España: Week 4/5

Okay friends, family and all else in between (my subscribers are exclusively friends and family so maybe nothing else in between), bear with me here. A little over a week of travel has left me behind on these updates, so I am going to combine weeks 4 and 5 a little bit in this post.

Picking up where I left off, on Friday of last week Heather (my sister) and I took a mid-morning bus to Bilbao, and then from Bilbao to San Sebastián, where we arrived Friday afternoon.

San Sebastián is a special city. It is in the heart of what is called the Basque region, a region of Spain known for its rich and enduring culture, a culture which, like most in Spain, revolves around food. The Basque Country boasts an impressive 33 Michelin Stars from 23 restaurants across the region (highest per capita concentration in the world), 16 of which stars are located in San Sebastián. Due to Heather and my financial circumstances (she a medical student on government loans, me a recent grad living on savings and a paltry monthly Spanish government stipend) we did not try any Michelin star restaurants during our time in Basque Country, HOWEVER, I think we both agree we had a food (and overall) experience for the books.

Friday, we checked into our hostel and Heather had to do some work, so I did some solo exploring. I checked out the beautiful Cathedral del Buen Pastor (and picked up a free church calendar! Score!), before going to the beach/bay and watching the sunset, which was stunning

The city of San Sebastián makes a sweeping semi circle around this lovely bay, and it and the surrounding beaches make it a premier summer destination for surfers and tourists alike. Part of what Heather and I found nice about San Sebastián (especially compared to Barcelona), was that it didn’t feel too saturated with tourists when we were there, and retained what I felt to be an authentically Spanish/Basque feel. I suspect, however, that had we visited over the summer, when the heaps and gobs of guiris descend upon Spain en masse, our opinion may have been different.

That evening, as one does in San Sebastián, Heather and I scoped out some pinchos. We started with a drink at the patio bar of our hostel (which was incredibly lively with what seemed to be both locals and hostel-stayers) before we made our way to old town, a beautiful area of San Sebastián with narrow, cobbled streets, churches, and a bustling food scene + nightlife.

Heather and I tried a smattering of pinchos that night — a kind of a cod fish salad, a small sweet lobster pie, some txistorra (a traditional sort of Basque chorizo), and an artichoke and blue cheese one (Heather didn’t realize it has blue cheese and, as a blue cheese hater, I suffered through this pincho). Our favorite that evening was the txistorra (pictured right) which tasted like a pig in a blanket, something I had nearly forgotten the flavor of.

Saturday started off with a culinary bang as well. Guided by the recommendation of a Facebook reel I had sent to me, Heather and I went to the famed Bar Antonio, known for its unique and delicious pincho de tortilla (Spanish omelet). To date, the pincho de tortilla has been my favorite Northern Spain staple, a cheap, simple and hearty breakfast to get the day started. This one at Bar Antonio lived up to the hype, and I think I’ll be hard pressed to find a competitor the rest of my time here (it was a tad on the salty side, Heather and I agreed as our one critique, so there may yet be room for improvement).

Other highlights of that Saturday include:

• Stumbling upon a traditional Basque wedding, complete with musicians (playing the txistu, a Basque three-fingered flute, something I later learned about at the Museum of Basque Society) and dancers in regional clothing.

• The aforementioned museum, which was incredibly informative and yielded good opportunity for H and I to practice reading Spanish (notable new words I learned — “agujeros,” holes, “tamaño,” size, “ferrocarril,” railroad)

• The best pinchos we had on the trip, again at the Bar Antonio (a local we met at our breakfast there told us we had to come back and try them), which were some scallops and a type of lobster ravioli.

The only genuine lowlight of time in San Sebastián includes:

• Pretty horrendous weather all day Saturday (rainy and also quite cold), which soaked us through despite our umbrellas, and left me with a pair of shoes and socks that smelled absolutely rank for the rest of my traveling days (and, as I type away on the train to Bilbao, still do!).

