After my Erasmus adventure last year, I knew I would someday go back to the Basque Country. The climate, the people, the food, the culture, the cities, the beach, … too many reasons not to come back. A training period at EiTB was the ideal solution to explore Euskal Herria some more.

Koen and I said Gipuzkoa goodbye and moved up north to the inner city of Bilbao (Bizkaia) in the Abando district. An opportunity to live the city life style to the fullest, while we are not restricted by long distances and bus lines (our last stay was in Bergara, approx. 50 km from Bilbao). Bilbao itself has enough to offer, as we knew already.

Tastebuds

Our apartment lies in Indautxu, one of the two neighbourhoods of Abando. It is ideally situated in the heart of the city with everything within walking distance.

Abando by night © Wiki

Culturally and gastronomically this is going to be a welcome break from the everyday life back home. My first bite in a pintxo yesterday was a delight for my tastebuds. Don’t get me wrong, Belgium has some great dishes, especially in winter, but the Basques simply take cooking food to another level.

Last time my cultural visits in Bilbao were limited to the unavoidable Guggenheim. This time I’m going look for some alternatives like the Museum of Fine Arts (with a great permanent collection)  or the beautiful Teatro Arriaga. A music concert (Santana 27, Kafé Antzokia) here and there would be nice as well.

The inside of Teatro Arriaga © Astenagusia

¿Que?

My Spanish language skills upgraded from ‘terrible’ to ‘understandable’ which eases social converse and brings with it the opportunity to connect a bit more with locals. But I have still a very long way to go until I can master the language.

Of course the climate is a positive change as well. Although there’s only a small difference of 5°C in comparison to Belgium you notice an immediate shift when you get of the plane. Not exactly Meditarianian but good enough for me.

We’ll see what this city has in store for me…

See you next time!

Agur!

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My weekend has been quite interesting to say the least. I think this Saturday was the most eventful day since I’ve been in the Basque Country, which must count for something. Most of it consisted of miles and miles of walking, but the journeys and destinations were definitely worth it.

Nice image of the Bilbao riverfront to begin with. © SaJeh

On Saturday morning, I took the 9 o’clock bus to Bilbao to go on an early tour past some ateliers, studios and galleries. I had to do some research for a few school projects, so I was loaded with my notebooks and camera. Of course, I should’ve known that gallery owners aren’t really too fond of people taking pictures inside, so that backfired.

Gallery-hopping
I did however meet some interesting people, such as a photographer who welcomed me to his studio and at that moment didn’t really have time, but will answer my questions through e-mail very soon. In the Museo Vasco they didn’t speak one word of English so I tried to help myself the best I could in Spanish and it worked out pretty well, because they were also happy to help me.
Later on, I bumped into PhotoGallery 20, which is owned by a young couple in their twenties. Lovely modern art photography, with a very open vibe. Galleries more than often make you feel like you have to be cautious and reserved, but that wasn’t the case at all here. Again, they were helpful and gave me a their e-mail address and phone number in case I had any questions.

By this time, I had already walked from Casco Viejo, up to Bilbao La Vieja and San Francisco, back through Casco Viejo, then to the centre (Moyua) and the area near the Guggenheim, and from there I went to the Museo de Bellas Artes. I’d never been there and it’s of course not nearly as known as the Guggenheim, but they have an amazing modern art collection. Actually, as far as paintings and sculptures go, I prefer the Museo de Bellas Artes.

Work of Fernand Léger at the Museo de Bellas Artes. © SaJeh

Demonstration
At around 16:45, I went to a location close to the main bus stop. To clarify: this week, 34 people have been arrested in the Basque Country. For all the details, I suggest you check some different news sources and blogs of the region. The relatives of these people had organised a demonstration against the arrests. I thought, as a foreign student, it was quite interesting to witness this at close hand, so I went to the demonstration – more than 20.000 people participated – which went all the way to the town hall. I couldn’t understand the slogans and speeches of course, but I’d found some people who wanted to explain most of it.

