For the first four day weekend, or puente, my friend and I decided to travel to Bilbao, on the northern coast of Spain, and also to San Sebastián, an hour’s bus ride away from Bilbao. Both are in Pais Vasco, or the Basque Country.
For those of you who don’t know, the Basque Country is similar to Catalonia, because they speak their own language, Euskera, and have their own culture and independence movement–just like Catalonia.
Euskera, the language they speak, is linguistically different from every other known language. This basically means that it has no known path of origin–no one knows where it came from!
Anyways, on Thursday evening we arrived in Bilbao, and spent the day Friday sightseeing. We went to both art museums: the Guggenheim and Bellos Artes. Although the Guggenheim is much more famous, I enjoyed Bellos Artes more, simply because I have a deeper appreciation for older art (instead of of modern art).
Below is a picture of the Guggenheim; you probably recognize it!
We also took a funicular to the top of a hill and got a great view of the city, visited the Museo Vasco, and walked around el Casco Viejo, or old neighborhood, where all the old churches are.
On Saturday we took a bus to San Sebastián. Although it has less to do in the way of museums, San Sebastián is stunningly beautiful. We spent most of the day walking around and taking pictures. We visited another Basque Museum and climbed a large hill to see a statue of Jesus, from which there were some pretty amazing views:
Part of what makes this region so interesting is that it is so different from the rest of Spain, just like Andalucia is different from Spain, too. I also want to read up on the history of the Basque people–they are part of what makes Spain Spain, even if they are set on being their own country.
This is the first of my (hopefully) many adventures, so enjoy!