Moments in Spain: Saint Sebastian

I left for Spain almost a year ago! And I still have so many pictures and memories to share and archive.

The sunshine around Chicagoland lately has reminded me of our day in San Sebastiàn. You might remember the beach photos here and the seafood we ate here. We spent a lot of the day walking around and seeing the sights. For example, this is a typical street in San Sebastiàn:



We walked through such a street to find this church, which I believe is dedicated to Saint Sebastian:

Saint Sebastian was a third century martyr, usually depicted tied to a post and shot with arrows.

I took a picture of a very old-looking part of the facade when I saw a wedding party. So, Harriet the Spy-style, I whipped out my camera and took a picture.

Moments in Spain: Bronze and Water

I wish I knew the significance of this statue, as I saw it in two different parks. Clearly, fishing has been important to the Basques in their long history. Some historians say the Basques were the first Europeans to settle in North America in their search for the all-important cod.

Frank Ghery, the architect of the Guggenheim Museum, was inspired by fish for his design. The overlapping and slightly bent titanium plates on the exterior resemble fish scales.

Understandably, then, seafood comprises a large portion of Basque cuisine. And, after thousands of years of living and working in the same region, they sure have honed their culinary expertise!

So, even though I don't know any specific story behind this statue, its significance is implicit.

Moments in Spain: Unclimbing Begoña

Begoña is an area of Bilbao on a hill on the edge of the city. I think of it as the Montmartre of Bilbao. Featuring a grand Basilica, the neighborhood was a good destination for me on one of my sunny Bilbao days.

Soon after reaching the summit, I finally glimpsed the beautiful Basilica.

I couldn't go inside, but I took a walk around.

I loved drinking in the greenness, the sun, the flowers, and the views. But soon there was nothing much else to do, so I began the descent and documented it in photos.

The steps deposited me at the Basque Museum! I went there a different day and loved it, despite the lack of anything in English. They have lots of artifacts and models of Basques through their incredibly long history.

Moments in Spain: Persisting in Bravery

It's been raining around here lately, and something about the smell of the rain and the temperature yesterday transported me back to Spain, and I felt a strong sense of longing. Then I realized the great and wonderful thing about foreign travel: it's a good amnesiac. I know that a lot of the time I was in Spain I felt lonely, but now all I really remember is the wonderful experiences I had, seeing and getting to know a new city, absorbing Basque culture, and sampling some excellent cuisine.

Despite my loneliness, I did make it a point to leave the safety of the hotel room on my own every day, even if it was just to a grocery store. Toward the end of the week, we had a couple of nice warm sunny days, which was enough to entice me out to simply explore the city. One day, I found a city square that was fairly well-hidden. Erich had heard of it but never found it. It was around lunch time and there were bars lining the perimeter of the square.

I had packed some little granola bars in my bag so I wouldn't starve, but the casual lunch diners were taunting me: delicious authentic Spanish food everywhere, and I was not going to let my discomfort with the lunching process and the language stop me from getting a jamon sandwich! So for the next hour or so, I strolled around this little square, watching people sit down and get up. I learned that they could seat themselves. Then I had to pluck up the courage to pick one and go sit down. While that courage slowly unearthed itself, I frantically studied my Spanish phrase book for help in ordering food. FINALLY, I sat down here:

Soon enough, a delightful waitress came to take my order. I pointed to the sandwich I wanted, she wrote it down and then said something in extremely fast and unrecognizable Spanish. It must have been something along the lines of, "Will that be all?" because in response to my blank stare, she put her notebook under her arm, made a huge gesture with her hands, and said "Finish!!!"

"Si! Yes, that's all," I replied. We both had a good laugh. And I had a delicious ham sandwich and small beer, dearly bought but worth every minute of courage-summoning. And I got to enjoy a better view for the rest of my time in that plaza: the one from a table:

Moments in Spain: Approaching the Guggenheim

Architect Frank Gehry used plates of titanium placed in such a way to look like fish scales.