Demonstration against last week's arrests. © Reuters

Zinebi
Immediately after this, I had to hurry back to the Museo de Bellas Artes, because I wanted to catch the Algerian-French documentary – apposite title – Peuple En Marche, by Nacer Guenifi, Ahmed Rachedi and René Vautier, the latter being one of the pioneers in anti-colonial filmmaking. The film was on the program of Zinebi, the International Festival of Documentary and Short Film of Bilbao, which took place this week. I had managed to get a press pass for it, because I’m using it as a subject for some school assignments.

After the film, it was 9 pm and I still had no idea where I was going to sleep that night. Everyone I know in Bilbao was out of town that night, so there were few options left. Eventually, I headed to the Akelarre hostel, where Niké has stayed a few times. I had to walk a few miles again before I got there, not even knowing if they would have any beds left at that time at night. Luckily, there was exactly one left in the largest room, which I had to share with – get this – 11 other Belgians. It’s such a tiny country and yet I still meet more Belgians here than any other nationality!

My room at the Akelarre hostel. © SaJeh

Access
Anyway, after some refreshing I headed to the Arriaga Theatre, where the Zinebi Awards Ceremony had to begin and since I had the press pass, I could attend it. Niké was in Bilbao too (her mother was visiting), so she accompanied me. It was great to finally see the theatre from the inside, with the classic interior and all. The awards show itself went by quite quickly, but afterwards all of the winning films were shown. We watched six of them, but by then we were so tired that we decided to head home – well, Niké to her hotel and I to the hostel.

The interior of the Arriaga Theatre. © SaJeh

All winning directors on stage at the Zinebi Awards. © SaJeh

When I arrived there, I met some of my roommates. They were part of a rock band – Opossum – and had played in an Irish pub in Bilbao that night. They invited me to go have a drink, but by then I was so tired that I could only think about sleeping, even if it was in a bunk bed with 11 other people surrounding me.

So that was my Saturday more or less, I tried not to elaborate too much!

Until next time, agur!

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Well, it has been quite a while since the last post, time to get back into the blog-vibe. Alas, the flu has caught me by surprise, leaving me sick in bed at the moment. On the bright side: my cousin Anniek, my mum, and her boyfriend Jos came to visit me this week, making me the guide for a few days.

They arrived on Sunday evening in Santander, but I only went to see them on Monday morning in Bilbao. If they had been expecting a short sunny trip to the south, it was disappointing, because it had been raining almost non-stop for days and days. The Basque climate at its best! I took them for a long tour through the new and old part of Bilbao and of course I introduced them to pintxos, which was greatly appreciated.

It’s great to see people arrive here and be as stunned about things as I was in those first days.
A glass of wine at less than 1 euro? Really?
What do you say when you leave somewhere, auwoert? No, it’s agur.

Bilbo – Gasteiz – Donostia – Bilbo
After Bilbao I told them to drive – they had rented a car – to Vitoria-Gasteiz for some late-night shopping (as most of us northern people, they were surprised by the siesta hours). Arriving in Vitoria, we had to sit out a long and heavy downpour, after which we went searching for umbrellas and new clothes. I’ve gotten used to it by now, but my visitors were surprised by the often very low prices of shoes and clothing here.

We drove to Bergara around 8 pm and went for dinner there. My mum and Jos stayed in a hotel here, while my cousin stayed over at our apartment, absorbing the student life. In the morning they left for Donostia and I stayed at home because I had to go to class in the afternoon to do a presentation. We met up again in the evening for pintxos in the Irish Pub. They were completely soaked because they had been walking through Donostia in the rain, but were nonetheless enthusiastic about the city and they discovered why it is so gastronomically known.

On Wednesday morning, we again drove to Bilbao to visit the Guggenheim, since it had been closed on Monday. And well, what’s not to like about the Guggenheim, especially with the current exposition of architect Frank Lloyd Wright. I recommend that one to everyone; it’s definitely worth seeing!

