The Basque Word for Rain Is "Euria"

I took another week off from my blog last week because when I don't travel, I often do nothing on weekends. So during the weekend of February 26, the only exciting thing I did was meet Morgan's cousins who were visiting from London. They were lovely and very funny, and we ended up pretending we were in our own sorority over the course of the evening. We laughed a lot and generally had a great time.

Otherwise, nothing particularly interesting to share about Quintanar. School continues to be good. In the high school, I bounce around among many different classes, including geography, philosophy, music, technologies, and of course English classes. The funniest class for me to visit is technologies, because the students are currently working on building a bridge model from wood. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not even a little bit handy, so their teacher has learned that I'm basically useless. If he wants me to do anything, he has to teach me how to do it first. For example, he asked me to supervise the students while they used the drill, and I just sort of looked at him blankly. "You don't even know how to use a drill!?" he exclaimed. "What do they teach you in the United States!?" The students are my favorite group, the equivalent of high school freshmen and the only group that I see every week, so we know each other pretty well. They all laugh at me whenever I come to technologies because they too have realized I'm totally useless when it comes to woodworking. Of course I'm with them this term when they're building things, whereas they worked with computers during the last term. Considering I have a minor in IT, I would have been at least a little more helpful in that area of study. Oh well. At least by going to a woodworking class, I'm learning, too. In the primary school, I played a board game with third and fourth grade one week, and then the following I was with infantil, which means I spent 5 hours straight singing about the weather. Have I mentioned how much I enjoy going to infantil classes?

But when Friday rolled around, Morgan and I boarded the 5:00 AM bus to Madrid because we were taking a trip to País Vasco, or Basque Country, which is in the northernmost part of the country and even traverses the border into France. We went with a tour group that included stops in Bilbao, San Sebastián, and Saint-Jean-de-Luz and Biarritz in France. The first stop was Bilbao, which was a five hour bus ride away, so the trip was on the road at 8:00.

We made good time and arrived in Bilbao around 1:30. After dropping off our bags, finding lunch was our first priority. Unfortunately, we ended up in a restaurant that had nothing appetizing on the menu. I ended up eating croquetas, which is basically a mozzarella stick with ham in it and one of my favorite Spanish foods, but Morgan ordered sausages and was dismayed to discover that they were actually extra greasy chorizo. I ended up buying fries from a different place on our walk back to the bus because lunch left a lot to be desired. The other unfortunate part of the day was that it started raining while we were eating. The rain followed us to San Sebastián the following day and didn't stop until Sunday afternoon when we got to France. So on our way back to the bus, we stopped and bought umbrellas. Let me tell you, it was probably the best investment I've made since I got to Spain. I would've been lost without it this weekend. Well, maybe not lost, but certainly so soaked through that I would've been dripping.

Other than the unfortunate weather, I was pleasantly surprised by how pretty Bilbao is. 

Pretty square near our hostel

It's an old industrial city, so I didn't know what to expect. But it was really quite lovely, even with the rain. The coolest part about visiting Bilbao, or Basque Country in general, was getting to hear and see Basque, the local language. Spain has four official languages, three of which are dialects of Spanish. Then there's Basque, which is a language isolate, meaning it has no demonstrable relationship to other languages. Basque uses more k's, x's, and z's than any other language I've seen; in fact, the name of their language in Basque is "Euskara." When it's written down, I thought it looked most similar to German, but when it's spoken, it doesn't sound like anything but gibberish. If you have time, look up someone speaking Basque on YouTube with English subtitles. It's wild. 

Largely because of the weather, we took a bus tour of Bilbao (Bilbo in Basque) rather than tramp through puddles on foot. Our first stop was to visit the hanging bridge that connects the two sides of the Bilbao Estuary. The bridge was actually really cool, because cars drive onto a platform and then cables attached to the bridge (which is 50 meters tall) carry them to the other side. It's quite a sight, and apparently the oldest bridge of its kind in the world.

Hanging bridge of Bilbao

We got back on the bus and drove to the top of Mount Artxanda. Here, there were lovely views of the whole city, but we were eager to get back on the bus because the altitude meant it was colder and even a bit rainier.

On top of Mount Artxanda

View from Mount Artxanda

Our last stop was at the Guggenheim Museum. The construction of the Bilbao Guggenheim in 1992 is what put the city on the tourist map, and when you see the museum, you'll see why. But our first order of business was to see Puppy, a famous flower sculpture outside of the museum.

Posing with Puppy

The Guggenheim is situated on the Bilbao Estuary and it has several sculptures outside as well. It's a really lovely sight and the architecture is incredible.

Guggenheim Museum of Bilbao

View across the estuary from the museum

Is that you, Aragog?

We finished our tour on foot by visiting the Plaza Nueva and, of course, the cathedral. They were both lovely but our feet were pretty soaked by now, so we were eager to get back to the hostel and get dry.

Plaza Nueva

Bilbao Cathedral

After a little respite in the hostel, Morgan and I ventured back out into the rain to get dinner. Eager to avoid a similar situation to our lunch, we found a place that looked crowded (which we figured meant the food was good) and snagged two seats at the bar. Basque Country is internationally renowned for their food, which was part of why lunch was such a letdown. But this bar had what the Basques are famous for: pintxos, which is pronounced "pinchos." Pintxos are similar to tapas in the fact that they are small portions of food, but the difference is that a bar will lay out many plates of pintxos and you can pick and choose one or two from many different plates. So we had pintxos and lemon beer for dinner, and it was to die for.

