The Past Two Weeks in a Nutshell and Shutterfly

Hi All,

I have decided to make a Shutterfly account so that I can upload all of my pics so that everyone can see them and I don't have to spend time piecing out ones I think you all will like. I will continue making posts on the blog and add pictures that are important to me and I will use it as a way to explain where the albums on Shutterfly are coming from. Fell free to ask questions about the pictures and I will respond via the blog so everyone can get the extra info.

Currently I am sitting in my hostel in Bilbao waiting to leave for my 19 hour bus ride back to Cádiz. Why 19 hours you might ask, because I am traveling from one of the absolute most northern parts of Spain down to one of the most southern parts. Ironically the one stop that I make in which I have to change buses is in Granada, where I will be heading on Thurs.

While talking with my friend Dorotia today I realized that I have visited 8 cities for at least a day in the past 11 days. I woke up this morning feeling exhausted and my eye was twitching. I told Dorotia and she said that it is obviously from be uber tired and that wiped out from my extreme travels. I have loved every city that I have gone to and at the moment am unable to say which one is my favorite. Salamanca's cathedrals straight up shocked me with their extravagance and detail. Segovia's aqueduct was incredible and I could not believe that it has stayed complete for as long as it has without any form of glue or cement holding its rocks together. Covadonga was the perfect nature fix and was shockingly beautiful. I have never been so close to so many cows, and ones with horns and bells, in my life. I also had one of the best meals so far in Spain there. The girl in that album is Pilar and she was in Cádiz with me and will be in Granada as well. Her dad's family is from Spain and she comes here every summer so she is completely fluent in Spanish and has relatives that she has been staying with over this break. To my delight I was able to stay with them as well and also go to eat with them. Her uncle and aunt are known in their family for making delicious food and I was so grateful to be able to try traditional Spanish style cuisine but Dennis, you still hold the cake in eye as best chef. I got to spend a day in Salinas, the little beach town that they actually live in, and it was really cool. Because it is along the northern coast there are these huge drop-off cliffs that just end straight onto the beach. Although it was foggy for the two days I was there it reminded me of Big Sur or other places along the coast like that. I also got to explore Oviedo, the main town near Salinas which had some cool older architecture as well. I had the best eggplant sandwich yet there. Eggplant and fired eggplant is super big in Spain and usually they serve it by itself but at this little cafe we went to to get wifi they had put it in a sandwich with cheddar cheese, something that I had not even seen in Spain, and added a little bit of spice to it that tasted like horseradish. It was a good way to start our trip out to Covadonga.

Then there was Santiago de Compostela, the ending place of the pilgrimage that thousands of people make each year to visit the tomb of St. James. The cathedral there was very impressive as well as was almond tart that is specific to that area. From there Dorotia and I decided to visit Finisterre, or "The End of the World." Before Columbus set sail the people of Europe literally thought that this coastline was the edge of the world. When we finally got out to the edge we understood why that thought might have crossed people's minds. It was incredible and we had fun speaking only Spanish the whole time, a feat for both of us. It was also during this walk that we saw some of the most vibrantly blue water I have ever seen in my life. I find myself saying this a lot but my pictures just aren't going to do the real colors justice.

The past few days have been spent in Bilbao, the capital of the Basque region and home to the Guggenheim. When I first got in at 11pm the receptionist at my hostel told me that I had come at the right time because this whole week was the most exciting week in Bilbao, Festival. She said that a free concert would be starting at midnight and that I should go check it out. Dorotia and I decided to go, at least for a little bit and quickly decided that we wanted to leave because it was hard rock, like nothing I had ever experienced before. We walked along the river up towards the other festivities when I decided to head back and pass out. The next day we went out to Guernica, the site of the first bomb dropped by Hitler in Spain, at the request of the lovely Dictator Franco, and the inspiration for Picasso's famous Guernica painting. We quickly found out that it was going to be a short day in Guernica for it only took us about an hour to walk around the entire city. We did get to see the ancient oak tree that has been preserved as a marker of the site where the Basque community leaders would meet to make important decisions. It was pretty cool. Inside the museum near it there is also one of the most amazing stained glass works I have ever seen. It depicts a meeting of Basque fisherman below the special tree. We were so pooped though that we passed out as soon as we got on the bus and woke up super deep into the city in Bilbao which was not at all where we were expecting to end up. But because we were already there we decided to push through without a siesta and explore the Casco Viejo, or the older part of town. We saw more old churches and the cool buildings and apartments that line the river that winds through the city. After a nice little nap we reunited to join in the activities of Festival starting with eating the BEST sausage/chorizo sandwich ever. Earlier in the day, without knowing that it was commonly sold in Bilbao, let alone a specialty, I had been saying how much I wanted a chorizo sandwich, so I was pretty freakin excited to see and smell them as soon as we reached the festivities. To accompany our sandwiches we bough our own little bottles of the locally made and specialty sidra, or hard cider, and had ourselves a nice little dinner on the curb. Festival in Bilbao is crazy. It is like a huge fair but in the streets of the city and much more wild. Spain is known for having churros with chocolate, usually a cup of warm chocolate in which you dip the churro, but in Bilbao at Festival they apparently coat the churros in dark chocolate. YUM! As we started to enjoy our churros the biggest firework display I've ever seen began and scared the S*** out of me. I knew that there were going to be fireworks but I just was't prepared for them to start the instant that I began eating the best churro of my life. Needless to say, Dorotia and I had a wonderful night in Bilbao along the river, eating good food, watching a spectacular firework show.

Today I went into the Guggenheim. The outside and the architecture of the building in general were by far the best and most exciting parts of the museum but there were some exhibits that were worth seeing. The huge flower puppy dog outside was one of those things, along with the bubble tower and the gigantic spider. Inside, the exhibits were a little freaky. Not my style of art. I couldn't take picture of them but I did snag a few of my favorite, which was a permanent installation of huge copper pieces that form a kind of maze. There was also an exhibit that displayed the art project of kids who were learning how to express ideas and events through art. That was pretty cool as well. But overall, the Guggenheim was not THAT amazing. The outside is though.

If you couldn't tell with how long this blog entry is I have had some time on my hands finally and in a place that had internet connect. I am sure I am forgetting things I have done but right now I am going to go eat another one of those amazing chorizo sandwiches before I leave Bilabo and get on my 19 hour bus to Cádiz. I hope you all enjoy the pictures on Shutterfly. Here is the link http://rachelsplaces.shutterfly.com. I miss and love you all.

Rachel