Blake and I are now in Bilbao, one of the major cities in the Basque Country. We arrived here this past Sunday, and tomorrow we leave for Barcelona. So far, itīs been kind of fun, although itīs definitely not as eventful as Madrid.
Even though it seems like we wasted a bunch of time making our last trip up here, it ended up being a good thing because we really acquainted ourselves with the city in the little time we spent here. This time, we got right off the bus, and made our way straight to our hotel.
Thank god we made reservations! The Sunday that we arrived, it was the last day of what is called 'Big Week' here in Bilbao. Itīs Bilbaoīs biggest festival, and it actually lasts 10 days...not a week. The entire city was decorated with lights, carnival games, beer and wine booths, etc. They had free theater productions and concerts at night, and it ended up being really fun.
Iīve been paying alot of attention to the people here since Iīve got a little bit of a Basque background, and Iīm shocked! There is a HUGE population of boehemians here! Everyone has dredlocks, and alot of the young people wear peasant clothing, (pointy shoes made of cloth, mismatching clothes and wierd colored tights.) Normally, this wouldnīt be that bad under European standards, but unlike European fashion, these clothes look old and tattered. Alot of the people here have really dark hair and pale white skin. The running stereotype for Basques also seems true: they donīt want anything to do with Spain. All of the signs here are in Euskadi, which is the Basque language, and alot of the signs and shows that people were putting on at the festival emphasized Basque independence.
People will still talk to you in Castillian Spanish, but I think everyone here also speaks Euskadi.
Another thing I would like to add is the fact that Basque people arenīt a bunch of theives. When I was in high school, my friend Tina, a foreign exchange student from Germany, told me that her family put off going to Basque Country because they heard that it was dangerous and that the people steel. Iīm sure there are a few pickpockets, but itīs nothing to be that scared about.
Although the people of Basque Country want their own country, just by looking at Bilbao...it clearly wouldnīt work. The one annoying thing about this city is that there are no clear-cut business hours. The most touristy area here is called Casco Viejo and it is filled with little boutiques and clothing stores...the only problem is that nothing is open! Restaraunts are only open for some of the time, and seem to close during odd times. The whole city seems kind of dead. I donīt understand it.
Yesterday, Blake and I went to the Guggenheim museum, which sits right on the river. It was really something. The whole museum is dedicated to contemporary art. There are three floors in the museum, and they dedicate most of the space in the museum to whatever they are sponsoring at the time. For the past few months, they have been demonstrating Aztec art, so more than half the museum was centered around that. The rest of it was abstract expressionism, and a whole bunch of modern art. Blake and I werenīt interested in as much of the art as the architecture of the place. Itīs beautiful on the inside. There is not one single wall that is flat - everything is curved. Itīs really georgeous. We would have taken pictures on the inside, but we werenīt allowed. Youīll have to go and see it for yourselves.
After the museum, we went to this place called Zubiarte, which is an artsy mall. We basically walked in and walked out. We thought it was going to be more than a couple stores.
After the mall, we went to go get some lunch, and my god...we found a good restaraunt! Basque food is supposed to be the best in Spain, and I think it might be. Basque people just seem to be more creative. In the rest of Spain, everyone is on the Atkins diet, except they also eat plain bread. Everyone eats slices of fatty meat, slices of cheese, and baguettes...that seems to be about it. Here, people make good use of green and red peppers, different vegetables like eggplant, and they also have different sauces that they put on things. (One thing that Iīve also noticed is that there are alot more heavy people here - of course itīs the food.)
Last night, we werenīt really hungry after the huge lunch we had, so instead of eating dinner, we went to a theater show. We went and saw the spanish version of Monty Python. It was pretty fun, but I wasnīt able to understand a whole lot. The theater was really impressive.
Today, we rode an incline up to the top of a hill. When we got to the top, we were able to see all of Bilbao. From other points on the top of this hill, youīre also able to see the ocean, which was really neat. Blake and I ate lunch at the top, and had a pretty good time.
For the rest of our stay here, I think weīre just going to eat a good dinner and probably go out and get some wine.
Our bus leaves tomorrow at 10:30, so we have to get up kind of early. Two days is a perfect amount of time for Bilbao. Iīm excited to move on.