Greetings from Paris!
I’ve had a very busy time as of late, I was basically back in Madrid for one day in between trips. Last weekend I made a last-minute decision to visit the North of Spain and the two major cities in the Basque Country: San Sebastián and Bilbao!
Now, there is no doubt about which of these two cities is prettier, San Sebastián takes the cake by a long shot, though both cities had their own unique set of things to offer! I’ll get into that in a little bit.
First, I want to talk a little bit about life in Madrid. So, as you all know, I am remaining in Madrid for one full year, and most of the people I met in the first semester were only staying for one semester, meaning they were leaving and were to be replaced by a whole new crop of Erasmus students coming for the Winter/Spring semester. Most (literally almost all) of my friends left, meaning I was left to have to make new friends. This I did, and most of my new friends are actually Canadian, most being from Waterloo, Ontario, though needless to say I did meet new people from different countries as well so I’ve been having it go pretty well ever since my return.
So I decided to embark on this trip to the Spanish Basque Country with my new Canadian friends (all from Waterloo except one, from Calgary) and this guy Chris, from Denver. We were eight in total, which makes for a large group. Despite the relative slowness of the group, we managed to see pretty much all that there was to see since these cities weren’t really too big and we had scheduled ourselves two days per city, which was enough. And we had a great time all together!
Now, San Sebastián. What a beautiful city! This is the city that apparently has the most Michelin Stars (awarded to restaurants that exceed a certain standard of quality) per capita in Spain and perhaps in all of Europe. The Basque Country is especially famous for its ‘pintxos’ bars, essentially Basque tapas bars, but these tapas are more elegant and definitely more delicious. Take a look at some of the food I had the privilege of eating last weekend:
Unfortunately I did not photograph all of it, but yes I ate well!
San Sebastián is a beach-front city and it has some of the nicest beaches in Spain, according to some websites. Unfortunately it was not warm enough to actually go in the water, though it was 20 degrees (we did, however, see an old man strip naked and run in… only to run out of the water seconds later, interesting story), but just the view of the city was amazing and I can only imagine what it’s like in summer. Take a look!
The old town was also pretty nice! It’s interesting how the North just has such a different feel than the South of Spain, here it seems a lot more relaxed and also a lot calmer, whereas in the South it’s loud and the culture is just different, perhaps it’s the Arab influence, I’m not sure. The architecture is also quite different, if you’ll remember from some of my previous posts, the white consists of several white-washed villas whereas the North has, well, differently-styled architecture, as you’re about to see in San Sebastián’s Old Town.
Just glancing down those small streets is a treasure all on it’s own!
I actually ran into this restaurant in the Old Town:
It’s a Quebecer who did a student exchange in San Sebastián 13 years ago, and fell in love with the place. He decided to move there, and to take his culture with him! This is a creperie served with some fine maple syrup, and of course he serves coffee and stuff as well. I felt right at home in there, as the Habs games were streaming on TV and there were sports jerseys and Quebec license plates all over the place. I guess we really can get a taste of home anywhere we go!
Now, the best part of San Sebastián, by a long shot, was taking climbing up to the lookouts and having a simply breathtaking view of the city. I’ll first show you the view from the second lookout we visited, which wasn’t as nice as the first one but still quite remarkable.
Essentially there’s a big Jesus statue overlooking the city (kinda like in Rio, or Lisbon actually) and we decided to climb to the statue, and traversed a nice garden on the way. We’d observed the statue from afar and finally going to the top was a nice reward!
Now, this other lookout we saw first, and it’s got to be the best lookout onto a city I have ever seen. On the opposite side of the city lookout is one over the ocean, a perfect place to catch the sunset! This night was simply amazing.
…and we caught the cable car up! If these photos alone don’t make you fall in love with this city, then I suggest you visit the city and the lookout yourself. Truly one of the best experiences I’ve had all year.
‘Oh the things you’ll see’
Off to Bilbao!
Now, Bilbao is famous for one thing: The Guggenheim Museum. This contemporary art museum was actually designed by a Canadian, Frank Gehry, and is a thrill to visit. We spent almost an entire day there, and the visit was worth every penny. Here are some photos of the outside, and some of the inside:
Unfortunately we couldn’t take photos inside, but I snuck one of a quote I really liked (and got shit for it but whatever):
I actually took that picture in the Africa exhibit, one of the several exhibits that truly fascinated me. This exhibit showcased Africa and how Africans are perceived from the rest of the world. Africa is actually huge, as you probably all know, but it actually fits all of Europe as well as the USA and several countries of Asia within it. It’s so big, and it got me thinking that it’s yet so small, I’m talking influence-wise. And it’s true, historically the white man has depicted Africans as thanking them graciously and they’re the uncivilized, insignificant ones while the white man are the ones with the power, when in reality it’s really inappropriate to look at the world that way, and as the exhibit showed, Africa has many institutions of higher education so look for their influence to rise…
Some of the modern art was super interesting, like the floor panels pictured above in a spherical setup on the floor playing mind games with you, or from some of the paintings in some of the rooms. One room featured a bunch of paintings of a clearly drugged artist who painted different aspects of the human body in a weird way and their influence on us. Weird, yet interesting. All of this is modern art, and it really makes you bat an eyelash, raise an eyebrow and sometimes sit or stand in awe at the amazing pieces of art in front of you.
Definitely my favorite European museum as of yet.
The Bilbao Old Town, however, was definitely not as impressive as San Sebastián’s, so thank God they do have the Guggenheim. It did have some neat architecture though, and there was a pretty decent lookout:
It’s interesting. In the hostel we were staying at (where we also watched the Super Bowl), I met some British guys that had previously moved to Bilbao to teach English. They told me that they had no formal training in that field, nor did they speak any Spanish. Essentially, it seems as though their only prerequisite was to be a native English speaker, and that there’s such a need for English teachers in Spain that that’s enough. They told me that since I actually speak Spanish, that I can probably get double their salary, and so if I did get roughly 2000 euros per month, for example, that would be a pretty lofty sum of money.
Huh… something to consider I guess.
Anyways, I am in Paris now, with Rosalie, and I am definitely happy to see her and to see Paris. This city is amazing, and I’ve already seen many tourist attractions here like the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower, though my trip has only just started. I will definitely blog about it all when I get back to Madrid. One thing that has struck me though, ever since arriving, was the extremely heavy presence of security everywhere. You can’t even enter a store without your bags being checked…
More on that at a later date. En attendant, je vais profiter de Paris!
Dan.
Studying Abroad in Madrid!! 