Phrase of the week: no es posible = it’s not possible, or “no”.
Observation of the week: Aside from having a more formal culture, the Spaniards take their scheduling/appointments very seriously. Drop-in’s are not welcome and scheduled opening times/tour times are always subject to change, especially if you’re looking for a tour in English.
This past weekend we took a trip with our roommates to the Basque region of Spain and visited Bilbao, San Sebastian and the La Rioja region (for anyone looking to make a similar trip, look for Maribel’s guides on-line – fantastic resources). Similar to the Catalan region, they speak a different language and are consistently trying to separate themselves from the rest of Spain. We are starting to think that each region is not so different from Texas. Bilbao was surprisingly a wonderful town. We stayed a great little pension in the old quarter called Iturrienea Ostatua, recommended by Alicia’s friend Kate who lived in Bilbao for a while. We spent the majority of the day at the Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim museum. Great new additions to their permanent collection, including works by Jenny Holzer and Richard Serra. We treated ourselves to the “menu del dia” at the restaurant in the museum too! Basque country is known for their “pinxtos” or tapas. Everyone starts around 7:00 p.m. and goes until about 10 or 11. You start at one bar, order one or two items and a drink, then move to the next place. It’s very social, everyone congregates outside – unlike anything we’ve seen. There were some great places right on the street where we stayed (Santa Maria) including Bar Gatz, and of course the main square in the old quarter. We weren’t quite sure what we were eating, but I think we had blood sausage and kidney inadvertently . . .
The next day we rented a car and drove to San Sebastian, one of the best beach towns in Spain. We stayed with some of Nic’s friends, Maria and Benat. They were so incredibly nice and showed us true Spanish hospitality! They took us to a place that I cannot even begin to describe – during cider season, these “cider houses” open for about 3 months. They are literally in warehouses with huge cider barrels and tall wooden tables. Everyone gets a glass and runs back and forth to whatever barrel the “pourer” is to fill their glass up (only a little! We later learned why – cider is a bit strong . . .). The food comes out on big platters – salt cod tortilla (Tim’s favorite), grilled salt cod with peppers, huge slab of meat (Alicia had a special one cooked bien hecho – well done), and walnuts, cheese and quince preserves. Fun night out in the town afterwards.
Woke up the next morning to make the drive to the La Rioja region. Our recap of the visit will be brief – it was nearly impossible to schedule any of the tours, much less tours in English. They all require you have a reservation, but when calling, they were never sure if they were having certain tours for the day, asked us to call back. “Can we just stop in for a tasting and not take a tour?” “That is not possible.” “Do you offer tours in English?” “Today, that it is not possible”. “So can we just visit the facilities for a tasting as we won’t be able to understand the tour?” “I’m sorry, that is not possible. You must go through our hour tour that is just like every other vineyard you’ve visited in order to taste our wine.” Needless to say, after visiting the vineyards closer to Barcelona a few weeks ago and after our first English tour at Marques de Riscal (hotel designed by Frank Gehry), we can all recite the various phases of wine making in almost perfect Spanish by the time we finished with the Ysios, Cune, and Muga tours on Monday. We did stay in a “quaint” little town, Elciego, at the Casa Rural la Cueva. The entire town was closed on Sunday, so we ventured to Laguardia nearby, an old town surrounded by the original fortress wall. No cars are allowed inside because the entire underneath of the city is comprised of wine cellars and caves. Headed back to Bilbao to fly home Monday night. I think we are all in need of a hiatus from our beloved vino tinto.
As a side note – we visited the Fundacio Joan Miro last week and loved it. We were lucky to see their temporary exhibition, “Un cos sense limits/A body without limits”, a retrospective of nudes from 20th century artists like Matisse, Picasso, Chagall, Giacometti, Antonio Tapies, Miro and more. Tim had class the next day, but Alicia went to an opening there for a Japanese artist the next night, fun times.
We think our internet is officially gone from our apartment now, so the full postings will be a bit more sporadic. However, Tim will keep everyone updated from his postings at school. We are headed to Portugal this weekend, should be fun!
