Visiting Basques

The classes on UFV, the university I was attending in Madrid, started in September. After a good week I started to be able to follow the professors in their lectures that were obligatory. As a consecuence, I was not able to go traveling for more than 3days (my Fridays were off). So I decided to make a trip in the direction opposite to the one I made in September so going soun converted into going north to the Basque country. I had time to visit two of three different main cities there: Bilbao, San Sebastian and Santander. And I decided for the first two.

Bilbao

I departed early in the morning with already tested transport: Blablacar. I was talking to the driver during the trip so it did not seem so long. In Bilbao I did not find a host on Couchsurfing so I booked a hostel there for 2 nights. It was a bit far from the center so I had to take the metro everytime I wanted to go to there. The metro seemed a bit strange to me as I got used to the one in Madrid where the seats are only on the sides but here it looked more like a train where two pairs of seats are placed towards each other. I found the hostel where the room looked a bit similar to the space ship. After leaving some of my luggage there I was ready to do the city tour. I checked some basic things about the city and, as usually, decided to make use of the option of going to the tourist information office  and get a free map with main sights marked.

Old part of the city consists of several streets. It looks nice but somehow it is very similar to some other cities' old parts with shops, restaurants, bars and houses in neutral colors. Besides lays the river that ends up as a part of the sea. I coutinued the tour by following the river where every bridge looks different than others. That part of the city looks more modern with skyscrapers and some more modern sculptures. I took a funicular to get to the top of one hill from where I had amazing view of the city. I also walked a bit further up there following the signs that marked a church, but it was closed and really small. From there, I was able to see a smaller private airport.

One of the reasons why I wanted to visit the city was world famous Guggenheim museum with modern art. From the outside, it looks like a space ship. There was a sculpture of a large spider on one side and a bear made of flowers on another. And on both sides, many people taking pictures. The inside looked was spacious and full of walls in irregular forms. The rooms were hidden behind the museum's design. In one small terrace there was a vivid flower-like shiny statue. In the higher floor I could see works of Picasso and other painters of the era. What I like so much about the modern art museums is that I never know what I am going to find inside and oftentimes they make me think about some problems of the society or human race. This museum did not leave me indifferent.

I walked a bit further on and took a wide street for getting back to the old city. The afternoon was really cold that day, which reminded me of more changing weather on north of Spain comparing it to Madrid or Andalusia. I persisted in the center for a little while more and took a portion of churros and after that I returned to the hostel as, like several times before, I expected a warmer weather and did not have enough to wear. Indeed, Madrid can really spoil you considering temperatures.

I started the next day by going to the station nearest to the hanging (suspension) bridge. Building it represented an important step of engineering. The bridge looked unlike any other I have seen and if I wanted to cross the river I either had to use this bridge or going back to the other bridges. There are two ways to do that: you can either pay more and walk at the upper deck like some people did, where you get a safety belt and go in groups or take the cheaper option like me and go into the wagon connected with wires that also transports cars. The ride gave me a lovely view and it ended up very soon.

I walked by the river and soon arrived to the sea. There were sandy beaches with no people bathing there as the sea was already cold. There was also a smaller port where some people were making repairs on their boats. After a certain part, the houses became very connected and I could not find any street connecting the coast with the other part, which was a bit strange. So I kept on going and finally found a staircase leading to other streets and the metro that took me back to the center.

San Sebastian

On the next day early in the morning I took a ride to San Sebastian. The cities are close together, so the ride did not take so much time. When I arrived the weather was a bit cloudy, but later the clouds disappeared and let me enjoy the day. The old town was inviting me to take a walk down the streets and see all of the restaurants and small bars rated with Trip advisor mark. I also went into one of those that did not look like anything special from the outside but the sandwich was really delicious (as the Blablacar driver had told me). In the morning they were cleaning the streets so that part of the city became nicer later when more people were walking through it.

I was walking by the beach in one direction to see one building that looked interesting during the ride but at the end it turned out that it was nothing special. After that I went to another direction that was more touristic with many souvenir shops and people laying on the beach (not many were actually in the water as it had already been a little bit cold to bathe). The road kept going on and at one part there were some famous sculptures which I decided not to see as I only had one day in this city. So I stopped at the meadow just next to the pier by one old building, take some time to rest and enjoy the surroundings and then I walked back to another pier with extremely large collection of seashells on the columns and stairs .

I climbed up the hill that was laying just between the two beaches I visited earlier. First, I came to the viewpoint which gave me a marvellous view of the sea, the coastline and the cute small island I really wanted to visit. Besides, many yachts were sailing around. I was just standing there staring at the view for quite some time and enjoying the sun and wind passing through my hair. Then, I went to the castle that was a little bit higher and walked around, but I did not enter it. There were quite a lot of people around but the view was not as nice as the one earlier because the trees were covering it.

I was planning to leave the hill, but then I saw the Basque country flag and some people on the walls that seemed to be enjoying a nice view, so I decided to find a way to get there. I found the way and got almost as nice view as earlier at the viewpoint, but of another side of the city coast. Then, I slowly walked down the hill and arrived to the part with cute houses around having their own small gardens. I was also planning to go to one museum that was close by, but since I had the Blablacar already reserved at 6pm because I started the university early the next day, I decided not to go.

The Basque country trip was coming to an end. I just had to find the meeting place where Blablacar driver said to pick me up. It was a bit distant to the center by one hotel and since I had some extra time, I decided to take a walk there. On the way I got really lost and ended up quite far as I was not paying attention to the direction I was taking for some time. I panicked a little bit but still persisted at the original plan. So I found some other roads that lead to the place. I also crossed the tunnel walking without a pavement, which I do not recommend you as it was quite dangerous and forbidden as well. At the end, I reached the desired destination and had a lovely ride back looking at the prettiest full moon I had ever seen with a really orange sky at one point driving in a white van.

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