Vigo - Bilbao - San Sebastián

I made it to Vigo and had to wait at the train station for three hours for my landlord to be done with siesta. While I was there, a woman and her daughter came by to meet me and see if I'm what they want for an English-speaking babysitter. We got along great and the mom (Paula) offered to drive me to cafe near the landlord's office. I went there and had my first taste of the AMAZING custom in Vigo where restaurants give you a bunch of free tapas with the purchase of a drink. So great. Eventually I went to meet my landlord. For some reasons I don't understand (because they were said too quickly in Spanish) the apartment I thought I was getting was not available and they had moved me to a different one in the same building. It doesn't have as much natural light as the other one would have, but it's slightly bigger and I don't have to pay for utilities because I think they felt bad about switching me! So that ended up working out well.

I met some girls from my program (all Americans) for some churros and chocolate and spent the next two days getting to know them and buying crap for the apartment. It didn't rain at all in those days which was very out of character for Vigo but lovely!! It's a beautiful city on a summer day!

On Thursday, I took an all-day train to Bilbao. Friday I spent exploring Bilbao. I went to the Guggenheim, awesome even with an entire floor closed for renovation. I walked around the city, saw some churches, etc. Bilbao is gorgeous and I would highly recommend going there.

The Guggenheim!

Panoramic view of Bilbao on a hazy day.

On Friday night I took the train to San Sebastián (only about an hour and a half from Bilbao) to meet Jessie there. We stayed in a hostel that had a strong surfer-beach-bum vibe and was full of Australians and Americans. It was fun and very laid back. We went to the beach on Saturday morning, which was LOVELY and then took a cable car up to the top of a hill to look at the view:

the view from the mount

the view from the beach boardwalk!

After coming back down the mountain, we went and saw a movie in the San Sebastian Film Festival. It was an Argentinian film--very heavy but really good. We stopped by the Miramar Palace on our way back around, which is a beautiful estate that one of the 19th century queens of Spain had built as her summer home. They were in the middle of setting up a big closing party for the San Sebastian Film Festival. We spent too much time sitting on the steps thinking about how we might get invited to said party.

We went back to the hostel to regroup before walking into old town to have some wine and pintxos. In the Basque country, there are tons of tiny bars that have a long counter covered in "pintxos," similar to tapas. You generally ask for three or four of them--I had some that were a pieces of bread with ham and manchego cheese on them. We also tried one that was a toothpick with artichoke heart, anchovy, and an olive on it. Most involve bread. But the bars are very small and only really fit the people who are up against the bar. It's very loud and chaotic in there, so if you can fight your way to the front, it's best to get your wine and pintxos, pay, and go stand out in the street and eat and drink. The streets in the old part of town are very narrow and cars aren't allowed, so on a Saturday night the streets are packed with people spilling out of all the little bars. It was really fun! We had a great night and chatted with some Spaniards and international students that we met in the street.

Now I'm hanging out at this great cafe near our hostel, having a tea, and waiting to get on a midnight train back to Vigo. I start work on Wednesday!

Weekend in Madrid September 19-21

It was so amazing to be back in Madrid. When I got there on Friday afternoon, I went straight to Jessie’s apartment, which is on the street where Tara and I did a lot of shopping when we were abroad there. She lives right above a Zara and near a bunch of other great Spanish and international stores. Financially dangerous place to live! She has a fantastic apartment with great Spanish roommates and I’m envious of how much they’re going to improve her Spanish just be living day to day together. 

Friday we walked all over the city and I got to see all my old haunts. I showed her the two places I lived and one of my favorite cafés (Lolina) and we just walked all over the place. It was great! We made dinner and went out and met up with some of her new friends from her program and it was a great time!

Readers, I’m not sure you know about this, but Jessie and I are cable car enthusiasts. After going on cable cars in New York and Portland together, we decided that we wanted to ride every cable car in Europe this year. This turned out to be WAY too ambitious and expensive a goal, as Europe is home to a large amount of cable cars, including one in Switzerland that is the world’s longest but also costs like 80 euros to ride or something like that. We did, however, get to go on the gondola in Madrid that goes from the west side of town into a big park and back for only 5.80 euros! It was awesome and the views were incredible.

Saturday night we went out with the three Spanish roommates for tapas and cervezas. There were a lot things that were “classic Spain” about that night (didn’t leave the apartment until 11pm, walked for a good 30 minutes just to end up at a chain restaurant that has a franchise down the street from the apartment, listened to the Spanish ladies say some questionable things about non-white people, etc.) but it was a fun evening and I felt like it helped my Spanish come back SO MUCH by just being with them for a few hours.

On Sunday, Jessie and I went down to the southern part of the city to meet up with her friend Melissa and my Spanish friend from the study abroad days Sergio. We had a cheap lunch at a cafe in an complex of beautiful old brick buildings that were once a slaughterhouse but are now art spaces. It was great! Jessie and I then walked back up toward her pad and I went to buy a new raincoat because I left mine in Istanbul :(. 

