Basque Country Live

It was the first time in my live i went to surf. And it happened not just somewhere but in one of the most popular places in the world, where surfers are coming especially to catch the vawes in Zarautz, Basque Country, Spain.

We organized a two hours class with two great teatchers. At first, I was thinking that i wont go to the water, because it was rainig so strong and the wind was blowing like crazy. We put our suits took board and went to the beach.

At the begining, we were practising on the beach, making some funny but usuful exersices. After we went to the water which was 16 degrees. You dont feel any cold any more, you are just very exited and want to cach your first vawe, what is almost impossible…

We were in water two hours. I was trying to stand for some second on a bord hundrers of times but only 3 of 4 time I could do that. This is a great feeling then you are standing on a board and under it is running a strong vawe. I, actually, was thinking to wait and catch bigger  vawes because the bigger the vawe the better you can stand.

Now I can understand why people are doing this kind of sport. I wish I could do this one more time.

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We, Natalja and I, have visited Vitoria. We came there at about 4 pm to walk around and make some pictures. It was very beautiful day: no clouds, a little bit of sunshine and no wind. This autumn weather makes you feel very romantic and comfortable.

From my point of view, Vitoria is very beautiful and pleasant place. In some moment I felt like in Tallinn, that’s why I had and still have a feeling of nostalgia.

In Vitoria there are a lot of narrow streets, ancient buildings, churches and cathedrals. You can also relax in a quite park, sitting on a bench and eating warm croissant.

I think, this is an ideal place for dates =).

There are located few chocolaterías in Vitoria, which make this city much warmer and more sweet. La Peña Dulce is a confeteria in the centre of Vitoria. Is is a good place to buy sweets for a present.

Also, you can visit different museums. For example, there is Artium. There are different exhibitions of a modern art, cinema, theatre, library and some shops.

Moreover, Vitoria is a good place to make shopping. There are a lot of interesting shops in a centre city, which we don’t have in Estonia (don’t know about other countries). More fare away is located a big shopping mall called Boulevard, there you can find the most popular international brands.

At the end of the tour it is very nice to sit in croissanteria, drink some coffee and take a fresh bun.

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The Food Club is very unique and interesting place. All of the food clubs are located only in  Mondragon/Arrasate, Basque Country. Anyone can enter in the food club by paying a certain amount of money and every month he or she must do a payment. If you are an owner of the food club you can invite different people there but somebody just from a street can not enter there.

Traditionally, in the food club only men cook. Before women were not even allowed to be there. Nowadays, it has changed but still, men in a kitchen are more important.

Different owners can be gathered under the same roof. They have particular tables and schedule, when they can come, cook and eat with family or friends.

“We eat here almost every week with my family because it is more comfortable and cheaper” – says owner of a food club Lander.

Basque meals

Food club is very suitable place for celebrating different holydays. For example, on Marixtu Kajoi (national holyday in Mondragon/Arrasate) when all restaurants and bars are full with people, this is a best opportunity to do.

For 15 or 20 euro you can have snacks. 1^st and 2^nd meal, dessert, different drinks, cocktails, vine and other alcoholic drinks.

Basque people prefer to do different sorts of meat with potato but everyone can do what he wants.

“After a dinner we like to drink coffee and smoke a cigar. It is a kind of a special ritual” – explains one of the guests of the food club Dennis.

It is typical to drink on a dessert cocktail which is made from sparkling wine, ice cream and lemon. It refreshes you after a plentiful dinner and gives energy to party longer.

Food clubs are not only places to eat cheaper, but it is also a place to gather with friends, discus disturbing topics and spend time with pleasure. Pictures you can look here.

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It was the first time when we went out in a real club. I mean “real” because in Mondragon there are no clubs, only bars. So we took the last bus to Vitoria-Gasteiz at 9.30 pm, our new arrival of Erasmus students and something to drink with. The bus goes approximately half an hour but it took us the whole hour because lady bus driver had problems to cope with a hilly road.

At first, in Vitoria we went searching a nice place to sit in. And it was not so easy. You ask why? It is strange, but a lot of bars are closing very early, at 11 pm.

Finally, we have found one and came in. It was modern bar called ZABALA. Nice music, good cocktails and colourful lights. After two, three hours suddenly came police, told something to barmen and they begun to close the bar. I don’t know the reason but I think it is something to do with taxes, who knows…

I liked, that in Vitoria you can buy tickets to a club just on the street. Girls are selling them cheaper than in a club. We fell for a commercial and went to CIRCULO. It has s big dance floor, few bars, dirty closet and a terrace with a hamburger stall. There was a retro music but is depends on a program.

Tired but happy we took the first bus at 6.30 am. It is possible also to take a taxi, which will cost you for about 40 euro to Mondragon/Arrasate.

I really liked Vitoria. In a night light it was very attractive, although very empty. In a park, which we were crossing, I felt myself very romantic, maybe because of the autumn and huge, tall trees with yellow leaves. Now, my next wish is to visit this city during the daytime.

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Oh, I love Thursdays. On that day every week is a party with pintxos called pintxo pote. Pintxos mean snacks. They do it here so tasty that you can eat hundreds of them.  On Thursday everybody who wants can get 1 pintxo and a cup of vine for 1 euro. That’s why everybody goes out and drink till the morning after. Bars in BC are not the same as we are used to.

• First, nobody sits where
• Second, you can smoke inside (and not only cigarettes)
• Third, there are no ash-trays, so the floor is full with cigarette-butts and other stuff
• Fourth, music plays so laud, like in a club, so you can hardly hear somebody speaking
• Fifth, you can dance and meet some new people

And the music, here it`s very strange. It is like a heavy rock and sometimes country but everybody are shaking theirs heads all the time and singing. I guess, they like that but I don’t really.

There is no typical clubs in Mondragon, only very similar bars which are closed at 4 in the morning. Only one bar is open till 5, so the whole crowd is going there and you can not breath anymore.

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This week’s match-up in San Mamés Stadium: Athletic Bilbao – Valencia CF. I couldn’t leave the Basque Country without paying a visit to Spain’s oldest football stadium so I decided to head down to Bilbao and pay my support to Athletic.
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The best part of the week still stays the weekend. Reason one: a lot of free time. Reason two: football. My match of the week: Athletic Club versus Valencia CF. Read more…

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When it comes to music concerts in the Basque Country, Bilbao tops all the other cities. On Friday Heineken Greenspace introduced two rising indie bands in Santana 27. When I saw this on the internet, I was extremely happy to go there, since I had to miss one of these bands when they played in Belgium a while ago. Read more…

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The previous update is already a couple of weeks behind us, so it was about time to update the Basque Country Live blog with a new post. Read more…

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Another week comes to an end and we’re starting to realize that there are only four of them left. Four weeks to enjoy every moment we have and meanwhile trying to obey our upcoming deadlines. This week didn’t really help doing that, since one of my best friends, Zahra, arrived on Wednesday and stayed until today. No complaints though, I really loved having her over! Read more…

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