Spring break - Bilbao

So, spring break! Like usual, I don't even know where to start. On Friday the 13th (haha) I left the Cenci at 6:30am to fly to Santander, where Irune, her sister and cousin picked me up. It was an hour to Bilbao from the airport, and Irune's mom cooked a typical big lunch - in Spain they have a late, big lunch, and a small "dinner" around 10:30 or 11pm, which takes some getting used to! The food the whole time was so good though - I got to try a lot of different things! And had home-cooked meals every day. After lunch Irune took me on a walking tour of Bilbao, and then we met some of her friends and I got to see Lucia (another friend in Bilbao!) I don't have many photos from the first day, but here is me standing in front of the flower puppy next to the Guggenheim, and the town hall in the old part of town (Casco Viejo).

Saturday was a very busy day! In the morning Irune took me to the Guggenheim, which I found to be much smaller than it looks, and the building is more interesting than what's in it! There was a really good sculpture exhibition of Brancusi's work. Later in the afternoon Irune's dad took us, along with Begona (Irune's sister) and Lucia to a few places. I loved the car trips. Even a normal drive in the Basque country is beautiful - ocean to left, cliffs, mountains and endless green to the right. It rained almost the whole time I was there, but there were enough moments of sunshine too. Our first stop was Gaztelugatxe (notice the Basque language - all the names of towns and places are in Basque, and it is also widely spoken in the villages), a church that is positioned on a little peninsula with stairs leading up to it. A lot of people get married here. We couldn't go down to it because of the rain and wind, but it was a beautiful view nonetheless.

Next was a drive to Oma, or the Painted Forest, stopping along the way in a village to see the water and beach.

Begona, Irune, me, and Lucia in Mundaka

We walked through this forest for a couple miles to get to el Bosque Pintado. This was the most magical place. It's a section of the forest that is literally painted. There are markers on the ground where you can stand and the shapes painted on the trees will align to form whole paintings. The sun even came out at one point, and it was stunning. This was one of my favorite places in my whole trip. Also I found the language barrier to be less severe than I thought it would be - after a day of mixing up Italian with Spanish I slipped into full-on Spanish mode, and even though I did forget a lot of it, I could understand and read well. Speaking was the most difficult part - I could understand a lot more than I could express, but overall I was proud with myself and my Spanish abilities!

The countryside was so perfect and something I was looking forward to seeing while in the Basque country.

That night Irune and her friends wanted to show me a real Spanish party - and I won't elaborate too much on this, but we were at a club until closing (6am) and now I can say I have a new record for hours spent dancing haha!

Lucia, me, and Irune


Maria, Lucia, me, Esti, Irune, and some mysterious photobombers

On Sunday, Irune and I ended up sleeping until 1pm...woops. Then her parents took us to Donosti-San Sebastian, a beautiful town that's famous for its beach. We walked along the coast, and even though it was too cold to really be on the beach, we walked along it, got pintxos (Basque word for tapas) in the old part of town, and saw sculptures in the cliffs surrounding the water. It was incredibly windy the whole time, it felt like we were in a wind tunnel!

Begona, Irune, and me in Donosti

Monday was more relaxing - Irune had class so I spent the morning and early afternoon on my own. There was sun so I sat in the park for awhile, and actually ran into Lucia who took me to her university, and we walked around a bit before she had class. I did a little shopping and headed back to the apartment. One thing I loved about Bilbao is the coincidental run-ins...it's a big city, but feels like a little town. You could be walking anywhere and see ten people you know...like how I saw Lucia randomly. Fun coincidences! After lunch, Irune's mom and Begona took me to Getxo, a port town just outside Bilbao where we saw the mansions, new and old ports, and the first ever hanging bridge. We took the bridge across to the other side of the river, had churros and chocolate, and then headed home.

Park in Bilbao


"La Mama" just outside the Guggenheim




Getxo

On Tuesday, Irune took me on an hour bus ride to Gasteiz-Vitoria, the town where she goes to university. We spent the day wandering around the city. We walked through the old part of town, went to a modern art museum, to the huge mall, the cathedral, and finally she toured me a little around her university. There was a beautiful park (Gasteiz is actually the green capital of Europe - lots of parks and green spaces everywhere), and her campus was really nice, we saw a couple majors' buildings and the library.

Gasteiz


Cathedral in Gasteiz

Wednesday was my last day in Bilbao - it went by so fast. I spent the morning alone again, wandered back through Casco Viejo, to the Cathedral, some shops and the Gran Via. Later Irune took me to the Museo de Bellas Artes, a fine arts museum with mostly Basque paintings...I really loved the art there. Then we met up with Esti, a friend of Irune's I had met a couple days before, to say bye, and then went to dinner with Lucia, who I also had to say bye to! Sad. It was bittersweet because I loved the whole visit, but then I don't know when I'm going to see Irune again. I'm so happy I got to go to Bilbao and am so, so grateful for the opportunity and all the wonderful things Irune and her family showed me!

Casco Viejo - Athletic Pride (soccer team)

Next up - Paris :)