From one visit to another
After that visit, I had to take the bus back home and they had to leave for the airport. It was a short visit, but a welcome one. And there’s more to come, since Zahra, one of my best friends, is coming here next week for four days! We will probably go to the first day of the Zinebi film festival in Bilbao on Saturday and a concert there on Friday. Yay!

Apart from all this fun stuff, we have got our schoolwork cut out for us. Since I’m sick in bed and not planning on going anywhere, I’ll use my time to work on papers, articles and a review of the Frank Lloyd Wright exposition. Not so yay.

Talk soon, agur!

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This is the continuation of the previous Bilbao-post, enjoy (and get some coffee while you’re at it)!
Ok, walking a bit further into San Francisco you notice more crooked buildings and every few meters people ask you if you want to buy drugs, but other than that I have not felt unsafe there.
Everywhere you look you see façades covered in colourful artwork and many small bars each decorated according to the country it represents. A bit further, in Calle Dos de Mayo, we stumbled upon Anti-Librería, an amazing bookshop filled with rare books on art, music, design, cinema and so on. Next to that, a second hand vintage shop, narrow and dark but with unique stuff piling out everywhere! I was lucky not to have a lot of money on me, because I’m sure I would’ve spent it all.

Belgium represented
Tiina and Sami returned home after that, while Mikel and I went to the supermarket to buy some food – he had planned on making tortilla de patatas himself – and we stacked up on Belgian beers. My treat, since Mikel took such good care of me!
Morten, the Danish Erasmus student that also studies at Mondragón University, was planning on passing by later and when he arrived, him, Mikel and me chatted into the night until 4 o’clock, accompanied by our cherished Belgian beers.

Stacking up Belgian beers, as a thank you to my host. ©Sajeh

Bilbao’s outskirts
Next day, Mikel, Beñat, Maialen and I took the metro to the suburbs of Bilbao. We walked around Getxo and Portugalete, having to cross the river on a platform that was held up by steel cables. It’s an area where – according to Mikel – not a lot of non-locals come, but I really liked it there. When you go towards the coast, you end up at a harbour (the biggest port of this region) and a small beach where we saw some sand sculptures.
Other than walking, eating some (good!) Chinese food and having a few coffees, we didn’t do much – it was a Sunday, go figure – but it was a very peaceful day and perfect to end a more than successful weekend. In the evening Morten and I took the bus back home. I’ll start reporting from there on in the next post, because this one is turning out to be the size of a novel and I should really stop typing.

A beach in Getxo, one of Bilbao

Good thing is, Mikel told me I could stay in Bilbao whenever I wanted, as long as he was at the apartment. A great offer and since I really enjoyed his company, I’ll probably take him up on that! I can’t thank him enough for what a wonderful weekend I’ve had!

That’s it for now (I’d be surprised if you haven’t fallen asleep already).

Gero arte!

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(This is going to be more of a novel than a blog post, just so you know!)

I have the feeling that it’s been a while since the last post. Let me assure you that I have a perfectly valid explanation for my absence these days: I spent the weekend in Bilbao, as I expected in the previous post. A great weekend, being able to discover the city in an alternative way that led me off the beaten tourist track.

As I mentioned previously, I’d found someone on Couchsurfing that invited me to stay the weekend at his place and discover the city. Mikel Irastorza is a Biology student at the University of the Basque Country and shares an apartment in central Bilbao, not too far from the Guggenheim museum. After my internship at Eitb on Friday evening, I had arranged to meet him at the Deusto metro stop, from where we went to his flat. It was great to meet someone out of nowhere and share experiences and stories, more so because he had also gone on an Erasmus exchange last year (to the Czech Republic) and he was – like me – a huge Bruce Springsteen fan!

