Vacaciones en el Norte...

Well, it's been almost a month since I last wrote on here! It's tricky to make calls sometimes on my "mobile", let alone write blog posts on it- so I've waited until I've actually had access to my laptop!

The last time I wrote, Ceri and Gem had just been to visit, and I was getting used to life after the TEFL course. Since I had around a month or so until schools started looking for teachers, I decided to rally up some good friends from the course (Erin, Taylor and Bryony) and go and explore a little of beautiful España. 

August is a really funny month in Spain. While I would call August one of London's busiest months, everything shuts down for the holidays here. We went out last Friday afternoon to go shopping, and most shops on Las Ramblas (Barcelona's 'Oxford Street'), were closed! Even El Corte Ingles, the big department store! Fiestas and vacaciones are taken very seriously here. With this in mind, we had to be careful where we chose to go and travel- we didn't want to melt in Madrid (its around 40 there right now), and we heard that everything shut down in the South. So...it just had to be the North!

When we were looking at possible routes, we didn't find much inspiration on the net, so I'll detail our exact route and amount of days spent, in case anyone reading fancies a similar trip!

A little context first. Below you will find a map of all three cities in relation to each other.  Bilbao and San Sebastian are both in the Basque country- an autonomous part of Spain that has its own language (Basque, a language that looks more German/Dutch than Spanish). You will often find road-names written either in Spanish or Basque, or sometimes both. Santander- around an hour away from Bilbao- is in the province Cantabria, and is Spanish through and through (as I will explain below).

A great Basque delicacy are pintxos- I have already talked a little about these in the last blog post, but these are traditionally a Basque. Essentially, they are tapas that are usually ready-made and placed on a bar; you pick which ones you like buffet-style, then pay at the bar per pintxo. Fantastic food for an afternoon snack, or even dinner if you eat a fair few (which is very easy to do!).

Here is the rough guide to our Northern Spanish adventure:

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August 6th- Flew to Bilbao

Accommodation: Two different hostels, which was not necessarily our choice. We arrived at our first hostel, only for them to send us to another one as the original was fully booked. Both were good for different reasons- the first- Bilbao Akelarre- was clean, clinical and comfortable- just what we needed in order to nap after a very early flight. The second- Surfbackpackers- was much louder- there were partitions rather than walls between the rooms, and we could hear everything that was happening, from the small children in one room to the crazy Italians in the other. That being said, I loved the relaxed music they played- it made the whole place seem more homely, which is often difficult to find in the hostel environment.

What's it like?: A little more uptight and sprawling than Barcelona, but all is forgiven with the many pintxos bars in the old part of the city. The beach and city seem to have two very different vibes here, whereas in Barcelona beach and city seem to meld together more. Also, the beach was in a lovely cove- but not too easy to get back from at 10pm, as we quickly found out (after wiling away around 40 minutes dancing on the train platform!)

Most memorable parts of the city: Two major highlights here. The fantastic pintxos bar, Irrintzi, has to be one of them- squid ink croquettes, stuffed peppers (the canned fish used is actually the fresher type of seafood here, and it is delicious) and the garlic-scallop were all to die for. All offered something a little unique to the whole pintxo experience as well. The second highlight is the Guggenheim- the mesmerising space-age style building could be considered in itself, but then the vast array of art within, from Yoko Ono’s charismatic surreal art to an incredible Icelandic music montage, brings it to world-class status.

August 8th- Bus to Santander

Accommodation: Awesome little pensión (like a B & B, without the breakfast) called Pensión A Madrid. Our own room for only 20 euros a night each, close to the centre of town.

What's it like?: More relaxed than Bilbao, and more Spanish than both Bilbao and Barcelona. It is rare to see Spanish flags flying in either of the two latter cities; in Santander, huge flags proudly lined the waterfront.

Most memorable parts of the city: The Placa de Juan Carlos, where literally every person under 30 drinks at on the weekend. Literally everyone. There are dozens of clubs nearby, but they don’t get going until 2/3am, as everyone’s having too much of a good time. With its friendly, cosmopolitan atmosphere, it’s a great place to make friends before throwing some shapes on the dancefloor.

August 11th- Bus to San Sebastian

Accommodation: Another pensión- Pensión Aries- but this time it was a little pricier (35 euros a night), noisier (right in the heart of the old town), and smaller. That being said, we were just grateful to be able to stay anywhere in the city at all. We’d chosen to visit at one of the busiest times of the year- La Semana Grande. You’ve probably figured out by now that August is a month full of fiestas in Spain- and La Semana Grande is one of the biggest.

What’s it like?: Lively, excitable, and pirate-y (if that was a word). There seemed to be a buzz everywhere from around 11am until 6am, as everyone scuttled along the streets in search of the next float-parade or random musicians drumming their way along the streets.

Most memorable parts of the city: So many to choose from here. It would be a toss-up between:

-       The 30 metre ‘Basque giants’ coming down the Old Town streets to the sounds of traditional Basque music.

-       The reggae fest by the waterfront until the early hours…with a Canadian DJ. Especially surreal after accidentally attending a Basque rock concert, with everyone screaming out words we couldn’t understand. Good fun!

-       Kalimotxo and txakoli- red wine and coke (don’t knock it until you’ve tried it) and Basque sparkling wine respectively.

August 14th- Bus back to Barcelona

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The last week has just made me realise how rich Spain is culturally; I had a vague idea before, but after actually seeing the different autonomous provinces- Basque Country, Cantabria and of course Catalonia- I would really like to read more about what both unites and divides this country.

I will update this blog post with pictures later on, once I have gone through them all- I just wanted to update the blog before the next crazy week begins. Meeting with an old Waterstone’s friend, Sadia, tomorrow, then lovely Tara coming tomorrow, then meeting with Kate on Friday…it’s non-stop, and I’m loving it!

P.S Look out in tomorrow's blog post for more info on Erin and I's mini-break to Tossa de Mar over the weekend…