Basque Country Travel Blogs, page 58

Europe » Spain » Basque Country » Bilbao September 24th 2005

Woe is me! My iPod, my best friend during all my travels, betrayed me! Or rather, lack of sleep and an uncoordinated hand did me in. I've accidently deleted all the pictures from my birthday and then some! So in a desperate and futile attempt to relive the day before my birthday, the day of my birthday, and the morning after my birthday, I'm back at travel blogging. I had some great pictures of A Coruña. A little city near Santiago de Compostela on the northwest coast of Spain. The morning of September 23, I had taken a walk to the Torre de Hercules at 4 AM. If you have to ask what the hell I was taking a walk at 4 AM for, then I'll have to tell you. I got drunk the night before ... read more

Bike muppet.

Europe » Spain » Basque Country » San Sebastián September 18th 2005

San Sebastian from Mount Iguelda

Eggs on Legs

Egg # 2 Hi-de-hi! (ho-de-ho)……. Booze / Bikes / Harbours……… Mr McCabe is correct – they don’t go too well together – and here’s the story: First night in San Sebastian and we were out for a nice leisurely stroll along the sea front promenade known as La Concha. T’was a beautiful evening, air was breezy, sea was kind-of-a choppy, sun was setting and there was a lovely golden light bouncing off all the buildings and waves. As we were heading toward the old quarter, we noticed that there was a free bike rental stall in operation, as part of ‘Mobility Europe’ week. Great stuff – lots of folk borrowing big mountain bikes and having a cycle along the coastal bike tracks – all free gratis, lots of fun, mad healthy etc…. About 200 metres along ... read more

Egun on, San Sebastian!

Europe » Spain » Basque Country » San Sebastián September 17th 2005

Bull Sculpture, Pamplona

Eggs on Legs

Egg No. 1 here. The title of this blog is as far as my understanding of Euskara extends I'm afraid - I think it means "Good morning, San Sebastian!" in Basque - but it may not, so my apologies to the vast swathes of Basques who - I'm sure - read this blog. Either way it makes little difference since, by the time we managed to find our way out of Pamplona towards the Basque Country it was very much no longer morning at all. Since most visitors to Pamplona are chased out of town by a herd of bulls, maybe the town council there have decided that, really, there's no need for road signs at all. It only took us about an hour of trying out every road in Pamplona - between the near-death experience ... read more

BILBAO ROCKS!

Europe » Spain » Basque Country » Bilbao August 26th 2005

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Maybe not the most visited city in Spain, but definitely not to be missed. Bilbao is the new kid on the block, and has some very nice surprises in store. We picked up a quick Easyjet flight and in no time we were over the Pyrenees, through the modernist airport and into the Centre of the city. This is 'Green Spain', but the city has all the feel of the South, including the lunchtime Siestas, and the people are totally welcoming and friendly. The airport bus dropped us straight into the Gran Via, and from there it's a short walk to the Casco Viejo, which is very like Barcelona's Barri Gothic. The ever useful 'rough guide' turned up a few cheap hotels for us, all close to each other. Ours was a bit dustier than most ... read more

more $$ more problems

Europe » Spain » Basque Country » San Sebastián August 19th 2005

DTeam and Scottie

Problem 1: Gigantic Basque Festival leaves no vacancies. Solution: Store items in train station for 3 euros (what a deal!) and plan to sleep on the beach. Problem 2: It rains 15 times per day in San Sebastain (rain jackets currently in locker). Solution: Withstanding weather, and still having fun... i.e. hiking to Jesus statue on top of mountain, eating yummy necterines, meat, cheese, and baguette on the beach. Problem 3: No shower in 3 days, beginning to take effect. Solution: Get in ocean and take brain freezing cold shower on the beach. adsense_leader##

I'm back!

Europe » Spain » Basque Country » San Sebastián July 18th 2005

Sara

Hola! This weekend was awesome! We left on Thursday night for Bilbo and arrived on Friday morning. Luke and I met the rest of the group at the Guggenheim when it opened at 10 after an amazing breakfast and just wandering the city for a couple of hours (who needs sleep anyways?). So we went through the museum (which is awesome, especially the building), and then caught a bus to San Sebastian. I can now say I've stayed at a hostel! San Sebastian was so much fun. It was the most gorgeous beach ever, so all we did was lay on it all day, then eat, then lay on it some more, then go out till the sun came up then start the whole thing over again. There was this floating dock way out in the ... read more

Day 12

Europe » Spain » Basque Country » San Sebastián July 15th 2005

Will

We got into San Sebastian yesterday, after a long couple of hours in Pamplona. We left Madrid on the 13th and went north to Pamplona. We got into Pamplona around 6pm with no where to stay. So we put all of our bags in a locker and left the train station for the main square. On the bus ride to the center of town, we drove around the entire city and every single person (tourists and locals) was dressed in the white shirt, white pants, red sash and a red bandana tied around their necks. It was incredible. Little babies and 90 year old men were even dressed up. So the three of us forked over 20 euros for the entire get-up and got in the spirit. Seeing as how we didnt have a hotel/hostel booked, ... read more

Bilboa

Europe » Spain » Basque Country » San Sebastián July 14th 2005

Bilboa

AX Solo

I now know what a pig feels like when being roasted. I should have known that San Sebastian, being right on the coast, gets comparatively mild weather. Bilboa on the other hand is in the interior, and boy do you feel it. I got there at about 3pm (I won't get started about how it's impossible for me to get up early in San Sebastian for some reason), and I was literally greeted with a blast of hot air. My small keychain thermometre and nearby public digital temperature readouts both showed about 45 degrees Celcius. Having been told by both my guidebook and numerous other sources I've run into that Bilboa is much more than the Guggenheim, I set off to explore the old town first. The place really was pretty, reminding me a lot of ... read more

Donostia, Day 2

Europe » Spain » Basque Country » San Sebastián July 13th 2005

Donostia from Monte Igueldo

AX Solo

The original plan for the day was to visit Bilboa. That didn't happen, in good part due to a bit of a lie in. Hence, it's been another very lazy day. I did make my way up Mount Igueldo, albeit by funicular, and enjoyed some pretty spectacular views of the town. You really see just how packed the beaches are when you look down and behold what looks like an army of ants crawling all over the place. I made a point of visiting Eduardo Chillida's "Peine de los Vientos" (Comb of the Winds). The sculptures are interesting, but don't really fit in. I guess you really do have to see them (as recommended) when it's raining and storming. Apparently, subterranean fissures cause the entire area to howl when the wind kicks up. I really wouldn't ... read more

Donostia Proper, Day 1

Europe » Spain » Basque Country » San Sebastián July 12th 2005

Playa de la Zurriola

AX Solo

Spent my first proper day in Donostia (more commonly known as San Sebastian) today. Actually, I kinda slept half the day still recovering from my Pamplona experience, and even after getting up, I didn't do much. I basically just wandered Gros (the name of the district to the east of the river in San Sebastian) and one of the beaches (Playa de la Zurriola). The beach supposedly has some surfing, and I was contemplating picking up a few lessons until I saw that the "waves" were a little small....even for a beginner. Aside from that, I've just been in this internet cafe for about 2 hours (internet here is cheap at €1.80 an hour) clearing the backlog of entries. I usually write them on time, but depending on the time and cost of internet, I often ... read more

Brief history of Spain

Spain's powerful world empire of the 16th and 17th centuries ultimately yielded command of the seas to England. Subsequent failure to embrace the mercantile and industrial revolutions caused the country to fall behind Britain, France, and Germany in ...more history

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