Sunday thru Wednesday was Heather and my time in Barcelona, which was good, albeit different than San Sebastián. Barcelona is huge, and crowded, and touristy. What were bars and small + subtle restaurants in San Sebastián, were street-side paella and sangria operations in Barcelona, replete with menu salespeople who quickly accost any passerby who dares glance at the menu. “We have premium meats!” I heard one persuadingly say yesterday. Humbug.

As Heather and I were walking around on Sunday, we came into a beautiful church and discovered they had a classical performance that evening (with some of the greats too — Mozart’s Requiem, Pachelbel’s Canon, Bach’s Air on G String). She indulged me and we ended up going; the space was beautiful and there were some exquisite moments, but most of it was overshadowed by some issue with the high notes that the violins would play, acoustic or instrumental I don’t know, but we both agreed it did not sound right.

After the concert, we met up with our hostel to get drinks at an Irish Pub (karaoke night there too…got cold feet and still have yet to make my debut with Travis Tritt’s “A Great Day to Be Alive,” but my time will come) and then went to a club.

Something I hadn’t experienced before is how social the hostels in Barcelona are. The one Heather and I stayed at, called Onefam Ramblas, part of a larger Onefam hostel network in Barcelona, would have daytime events/tours every afternoon, an included family dinner every evening, drinking games after that, and then an organized bar/club itinerary with free entry. Barcelona is very much a party city, so this is all on brand, but I was appreciative at the sort of ready-made community you had just by being part of a hostel (to be fair, Onefam Ramblas was a “small hostel,” with 30 or so beds, so the community thing likely isn’t as consistent with bigger hostels, but still).

We had a good time at the bar and the club, but honestly the highlight of my night was the phenomenal falafel durum I had on the walk back to the hostel (it came with an unanticipated side of fries too! A real boon!!).

Monday was some more walking around the city and we hit some of the major sites —exterior of the Sagrada Familia, the Arco de Triunfo, more of the Gothic Quarter. Also hit up a sandwich shop, Bo de B, which was phenomenal and apparently is known around Barcelona (we went there based on the line extended out the door, in my experience always a telling indication of some good food). I had some casual drinks with the hostel that night, while Heather stayed back and did some work.

Tuesday, H and I had an earlier morning as we made our way to Montserrat, a group of mountains wherein lies a monastery dating back to the 11th century. The monastery is still home to active monks, but seems to mostly now operate through tourism, with markets, museums, gift-shops and cafes, as well as numerous weekly concerts with their famous boys choir (they also have a sculpture of La Virgen Negra, one of the few depictions of a black Virgin Mary for its time period). Montserrat also boasts a plethora of hiking trails that weave up and through the rock outcrops, as well as to the various hermitages and shrines dotting the mountainside.

Heather and I saw the basilica which was neat, and set off on a hike towards St. Jeroni, the tallest peak at Montserrat. It was nice hike, including some great vistas and a few mountain goat spottings, but we turned back before the peak because the weather was getting hairy and it was getting late. After several days in the city, I was grateful to get out on the trail and in some open space for a little bit. Heather and I found some paella and sangria (#spain) for dinner, as well as a tasteful glass of vino tinto, rounding out our time in Spain together.

Heather shipped out to Amsterdam on Wednesday, and I had the day to myself before my good (and one of my first at W&L) friend Lily Miggins met me on Thursday. Lily is also doing NALCAP in Spain (in Galicia) and didn’t have weekend plans so came to join me in Barcelona.

Tired of overpriced food in Barcelona, I walked around until I found the most unassuming cafeteria I could (closest to the ones in Santoña) and snagged a hearty slice of pincho de tortilla (4€, still double the price of one in Santoña, but good for Barcelona). Everyone was speaking Spanish in there, which was refreshing. I am glad to be traveling and experiencing new things, but I am also aware that I’m about 1/8 done with my time in Spain, and am not sure if I have the Spanish to show for it yet. Besides practicing with Heather a bit, I didn’t do much in terms of independent work or speaking with locals, as San Sebastián and Barcelona are very Englishized.