Pintxos for dinner

The combination of the bad weather and our early rising to catch the 5:00 bus motivated us to have a quiet night in the hostel and go to bed early. 

We were on the road again at 10 the next morning. On our way to San Sebastián, we stopped in Guernica (Gernika in Basque). Guernica is most famous for a sad reason. Hitler practiced his blitzkrieg tactics in Guernica in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War in support of Franco, and leveled the town in the process. Picasso painted what many consider to be his masterpiece as a reflection of the carnage and destruction. Since then, Guernica as a whole and particularly their Casa de Juntas has become a symbol of peace. The Basque parliament meets in Guernica at the Casa de Juntas or under a famous oak tree behind it. The oak tree, too, has become a symbol of the Basque people.

Casa de Juntas in Guernica

The famous oak tree of Guernica

Inside Casa de Juntas

We continued on to San Sebastián, or Donostia in Basque, and checked into our hostel, which was a really cool student residence on the outskirts of the city. We went back into the center to find lunch (and had more delicious pintxos) before going on a walking tour. Our tour included city hall, the cathedral, the city center, and of course, walking along the water. San Sebastián is on the Cantabrian Sea and has gorgeous beaches but is also surrounded by mountains, which is why many people think it is the most beautiful city in Spain. It is in fact home of the most expensive real estate in the country, so they probably have a point.

Front of city hall

Back of city hall

San Sebastián

Sign outside of city hall in Basque, Spanish, French, and English

Posing at the Cantabrian Sea

Downtown San Sebastián

Morgan in front of the cathedral

The Cantabrian Sea

When our walking tour was finished, we intended to sightsee a little more on our own, but the rain and wind picked up and managed to soak us despite our umbrellas, so we ended up going back to our hostel to dry off and warm up. 

For dinner that night, our tour group went to a ciderería, or a cider house. This was actually a special privilege because northern Spain is famous for their cider, and the best time to drink fresh cider is in March and April. For the rest of the year, the cider houses are closed, so this was a real treat. I love cider and so does Morgan, so we were excited to try it. Well, as it turns out, Spanish cider is much less sweet than what we are used to. That's not to say it was sour by any means, but it just didn't have as strong of a flavor. 

The cider squirted so far out of the barrel that it looked absurd

We tried several and we both managed to find one we liked. The dinner at the cider house was also very good. Of the three dishes and dessert served, two of them were fish dishes, which was a bit of a bummer for me, but I ate both of them, because at least they weren't shellfish! There was also a beef course which was some of the best beef I've ever had, and cheese with quince and walnuts for dessert. Overall it was a good meal and even better that we got to meet some of the other people on our trip. I met people from Germany, Finland, Slovakia, Australia, Syria, and Portugal, just to name a few.

We got back late from the cider house, but we weren't leaving until noon the next day, so Morgan and I decided to use the morning to do the sightseeing we couldn't do the day before because of the weather. It was still raining when we left but it wasn't nearly as bad. We went to Palacio Miramar, which is a seaside mansion with beautiful gardens that has been turned into a music school. We were even lucky enough to hear someone practicing their trumpet while we were there (or "a few toots," as Morgan said).

View from the Palacio Miramar

Palacio Miramar

Rain couldn't keep our smiles away!

We then walked over to Mount Igueldo, which had a little funicular train to the top. The weather cleared up while we were walking over, and it was such a relief to see the sun. However, by the time we got to the top, the rain was back again, so the pictures are terrible. Oh well. You'll have to trust me that it was a beautiful view, and on a sunny day, I'm sure it was downright incredible.

Funicular train to the top of Mount Igueldo

Rainy view from the top

At least my umbrella is cute

We got back on the bus again, this time to cross the border into France. We stopped for lunch in Saint-Jean-de-Luz, a picturesque little town right on the Cantabrian Sea. It was funny to be 30 minutes outside of Spain yet see very French-looking architecture. And I had delicious pizza for the first time since December, which made my whole day. One food Spaniards have not figured out yet is how to make a decent pizza. Although admittedly, being from NEPA might be a factor in making me a pizza snob.

Saint-Jean-de-Luz coastline

Winding streets of Saint-Jean-de-Luz

Main square

Main square

After lunch, we continued on to Biarritz, a larger resort town also on the Cantabrian Sea. Biarritz is considerably swankier than Saint-Jean-de-Luz and filled with expensive shops and casinos. I bet it's full of wealthy folks when the summer rolls around. But the weather finally cleared up in Biarritz, and it was lovely to walk along the sea in the sunshine.

Swankiest hotel in Biarritz

Beautiful coastline of Biarritz

Walking out on this bridge with the sea crashing below was crazy

At least we got a rainbow after all that rain!

Cathedral of Biarritz

Biarritz was our last stop, so when we got back on the bus, it was to go back to Madrid. We didn't get back until midnight, so we had to stay overnight in the city and take the first bus back in the morning. I was lucky enough not to have class until 12:30 but Morgan went straight to school. I think I'm still not caught up on my sleep, but it was worth it to have such a great weekend---even with the terrible weather!