San Sebastian, Spain

Although Roddy Stinson would grouse about an expensive ¨foreign junket¨ at taxpayers´ expense, San Antonio´s city planners could learn a thing or two (or a thousand) from those in charge of making Bilbao and San Sebastian two cities that my students and I never want to leave. BTW (by the way), a big thank you to the Express-News for linking our blogs to their website.

On Friday, we left Burgos and drove four hours north to Bilbao, which I hadn´t visited since 1981. The drive was spectacular: rolling hills, blue skies, bright red poppies against green, green grass, and rocky terrain. The lack of visual pollution (billboards) allows you to focus on the gorgeous landscape. We also managed to review the chapters in our history and creative nonfiction textbooks with our students in our classroom on wheels.

Those in charge of Bilbao´s urban planning have made the most out of the last 26 years. Bilbao is on the international map for being the home of Frank Gehry´s architectural masterpiece, the Guggenheim Museum. Ever since I learned about the museum, which opened in 1997, I´ve wanted to visit. I was not disappointed. From Jeff Koons´giant flower-covered dog to Richard Serra´s ¨The Matter of Time¨ installation to a giant spider sculpture by Louise Bourgeois to the building itself, all I can say is WOW. Kim, one of the travelers, said, ¨I wish you´d stop taking me places that make me cry.¨ She also got verklept in the Prado in Madrid. Seriously, at times you feel overwhelmed by the beauty. Serra´s giant installation, which you walk through, encourages you to become part of the art. Beyond cool. Put the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao on your list of places to visit before you die. (Venice and New York City also boast Guggenheim Museums of their own, but they must feel like ugly stepsisters ever since Cinderella, I mean Bilbao, hit the scene.)

Before our 4 p.m. tour of the museum, we had a chance to walk around Bilbao. We started in the Casco Viejo, old town, and made our way over to Zubiarte, a new high-end commercial center (mall), via the pedestrian/bicycle path/electric train passageway that runs alongside the Rio Bilbao. Casey, my mother´s traveling companion, said Aedan, my daughter, was having a grand mall seizure. She was tired of the old town and wanted to get over to the new. After lunch in the mall, we walked back to a children´s playground just outside of the museum where Aedan was able to climb and spin. After our tour, where we were given audio handsets to learn more about the art on display, we jumped on the bus to drive one hour further northeast to San Sebastian. Our hotel is actually in Irun, even closer to the French border than San Sebastian. Dinner, served on white linen table cloths, was at 8:30 p.m. Mariana and I stayed late after dinner to read over everyone´s blogs. So far, so good, but more attention needs to be paid to content along with grammar, punctuation and spelling.

Today, we got to sleep in late, a luxury! We woke up at 8 a.m. so we could meet downstairs for breakfast at 8:45. We left the hotel at 9:30 and drove into San Sebastian, where we picked up our local tour guide Bond, James Bond. (His name is really Eduardo, but that´s how he introduced himself.) What a card! He kept us laughing throughout the city, but he also imparted very interesting (Queen Isabel II lived in San Sebastian in a castle on the Playa de La Concha. She went swimming in the Mar Cantabrico (Cantabrian Ocean) daily, but she didn´t walk down to the beach. A horse-drawn carriage ferried her to and from the water.) and useful (places to eat, bathroom stops) information about the town. This is my third visit to San Sebastian (1982 and 1990 previously), and the city has become even more lovely since those trips. The view from Monte Urgull is breathtaking. Like Bilbao, San Sebastian gives primacy to people, not cars. Wide sidewalks accommodate pedestrians, bicycle riders, skateboarders and in-line skaters. It doesn´t seem that anyone is sitting at home watching television. Everyone (old, young, male and female) is out on the streets enjoying the fresh air and beautiful surroundings. Dogs abound. Too many cute ones to count.

After the tour, Blair, Aedan and I dropped our stuff in a public shower/restroom on the beach and we walked with Steve to the city´s ¨parte vieja¨ (old part) for lunch. I stopped and asked a local where we should eat. He recommended Bar Sport and Munto on Calle Fermin Calbeton. Am I ever glad I asked for his advice! At the Bar Sport, Aedan got a Fanta (orange soda), I got a tinto (red wine), and Blair and Steve ordered a beer (Mahou, a Spanish cerveza). My tinto was .85 Euros, the beer was 1.75 Euros, and the Fanta was 1.90 Euros. We told Aedan, who´s 10, that she´s going to have to start drinking red wine! (BTW, one Euro is $1.40, or at least that is what the exchange rate was at Frost Bank when we left San Antonio.)

For pintxos (pronounced pinchos, which is what they call tapas here in the Basque country), I had a jamon, queso and white asparagus concoction. Delicious. I then asked for a tortilla española, my first since returning to Spain. (Tortilla española is a potato-egg omelette made in a cast iron skillet with onions and olive oil that is then cut into pie-shaped wedges.) It was the best one I´ve ever had. Blair said, ¨Ever?¨ I replied, ¨Ever,¨ and I meant it.

We then went over to Munto, and I asked for membrillo con queso y nuez. (Membrillo is a jelly-like food that´s made of fruit. It was served with a wedge of cheese and a walnut on top of a baguette slice.) We chatted with the locals next to us, and they explained that Eskerrik Asko Etortzeagatik, the phrase printed on the napkin, meant ¨Thank you for coming!¨ The Basque language, Euskera, is not like any other language on the European continent. Some believe it is an ancient language, perhaps tied to Atlantis. No one knows for sure how it developed.

From lunch, Aedan, Blair and I walked over to the Buen Pastor (Good Shepherd) Cathedral. It was closed, which made Aedan happy, because she was ready to hit the beach. Skateboarders were tearing up the wide sidewalks behind the cathedral. It was fun to stop and watch them jump. I walked back with Blair and Aedan to the public showers/restrooms before heading out to find this Internet connection at a place called Zarr@net on the Calle San Lorenzo in the old city. Nice place with plenty of computers.

We´re meeting at the bus at 7:30 p.m. Dinner back at the hotel at 8:30 p.m. Tomorrow, we´re off to Barcelona with a stop in Pamplona. No bulls, but we can pretend, can´t we?