Part Five: San Sebastian and Bilbao!

Hello! Oh man, do I have a lot to write. The past few days have been fantastic and I think I am officially in love with Spain. I had built it up a lot in my head for some reason, I'm not sure what, but I am glad I did because I've only been in Spain since Wednesday night and it has already exceeded my expectations. So, here it goes, I think I will have a lot to say. I write today from Madrid but I have some catching up to do so Madrid updates will come a little later.

First off, getting here was not easy. I predicted this, but not for the reasons that I thought. On Wednesday, I made my way quite easily to the Paris Montparnasse (excessively early as always) and got on the train fine. Everything was going quite smoothly and it was a nice ride through the countryside down to Bordeaux where I was slated to change trains. I had an hour between the two and decided to walk around a bit. It was an interesting little area; I'm pretty sure I was not in the heart of Bordeaux because really all there was around the train station were cafes and sex shops. I took a few pictures and headed back to the station. My track number was posted so I proceeded to the train and got on.

At this point, I had no worries at all. I felt as thought everything would go smoothly and soon enough I would be in beautiful San Sebastian. The conductor came on the overhead loudspeaker and gave what I thought were the usual pre-trip announcements. You know, the usual, "Here you are on a train. Enjoy the train. Thanks for taking the train." Of course, they were all in French so I had no idea what he actually said. Later, I would wish that I could understand.

Something wasn't quite right after the announcement because the passengers started to become quite restless and began asking each other questions. My travel anxiety crept up on me and I started to worry but I tried not to let it get the best of me because, after all, there was no good reason for something to be wrong as there were no announcements posted in the station or on the digital display next to the track. I tried to ask a man for help but he didn't speak any English at all, nor did anyone else in my immediate area, and the conductor was no where to be found. The one thing I could understand from the announcement was that there was a lot of talk of a place called Dax and so I decided that when Dax rolled around I would try and figure out what was up.

About an hour later the train arrived at Dax and nearly everyone got off. I figured that maybe I should get off too and as I looked out the window I saw that the computer monitor for our track did not have my stop. I found the nearest conductor who pointed me towards another conductor and who told me that I needed to find a bus. A bus? Why a bus? I thought I was on the train. If I wanted the bus I would have just bought a bus ticket. But oh well, something must have been up after all, and I made my way to the bus windwo and asked for a bit of help. The lady told me to go to bus 1, 2, or 3. She did not specify whether all of them went to the same place or if I needed to find one so I got on the first one that showed up and showed my ticket. The man said no but as I turned away he motioned to me to stay. My fourth travel angel of the trip showed up (they've all been women so far) and in very broken English an old woman told me that I was to take this bus as far as it went and then figure it out from there. That was a little disconcerting because I had no idea where I was going. I was pretty much in a state of uncertainty for most of the trip.

The bus finally left and drove through what looked to be the strange strip mall, neon lit, non-romantic part of France. About an hour and a half later we arrived at another train station where, luckily, there was a train to where I needed to go. One more transfer and I was in San Sebastian! Next problem: the directions I had to my hostel made no sense. They were pretty much as follows: exit the train station, turn right, walk past a red building, keep walking until you reach two glass buildings, turn right, walk more, turn right, we are on the left. Ah! Not very helpful. So it took me a while to get to where I needed to go but I arrived very relieved happy to have a place to put down my giant bag, which seems to get heavier even though I haven't added anything to it.

I decided I needed to go out and walk a bit to clear my head. Luckily, for those of you who are not familiar with San Sebastian, it is right on the ocean. It sits in the Basque country just over the border with France. My hostel was literally about a minute walk from the beach which was fantastic. It was warm out and I could walk in just a sweater. I found a little bar crowded with people and got myself a beer. Truly, the place was great. It was full of fun loving people of all ages who just talked and laughed and generally had a great time. The bar felt so relaxed and I knew there was something good going on in San Sebastian.