"The randomness of the curves are designed to catch the light." --Frank Gehry

Computer simulation made the structure of the building possible to execute.

When viewing the pond from the inside of the museum, there appears to be no division between it and the Nervión river beyond.

Moments in Spain: Big Spider Sculpture

This is "Maman" (Mommy) by Louise Bourgeois, which stands outside the Guggenheim Museum:

(Sidenote: that red thing that makes the bridge look like a suspension bridge? Entirely artistic.)

Moments in Spain: Gelato

During our picture perfect day in San Sebastian, Erich and I decided to treat ourselves to some gelato.

Nearby, we heard some accordion music.

They were playing "La Cumparsita!" Which is, of course, the tango we danced to at our wedding.


It seemed as though all the inhabitants of San Sebastian and many and various day trippers were all in the thoroughfare, enjoying the perfect day with us. We watched them.

Moments in Spain: First Glimpse

...of the Guggenheim.

I took this the same time I took these photos. (My camera has a pretty decent zoom!) The day was overcast, but the titanium building still had this luminous glow. That's exactly what the architect was going for.

Moments in Spain: Baby Squid

I present: txipirones en su tinta. Baby squids in their own ink! As delicious as it looks. (Probably moreso.)

Note: you can tell by the salt and pepper shakers and the fact that the bread is on its own plate that this was in the hotel restaurant, which caters to more international clientele.

Moments in Spain: Pedestrian Bridge

Up until about ten years ago, Bilbao was known as an ugly industrial city on a murky brown river. Then the Guggenheim came to town and the city has been systematically beautifying ever since. I found the areas around the river and the parks to be quite pleasant.

One more recent addition to Bilbao is this pedestrian bridge:

Nice, right? It's art-y. Puts one in mind of a ship's sails, which is fitting as Bilbao was a center for shipbuilding for hundreds of years.

I walked over this bridge pretty much every day. All the best stuff to go see was on the other side of the river from our hotel.

Frankly, walking on this bridge was scary, especially when it was raining. I'm not a phobic person; I'm okay with heights, etc. But walking on slick glass of a bridge with open sides was not my favorite activity. I never truly felt unsafe, but it gave me the willies.

Moments in Spain: Museum Lunch

I think I have enough moments in Spain to last about a year....

I've said that there's not a lot to do in Bilbao, but there are a few decent museums. The most famous, and according to Rick Steves, the only reason to stop in Bilbao on your way to or from San Sebastien, is the Guggenheim Museum of Modern Art. I went there on Tuesday of my week in Bilbao.

I got there in the late morning and I thought I might be able to see everything before breaking for a late lunch, but as I made my way through the exhibits and still hadn't looked at the special collection of Surrealist works, I knew I would want to stop for lunch and go back.

One of the best draws of the Guggenheim is the excellent restaurant. Though dinners are extremely expensive, I was able to get a three-course lunch with wine for only 25 euros or so. OMG, it was so delicious! Definitely my best meal of 2008 to date. The first course was a mushroom ravioli in a frothy green sauce. Next came a cod stew dish (traditional Basque). Dessert was a sautéed apple with cinnamon ice cream. And between every meticulously savored bite, I enjoyed some wine. Wait, let me clarify: when the server said "Water? Wine?" I said, "yes, please." I figured it would be a glass of wine or a half bottle. Nope, it was an entire bottle of wine. 750ml.

All my dishes were cleared away, and this is what was left. I'm so glad I brought a magazine because I was in no fit state to walk.

This wall... is beautiful. Brilliant! The gold, the texture, it's just... wow.

Hehehehehe!!!!! They wrote on the table papery thing! WITH CHALK! *snort*

Needless to say, I really really really enjoyed all the modern art after my scrumptious gourmet bistro lunch. It was ideal, actually: I'm not sure how much the Surrealism would have made sense to me otherwise. As I was, it really spoke to me. :)

Moving on...

