Wow! I am realizing today is nearing the end of day 18 of my Spanish adventure and it is so incredibly hard to believe I’ve almost been here for 3 weeks! The time has absolutely flown by and I’m getting sad thinking about my time winding down, but I am more so motivated to get the most out of these next weeks than ever before.
This past weekend (and including today) have been absolutely wonderful! There is a bit of a heat wave moving through these parts of Spain, allowing for a beach day all of Saturday, a sunny trip to Bilbao yesterday, and another lazy beach day today following classes. However, I want to rewind to Friday and start there to talk about all the amazing experiences I had during and after class…
So for starters, we had a “fuera la sala” (outside the classroom) day on Friday, which we used to head to the Center of town to explore El Mercado de la Esperanza, which is basically the Walmart of this area (but a million times better obviously). So in Spain, it’s typical to go to these markets to get your groceries, and let me just say I wish these were everywhere in the US! So the lower level is dedicated completely to seafood: fish, lobster, crab, shrimp, everything you could possibly imagine is down there (partially still alive if that can give you an idea of how fresh this place is). The top floor is reserved for meats of all types, cheese, vegetables, lentils, fruit, and some bread and sweets. I snagged a peach and ate it right there on the spot… it was phenomenal! Also I of course had to get a chocolate filled croissant, which was equally pleasing. It was a great experience seeing how grocery shopping is done here, and talking with the local vendors about their products, where they’re from, and more. I definitely recommend doing this to gain some cultural perspective.
Later that evening, a few friends and I ventured back to the Center in search of sushi (I know, it sounds strange but just hang with me), and thanks to one of the girls, we found a pretty amazing little Japanese restaurant with some great sushi! Afterwards, we headed down to one of the popular Plazas to hang out with friends and meet new people. It was such a cool experience… people literally stand and sit around this plaza, eating, drinking, talking, and enjoying one another’s company for hours on end! We had such a great time hanging out with other students at the university here.
As if Friday wasn’t fun enough, Saturday was the most perfect beach day we could’ve asked for. It was about 85*F without a cloud in the sky, so the whole WVU group headed to the beach for a day of relaxation. We literally sat on the beach all day, napped, talked, and swam in the ocean. After the beach a few of us went over to a local market that was set up for only this weekend to grab some local souvenirs and local food. There was one stand that was my favorite, and it had dozens of different fresh spices for cooking. All I wanted was to get samples of them all and take them home!
After a long day of relaxing on Saturday, Sunday we were on the bus early that morning and heading to Bilbao, Spain. It took a little bit over an hour to get there, and we stopped at the highest point to get a panorama of the city! Check it out…
This city is probably a very close #2 favorite so far in Spain (falling shortly behind Santander). It was so beautiful and full of life! There were far more English speakers here compared to Santander, and more touristy, but we had a great day. Fortunately, our head faculty leader that is directing the trip grew up here, and gave us some great advice on what to do while we were here! His main tip: EAT! The pinchos here were phenomenal and totally worth the euros. We visited the Guggenheim Museum, which was a pretty cool experience as well. If you make it here be sure to check out “Puppy”, the giant flower sculpture of a puppy outside the museum! Additionally, right across the street from “Puppy” is a gelato shop called “Amorino” where they have the best gelato outside of Italy, and little macaróns that are to die for!! I ate ice cream after our visit to the museum then shamelessly returned after lunch for 6 of these little guys. Definitely worth it!
If I were to go back, I would go back on another day other than Sunday (since most places were closed), and spend all of my time in Casco Viejo or “Old Town” in English. There are lots of little cafes, shops, and beautiful buildings to see during your time there. Probably the most notable pieces of Bilbao were its’ architecture. There were so many modern-looking bridges, the stadium for their fútbol team lies in the middle of town, and glass-lined apartment buildings fill the streets. Cross the bridge, and you get old buildings with character and history, so it’s literally the best of both worlds here. Below are some of my favorite pictures I captured of the city as we walked around plus some pictures from Guggenheim.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this post and gained some helpful tips in your travels to this area!
Get out there and explore today-life awaits, my friends!
Cat
Life Awaits 
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