On Thursday, Ceci’s planned a lunch for us at a friend’s restaurant in Bilbao and in the evening we’re going to go to Eneperi instead of the usual Itxas Ondo meet-up.

For the sake of basic orientation when you arrive, I’ve added a new “Around Bakio” page highlighting the Arimune hotel and Itxas Ondo, the nightly (8pm) meet-up spot.

More about Bakio and the famous San Juan de Gaztelugatxe (which is a setting for the new season of Games of Thrones).

My cousin, the indomitable Ceci Recalde, is finalizing the plans for the day trips and we’ve had to flip the schedule for Tuesday and Wednesday.  Now we’re going to San Sebastian on Tuesday (20 June 2017) and to the Rioja wine country on Wednesday (21 June 2017).   I’ve updated the main schedule page, to reflect this change.

A recent episode of Anthony Bourdain’s “Parts Unknown” show on CNN featured San Sebastian and the Basque country (season 9, episode 3). I haven’t seen it but my cousin and my mom recommend it. It aired on May 7th.

If you haven’t already, could do me a favor and email me your itinerary, please?  I’m especially interested in when you arrive in Bakio and if you’re planning to rent a car or not.

I’ve updated the plan for the Rioja day trip a bit; we’re going to go to a wine museum and then a super old-fashioned traditional winery, Bodegas López de Heredia Viña Tondonia, in Haro.  That’s instead of the Marques de Riscal winery.  (Haro is the center of the Alavese Rioja region.) After Haro we go to the Granja de Nuestra Señora de Remelluri, which I’m unduly excited about.  In between, we’re planning to eat at Bodega El Pimiento in Tirgo.   All of these places are very close to each other: the museum in Briones is ten minutes’ drive from the winery in Haro, which is fifteen minutes from Tirgo.

There’s an apartment in the Portugane building available:

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/8306980

I had looked at renting it a couple of months ago and exchanged emails with the owner but there was some problem with the place. I just got an email from her saying the problem is fixed and the apartment is now available the week of 18-25 June.  

I’ve posted some updates to the day trips and to the party on Friday.

Attendees
So far the count is 32; 19 from the US and 13 from Spain. I’m expecting that it’ll end up around 35. Crazy!