Today I got up early and caught the one-way train to Vigo. It was a pleasant ride and Vigo already seems beautiful, though I’m just in the train station cafe right now. My landlord’s office is closed from 1:30-4:30 for siesta every day so I can’t move in until then. I can’t wait to see it!

I'm here! --Istanbul--

I made it! I forgot to write an "I'm about to leave and these are my feelings" post before I left home on Tuesday so I'm just going to skip that and jump right into my journey here and my day in Istanbul.

I highly recommend Turkish Airlines! They came around to do drinks like 6 or more times during the flight and you can even get any kind of alcohol you want for free. I had a Turkish red wine, which was good except it was too cold. They also gave us a menu before coming by with dinner, which was fancy. We each got a little kit with earplugs, lip balm, an eyemask, socks, a toothbrush, and toothpaste. So nice! It was definitely the most comfortable plane-sleeping experience I've ever had.

I got to Istanbul and took a shuttle my hostel offers to the hostel, which is in the old part of town on a cobblestone street with lots of other hostels very close to the Blue Mosque and other main attractions. All of the hostels on this street have a restaurant/pub on the street, with comfortable couches and tables and hookah, and then the hostel part is behind and above that.

I got about 5 or 6 hours of sleep last night, and then just couldn't sleep any longer due to jet lag. This morning, I woke up at 8, had breakfast at the hostel (during which the hostel workers pegged me as a German high schooler... no, wrong on all accounts) and headed off to the Blue Mosque. It's free because it's still used for prayer 5 times a day (yes!) and very beautiful. I had to wear a head scarf and everyone took off their shoes. The mosque is called "Blue" because of the tiles on the inside. It's ornate and beautiful and also very symmetrical. I've seen more ornate cathedrals but it was exciting to be in a mosque. I found it more open and simple in terms of floor plan than most cathedrals but with more detailed walls.

Next I walked through a connecting park to the Ayasofia (Hagia Sophia). This is a building that's got a Christian and Muslim past, having been used as a cathedral at times and a mosque at others. A building called the Hagia Sophia has stood on that ground since the 300s (THREE HUNDREDS!?!) and this is the third one, which has been there since 537. It only took about five and a half years to build (using 10,000 unskilled workers, which I'm guessing is a gentle way of saying slaves) and it is remarkable. Giant gold panels showing words from the Koran, intricate mosaics showing Christ and other Christian figures from the 10th century, beautiful old marble and other stones. It's great. I think maybe better than the Blue Mosque.

After that I went back to the hostel to change shoes and then decided to go check out a part of town that my cousin Austin told me was cool when he was here a few days ago. I chose to take the tram instead of walk all of the way, so I bought a token and got on. I found a seat and was pretty proud of myself for figuring it all out. We got to the third stop and the doors opened on the side facing the track instead of the platform. "That's kind of weird and dangerous," I thought to myself while I sat there (I was going two more stops before getting off.) A man came over to me, gestured, and said something in Turkish. I assumed he said something like, "this stop has major tourist attractions, you should get off!" so I just stayed put, thinking, "little does he know how cool I am going to a not-as-touristy part of town." The doors closed, and the tram started going BACK the direction we had already come!!! It became clear to me that the man had really said, "you need to get off and get on another tram going the right way." I went back to the previous stop and got on the right tram. If only I understood Turkish!

I went to that part of town and walked up and down some BIG hills going to little shops. I decided to stop for an authentic Turkish coffee but after sitting down I noticed the place was playing country music. I'm pretty sure the coffee was still authentic but not necessarily the place locals would go. It was great to see this part of town, which definitely has more locals living in it than the area where the hostels are. It looked a lot like other European neighborhoods with narrow streets and small shops.

I took the tram back and wandered around poorly-marked streets until I found the spice bazaar. I was sort of looking for a tapestry and some incense for my place in Spain, but it just goes to show how ignorant I am of Turkish culture: there was none of that. There were tons of spices used for cooking and tea, but no incense, and plenty of scarves but no tapestries. I bought some tea and Turkish delight and moved on.

Next I went to the Topkapi Palace. This place is massive. I got the audio tour, which I'm pretty sure was a voice thing like Siri (though male) reading a direct translation of the Turkish tour. Not the greatest audio tour in the world, but somewhat informative! The palace is covered head to toe in ceramic tiles, mostly shades of blue. It's beautiful, and has great views of the other parts of Istanbul over the water. I found the harem especially interesting, where all of the Sultan's women lived. The palace was super crowded and I got very weary walking around its many acres, so after listening to all of the audio tours and seeing the whole thing (~2.5 hours) I left.

Now I'm just back at the hostel relaxing! I've seen the big things I wanted to see here and spent more Turkish Lira than I had planned. Tonight I'll try to find some cheap food and go to bed early because I fly to Madrid tomorrow at 7:30am!