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!