Hospitality
He had invited some friends (Beñat and Maialen) over for dinner so we went shopping for groceries and he made us a nice meal. I must say, it’s possible that I was just very lucky, but if everyone here is as hospitable as Mikel, I have to revise my cynicism on people in general. I got my own room, didn’t have to pay for any food – although I insisted multiple times – and he actually spent his whole weekend showing me around.
I know it may sound strange for some people that I’ve spent all this time in the company of complete strangers and actually fully trusting them, but it opens so many new perspectives.

On Friday we took a late night walk through Bilbao. A big city is just so interesting at night; seeing the Guggenheim seemed like a whole new experience in the dark and with the spotlights on it. We crossed a bridge to the other side of the river, meanwhile seeing many architectural highlights. We ended up at an abandoned playground where we stayed for a while; these are unexpected things that I really love to do.

On a bridge crossing the Nervión river at night. ©Sajeh

Art and coincidences
The next morning when I woke up, the cereals, milk and orange juice were already awaiting me – seriously, the hospitality is unbelievable! I actually got laughed at a bit by my host because I bought Solan de Cabras, a brand of water that is apparently considered to be a bit posh! Anyway, the atmosphere was good, because in a very short time of knowing each other, we got along quite well.

Mikel went to the Guggenheim with me around noon. Crazy but true, when walking up there, I bumped into Tiina (the Erasmus student from Finland) and her boyfriend Sami, while I had no idea that they were in Bilbao. Some coincidence in a city of over 300.000 people! We arranged to meet later that afternoon.
I had already been to the Guggenheim but walking around in there is always worth my time, and even Mikel – who is not such an art lover – did not bore himself to death, which kind of relieved me!

Mikel walking through Richard Serra

True tales of San Francisco
Afterwards Mikel wanted to show me the old part of town, which is always more interesting than the modern and store chain-invaded new parts of a city. We met up with Beñat, Maialen, Tiina and Sami again and all six of us went for some lunch and drinks.
Then we went to the San Francisco district of Bilbao, with high anticipations on my part. I knew it was an alternative neighbourhood that is primarily known to be a bit marginal and dangerous, but it are often these areas that hide the greatest treasures of a city.
And right I was. Arriving through Bilbao La Vieja, we passed lovely riverside houses in all kinds of colours, the most original tattoo shop I’ve ever seen – decorated as an abstract ghost house, I kid you not – and the area is home to a bunch of small art galleries.

The riverside houses at Bilbao La Vieja. ©Sajeh

This was part 1, for part 2 read the next post! (I know, for shame)

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First impressions, the sequel!

Architecture

Something that catched my eye during my first days in the Basque Country was the lack of houses in the cities. Everywhere you go you see apartment after apartment. It’s not an eye sour, but it ain’t a pretty sight either. Luckily most towns have an historic tale to tell. The town center of Bergara stores some beautiful ancient mansions, mostly 16th and 17th century. The old part of Mondragon (Arrasate), with his authentic arches, is impressive as well.

Bilbao (Bilbo) is a different story. The largest city of the Basque Country runs on a fresh, youthly enthusiasm with a lot of daring and experimental architecture. Sure Bilbao has a lot of history to, but the numerous modern sculptures and buildings reveal a thirst for renewal and progression. And of course the world famous Guggenheim is the icing on the cake. Entering Bilbao via the freeway you get a great look on the museum, which looked much bigger than I thought it would be. I can’t wait to check it out…

Going out

There are tons of bars and cafés in every city, town and village. They’re open pretty late, cause the people eat their dinners around 9, 10 ‘o clock. Although there’s a vast choice of tasty wines, the beer collection is rather poor. Most bars serve Dutch beers like Heiniken or Amstel, but there are very few weighty beers. I guess us Belgians are spoiled when it comes to lager (I miss my Duvel!).

Yet the real attraction is the spontaneous atmosphere, both in- and outside the bars. Loud music, everyone’s having fun, young and old gather around… Also the language barrier seems to fade as the alcohol flows. Gestures and sign language surprisingly suffice for hour long conversations…

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