Hola everyone!
The weekend of Feb 16-18, my UCEAP program took us on a trip to the North! -Bilbao & San Sebastián. My Complutense program of 4 students + the Carlos III program of 60 students haha all took a bus up to País Vasco for the weekend!
Bilbao
The whole weekend was relaxing and a nice getaway. First stop was in Bilbao for one night. We had a really nice walking tour of the city, hit some sights and the old town, around the river and ended in Plaza Mayor (every Spanish city has one). We learned a lot about País Vasco in general, their language of Euskera (Basque), and about the industrial city of Bilbao. Our tour guide even told us how to remember to say “Thank you” in Basque which is Eskerrik Asko– which sounds like “a scary costco” (sorta) haha, but it worked I remembered. I really liked Bilbao. I thought it had a really different vibe and feel than other Spanish cities and it was a cool change. It was a mix of modern industrial architecture but also the classic Spanish style as well. There were so many kids everywhere running around with their families and even a carnival, giving it a familial and local vibe. And the weather was so nice!! I didn’t even need a jacket most of the day. It had a very authentic feel of al Spanish, in a modernized way. After our walking tour, my friends Tamara, Sydney and I went to the Guggenheim Museum, a MUST see in Bilbao, and one of the most famous attractions there. It’s a modern art museum with some really cool exhibits. I really like modern art, so I was a fan. I think the coolest part though was the structure of the building and the little presentations they had outside of it. They had fog machines, sparklers going off, statues and sculptures, lights going off and all these things with the scenery of the river next to it and sun going down, made for a really cool setting. We ended our night with dinner in a cute little restaurant post-museum. Something to note was how much more expensive the North is than Madrid or especially the South.
San Sebastián
The next day we were on our way to San Sebastián. It was even more beautiful than I remembered! I had been there 4 years ago with my Mom and sister, but I didn’t remember too much besides a huge storm we encountered. It was so nice to see the beach after a while. When we got there, it was on & off raining, I guess San Sebastián is known for really unpredictable weather. We had a bus tour through the city, went to see the Comb of the Wind sculpture, and after that we had the whole day free to roam & explore.
I liked all the free time to just relax and see the city. San Sebastián is such a beautiful, tranquil, clean and calm city. With the whole landscape of the beach lining the city, leading into the old town, shopping, etc it was nice to just walk around. We walked along the scenic beach, went shopping, and had a typical lunch of pintxos. Pintxos are like little bites/snacks/open face sandwiches or tiny little single serve foods. There was one street filled with pintxo bars, it was clear that was the thing in the North. I tried a bunch of different ones and liked what I got a lot. For the rest of the day we just roamed around and realized there actually isn’t that much to do or see, but I enjoyed people watching and the lack of pressure of plans. We also stopped in a random café to relax and I realized it was the same exact café I went with my mom and sister 4 years ago, the memory hit me as soon as I walked in the door haha. Funny coincidence! For dinner, we realized we didn’t want pintxos again, but that was literally all we could find and where all the people were, but we opted to expand and found another restaurant with a variety of food.
The next day, before heading back to Madrid, we had a tour at a Cider House. Cider is also super typical to the North, so I was excited to get that experience. We even poured the cider ourselves in the “typical” way straight from the barrel, yum!
Overall, really nice weekend in País Vasco, I had a great time in the North. There was this “pijo” (posh) atmosphere, which was cool to see and the 2 cities were very different from each other and different from the other cities I had seen in Spain. It really felt like a little getaway hanging with Tam and staying in 2 really nice hotels in each city! It was also interesting to see how The Basque Region had their own flag, language, culture, food, & customs. I am so appreciative and happy to get the experience to see SO much of Spain, I love it so much!!!
Thanks for reading, until next time!
xoxo, Soph
Bailando por las Calles de Madrid 