Besides a trip to Picasso museum on Wednesday (favorites include First Communion (a far more formal and realistic depiction of a scene than what people associate with Picasso, and done when he was 15, which absolutely blew me away), Las Meninas, and The Piano) I hung low the rest of Wednesday and Thursday morning, and then met Lily Thursday afternoon. It being Halloween, and Halloween being a big holiday in Spain, and a bigger holiday in Barcelona specifically, we grabbed some dinner before meeting up with some of the friends I made at Onefam Ramblas (I moved hostels after Heather left) and getting drinks and then going to Pacha, a famous club in Barcelona. Earlier that night, we had learned there were other W&L students out in Barcelona that night too, who we met up with at Pacha which was a lot of fun. Overall a really great night. Gennies run deep.

The greater the night the worse the morning (I don’t actually believe this but I like the phrase), and Lily and I were battling on Friday. We played it low-key, getting some groceries for the next days and hanging out at a really cool park, Parque de la Ciutadella. Resting at the park having revived our spirits, we made plans to scope out some live music that evening, deciding on a jazz sextet.

Any trip where I can get in a fix of classical AND a fix of jazz is a good trip, and this jazz group didn’t disappoint. The pianist was remarkable, and they had an alto and tenor sax which yielded a full and resonant sound. The venue was in a cave too, which was neat.

Lily and I didn’t stay out too late as we had an early morning to go to Montserrat. Obviously I had already been with Heather, but I was excited to do some of the other trails and it was my favorite part of Barcelona (or Barcelona adjacent, really). We decided to leave early so as to hike up to Montserrat from the base (about an hour and half hike), and then catch a choir performance in the basilica. After fueling up with a delicious omelet sandwich at a nearby cafe (sharing the space with a group of presumed locals, already helping themselves to some glasses of tinto at the ripe hour of 10:45 A.M.), we hiked up the mountain and got there in time for the performance.

The performance I would very nearly label a scam, costing 9€ each and lasting no more than 15 minutes, a 15 thoroughly mediocre minutes due to the screaming babies sharing Lily and my pew (maybe this will become clear if or when I am a parent myself, but why screaming children in spaces with a supposed quiet audience (churches, concerts, movies, etc.) are not taken outside continuously baffles me. Airplanes, buses, metros, annoying but I get it. There’s nowhere else to go. But to ruin the experience of all others in an environment like a church or concert, when it seems rather easy to take the screaming and wailing party out of the building so as not to severely disrupt the hundreds of others you share the space with, I must deem here as reprehensible).

Lily and I shared a laugh at the absurdity of that situation, and walked around some more before having our lunch. We did a shorter hike after lunch and then trained back into Barcelona, and, feeling fairly tired, we opted for some warm and comforting ramen before having a chill evening (made less chill for me by the fact that Georgia seemed like they were going to lose to Florida and its 3rd string QB).

One other thing I must make note of is the insane amount of music Lily and I encountered in our 3 days together. Some of it has been mentioned, but it included:

• Opera performance and we befriended the male singer, Benjamin, who performed some Sinatra for us Americans

• Adjacent opera performance (Benjamin was trash talking this one)

• Mixed youth choir at Montserrat

• Street choir/song group in front of Barcelona Cathedral

• Jazz sextet

• Great electric guitar busker

• Funny and smiling electro-string instrument busker

• Good violin busker

• Smorgasbord of other buskers (piano in metro (Maroon 5 cover), guitarists all around)

• 3-girl mariachi-style band playing around restaurants in Poblenou

I am probably forgetting some, but we both agreed it was maybe some of the most music exposure we had ever had. This was truthfully one of my favorite parts about Barcelona.

All in all, it has been a fun and rewarding 9ish days of travel, with good people and good experiences, and I feel like I’m returning to Santoña a little different than when I left. I think this is what travel does at its best, and I think that traveling in your 20s allows this to happen best.

As always, thanks for reading and don’t hesitate to text or call me via WhatsApp. I wish everyone a restful and renewing week as we enter deeper into this fall season.

-Will