SPAIN - part 1
THE BASQUE COUNTRY
~VITORIA~
on the way to Vitoria from Madrid...
Medieval festival
Plaza de Virgen Blanca
YUMMY
the silliness that is me, imitating the Caminante on calle dato
~SAN SEBASTIAN~
glorious beauty that is San Sebastian
San Sebastian film festival
pintxos! (that's the basque word for tapas) / yummy to my tummy
after all that beautiful weather, it suddenly started pouring. but then look at what beauty i captured after the storm!
~ARRIOLA~ (small town where Josu's family has a house that used to be a convent! they like to fix up old houses - it was so lovely!)
What beauty!!! The view out the front door of Josu's house and the front yard!
Josu's dad preparing lunch outside. yum yum~ / the family
taking a walk in the mountains / josu finding the whole korean fob thing hilarious
medieval festival
~BILBAO~
the Guggenheim
Bilbao by night
The Basque Country was fascinating. I was in the Spanish part (the other half is in France) and they have their own entire language! The roots of the language is supposedly this big mystery, with romantic and some Japanese roots. Apparently the Basque are very prideful and a strong country (kinda like Korea's small country complex) and they have a terrorist radical group that wants to be separate from Spain's government. The families even posted up pictures of their family members who were imprisoned and sent far far away from Vitoria as a protest to bring them closer to home. They're supposedly not violent anymore, but still oppose the Spanish government's "oppression."
I was so lucky to have Megan and a native, Josu, to show me around, get the whole experience, see so many different cities (basically the entire Basque country), eat a homecooked meal...it was fabulous! What a great start to my trip!! AND they even had a Medieval Festival going on that weekend, so it was as if I had stepped back hundreds of years. SO very relaxing with a lot of fresh air and things to see.
Thanks Migs and Josu!! Miss you guys already~ *smooches*