Pamplona & San Sebastian

I personally don't find it all that interesting to blog detailedly about what I did, so I'll try to make that portion of the post somewhat brief, after which I'll include some observations and stuff (more interesting, in my opinion).

This past weekend our group went on its first overnight excursion, as we traveled westward into the Basque Country to visit the cities of Pamplona and San Sebastian.

Brief Synopsis: Pamplona
After departing early Friday morning (7:30-ish), we made the 6 hour bus ride to Pamplona, the city famed for its annual San Fermín festival (known for its "Running of the Bulls"). Upon our arrival we were met by our tour guide, who gave us a brief (2.5-3 hours, maybe) walking tour of the Old City. Our tour consisted of three notable portions: (1) walking part of the route that the six bulls run each summer during the festival, (2) checking out a bar/restraunt where Hemingway used to hang out, and (3) visiting the city's cathedral.

Final thoughts: Pamplona
While the city was very nice and quaint, I wasn't blown away by it, and thus don't care to write much about it. Had I visited during the festival, I'm sure there would be MUCH more to say. Other than that, the one thing that probably surprised me the most about Pamplona was how clean and well-maintained it was (although it is likely that this is just a result of it not being a densely populated area).

(Not-so) Brief Synopsis: San Sebastian
Once our tour ended, we hopped back on the bus and headed off to San Sebastian (a 1.5-2 hour drive). Since we arrived in the evening, there was little time for us to do anything after arriving, as we had a group dinner planned for later on. The dinner was very unique to say the least, as we dined at a traditional Basque cider house. Other than the trip I made to an all-you-can-eat sushi bar in my first week after arriving in Barcelona, this was definitely the biggest meal I'd had in the past month. Appetizers consisted of a potato and fish omelette, followed by a course of some other type of fish with green peppers, which was followed by steak, and topped-off with desert (Gouda cheese with apricot jam). Aside from the steak, which I opted to pass on since it was still bloody, the food was delicious. In addition to tons of food, the restaurant also offered all-you-can-drink cider, which meant that not only was everyone well-fed, but most of the kids from the program were at least buzzed, if not drunk by the end of the meal, which I found to be mildly entertaining.

The next morning we had a scheduled tour of the city. Since the weather was oddly nice (in the mid 60's) given the time of year, it ended up being the perfect day for walking about. On a good day, San Sebastian is an incredibly beautiful city, mainly due to the fact that it's a coastal town among mountains, so the beaches are plentiful, and the views are breath-taking. The water is a blue unlike any that I can remember ever seeing in person.

Aside from it's overall beauty, San Sebastian is known for its cuisine, which one of our program directors hailed as being the best in all of Spain. The most famous of its delicacies are Pintxos (small, elaborate finger foods), which are the Basque equivalent of Tapas. People traditionally go from bar to bar in a sort of "Pintxo hopping" to try out the various unique offerings of each bar. Unfortunately for me, the one pintxo I bought ended up having sausage in it (thankfully this was brought to my attention prior to inhaling it), so I didn't quite get the chance to experience pintxos firsthand.

Our program had arranged for a spa visit for all of us kids, so after lunch, we all visited a really fancy spa and got to experience the wonders of hydrotherapy. Basically we went into a series of different pools within which there were stations set up, with each focusing on massaging a different area of the body using water jets (ex. calves, hamstrings, lower back, upper back, shoulders, neck, etc.). This was followed by access to a sauna, steam room, and ice water bath (surprisingly invigorating).

The rest of the day was left to us for wandering, shopping, or whatever else one may have sought to do. Since Barcelona was playing Sevilla that night, I decided I'd tag along with the others in hopes that I'd find a bar where the game was being showed. Unfortunately this didn't work out as me and two others got separated from the others (who took cabs), and spent the next two hours walking into every bar we saw. Given that there were over 50 or so small bars within a half-mile radius, this became a bit of a task. By the time we had finally gotten in touch with everyone else, I was ready to head back, and hopped in a cab with the few who shared my thoughts.

After stuffing ourselves with our included, all-you-can-eat hotel breakfasts (which consisted of various breads, cereals, fruits, yogurts, pastries, churros, juices and eggs), we hopped on the bus and embarked on our 7-8 hour drive back to Barcelona.

Final Thoughts: San Sebastian
Simply put, the place was gorgeous. It's no real surprise to me that this is supposedly the most expensive place to live in all of Spain (real-estate wise). A very unique and charming city/town coupled with beaches and mountains seems like a winning combination to me. If you're ever looking for a relaxing weekend while in Spain or France, it's definitely worth a short trip.

Obeservations: the Basque Country
Prior to coming here the only times I had ever heard the Basque Country being mentioned was in reference to either its (often-violent) expressions of nationalism and desire for independence, or with regard to its unique language. Assuming this goes the same for others, I figured I'd offer my personal take on both topics.

Basque Nationalism:
Other than Northern Ireland and Sri Lanka, the Basque Country was essentially one of the few instances in which I can recall "terrorism" being mentioned and not being linked to the Muslims (see ETA). Nationalism seems to be a HUGE issue here, even more so than in Catalonia. Taking into account that we were certainly not in the heart of the Basque Country (San Sebastian has a large foreign population, so I wouldn't expect much in the form of rioting and protest around these parts), I was extremely surprised with the amount of graffiti, murals, posters/banners, and Basque flags making reference to the independence movement that adorned every single street and alleyway. It was wild.

The Basque Language:
The Basque language ("Euskara") is crazy. While one would expect it to share similarities with either Spanish or French, it is a language entirely of its own. I guess that this shouldn't be much of a surprise, as it is said to predate the Romance, Germanic, and Celtic languages, but still...it's kind of a trip seeing the translations (most signs are written in both Spanish and Basque), as the words/phrases look/sound completely dissimilar. This is markedly different from Catalan and Galician (the two other regional languages that differ from Castillian), both of which can be construed as being mixes of the two languages of the areas surrounding the regions in which they are spoken (Catalan seems like a fusion of French and Castillian --although it predates Castillian--, while Gailician is supposedly a mix of Portuguese and Castillian).


That's enough for now...

Adeu!