bilbao. What a beautiful town.

This is one of the beautiful plazas in Old Town. The adults are eating, drinking and playing music while seated at the outdoor cafes that line the perimeter of the plaza while the kids play games in the middle of the plaza.

This is the esplanade next to the river

This is the Cathedral de Santiago.

There was a five euro charge to tour the Cathedral. When I tried to pay, the nice young woman behind the counter said there was no charge for Pilgrims. I asked her how she knew I was a Pilgrim. Was it the ratty clothes? Was it the limp? It couldn’t be the stench because I did laundry 🧺 yesterday. She finally stopped me and pointed to the Pilgrim Credential that I had in my hand ready for a stamp. She said the Pilgrim Credential and the ratty clothes mark me as either a bum who has worked out a scam to get free admission to the historic Cathedrals in Spain or a true Pilgrim.

A picture of the statue of Santiago the Pilgrim inside the Cathedral.

I lit a candle and said a prayer for Anna and for everybody else on my prayer list.

It was time for dinner and I thought of going to one of the high end Michelin star restaurants in Bilbao and dropping a couple of hundred euros on a fancy dancy dinner, or have the world’s best bocadillo. In spite of all the grousing I did last year about the endless ham and cheese sandwiches, I decided to see if this place did indeed have the World’s best bocadillos.

I bought two cans of San Miguel Radler and had a picnic, Pilgrim style, on the steps of the Cathedral. Now I haven’t had bocadillos all over the world, so I can’t say this was the world’s best bocadillo. But this was one might tasty ham and cheese, or as we say in Spanish, jamon and queso, bocadillo.

I hope everyone had a good Thursday.

Good evening from Bilbao, Spain.