Blogs from Basque Country, Spain, Europe - page 52

The Guggenheim is amazing. It´s everything it´s cracked up to be and more. Some people may kill me for saying this but the interior spaces were so much more interesting than the artwork it holds - then again my disclaimer is that I´m looking at it from a different eye to most people. You kinda want to stop people and go, "Do you SEE that? Do you notice this space you're walking in???" :p Stayed in a nice pension here, next to the Cathedral de Santiago, overlooking the plaza. Only drawback was the churchbells ringing every 15 minutes. Thank God they stopped after 10pm. Also got to see the Zubizuri by Calatrava. Bilbao is like an architectural tour for me because I know of these projects through magazines, but seeing them gives a whole new meaning. ... read more

Ever since Moskowitz told me about his trip to the San Sebastian I knew I had to get there one day. It was even better in person than in all the stories I've heard. San Sebastian is in the heart of the Basque country and is filled with personality. It is a city of 200,000 people but we spent most of our time in the old city an area of about ten blocks by ten blocks. Since I've been backpacking for close to eight months I decided I would take full advantage of being in Europe, we ate well, drank a bottle of wine (Rioja, my favorite red wines) with every dinner, drank endless cups of coffee (cafe con leche in Spain), and filled our days more or less by sitting around at outdoor cafes making ... read more

sooo nice, but SO hot...got in this morning from barcelona after a HORRID night train...it was like, 100 degrees on the top bunk in our cabin and i couldnt sleep because of it...got in at about 7:45 am, found a hostel with some other guys we met (coincidentally from san jose! andy, maybe you know one of them, he wrestled for Bellarmine?) anyway, then we went and got AMAZING tapas and hung out at the beach all day...it has been NICE to just hang out and not do anything...we have a night train AGAIN tomorrow night to paris, hopefully we dont get the top bunks again, cuz that was so horrible...after that, i have a train to catch to london from paris at 3ish in the afternoon, and then im gonna just hang out in london ... read more

So we headed into Spain to San Sebastian so Chloe could feed her belly. Apparently the tapas is amazing... We should be eating some soon which is pretty exciting. Started the day with a long walk up a hill to the station which was enjoyable (my turn with the tent) then it was a pretty simple journey to get here. We found ourselves a little campsite reccomended to us by some people we met in Biarritz. Its just out of town but the journey up the hill was very pleasant...the scenery her is actually pretty stunning and with the sun shining down on it makes it even better. Set up camp... well done to Chloe for being a good little brownie and being far better at setting it up than me... we got a little over ... read more

The reception guy at our Hossegor hotel initially introduced himself as "the prince", so when I went to ask such a peasant like question as "Do you know where I can catch the bus to Spain?" I was naturally a bit intimidated. :) He was actually really helpful and always went out of his way to help and offer us advice. We are still not sure why he called himself "the prince" or why a prince would be working in a cheap hotel, but we had had a nice place to stay, friendly service and was now well informed of the whereabouts of the royal departure bus stop to Spain. :) The prince estimated it would take us 15min to walk, but in 6min we were at the royal stop and on the bus to Bayonne. ... read more