Sorry again for the late update...it's midterms week and I haven't had a spare minute to update the ol' blog! Last weekend I went to the Basque Country with IES on one of their optional field trips. I had an AMAZING time! The Basque region of Spain is by far my most favorite yet. The people were incredibly friendly (much more so than in Barcelona), the scenery was breathtaking, and, most importantly, the food was incredible!
San Sebastián
For those of you who don't know, the Basque country is located in the north of Spain and also in the south of France. Its main cities are Bilbao, San Sebastián, and Vitoria. The Basques are a very interesting and ancient people who have lived in these lands for centuries. What's even more interesting is their language...it bears NO resemblance whatsoever to Spanish or any European language, for that matter. Their language is classified as a "language isolate," meaning that it has no linguistic "family tree." It's considered to be the last remaining pre-Indo European language in Europe. The phrase "Hello. How are you?" in English is translated into Basque as "Kaixo. Zer moduz?" Pretty crazy, huh?
Yummy pintxos at the culinary school in San Sebastián
We had another jam-packed itinerary on this trip. On our first day, we visited the Chillida-Leku Museum outside of San Sebastián which houses the works of the sculptor Eduardo Chillida. It was a beautiful museum in the countryside, with Chillida's modern sculptures dotting the hillside. After that, we went to a culinary academy for lunch in San Sebastián. One of the professors there taught us how to make some pintxos, or appetizers, that are common in San Sebastián. One of them was a fish pudding served with cocktail sauce and another was stuffed octopus with spinach sauce. They were absolutely delicious! San Sebastián is gaining quite a reputation for being a culinary capital of the world, and it was a treat to be able to experience the cuisine firsthand. After our delicious lunch, we took a long walk around the beach and saw some of Chillida's sculptures named Peine de los Vientos ("Wind Combs") that he had installed on actual rocks in the ocean. The scenery was incredibly beautiful...it reminded me a lot of some of the beaches in Northern California.
View of the bridge designed by Arata Isozaki in Bilbao
On the second day, we toured around Bilbao, where our hotel was. Bilbao is an amazing city...it was once a capital of industry with a lot of factories, which I think is what prompted my host mom to describe it as "muy sucio" ("very dirty") when I told her I was going there for the weekend, but it has changed a LOT in recent years. As many of you probably know, the Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim Museum is a major reason for all of this change. The museum itself is incredible...the exhibits were very interesting as well. I particularly enjoyed a Richard Serra installation that involved walking through labyrinthine corridors of corrugated metal. However, there are a lot of sculptures, buildings, and bridges designed by well-known modern architects throughout the city. Its almost as if the city of Bilbao is their exhibition space or something.
My friends Amy and Ellie and I in front of the Guggenheim Museum
We had free time at lunch so we did as the Basques do and went on a pintxo tour of many different restaurants throughout the old town of the city. Pintxos are the Basque version of tapas, and tapas are the Spanish version of hors d'oeuvres, basically. In short--they were delicious! Somehow they managed to pile a bunch of different flavors on top of a teeny tiny piece of baguette and do it in a beautiful way. And of course, at night, we went out Basque-style and got cups of wine and hard cider that we drank in the street while we were socializing with Bilbao's lovely citizens.
A boat in Bermeo
The final day of our trip we spent touring around other well-known cities in the area. Our first stop was Gernika (Guernica), which most of you know as the town that inspired Picasso's famous painting. The town is also famous for an oak tree that the Basque leaders met under for hundreds of years to discuss politics and the state in general. After Gernika, we went to Mundaka, a beautiful, small fishing village along the coast and had lunch. Finally, we stopped in Bermeo, another small fishing village, where we took a long walk around the city and looked at all of the boats docked at their harbor. It was a beautiful day with clear, sunny weather and somewhat warm temperatures, too!
This weekend, my old roommates Brianna and Ariana are in town so I'll be showing them around Barcelona and just having a girls' weekend of shopping and eating! Next week I am off to the Costa Brava region of Spain for a weekend trip and I can't wait!
Lots of love,
Kelsey
San SebastiánFor those of you who don't know, the Basque country is located in the north of Spain and also in the south of France. Its main cities are Bilbao, San Sebastián, and Vitoria. The Basques are a very interesting and ancient people who have lived in these lands for centuries. What's even more interesting is their language...it bears NO resemblance whatsoever to Spanish or any European language, for that matter. Their language is classified as a "language isolate," meaning that it has no linguistic "family tree." It's considered to be the last remaining pre-Indo European language in Europe. The phrase "Hello. How are you?" in English is translated into Basque as "Kaixo. Zer moduz?" Pretty crazy, huh?
Yummy pintxos at the culinary school in San SebastiánWe had another jam-packed itinerary on this trip. On our first day, we visited the Chillida-Leku Museum outside of San Sebastián which houses the works of the sculptor Eduardo Chillida. It was a beautiful museum in the countryside, with Chillida's modern sculptures dotting the hillside. After that, we went to a culinary academy for lunch in San Sebastián. One of the professors there taught us how to make some pintxos, or appetizers, that are common in San Sebastián. One of them was a fish pudding served with cocktail sauce and another was stuffed octopus with spinach sauce. They were absolutely delicious! San Sebastián is gaining quite a reputation for being a culinary capital of the world, and it was a treat to be able to experience the cuisine firsthand. After our delicious lunch, we took a long walk around the beach and saw some of Chillida's sculptures named Peine de los Vientos ("Wind Combs") that he had installed on actual rocks in the ocean. The scenery was incredibly beautiful...it reminded me a lot of some of the beaches in Northern California.
View of the bridge designed by Arata Isozaki in BilbaoOn the second day, we toured around Bilbao, where our hotel was. Bilbao is an amazing city...it was once a capital of industry with a lot of factories, which I think is what prompted my host mom to describe it as "muy sucio" ("very dirty") when I told her I was going there for the weekend, but it has changed a LOT in recent years. As many of you probably know, the Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim Museum is a major reason for all of this change. The museum itself is incredible...the exhibits were very interesting as well. I particularly enjoyed a Richard Serra installation that involved walking through labyrinthine corridors of corrugated metal. However, there are a lot of sculptures, buildings, and bridges designed by well-known modern architects throughout the city. Its almost as if the city of Bilbao is their exhibition space or something.
My friends Amy and Ellie and I in front of the Guggenheim MuseumWe had free time at lunch so we did as the Basques do and went on a pintxo tour of many different restaurants throughout the old town of the city. Pintxos are the Basque version of tapas, and tapas are the Spanish version of hors d'oeuvres, basically. In short--they were delicious! Somehow they managed to pile a bunch of different flavors on top of a teeny tiny piece of baguette and do it in a beautiful way. And of course, at night, we went out Basque-style and got cups of wine and hard cider that we drank in the street while we were socializing with Bilbao's lovely citizens.
A boat in BermeoThe final day of our trip we spent touring around other well-known cities in the area. Our first stop was Gernika (Guernica), which most of you know as the town that inspired Picasso's famous painting. The town is also famous for an oak tree that the Basque leaders met under for hundreds of years to discuss politics and the state in general. After Gernika, we went to Mundaka, a beautiful, small fishing village along the coast and had lunch. Finally, we stopped in Bermeo, another small fishing village, where we took a long walk around the city and looked at all of the boats docked at their harbor. It was a beautiful day with clear, sunny weather and somewhat warm temperatures, too!
This weekend, my old roommates Brianna and Ariana are in town so I'll be showing them around Barcelona and just having a girls' weekend of shopping and eating! Next week I am off to the Costa Brava region of Spain for a weekend trip and I can't wait!
Lots of love,
Kelsey
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