Wednesday was free admission day at the Belles Artes Museum, which is actually one of the best art museums in Spain. It's less of an international draw than the Guggenheim, though, and I felt more awkward trying to navigate the place with limited English signage. But I fully enjoyed the collection, and then I challenged myself to order a small lunch in the little cafe/bar. It was mostly empty, and though the bartender didn't speak English, he gave me encouraging nods as I pointed to what I wanted and muttered a few Spanish words from my phrase book.

Ordering food with a language barrier is always stressful, but it's nearly always worth it. This was just a simple lunch of little ham (jamón) sandwiches and a little beer (caña), but the atmosphere was lovely...

...the food was good, and I could be proud for going outside myself and accomplishing something that involved interpersonal communication. If I ever go back to Bilbao, I'm ever so slightly more prepared to just go out and enjoy it.

Moments in Spain: Refreshment

Though I've never been a big fan of endless Midwest winters, I've rarely needed winter to end as much as I did this year. Our Spain trip was a Godsend, considering it kept snowing in Illinois through late April.

The weather in the Basquelands is comparable to Seattle. I bought an umbrella in Bilbao and used it often. We were incredibly lucky to have a beautiful weather in San Sebastien, and most of my days in Bilbao were overcast and wet, as you see here. But my last two days or so were much nicer. On this particularly warm and sunny day, I treated myself to a long walk down the Nervion river.

Right now, in the midst of a beautiful, green and blue Chicago September, I don't fully appreciate these pictures. But at the time, it was like a restorative elixir. Just what I needed.

My walk took me to a shopping mall, where I bought a few clothing items. I'm a larger size in Europe.... But I found some cute and inexpensive tops at Zara, which is similar to H&M, so I was happy.

I was also so fascinated by something I saw that I had to take a picture:

This model first caught my eye because she's beautiful. When I looked closer, I noticed that she's skinny--but NOT crazy, unattainable, unhealthy skinny. She has a youthful appearance, but I did see some un-Photoshopped wrinkles around her eyes. It's almost as if this is a real person! I don't care much for the clothes, but I appreciate this ad. How refreshing!

Most of my days in Bilbao consisted of getting up late, venturing out into the city mid-day, then relaxing in the hotel until Erich got back from work so we could get dinner. I could feel bad for my relative inaction, but there truly isn't much to do in Bilbao, especially for someone who doesn't speak Spanish. On this sunny day, I could do some of my sitting around time in a park. So, in typical fashion, I'm going to leave you with one of my moments in Spain:

ETA: I apologize for the delay in getting this video up. There's a 100mb video posting limit, and the one I tried was 99.9. This one is doesn't have Basque people walking by like in the one I tried to upload, but it's the same scene otherwise.

Moments in Spain: Now THIS Is Seafood!

One thing I love about travel in general and the Basque region in particular is the absolutely spectacular food. During our short stay in San Sebastian, Erich and I walked the streets in search of dinner for at least an hour, trying to find just the right place: full enough of people to be good, but empty enough not to be too intimidating. (Remember, few people speak English in Spain!) With one of the highest concentrations of restaurants per square mile in the world, we were sure to find something.

Food is a ritual in Spain. No one even considers going out to eat before about 8pm, and even then, it's only for drinks and pinxos (tapas in other regions), eaten standing up while socializing. Many people just make a meal of traveling around to different bars for a very small drink and a pinxo or two in each place until they've eaten enough, then the crowds migrate to bars set up for drinks only. But this particular night we were in search of a restaurant with a reasonable menu of the day, and we eventually decided on one that had a seafood special.

We did not save any money; in fact, we had to call this our 6-month anniversary dinner to justify paying an arm and a leg for dinner (with the very bad exchange rate mostly to blame). But, let me tell you: these Basques know their seafood. It was amazing, incredible, and similar such adjectives. They brought out plate after plate of recently moving, excellently prepared shellfish. I learned how to eat it: just pull it apart and find meat. And I learned that sometimes it's okay if your food is looking back at you, because those shrimps and prawns were dang good.


And for after dinner:

Mmmmm, German beer in Spain.....