I took my exhausted self back to my hostel and put myself to bed for the night. I woke up relatively early and hit the streets. A quick snack and I was ready to go. I made my way to the bus station, bought my ticket for the next day and then set out in the beautiful sunshine towards the ocean. San Sebastian has pretty cool geography. There is a river in the middle and then two crescent shaped beaches on either side. The one on the southern side is more of a large cove with an island in the middle. In between the two beaches is a tall hill with a a large statue atop an old fort type building.

I spent to first part of the day exploring the coastline around the southern bay. There was a large seawall and breaking waves along the beach. It was so nice and warm and there were people everywhere. At the end of the seawall, the walk bends out into the ocean where huge waves were crashing against the wall. There were these cool iron sculptures on the rocks and inside the seawall they had made some sort of pipes where the water crashe through and then pushed upwards out onto the deck of the walkway like mini fountains. They made a really cool whistling sound. The waves were really impressive too. Probably the biggest I have seen in person.

I walked back with the intention of finding a place to have some good food in order to truly get myself into the Basque cuisine. I found a little restaurant in the Parte Vieja (the old part) of the city. In Spain, the main meal of the day happens at a late lunchtime. Most restaurants have a "Menu del Dia" which is fixed price menu that has an appetizer, main course, and dessert, with wine (more on that in a second) included. Most places it only costs around 11 or 12 euro which I think is a pretty good deal. For my appetizer I had a sopa de pescado (fish soup) that was excellent. Being right on the ocean, the seafood in San Sebastian is fantastic. The soup had the most tender mussels ever in it. Then, I had some bacalao which is salt cod. It was served in a tomato broth with stewed red, yellow, and green peppers with just the right amount of garlic and parsley. The meal finished with a cheese cake sort of thing with blackberry sauce. I was in heaven. A word on the included wine. Now, in America, most prix fixe menus come with a glass of wine so that was what I expected. Not so. What I got was a small pitcher equal to around a half liter. Now a half liter is good for beer, about a pint, but a half liter of wine? Man that is alot!

So I ended my lunch with great food and a little bit of wine swimming in my head. I decided to walk it off with a hike up the hill to the old fort (I can't recall the name right now but I will look it up). The hike afforded the most beautiful panoramic views of the entire city. The sun continued to shine and it was just so nice to be on the ocean. Atop the hill sat the fort. I was very pleased that it was not as most places and did not require any sort of fee and I was able to generally explore the entire place. As I climbed up the view only got better. I think it was one of the most beautiful sights I have seen in a long time.

I hiked back down the hill and walked along the beach to my hostel for a little rest before I set out for a night of pintxos (the Basque name for what are commonly known as tapas). Since the lunch is so large and late, the night starts late as well. I found a place that looked pretty good and made my way to a prime spot in front of the chalkboard menu next to the bar. The place yielded one of my greatest food experiences ever. The menu was in the Basque dialect so I could not understand it completely but that sort of made for more of an adventure. I asked for a beer and a croquetta, though I didn't know what the filling was. Turns out, it was a croquette of calamari and their ink, fried in a light batter atop a little circle of garlic aioli. Oh man, I have never had anything like it before. I didn't know what to expect from the ink but it turned out to be a very sweet, semi-thick liquid that acted as a natural auce. I have not stopped thinking about it since.

I knew I was on to something in this place. I glanced up at the menu again. Around that time people started flooding in and I knew even more that I had found the right place. I wasn't sure what I was ordering next but I recognized the term romesco, a traditional spanish sauce of dried peppers and a variety of other ingredients. I knew that traditionally it was served with beef so I expected I was getting beef. Sure enough, a small plate arrived with a little piece of seared beef, a good portion of romesco, some parsley oil and olive oil. The beef was perfect; seared rare a la plancha (grill) and unbelievably tender.

I still had a tiny bit of hunger so I decided the best way to finish was with something a little different. I spotted a pintxo of goat cheese described as being cooked a la planca with another term I did not recognize. What I ended up with was a half round of goat cheese, deeply caramelized with a fig puree. I think that the chef must have added some sugar to get that caramelization though maybe there is some trick I'm not aware of. Regardless, it was the perfect end to my meal. I walked back along the beach and fell asleep quite content and totally into the Spanish lifestyle. There is something about the eating schedule, the atmosphere of relaxation, the small, well paced eating of pintxos that drew me in completely.

