A trip to El País Vasco (Basque Country), aka Northern Spain...a whole new world!

I remember in my high school Spanish classes my teacher would always talk about Northern Spain or more formally, the Basque Country. Mr. Newell would go on and on about how beautiful it was and how different this region of Spain was from the rest. Seeing how I still remember this over 4 years later, Mr. Newell really must have made an impression on me or maybe it's just my inner world traveler that was intrigued. With that said, I finally made a trip up north this past weekend. Between the comments from Mr. Newell and my Spanish roommate, I had high expectations for this hidden gem. I can gladly say after just 3 nights, my expectations were exceeded and I would not hesitate to go back.

The regions of Spain: The Basque Country is in orange. I visited 2 basque cities, San Sebastian and Bilbao. San Sebastian is on the coast and Bilbao is about an hour drive inland and South of San Sebastian.

My fellow American friend, Taylor and I took a flight from Sevilla to Bilbao and arrived in Northern Spain within 90 minutes. I was once again reminded of how small Spain is as a country relative the our homeland. Flying across country for less than $100 and in less than 2 hours, I only wish that was the case at home. Upon landing at the small airport in Bilbao we took an hour bus to San Sebastian, a very well known basque city on the northern coast. Unfortunately, it was dark for most of the bus ride but from what I could make out I already felt like I was in a different land. White houses with red roofs, rolling green hills, fall leaves changing colors (FINALLY I got to see them!!!), giant cows, sheep...etc. were all part of the natural beauty. Finally the bus arrived, we stepped out into the brisk fall weather and followed the river to our accommodation, Pensión San Juan. November isn't exactly tourist season in San Sebastian so we were the only guests staying at the pension but luckily that just meant we got all the attention of the gracious owner, Mr. Juan himself. I think he was rather excited to have guests. Being always hungry 22 year olds, we set off to try what the Basque Country is known for, their cuisine or los pintxos (pronounced pinchos). Pintxos is basque (the basque speak a different dialect than those from southern Spain) for tapas (the small portions of food they have for dinner in southern Spain). Between recommendations from Mr. Juan and our handy travel book by Rick Steves, we found some SPECTACULAR local, authentic bars with pintxos I could have literally eaten all night (and just might have). All the bars either had a chalkboard with a list of the pintxos and drinks for that night and you just pick one from the menu and it's ready in a flash. Some bars even have all the food out on the counter top so you can see exactly what you're ordering. This is something that is so different than southern Spain and something I really liked, especially when you don't know half the words on the menu. Most of the options included some type of seafood (octopus legs, muscles, fish, shrimp...), mushrooms, bacon, peppers...it was always so hard to choose. Among my favorites was La Carrillera de Ternera, an extremely tender beef with a red wine sauce. It puts any type of red meat I've ever had to shame and pair it was a 1 euro glass of red wine and you're good to go.  Another great thing is the food isn't too expensive, the portions are small (so you can try many and bar hop) and it's polite to throw your dirty napkins on the FLOOR. For three days my taste buds were just in heaven. One of the teachers at Taylors work had told her to go to La Vina, which apparently has the best cheesecake and wine you could ask for. We had been so excited to go and finally when we arrived, THEY WERE CLOSED FOR VACATIONS. No me digas. Such a disappointment. Oh well, now we will just have to go back.

La Carrillera de Ternera..nom nom

Taylor outside our first bar, Bordabarri

Here we have shrimp bruscetta, mushrooms wrapped in bacon, beef on a stick...

Note how the have the options right on the bar!

Thank you Rick Steve's! Best guid book ever. Lead us to this delicious breakfast spot!

So San Sebastian yes we ate lots of food, but did we do anything else?? YES!!! Fortunately we spent our one full day walking through the entire city. Our first stop was the famous, underground market, La Brexta. Here you could get your fresh bread, vegetables, fish, octopus, squid, shrimp, you name it. It had the same smell and feeling of Pike's Pike in Seattle, unfortunately there was no on throwing fish around. San Sebastian is right on the beach. The beach is called Playa de la Concha (or Conch shell Beach) as it has a half moon/rounded shape to it that goes for about 2miles. Along the beach there are beautiful, Eastern European looking buildings, and a backdrop of rolling hills. Just see the pictures below. Its really too much to describe. As we walked along the beach we couldn't help but notice the NUMEROUS older people going out for their morning swim! brrrrrr. It was impressive. Later that night, for sunset, we hiked to the top of Monte Urgill (an old fortress) for a beautiful picturesque view of the entire city. We had been so fortunate to have a full day of sun as it is very common for it to rain most days.

Yum, take your pic..sting ray, flounder or squid.

The meat stand. Those objects hanging are the famous jamon legs (ham legs).

Verduras verduras!!!

Taylor and I on Playa de la Concha!

Panaramoa shot!

 A group of men playing "pelota" against the beach on the wall. Not a bad spot for a game if you ask me. Pelota is bacially like raquetball, its a very popular game in the Basque Country

 

The cathedral of San Sebastian.

The sunset over the entire bay taken from the Monte Urgill. Couldn't get enough of it. I wish I could make this picture bigger for you...

 

 

Just a view on our casual stroll along the Port...awesome

The next morning, after our experience at a Spanish style 1950s diner where we had eggs, bacon, and chocolate and churros (a very traditional Spanish breakfast dish) we made our way back to the bus station as we would spend our last night in the city of Bilbao. A smaller, more inland city in the Basque Country. Bilbao is the cuisine capital of Spain. Go figure. While Bilbao lacked the beach and coastline, there was still something very beautiful about the city. It too had buildings that reminded me from scenes of Prague and small streets that were old yet compact with many people out and about enjoying an afternoon beer and pintxo. Once again, we followed the recommendation of Rick Steve's travel guide and went to an authentic basque restaurant where we gorged on a tender, succulent beef stew and some fresh vegetables. Afterwards we headed to the main (and really only) attraction of the city, the Guggenheim Museum. After talking to locals in San Sebastian about the museum most had said the outside of the building was much more worthwhile than all the modern art exhibits on the inside. I would most definitely agree. I know I'm not an art fan to begin with but I figured I'd only probably be here once in my life. Throughout the three levels of "art" all I kept thinking was, "how is this art?" and "I have friends that could make this". Ok, yes that's being dramatic but there were many structures made out of vinyl that were light switches, food, vacuum...common appliances. Not to mention exhibits of antiques that anyone could have in their own homes. I just didn't get it. But thats ok, at least I supported the struggling Spanish economy. The outside though reminded me very much of the EMP in Seattle, an abstract, silver metal structure that looked like something different from every angle. My other favorite, the giant puppy made out of flowers they had in the entrance way.

Breakfast at the 1950s Santa Lucia Diner

Welcome to Bilbao!!!

walking to the Guggenheim...

Giant spider structure outside the museum...

another POV of the outside of the museum...

Hmmm...what else. Our last night in Bilbao was a little rainy so we spent it hoping from bar to bar, watching various futbol games and observing locals. At one point we met a very excited Spanish women, who couldn't have been more excited to meet some young Americans and to tell us how much so loved our Democratic country and she also might have mentioned, just a few times, that her sister is a chef at restaurant down the street and she had just won some big award. NBD. Back at our hostel we had met some younger British guys from Manchester who just wanted to get out of town for the weekend and picked Bilbao as their destination. Another reminder about how easy it is to country hop over on this side of the world.

Well, that's all for now folks.

P.S. I forgot to mention I was jumping for joy as I finally found a freshly baked, goey CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE!!! All for 1 euro. Hit the spot!