Thursday 28 October, Santander and the ferry, Pont Aven.

We drove in to the ferry terminal and parked up. Once there you can exit the parking area via a pedestrian gate to go into the city. Sraddhabha went on a last shopping mission first and then we both went out for lunch and a walk. We heard via text that the incoming ferry was delayed, so we had longer than expected. After a pizza and salad we walked along the harbour front as far as the maritime museum, then returned via a visit to Centro Botin, an art gallery  right on the harbour front. 

There was only one exhibition on, the other hall being prepared for a new exhibition. Photos of the exhibition were not permitted, however it was fascinating. The artist THOMAS DEMAND: MUNDO DE PAPEL constructs paper models of moments of significance in recent history, then photographs them, finally destroying the paper model. The photos are massive colour prints hung in or on wooden rooms suspended from the ceiling. Amazing stuff. An example - the room Edward Snowden occupied at Moscow Airport for the first 12 months of his exile in Russia. Another - the back yard of the house in Boston occupied by the Boston Marathon bomber Tamarlan Tsarnaev, at the moment his wife left the apartment. Another - the desk from which Trump gave a press conference which had large piles of buff folders on it. The files were never referred to by him and the suggestion is that they contained blank pages. He was reported to never read briefings from staff.

The ferry eventually arrived about 3 hours late. We were among the first to board, and headed off to our cabin. The forecast had worsened whilst we were out our walk, and the ship started to roll pretty much straight out of Santander. We retired to bed after getting something to eat, and had a very disturbed night crossing the Bay of Biscay. We had a pretty uncomfortable night. The forecast had described the sea state as rough (wave height 2 - 4m) to very rough (wave height 4 - 6m) so the boat rolled and banged and creaked its way north.