Our contracts as language assistants in Castilla y Leon terminated on the 14th June and there was still well over a week before the start of the local fiestas at the end of the month. This, of course, is a good enough reason for a mini break by the sea. The nearest beach to Soria is directly above us in País Vasco (Basque Country) so a 6-day trip around this unfamiliar region was something to look forward to during the last week of school.
San Sebastián
A lot of Spaniards I spoke to said that San Sebastian (or Donostia as it is called in Basque) was one of their favourite places in Spain – mainly because of the precious beaches and great food. With Summer finally arriving in Soria the week prior, we had anticipated that the great weather would continue but, alas, it did not. In fact, it was grey and rainy for the whole week except the Saturday. Despite this bad luck, it was never going to dampen our spirits…though I probably should’ve packed an extra pair of jeans instead of two pairs of shorts!
San Sebastián is famous for its pintxos (tapas). “Vas a comer muy bien allí!/You are going to eat really well there!” people would say. I cannot even describe the range and deliciousness of the food that we ate during our stay there: the bars were all covered with colourful, creative mini-dishes which were just a delight for the senses! Some memorable ones were: goats cheese with caramelised onion on roasted red pepper, a mushroom risotto, a spider crab mayonnaise mix type thing, fried seafood balls… I should probably stop there before I salivate all over my keyboard.
A typical spread of pintxos in a San Sebastian bar. Photo courtesy of http://www.buscounviaje.com
These delectable treats came at a slightly higher price than we were used to but we expected that – we weren’t in Soria anymore and País Vasco is known for being one of the more expensive Spanish regions.
Other things we did during our very rainy 3-night stay there: visit the San Telmo Museum (Basque history), walked up a little mountain and strolled along Playa de la Concha (“Shell Beach”) to see the Peine de los Vientos installations in the rocks on the other side.
Playa de la Concha and the ports in San Sebastián. We did have a bit of sunshine as we were walking up the mountain to get these views!
There wasn’t much else to do there culture-wise but we were planning to be spending most of our time sunning ourselves on the beach anyway! It was still a really nice, chilled few days to spend by the sea and lost beach-time was spent hanging out in bars and in our cosy hostel.
Bilbao
Phase 2 of our trip: 3 nights in Bilbao. The city was very metropolitan and lively in its design and size but it soon became apparent that the city’s tourism industry relies almost solely upon the marvel that is the Guggenheim Museum.
The architectural achievement that is the Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao. Photo from news.spainhouses.net
It’s rare to see such an impressive-looking building that houses such impressive contents too. Modern Art might not be to everybody’s taste, but I like it when things are open to interpretation so for me, it was a real treat. We spent almost an entire morning there with our free audio-guides wandering around the various exhibitions, before an amazing lunch in the centre at Fresc Co. Vegetarian buffets really seem to be winning me over these days.
Post-lunch we said goodbye to a dear friend at the bus station, before wandering around town and going back to the Guggenheim to stroll around the outside – equally impressive. No trip outside of Soria is complete without gatecrashing a wedding and outside the museum, we saw a couple taking their happy snaps – an inspired location to do so.
Our final full day in Bilbao was surprisingly sunny. A great day for a day-trip to Guernica, which was a 45 minute bus-ride away from the centre. The town is known for the bombings that took place there in 1937 which inspired the painting by Picasso which sits in the Reina Sofia in Madrid. Because of this, I was expecting a town that was a lot smaller which still had ruins from the bombings but, of course, everything had been rebuilt and it was quite an active little town.
The trunk of the “old tree of Guernica”.
Traditionally, the people of Guernica would hold assemblies underneath a large oak tree. It went on to acquire much greater significance when it survived the bombings, becoming a symbol of Basque nationalism. The 146 year old tree died in 2004, and it’s trunk preserved. A new tree has since been planted grown from the old tree’s acorns. It was quite nice to see and the accompanying council house was interesting too with its stained glass roof.
Then, we went to the wonderful Museo de la Paz (Peace Museum) which was easily one of the best museums I’ve ever been to: it was powerful and philosophical in it’s recalling of the past’s horrific events and hopes for the future.
It was tapas time before heading back on the bus to Bilbao, and the next morning back to Soria. A much-needed, chilled week away.
ESPANA IN THE WORKS 