Back in Sevilla! This past week I've been traveling for spring break. Jackie and I started in Barcelona where we met up with my friends Zach and Angie from Whitworth. We were pleasantly surprised to find that our hostel was literally right on the beach! Unfortunately the weather didn't permit us to enjoy it too much, we did have one nice day to soak up some rays. We did a lot in Barcelona but by far my favorite thing we saw was La Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's cathedral that is still in the process of being built. In almost every one of my Spanish classes I've been shown pictures of Gaudi's work, but standing in front of it was a different experience altogether. It's unbelieveably massive. My eyes had a hard time figuring out it was 3D. We all were absolutely floored by it's size and by the detail. And they still have 16 more years until it's finished! Incredible. After googling it to learn more about the cathedral I read that Gaudi built it so it would be 1 meter lower than Barcelona's Montjuic mountain because he believed his work should not surpass God's. I thought that was neat.
We also went to Gaudi's Park Guell, Casa Batllo and Casa Mila. It was fun seeing them in person after seeing so many pictures. I would have loved to go inside but they all cost money so that was a bummer. One day we took a gondola up Montjuic and got a great view of the city from a fortress at the top. We had some unfortunate misunderstandings on our last day because we didn't realize that every museum in Spain is closed on Mondays which we had planned to be our museum day. And we were told (by our hostel) that the Magic Fountains (this huge fountain performance) happened every night after 7 so we went Sunday only to find out it was just on Fridays and Sundays. We all reeeeeally wanted to see it but I guess that just gives me another reason to come back :)
Monday we took a bus overnight up to Bilbao (very north of Spain) to save money on our hostel. Even though we were only in the city 2 days I really enjoyed it. It has a river and it's surrounded by big green hills. It made me realize how much I've missed greenery (Sevilla has very little). Bilbao is mostly known for the Guggenheim museum, which was the main reason we went. It was amaazing. Well, the outside at least. It has mostly modern art which can be pretty weird but the outside is incredible. We had some rainy weather but our day at the Gugg was nice and sunny. Throughout the trip we referred to it as the "Duganheim" because a friend of Jackie's thought that's what it was called. I just loved that. The second day in the city was really rainy so we ended up playing cards in random bars and cafes which ended up being super fun. We had some pretty intense games.
Zach and Angie headed back to Murcia Wednesday night while Jackie and I headed to San Sebstatian for a day trip. It's only an hour and a half bus ride away from Bilbao and we got an early start so we had a nice amount of time to spend there. It is absolutely GORGEOUS. The town is centered around a beautiful little cove with a little island in the middle and hills on each side. And the town itself is small and pretty with lots of little cobblestone streets and cute little shops. We both fell in love with it. First we walked up one of the mountains with a really cool fortress. It was a reat little hike right along the ocean. Then we walked all the way across the cove and walked up the other mountain. That was tougher but definitely worth it. We were so excited to reach the top but when we got there we had to pay to get in, which we did because we really wanted to see this castle tower at the very top. But it ended up being this cheap carnaval place where everything cost money and all the workers clearly didn't want to be there. I got pretty frustrated because I hate how people turn such beautiful, simple nature into money-making schemes. So we left pretty quickly. But it was still an awesome view.
We also went to Gaudi's Park Guell, Casa Batllo and Casa Mila. It was fun seeing them in person after seeing so many pictures. I would have loved to go inside but they all cost money so that was a bummer. One day we took a gondola up Montjuic and got a great view of the city from a fortress at the top. We had some unfortunate misunderstandings on our last day because we didn't realize that every museum in Spain is closed on Mondays which we had planned to be our museum day. And we were told (by our hostel) that the Magic Fountains (this huge fountain performance) happened every night after 7 so we went Sunday only to find out it was just on Fridays and Sundays. We all reeeeeally wanted to see it but I guess that just gives me another reason to come back :)
Monday we took a bus overnight up to Bilbao (very north of Spain) to save money on our hostel. Even though we were only in the city 2 days I really enjoyed it. It has a river and it's surrounded by big green hills. It made me realize how much I've missed greenery (Sevilla has very little). Bilbao is mostly known for the Guggenheim museum, which was the main reason we went. It was amaazing. Well, the outside at least. It has mostly modern art which can be pretty weird but the outside is incredible. We had some rainy weather but our day at the Gugg was nice and sunny. Throughout the trip we referred to it as the "Duganheim" because a friend of Jackie's thought that's what it was called. I just loved that. The second day in the city was really rainy so we ended up playing cards in random bars and cafes which ended up being super fun. We had some pretty intense games.
Zach and Angie headed back to Murcia Wednesday night while Jackie and I headed to San Sebstatian for a day trip. It's only an hour and a half bus ride away from Bilbao and we got an early start so we had a nice amount of time to spend there. It is absolutely GORGEOUS. The town is centered around a beautiful little cove with a little island in the middle and hills on each side. And the town itself is small and pretty with lots of little cobblestone streets and cute little shops. We both fell in love with it. First we walked up one of the mountains with a really cool fortress. It was a reat little hike right along the ocean. Then we walked all the way across the cove and walked up the other mountain. That was tougher but definitely worth it. We were so excited to reach the top but when we got there we had to pay to get in, which we did because we really wanted to see this castle tower at the very top. But it ended up being this cheap carnaval place where everything cost money and all the workers clearly didn't want to be there. I got pretty frustrated because I hate how people turn such beautiful, simple nature into money-making schemes. So we left pretty quickly. But it was still an awesome view.
We headed back to Bilbao that evening and then flew home to Sevilla. So nice to be back. I had a lovely time on this vacation. Not only did I get to see some of the most beautiful creations but I got to do it with wonderful friends who made it all so much fun. And we got to meet all kinds of people in the bars and cafes, something I love about Spain. People are very open and friendly here and it's so interesting to hear their stories. What an amazing time I'm having here :)
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