Advertisement
Published: December 7th 2010
Edit Blog Post
One area of Spain that is particularity interesting in a region in the north called the Basque Country. The Basque’s are known for a number of things, one of which is their strong nationalistic groups who seek to be separate from Spain. The terror group ETA has set many attacks against Spain (mostly Madrid) in an attempt to make known their nationalistic goals and this has been an ongoing issue for Spain since Franco’s time (although they have made great strides recently towards peace agreements). Anyways, I did not want to go to the Basque country because of their terrorist groups and nationalistic political parties…. I wanted to go because it is also one of the most beautiful places in all of Spain and with by far the best food! I found a 6 Euro airplane ticket that got me to a city in the region close by and found a traveling companion, and was off!
The really cheap plane ticket we found flew us into Santander, about three hours by bus away from our main destination of San Sebastian. While there was originally going to be three of us (my Chinese friend Junting, my roommate, and myself), my roommate
Guggenheim
The Spider had to back out last minute and Junting had a passport issue that made it so she couldn’t fly for a few days. So, I took the flight up to Santander and met Junting there, who took a 7-hour bus ride instead. While I wouldn’t have minded staying in Santander for a day or so, we were just there to spend the night so we could make our way east towards Bilbao and San Sebastian.
So, bright and early we took a bus to Bilbao, about an hour and a half from Santander. Why Bilbao… to see the famous Guggenheim Museum that is there! This incredibly modern and cool-looking building is just as cool on the inside as it looks outside. Unfortunately, we were one day too early for the brand new photography exhibition, but the permanent collections of modern art were pretty cool and I actually enjoyed them (I am usually not one for modern art… too out there for me). Again, I could have spent a day or so in Bilbao, but time is something that seemed to be lacking this entire semester and once again, we just didn’t have time to do it all.
Once
we were done with the Museum, we hoped back on a bus to take the hour journey to San Sebastian. After wandering to find our hostel for quite a while, we finally got settled in the heart of the old town where all the food, restaurants and bars that the region is famous for are located. Our hostel was very helpful in recommending some places to go for food (it is a little overwhelming how many places there are) and we were off to indulge ourselves in the fine cuisine of the Basque Country. Like any other Spanish city, here, dinner often consists of just tapas. Except, in the Basque Country you eat pinchos (similar to tapas except they are more like a ornate appetizer). You order a pincho or two at a time, along with wine, and eat away standing in the bar. The pinchos are displayed out like they would be at a buffet our something (or sometimes up on a menu) and you simply tell the bartender what to bring you. Each pincho is maybe from 2 to 4 Euros, which is not bad, until you start order several (which you have to in order to feel
full) and then it starts getting really expensive! We quickly learned we would have to be willing to spend 15 to 20 Euros or so a night for our dinners of pinchos (this goes against our student travelers budget of under 10 Euros for any meal). But they were well worth it and we found a spot or two we liked so much that we had to go back for more the next day.
The next day was our full day in San Sebastian, and we met a couple friends in the hostel to spend it with. One guy was from Indiana and the other was from Australia and they made good traveling companions while we went about seeing the city. We climbed to the Jesus statue that overlooked the bay that the city surrounds itself around for some great views. We also checked out the surfers at another beach while we ate our ham and bread lunch (we had to skimp on lunches to save for the expensive dinners) and wandered the streets a little so Junting could do some shopping (I have never seen someone shop like she can). The most memorable experience of the day, though,
San Sebastian
Overlooking La Concha Bay was renting bikes to ride along the seaside and to explore the city. Junting had never ridden a bike, but was convinced we would be able to teach her and that she would get the hang of it. Little did we know that she had absolutely no sense of balance whatsoever and it was a very frightening experience of watching to make sure she didn’t run into any one, any dogs, or steer into the street. She eventually kind of got the hang out it (sorta), but it was still a constant; “watch out” or “stop” or “steer straight” and “don’t turn the wheel”! It provided for some good laughs and it was lucky that our friends were very patient.
That night was spent again eating at the various pincho bars with the guys from the hostel as well as with some other people we met from the hostel that were from Germany but happened to be studying in Madrid. The were a lot of fun, and we were up just talking till really late, and getting up in the morning for our early bus ride back to Madrid was a little tough (the downpour rain didn’t make the
walk to the bus all that enjoyable either). But the bus ride back was an experience in itself. I can’t remember if I had mentioned these “luxury buses” that we discovered before, but they are THE way to travel. We only paid 8 Euros more for the Supra ride as it is called, and these buses have very big and comfy, leather seats (only 3 per row instead of 4) that recline all the way with foot and leg rests. They also have an attendant that served breakfast, lunch and a snack and we were able to take as much bottled water or coffee as we wished. And it was direct without any stops on the 5-hour trip to Madrid. For me, it is the best way to travel in Spain and doesn’t cost that much more than a normal bus where all you have is a cramped seat.
INTERESTING OBSERVATION: As I have been traveling around, I keep running into Australians who are usually anywhere from 18 to 30. Every single one of them I have met is traveling around for 6 months to a year (one duo I met had been going at it for a year
and a half), just bumming it around Europe. They are the most chill and fun travelers to be around and are always friendly. Some are students, others are just people who don’t want to work, but they are always just going from one place to the next with whoever they meet, going wherever they heard was cool. To me, it is amazing that people can just take off for a year without any plans or worries, but at the same time, I think it is pretty cool! Way to go for the Australians…
Advertisement
Tot: 0.074s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 7; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0471s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb