Sarah, one of my roommates at TCU, has always talked about Ane from Bilbao like she is truly a part of her family. When Sarah was in high school, her family opened their home to exchange students from different countries and one of these students was Ane from Spain! When I told Sarah where I would be living and teaching in Spain this year, she insisted I travel to Bilbao and stay with Ane so that is exactly what I did this weekend. Over the past 2.5 days, I got to see, taste, and experience Bilbao with a local and like a local.
So what were some of my favorite moments? On Sunday afternoon, Ane's dad (who they call "Aita", the Basque word for dad) took us to the old part of the city to enjoy some drinks and light bites. We spent three hours walking from bar to bar sipping on beer or Txakoli white wine while tasting different pintxos. While I was once a picky eater, I found myself enjoying foods such as croquetas de bacalao (fried cod mixed with cheese). I also loved a pintxo with deer meat!
The combination of great weather for walking, the delicious food and drinks, and getting to practice my Spanish with Ane's dad (who doesn't speak any English), was the recipe for a perfect Sunday afternoon. I was pleased to hear Ane, her dad, and sister agree that I spoke Spanish well and that I did not have a noticeably American accent either. Success!
I also enjoyed Saturday night because I got to meet Ane's friends and go out with them. In Bilbao, it is common for young people to drink a beverage called kalimotxo, which is red wine mixed with Coca Cola. I remembered my students in Guardo telling me about this mixture a few weeks ago but they hadn't told me the name... and perhaps they call it something different. However, the Basque people are proud of kalimotxo and the fact that The New York Times has given them a couple shout outs for creating the "poor man's sangria". Hey, I know it might sound terrible but I actually enjoyed it. I also felt very authentic sipping this drink out out of a plastic cup while sitting on the sidewalk with a slice of pizza in my other hand. Drinking in the streets is a cultural thing here. It might not be legal but everyone does it.
Last but not least, I got to check the Guggenheim off of my bucket list. While contemporary art is one of those things I LOVE (kind of like iced coffee, coffee shops, and sushi), I did not love, love all the exhibits at the Guggenheim. I didn't even love, love half of them. I did, however, enjoy the building from both the outside and the inside and one installation called "The Matter of Time". Unfortunately, I was not allowed to take pictures so instead of sharing my own pictures, I am directing you to the images on Google.
What was special about "The Matter of Time"? I enjoyed this installation because of its dizzying-effect. Each figure felt like a giant maze and it was interesting to see my own response and other people's responses to the way the giant figures leaned towards you and then away from you. As you walked through one, you felt like you were in a dimly lit, cave-like hallway and then the next figure would be bright and spacious. Sometimes, you would experience this dark to light and narrow to spacious transition within the same figure. It was truly intoxicating and I was happy that I saved this installation for the end of my visit to the Guggenheim.
This weekend, Bilbao did not strike me as industrial at all. I got to walk along the river and through the old part of the city and down the main shopping streets of the new neighborhoods. It was all very charming! Ane and her sisters also took me to the old port, just outside the city, to see Bilbao's beach. We had sun all weekend long except for, of course, the afternoon where Ane wanted to ride the funicular up a nearby mountain to see the view over the city. That afternoon, there was a thick fog.
Yesterday afternoon, I was riding the train back to Guardo with a to-go bag of sushi on my lap and a big smile on my face. I was thinking about how perfect my weekend had been when all of a sudden, the train's conductor told me that I had to get off the train. Don't worry, he wasn't singling me out. He was telling everybody they had to get off the train. For some reason, the train from Bilbao to León (which stops just 30 seconds away from the front door of my apartment building in Guardo) wasn't going any further last night. At this fine moment in time, we stopped in a small town in Cantabria and everyone got off. If it wasn't for these two elder ladies who helped me catch a bus to Guardo, who knows where I would have woken up this morning. I got home safe about an hour behind schedule.
Oops!! I almost forgot to mention a special part of my weekend that came as a surprise. Friday night, I got to have dinner and drinks with my friends from Cádiz who also happened to be spending a few days in Bilbao. On Thursday, I saw my friend Raul post a picture of Bilbao to Instagram so I reached out to see if he would still be around when I got in the next night. Raul and his girlfriend, Carmen, met Ane and I at Mercado de la Ribera and after a few pintxos and drinks there, we walked to Plaza Nueva for one final glass of wine. It was soooo good to see them again and catch up. I really enjoyed the time I spent with them this summer in Cádiz and hope I can see them again very soon.
Ok, I've reached my blogging capacity for the day. If you'd like to hear more about my trip to Bilbao or the last couple of weeks teaching in Guardo, please send me an email or a message on Facebook. You can also expect another update from me next week, after a very exciting trip I will be taking with my cousin Ashley!!
Without further ado, the pictures part. I wish I'd taken more!
Raul, Carmen, and I at Mercado de la Ribera on Friday night.
A beautiful and delicious goat cheese pintxo from the market!
Kalimotxo with a side of pizza. This was Saturday night while drinking in the street.
Ane and I standing outside the Guggenheim before our Sunday afternoon pintxo-crawl.
(photo creds: Aita)
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