Pais Vasco

I took a trip with my program to Pais Vasco, or the Basque Country. We visited Bilbao and also San Sebastian. San Sebastian was probably the most beautiful place I've ever been. Its right on the coast with tons of beaches and mountains and there are really old buildings and tons of seafood. Tapas in Pais Vasco are different because they are served on little slices of bread, they are called pintxos. It is gastronomically speaking probably the best place in spain according to all of our guides. They have many 5 star restaurants and some of the worlds best chefs. The are incredibly expensive but I managed to have some mind blowing food, like a fried ball of brie! It was melting all over my hand, but it was so good. The bars just have tons of pintxos lined up and you just start eating and then you pay for what you've eaten after. There is also a greenish wine that they serve poured from really high into a glass, it spills a lot but apparently that's just how they do it. Many things are different including the language. They speak euskara, or basque, which has no roots in any other language in the world. It has many many x's, t's, k's and seriously no us of the letter m.


Here is a photo from inside the Santiago Calatrava, from valencia, walking bridge in Bilbao, He also designed the airport. Both the bridge and airport have this incredibly light feeling. The walkway of the bridge is actually made of clear glass blocks.


Here is the Guggenheim! in Bilbao, the museum was really fun, seriously just like all fun. I saw tons of Richard serra pieces, the best piece i've ever seen by Jenny Holzer, the gigantic Takashi Murakami exhibit and they were screening a Ryan Trechartin video <--that's for you zach nash! It was really amazing, and in front is the gigantic Jeff Koons dog covered in growing flowers. The staff wear really cool dress uniforms designed for the Guggenheim, at least i'm guessing that because it had Guggenheim embroidered on them.


Here are some sculptures from Eduardo Chillida that we saw in San Sebastian, Chillida is also from San Sebastian and his scluptures are everywhere. There are some tubes as well on this stone structure against the cliff that make sounds when the wind is strong enough.