As promised, the (summarized) Spain adventures continue! Last I blogged, we were finishing up our time in Andalucía. From there we headed back up north to L’Escala to celebrate Thanksgiving (a roast chicken and sweet potatoes and baked apples!) and apply to jobs for a couple weeks (spoiler alert: I got one, phew).
Valencia
Our next adventure started in Valencia, the southwest city of orange varietal and Instagram filter fame (also the birthplace of paella!). Valencia is a very cool mix of old and new. The buildings really are all orangey pinkey warm colors (though in December the air temp does not match), and there are medieval towers/gates leftover from the 1300s wall around the city that you can climb for cool views. At the same time, the city is famous for its modern architecture; the planetarium, oceanarium, and interactive museum look like something from Star Wars.
San Sebastian
From there we drove north north north to Donostia-San Sebastian, picking up our friend Kate along the way! San Sebastian is part of Basque Country (aka Euskadi), on the Bay of Biscay right next to the French border. It’s claim to fame—or at least one of them—is that it has the highest concentration of Michelin stars in the world. We love good food as much as the next traveler, but had to take a pass on those next-to-France prices. Instead, we opted for a restaurant that some say should be Michelin stared but isn’t yet (it was awesome) and a whole afternoon of pintxos-hopping.
Pintxos originate in northern Spain and are kinda sorta like tapas, but even smaller. The word literally means “thorn” or “spike” because they usually come on toothpicks. Every bar has an array of toothpick-skewered bite-sized snacks on pieces of bread (usually behind glass) for a couple euros each — you order your drink, get a some pintxos to go with it, and then on to the next place to do it all over again!
Gaztelugatxe
Very cool name (literally “the rock castle” in Basque), very cool rock. This quick stop between San Sebastian and Bilbao was certainly worth the time! Sailors and fisherman come every year to pray for luck at the hermitage on top, and of course this is a Game of Thrones filming location (Dragonstone anyone?).
Bilbao
I had heard that Bilbao is overrated, but I liked it a lot! The Christmas lights and decorations were excellent, there was a very pleasant running path along the river with great views of the whole city, and I thought that the Guggenheim Museum was just as cool on the inside as it was on the outside! Bilbao also gave us a couple days of sun after a long stretch of gray/cold/rain, so there’s also that. Haters gonna hate, but I’d say it’s worth your time!
Salamanca
After we had thoroughly Basque’ed, we headed south again towards Salamanca, home of one of the oldest universities in the world. The Plaza Mayor (main square) there was particularly spectacular, and in mid-December full of carolers and a huge Christmas bell. Like most plazas, for a long time it was used for bullfighting, which is still legal in Spain. Bullfights haven’t happened in the Plaza Mayor since 1893 (when construction of a bullring was completed), but sadly they are still a big part of the culture. While generally I’m all for a cultural experience, I think I draw the line at cruelty-to-animals-for-entertainment. (To me this is different than animal sacrifice for religious reasons…I can’t say I like either, but one should definitely be illegal.)
Avila, Segovia, and El Escorial
The great thing about having a car is you can make a lot of stops! We walked the walls of Avila, took photos with the famous Disneyland castle and huge Roman aqueduct in Segovia, and meandered through the absolutely wild life-sized town-wide nativity scene in El Escorial.
While Christmas is now long past, it’s worth mentioning Spain’s obsession with nativity scenes, called Belén (the Spanish word for Bethlehem). Every family has their own Belén (there was a whole market outside the cathedral in Sevilla 100% dedicated to selling little baby Jesus’s and Mary’s and wisemen, etc.), and then towns have them too. For example, the one in San Sebastian was basically a parkfull of somewhat creepy 3-foot-tall dolls, including a Roman regimen, farmers, bakers, angels, and slaves (ugh Spain whyyyy always whyyyy). The one in Valencia was in the central market, small but extensive, with dollhouse-sized figurines covering a ~10x10ft landscape table. The one in El Escorial takes the cake for weirdest and biggest — the whole town is inundated with life-sized papier-mâché people and elephants and tigers and gorillas(!?!). We had to see it, and we were not disappointed!
Madrid
It took a long time to get there, but we finally made it to Madrid and I loved it! The city is so beautiful; I was very into the grand architecture, especially with all the lights. We discovered an important secret to the two most famous art museums—Museo Nacional del Prado and Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía—they’re free for 2 hours every evening! For the Prado, you can “buy” a free ticket online in advance and skip the line, but for the Reina Sofia you just gotta get there early and wait (the line goes fast).
We just so happened to be in Madrid for the World Cup finals: Argentina v. France. We watched online in our room (sports bars aren’t really a thing in Spain), and then ventured out for the major street party when Argentina won. Argentines are one of the largest immigrant populations in Spain, so the celebration was BIG.
Zaragoza
Last stop! We spent one night in Zaragoza on our way back to the airport in Barcelona. I am including it though because wowowow that cathedral was BIG and that main square was GRAND. We arrived in the evening, so we just did a quick spin around in the dark—very classy Belén I will say—before heading back to our room to strategically cram into our backpacks our rental car-full of gifts. Pro packing tip: you can literally carry on a paper grocery bag full of heavy things, no one will stop you.
In summary, we saw A LOT of Spain!
What am I reading?
Just finished: You Can’t be Serious (Kal Penn)
Currently reading: Who Fears Death (Nnedi Okorafor)
Up next: When the Emperor Was Divine (Julie Otsuka)