Northern Spain

From Barcelona, we worked our way across the north of Spain, from the dusty countryside of Catalunya to the Basque towns of Bilbao and San Sebastian, and on to the green hills of Galicia.

First stop was Bilbao, a wonderfully laid back town with the striking Guggenheim Museum as its main attraction.

The Guggenheim in Bilbao - a titanium-skinned modern architectural masterpiece

Lights, shadow and water create some fascinating shapes

Our room in Bilbao had a nice view towards the cathedral and square

Not far down the road was the coastal town of San Sebastian. Famed for its tapas (called pintxos in Basque Country), we devoted a solid afternoon to working our way around the offerings at the bar (an impossible task by the way).

Tapas galore at San Sebastian

The food was quite literally piled onto the bars

Final stop for us in northern Spain was Santiago de Compostela, famous as the destination of pilgrims following the route of St. James.

The cathedral in Santiago - on any given day dozens of pilgrims were finishing their trek across Spain here (we caught the bus)

Galician dinner - chickpea and tripe stew