That probably explains why I over slept the next day. Well, that factor, and the fact that my watch is being really stupid. For some reason it keeps resetting itself. I ended up waking up to 9 a.m. on my watch. Plenty of time I thought. I leisurely got ready and opened my computer. 10:30 it said! Ah! That was the time I had planned to leave for my relatively long walk to the bus station. I still had to back, check out, and pay. Oh man, I was panicked. I rushed everything into my bag, paid, and set out on the street. Nervous, I ran part of what ended up being about a half hour trip. Picture this, me running, very dishevelled, with a huge back through the relaxed streets of San Sebastian. Gah. I ended up getting there in plenty of time after all.

The bus left for Bilbao, another small Basque country city. I think the trip would have been worth it just for the view out of the bus window. We had to drive up through the mountains and back down another valley (the trip was about 1 hr 10 min.) in order to settle down into Bilbao. The peaks were snow covered and the hills were covered with tiny farms and animals all along the way. To one side was the ocean, to the other, the mountains. I loved every second of it.

I arrived in Bilbao and navigated my way to the hostel I had booked. It actually turned out that the cheapest place to stay was a one room single. I must say, it was pretty nice to be able to have my own room for the first time in a while. It had a little sink and I did sink laundry, a not so romantic backpacking novelty, for the first time. It would have all been alright if the heater had not kicked off in the middle of the night leaving all of my clothes still wet this morning. Oh well, they are drying now.

I left the hostel and set out for another lunch. This one was not as impressive as the last so I will spare the details but it was pretty good nonetheless and there was another generous, if not a little more generous, helping of red wine. Mmm. After lunch, I went on my way to the one real reason I trekked to Bilbao: the Guggenheim. I heard great things about it, and it turned out to be pretty amazing. It was designed by Frank Gehry and is truly a work of art. I wouldn't have even cared if there was any art in the building, the structure itself was great (look up pictures of Guggenheim Bilbao to see!). I really appreciate when abstraction and innovation meet practicality and functionality. The building itself was part of a large plan to bring back Bilbao and it has a definit presence in the city. It fits right in with all the new parks and restaurants.

Fortunately, the building did have art inside and great art at that. There was a huge Richard Serra instalation that was really cool. It is so fun to walk inside his sculptures and feel how the twists and turns change the viewers perception. Most of the rest of the museum (the third floor was closed) was taken up by a Cy Twombly retrospective. I had never really experienced his art and my opinion is still a bit up in the air on a lot of it but it was interesting to see it all and it fit well in the atmosphere of the museum.

I finished the rest of my stay in a really relaxed fashion. I took a leisurely walk back to the hostel through a light rain and enjoyed having my own space for a little while. Then I went out for some more food and got myself a racione (slightly bigger than a pintxo) of chorizo cooked in Basque cider. It was really good and the chorizo in Spain is so much better than whatever we import or make in the U.S. I went back to the Hostel and finished off my night in a nice relaxed solo room, though my neighbors seemed to be throwing furniture or something.

So this morning I left Bilbao for Madrid! And now I am in Madrid. As always, I want to keep my updats a bit separate so Madrid will wait for a few days but I've already had some great experience and I am really enjoying the city so far. I look forward to more food tonight! There really is something about Spain; I see why people love it so much now. I can't quite describe it but my mindset is a little changed here. More relaxed, more focused, more content. Not that the other stops haven't been amazing but I feel like I'm settling down a bit, getting a firm grip on what I'm doing and truly becoming a more cpable traveler. A brief update on the itinerary of Spain: I think from here I will head to Salamanca, then down to Cordoba, then to Granada, and then of to Barcelona. I look forward to it alot but I am so content taking each day as it is.

Hope all is well with everyone. More soon!