The Basque Country

The Basque Country, or País Vasco in Spanish, or Euskal Herria in the Basque language, is in northern Spain (on the map, it's the red section). The Basque Country is one of 17 autonomous regions of Spain, all of which have a large degree of autonomy from the national government. (Some may have heard that one region, Cataluña, has held a vote on whether or not to leave Spain). The Basque country has its own language, called Euskera, spoken by around 37% of the people who live there, although signs and posters are all in Basque. It is not at all related to Spanish, although some Spanish words come from Basque, as Basque is much more ancient than Spanish. An example would be the word for left: izquierda in Spanish comes from ezkerretik.

We traveled first to Bilbao to see the Guggenheim Bilbao, an incredible modern art museum designed by Frank Gehry.

Guggenheim Bilbao

We then travelled along the north coast to see Guernica, the spot that inspired the the famous Picasso piece. Although the actual Guernica by Picasso is in a museum in Madrid, the town has this tile mural reproduction.

We spent the next several days in San Sebastián, which is known for its food and beaches, especially pintxos, which are little snacks that sit out on the bar that you can pick and choose. Our favorite in San Sebastián is called Taberna Aralar.

We also traveled to Getaria, a small town outside of San Sebastián, to go to a txakoli tasting at Gaintza. Our guide was the grandson of the founder, and he was amazing! He spoke three languages, saying his first language is Basque, second is Spanish, and third is English. This is very typical of the Basque people--to see Basque as their first language.

We returned to Bilbao to fly home, and we happened upon BasqueFest, a festival of Basque culture, where we were able to taste apple cider, txakoli, and participate in some traditional Basque competitions, such as ontzi eramatea, or churn carrying.

Phoebe carrying weights that stand in for churns.

We love the Basque Country and its culture and can't wait to return soon.

Semana Santa (Holy Week) in Granada

One of the pasos

Semana Santa, or Holy Week, is the week leading up to Easter, starting with Palm Sunday. This week is celebrated throughout Spain, but Andalucía is known for its processions and celebrations. Sevilla is perhaps the best known for Semana Santa, but Granada is a close second. The newspaper comes out with a small booklet filled with details about all of the processions that will take place throughout the city. Starting on Palm Sunday, there are processions of cofradías (which I believe to be groups from congregations of different churches around the city). Each group dresses in certain colors with hoods. These are called the penitentes and they march solemnly along the streets, most of the time with a band playing, and carrying a big religious float-type piece called el paso (yes, like the city in Texas, yee-haw baby!).

The Penitentes

The crowds watching the processions are huge, and it's difficult to cross streets or get to certain places in town while the processions take place.

Crowd on Gran Vía

In some of the cofradías, children participate too. Many were dressed as shepherds, and they came in all sizes.

Cute baby in procession

These processions happen all week, with somewhere between 4-6 each day. Each one has a different paso from their particular church, and each cofradía wears different colors. 

A paso of the Virgin Mary

We spent most of Semana Santa in northern Spain, and here are a few pictures of the different groups we saw in Bilbao, too.

Granada Meals

In our second installment about food, we want to talk about meals. Breakfast in Spain tends to be small, usually a piece of bread (kind of like a baguette) with jam or olive oil or tomato on it. At school, the kids have a snack around 11:00. At Phoebe's school, the snack is normally a piece of fruit, and on special occasions, they get a piece of toast with olive oil. Lunch is around 2:00, maybe a little later. At Phoebe's school, lunch is included, and they normally have pasta or a soup for the first course and meat, fish, or a Spanish tortilla for the second course. The second course comes with salad, veggies, tomato, or potatoes as a side. They have yogurt as dessert; once a week they get natilla, which is a cinnamon custard. You can see the menu for April at Phoebe's school here:

If you look at Thursday (jueves) the 20th of April, you will see that the second course is croquetas. This is one of Phoebe's favorite foods at school. Croquetas are made of potatoes, meat, or cheese, and then normally fried in olive oil or other oil. Here's a link to a recipe if you'd like to try it at home.

When we go out to eat, we usually just have tapas. (Dinner service doesn't normally start until close to 10:00PM, so we're not out that late). But frequently, Phoebe does not like the tapa. One of the things we have discovered, though, is that just about any restaurant will serve a meal for kids of two eggs over easy with french fries (dos huevos fritos con patatas fritas). Phoebe loves this meal, and even though it never appears on menus, every place we've asked has been able to make it. And the meal has been delicious! Yet another reason we love Granada.

Tapas in Granada

Today we want to talk about our experience with food here in Granada. Although you can find tapas all over Spain, Granada is special because when you order a drink, you receive a free tapa. Sometimes this tapa can be simple, like olives or potato chips, but more likely, you'll receive a small plate, like a crepe with cheese or a small ham sandwich. Tapas generally occur around lunchtime and again at American dinner time (starting at around 7:00PM). Each restaurant / bar has different varieties of tapas. Some of our favorites, such as Taberna de Jam always offers small ham sandwiches; Bar Damasqueros (our Wednesday night hangout) normally offers crepes with cheese and tomato; La Botillería serves small hamburgers as their first tapa. For each drink you order, you receive a new tapa. You can tell which places have the best tapas, as they are always very full. There are several streets in Granada known for their tapas, such as Calle Navas and Calle San Matías. The phenomenon of free, substantial tapas is only here in Granada. It is just one of the things that makes Granada our favorite place in Spain.

Calle Navas is a little touristy but still offers nice tapas.

Bar Damasqueros

Taberna de Jam