So, I'm now back home after an AMAZING trip through the north of Spain. My trip went QUITE fantastically - saw so much of the north of Spain, met lots of nice people, learned a lot, and enjoyed myself. And besides, it only rained one afternoon - what luck! As my Facebook status says: 10 days, 10 Spanish cities, 3 languages, 9 autonomous communites, 8 buses, 5 trains, 12 churches, 28 museums, 2 oceans, 3 religious processions, 1 cathedral mass, and 1135 photos and videos later, I'm back home in Cáceres. What a Holy Week!!!
So, I'll try to fill you in on what happened in the rest of the week. After seeing all the Gaudí structures in Barcelona, I got on a bus for Zaragoza, Spain's 5th biggest city. Pity I was there on a Monday when all the museums were closed, but did see a neat palace, tower, basilica, and caught a museum the next morning. Also I saw a religious procession, which I will write about later.
Next day, caught a train to Pamplona, where they run the bulls. Fortunately that doesn't happen until July (was a countdown clock in the streets) - I wouldn't even want to think about being there during the San Fermin festival. But I could see the path and the arena. What a crazy tradition!! Nice city and in the area where Basque is spoken - but not so much as in the next two cities. Good museums and an excellent early Gothic cathedral – I like Gothic so much better than Baroque. Nice to get to the north!
San Sebastian was next, where there are GORGEOUS beaches and some rocky shorelines too. Went to the top of the two mountains that frame the city, walked along the natural beaches, saw some neat museums, the likes. I think this has GOT to be one of the most gorgeous cities in Spain.
Next day, went to Bilbao - the largest city of the Basque culture region. What an INTERESTING place - who knew there was an entirely separate culture existing in the north of Spain and south of France? Basques fancy themselves apart from Spain, and I can see the distance - many speak Euskera, the CRAZY ancient native language that has NOTHING to do with Spanish or any other earthly language. The weird thing is that each city has a separate name in Euskera: Pamplona/Iruña, San Sebastian/Donostia, and Bilbao/Bilbo (Baggins?). Everything in the Basque country was in Euskera, followed (most of the time) by Castellano, or Spanish, as we know it. Quite the change from what I'm used to in Extremadura! Bilbao is a highly modern city - many amazing bridges over the city's estuary, new skyscraper constructions, and of course the GUGGENHEIM museum. Crazy futuristic architecture, and really neat modern art exhibitions. I didn’t know what to expect – modern art isn’t always my favorite, but I really liked it. One showing of Anish Kapoor, most famous for the “Bean” in Chicago. Cool stuff!! Also saw a museum of Basque culture, including an exhibit on frontón, the national game, similar to racquetball/handball. Bilbao is crazy.
Another religious procession at night before heading out to Santander in the morning – out of the Basque country at last. Santander really didn’t have very much to see touristically (did go to a naval museum), except the gorgeous beach. Not quite as good as San Sebastian, but there was this AMAZING rocky peninsula with a palace on top, and I did take a ferry across the bay to this really neat beach/marsh area where I caught some great views. Even took a little dip in the ocean – my hostel was right off the beach. It was SO COLD, but one of those things you have to do!
Woke up crazy early the next day to get to Burgos. Ahh, back in Castilla y León, the most traditional part of Spain. Had a crazy morning looking for rooms (one of two places I didn’t have a hostel booked before hand, a very stupid thing to do on Holy Saturday). But I got exceedingly lucky and found a pensión (single room in someone’s converted apartment) for just 20€. May not seem lucky, but for Holy Week that was gold! I really enjoyed Burgos – a very nice castle with this sweet underground tunnel system to spelunk, a beautiful monastery, some nice museums, and of course the CATHEDRAL!!!!! One of Spain’s best, this 13th-14th century jewel was also the site of the Easter mass I attended – more about that later too. Easter Sunday, the most beautiful day of the whole trip, I took a train to Valladolid, where really not much was open (except a Christopher Columbus museum), but I did get to walk around the city a while before waiting at the bus station for my 11:30 bus back to Cáceres. Got back at 4:30!!!!! this morning (I did it to myself), but luckily we didn’t have class today. Now I’m just trying to get caught up on schoolwork, updating blog and Facebook for all of you (and good reflection for myself too), and planning my next journeys!! Truly a great week. I got to experience a whole new part of Spain, and see a TON of it. I’m glad I decided to go one day in each city – when I only have 3 months to get to know a country, I think seeing volume is good. Plus, the way I travel I really didn’t miss much that I wanted to see (see Day on the Road post). I hit cities hard. Overall, very happy with the trip. Totally exhausted now, but that will take care of itself. Cheers for now!
So, I'll try to fill you in on what happened in the rest of the week. After seeing all the Gaudí structures in Barcelona, I got on a bus for Zaragoza, Spain's 5th biggest city. Pity I was there on a Monday when all the museums were closed, but did see a neat palace, tower, basilica, and caught a museum the next morning. Also I saw a religious procession, which I will write about later. 
Next day, caught a train to Pamplona, where they run the bulls. Fortunately that doesn't happen until July (was a countdown clock in the streets) - I wouldn't even want to think about being there during the San Fermin festival. But I could see the path and the arena. What a crazy tradition!! Nice city and in the area where Basque is spoken - but not so much as in the next two cities. Good museums and an excellent early Gothic cathedral – I like Gothic so much better than Baroque. Nice to get to the north!
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