Observation of the week: Aside from having a more formal culture, the Spaniards take their scheduling/appointments very seriously. Drop-in’s are not welcome and scheduled opening times/tour times are always subject to change, especially if you’re looking for a tour in English.
This past weekend we took a trip with our roommates to the Basque region of Spain and visited Bilbao, San Sebastian and the La Rioja region (for anyone looking to make a similar trip, look for Maribel’s guides on-line – fantastic resources). Similar to the Catalan region, they speak a different language and are consistently trying to separate themselves from the rest of Spain. We are starting to think that each region is not so different from Texas. Bilbao was surprisingly a wonderful town. We stayed a great little pension in the old quarter called Iturrienea Ostatua, recommended by Alicia’s friend Kate who lived in Bilbao for a while. We spent the majority of the day at the Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim museum. Great new additions to their permanent collection, including works by Jenny Holzer and Richard Serra. We treated ourselves to the “menu del dia” at the restaurant in the museum too! Basque country is known for their “pinxtos” or tapas. Everyone starts around 7:00 p.m. and goes until about 10 or 11. You start at one bar, order one or two items and a drink, then move to the next place. It’s very social, everyone congregates outside – unlike anything we’ve seen. There were some great places right on the street where we stayed (Santa Maria) including Bar Gatz, and of course the main square in the old quarter. We weren’t quite sure what we were eating, but I think we had blood sausage and kidney inadvertently . . .
The next day we rented a car and drove to San Sebastian, one of the best beach towns in Spain. We stayed with some of Nic’s friends, Maria and Benat. They were so incredibly nice and showed us true Spanish hospitality! They took us to a place that I cannot even begin to describe – during cider season, these “cider houses” open for about 3 months. They are literally in warehouses with huge cider barrels and tall wooden tables. Everyone gets a glass and runs back and forth to whatever barrel the “pourer” is to fill their glass up (only a little! We later learned why – cider is a bit strong . . .). The food comes out on big platters – salt cod tortilla (Tim’s favorite), grilled salt cod with peppers, huge slab of meat (Alicia had a special one cooked bien hecho – well done), and walnuts, cheese and quince preserves. Fun night out in the town afterwards.
Woke up the next morning to make the drive to the La Rioja region. Our recap of the visit will be brief – it was nearly impossible to schedule any of the tours, much less tours in English. They all require you have a reservation, but when calling, they were never sure if they were having certain tours for the day, asked us to call back. “Can we just stop in for a tasting and not take a tour?” “That is not possible.” “Do you offer tours in English?” “Today, that it is not possible”. “So can we just visit the facilities for a tasting as we won’t be able to understand the tour?” “I’m sorry, that is not possible. You must go through our hour tour that is just like every other vineyard you’ve visited in order to taste our wine.” Needless to say, after visiting the vineyards closer to Barcelona a few weeks ago and after our first English tour at Marques de Riscal (hotel designed by Frank Gehry), we can all recite the various phases of wine making in almost perfect Spanish by the time we finished with the Ysios, Cune, and Muga tours on Monday. We did stay in a “quaint” little town, Elciego, at the Casa Rural la Cueva. The entire town was closed on Sunday, so we ventured to Laguardia nearby, an old town surrounded by the original fortress wall. No cars are allowed inside because the entire underneath of the city is comprised of wine cellars and caves. Headed back to Bilbao to fly home Monday night. I think we are all in need of a hiatus from our beloved vino tinto.
As a side note – we visited the Fundacio Joan Miro last week and loved it. We were lucky to see their temporary exhibition, “Un cos sense limits/A body without limits”, a retrospective of nudes from 20th century artists like Matisse, Picasso, Chagall, Giacometti, Antonio Tapies, Miro and more. Tim had class the next day, but Alicia went to an opening there for a Japanese artist the next night, fun times.
We think our internet is officially gone from our apartment now, so the full postings will be a bit more sporadic. However, Tim will keep everyone updated from his postings at school. We are headed to Portugal this weekend, should be fun!
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