Wednesday the BYU crew headed out bright and early to northern Spain. I wasn’t as thrilled to go north because it’s obviously colder and I wasn’t feeling 100%. The drive was around 5 hours to Bilbao where we would be visiting the famous Guggenheim! On our trek there, we stopped in a town called Burgos and visited the cathedral there. I wish I could remember the details, but in all seriousness, I can no longer differentiate one cathedral from the other anymore. I remember there was a very interesting clock inside the cathedral with a cartoonish man who would ring the bell of the clock and it was quite comical to watch.
This trip we got hooked up with some nice hotels. The place we stayed in Bilbao was a central location on the river and about a 15 minute walk to the Guggenheim. Apparently, Bilbao was not even included on a map until the Guggenheim was built and became its main attraction – which is understandable because it was the coolest experience! Besides the fact the museum building itself is an abstract piece an artwork hat was made to look like a scaley boat on the river, it had the most interesting artwork. There were pieces by Andy Warhol and Jackson Polluck. The exhibit I really enjoyed was walking through The Matter of Time which were these massive sculptures you could walk through. The Guggenheim was in the same category as the Reina Sofia with incredibly abstract work that you would sincerely question as art. At some points, I would literally start laughing because some things were so weird. There are seriously no limits with art and the pieces in the Guggenheim definitely emphasize that attribute of art. Ashley and I then wandered downtown to Cascao Viejo where there were little streets with tons of stores. Bilbao reminded me much of Sevilla with the river running through the town except Bilbao is definitely more urbanized and relies solely on the Guggenheim as its tourist attraction. Sevilla itself was just beautiful with all the older buildings and streets. Anyway, Ashley and I split a Subway sandwich for dinner and we both began to reminisce about being home and how much we miss just big, hearty sandwiches with fresh turkey as opposed to the baguettes with slices of salami. It’s definitely all about the experience but sometimes you just need your go-to turkey sandwich.
Thursday we headed to San Sebastian – “most romantic city” according to Jenny’s dad. Well it was true! It reminded me a lot of Lisbon but definitely colder weather. The town was pushed up against its stunning coastline. The first thing we did was just walk along the boardwalk for several hours, every once in a while stopping to do stunts on the beach, go on merry-go-rounds or get gelato.
We headed back to the hotel in time for there “big event” we were all invited to. Jenny, Ashley and I got dressed and headed down to the lobby where they had waiters handing out food, a band and tons of people just talking and socializing. One of the few people we spoke to was the event coordinator for the party and knew the DJ. He invited us to come with them after the party to the club where the DJ would be playing next. Of course we couldn’t resist. Jenny and Ashley needed some major convincing to go because it was really late. By the time we got to the club it was 2:30 but it proved to be absolutely worth it. We got in for free as well as got a free Red Bull drink, their club t-shirts and masks to wear so we could celebrate Carnaval with everyone. The club had kids around my age, but at times even I felt a bit old to be there. The DJ was incredible and played lots of music I had not heard before. It was just the beginning of Carnaval week bt we had never experienced it before. Everyone’s costumes were so unique and were really good! They went all out. We saw Dracula, ballerinas, cowboys etc. The club was also right on the beach so whenever we needed fresh air we would step out onto the balcony and get a beautiful view of the ocean. It was an amazing night.
Brooke, Jenny and I woke up early to go running and went to the other side of San Sebastian and climbed to this “Jesus monument” that gave us a stunning view of San Sebastian. Although the combination the little sleep and uphill terrain isn’t ideal, once again it was absolutely worth the view in the end. I also can’t believe how far I am running with these girls because of my strong dislike for running. It’s very bizarre.
We drove as a group to southern France on Friday to a town called Biarritz. There are no words to describe how much I loved the combination of this town and San Sebastian! It was another beachy city and actually well known for decent surfing. Once again, we walked along the coast trying to take in every minute. The only thing that could have made the experience a tiny bit better would be warmer weather, but either way it was still an amazing place to be. We found a perfect place to eat that had the best view of the beach as well as delicious fish and vegetable pizza! Of course our visit wasn’t complete until we went to the Museum of Chocolate. Everyone let their imagination get to them because we weren’t sure of what to expect so we all just started picturing the Willy Wonka factory. It was actually quite small and had these hysterical sculptures made out of solid chocolate. I’m pretty sure everyone left there with several souvenirs.
Saturday morning we woke up early again to go running. It was a beautiful day with the sun shining and we ran 3 miles to this beautiful pier and other beaches which had surfers out and about. It was our farewell to beautiful San Sebastian. Later in life, I definitely want to go back – especially in the summer it would be amazing.
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