Backpacker's Lesson #3: Trust Yourself

My first solo adventure, and it took some guts. I took a weekend trip to País Vasco, in the northern part of Spain and visited Bilbao and San Sebastian. It's an incredible part of Spain and so different than Madrid, Barcelona, or the southern regions. País Vasco is all its own. I was struck by how much of a different world it really is. The region has its own language known in English as vasco, in their language as euskadí. And from what I've heard, the language has no known connection to ANY other modern language. Strange, eh? So let's get started on this journey.

My first view of the Guggenheim!

I landed in Bilbao on Saturday and had a few hours to kill before taking a bus over to San Sebastian to meet up with some of my friends, who were roadtripping on their own. After struggling to find my way to ANY discernible landmark (Note to self: get some more info before heading out alone), I spotted the Guggenheim museum down a side street. Went there and found a tourist information center to get a map and find out where my bus stop was. (Yeah, I didn't even have that info. Maybe I was walking into this situation a bit too carefree...) I spent the rest of my time just exploring the city before hopping on my bus to San Sebastian.

The bus ride was breathtaking. I was on a luxury bus (for like 10 bucks more. So worth it), so I had plenty of room around me and didn't have to look across someone to look out the window. The drive reminded me of Arkansas, just a little...wetter.
In San Sebastian I wound up having to take a taxi to my hostel. There was no way I was finding my way to Plaza Gipuzcoa on my own. (Yeah. Try saying that five times fast. I couldn't even read it correctly.)

Some delicious pintxos. Good stuff.

Meeting up with Jordan, Scott, and Scott's dad was a brilliant idea. (Scott's dad had his own agenda, so we didn't see him too much.) They had been in town for a day or two, and knew the good places for pintxos (the paid-for version of tapas). Such delicious food there. We followed our tapas tour (using that term just because it sounds better) with some beers, sitting outside looking over the beach. And then took it back inside for a couple more drinks. It was a great night, honestly.

The next day we hiked up to the two lookout points on either side of La Concha, the main beach in San Sebastian, so named because it's shaped like a shell (aka una concha). We saw a pretty impressive statue of Jesus, up close and personal, then took a water ride on the edge of the cliff to look out on the other side. For lunch, we had some really good (and really huge) "Carolina" sandwiches--fried chicken reminds me of home! Then it was time for us to part ways, as they went back to Madrid. I spend the rest of the afternoon exploring the rest of the city, including the surfer's beach!

Jesus on the Mount!

The lookout on the other side of La Concha

A delicious Carolina sandwich.

When I made it to my hostel in Bilbao (which was awesome. Such great people, nice rooms, and a pretty good location), they told me that I needed to hustle and make it to the Guggenheim. By the time I got there, I had 30 minutes for the WHOLE museum. Yeah, I walked pretty quickly through it. It's known for it's massive spaces, so I actually got done right before it closed. I wish I could've taken more time to soak it all in, but not very many of the pieces resonated with me anyway. I saw it though! I went exploring for dinner and tried to find some good pintxos again. But since it was a Sunday, it was a little hard to find places that were open. I wound up with some decent food and some good olives, so I was happy. Then I had to walk back to my hostel, which was on the other side of town. How did I let that happen?! My feet were EXHAUSTED, but I pushed through, and after several stops, made it back to crash for the night.

One more view of the Guggenheim. Just after it closed.

Just a part of my long walk back to the hostel. At least it was pretty along the river.

Some delicious sweets. I had a PB and Blueberry cupcake. YUM!

The next day was basically just seeing the rest of the city, and going for an incredible steak. Northern Spain has lots of sidrerías, or cider houses, with gigantic barrels of cider (with just a touch of alcohol) in the wall. I ordered a rather expensive menu/combo, but I haven't regretted it one bit. I started with a delicious appetizer of chorizo in a tomato sauce. With the cider, it all went really well together. Then the brought out a cod omelette, which was a bit fishy (although, it IS cod) but still really good. Then the steak came. Oh, man, it took my breath away. So much beef, and it was super tender. After a few months of rather poor quality beef, this was super delicious. The waiter was laughing at my reactions to the food, but I really did love it. And I was downing the cider too. That meal was delicious. On par with my seven course meal in Barcelona (Check that meal out in Chowing Down).

On the Santiago Walk. Good thing I didn't start here.

All in all, País Vasco turned out to be an amazing place, and a great weekend with friends. I really loved my trip up north, and realized that trusting myself to travel alone (more or less) worked out perfectly.


Enjoying my Backpacker's Lessons? Check out the others!
Backpacker's Lesson #1: Always Charge Your Camera
Backpacker's Lesson #2: You won't meet the Queen.