Old Cathdral 

November 14-15  
A fun little trip to Vitoria 
We took a quick 75 minute bus ride from S.S. to Vitoria. Vitoria is the official "capital" of Pais Vasco (Basque Country).  Where the headquarters of the Basque parliament is located.  The "new Vitoria" was founded in the early middle ages...1100's on a site of a abandoned previous walled settlement, by Sancho the Wise "king of Navarra."  I can't help feeling like I'm on the set of "Game of Throne's" in a place like this.  We found the perfect budget hotel in the old part of town.
We visited the Museum of Archeology and Cards.  Why a museum of playing cards? you ask.  Well a Frenchman named Fournier, who came from a family of printers, left France in the late 1780's to escape the French revolution and moved to Spain.  His family continued in the printing trade.  His grandson, Heraclio used the latest printing techniques, and worked with artists to create playing cards.  The museum was very interesting and had Spanish decks, German decks and Asian decks that use different symbols as suits.  Card decks that we are accustomed to in the US, with the suits diamonds, clubs, spades, and hearts are actually French in origin.

One of the many town plazas that come alive at night.

We went to see 2 small museums-Belles Artes, and an Armory Museum.  The history of weaponry was pretty interesting.  It's a small collection, but it gives you a good idea of how weaponry changed over the centuries.  This is a rough summary of what I remember.  The cross bows of the middle ages were the most feared weapons of the time because they could actually pierce armor.  The 2 handed swords of the middle ages were used to smash rather than to pierce enemies.   Later in the 1600's came the single handed rapiers that I think of as fencing swords, with the fancy hilts made to protect the hand.  They were used to pierce.  The aim was usually to go for the joints, where armored knights were most vulnerable.  It became the fashion for "gentleman" in the late 1600's and 1700's to carry a sword.  Swords fell out of fashion, as firearms became the weapons of choice.  The fashion changed from carrying swords to carrying walking sticks.  Early firearms took 2 people to use so were really impractical; they weren't the weapon of choice. They required one person to hold and aim, and the other to light it.  The french, Spanish and Germans all contributed to improved firearm technology so by the 1800's firearms were for the most part the weapons of choice.  So...out with the swords in with the guns.

Little Smart car parked in front of some of the oldest
buildings in Vitoria

I think we must have visited 4 or 5 churches and cathedrals.  The new cathedral, was built in the early 1900's- the carvings look unfinished.  We wonder if this has anything to do with Franco coming into power in the 30's.  The old Cathedral of Santa Maria, dating back to the 1200's is being rehabilitated as the foundation couldn't support all the changes made over the centuries.  A huge number of bodies (skeletons) have been exhumed; much is being learned about the past in this rehabilitation process.
These quick overnight trips are really fun!

Many murals decorate the city

Armory Museum

This is one of several escalators and enclosed moving sidewalks
that serve as functional  "modern art" making climbing
the hills in town a breeze, and also look pretty cool transposed
against the old cobbled streets and buildings.

The new cathedral build in the early 1900's

The museum of Belle Artes is housed in this palace

Mid Nov
We typically take long walks on the weekend, often without a goal in mind.  This day we found that it was the day of the big 20K race called Behobia, in which about 25,000 people run from the French border to San Sebastian.   There was a lot of cheering going on as people crossed the finish line and found family members.  The main streets were blocked off for this big event.  It was a very festive atmosphere.

We continued on our walk trying to find a pretty park up in the hills that we had stumbled upon last summer on our brief visit.  I think it's called Parque Aiete.  We always get very lost trying to find it.

Here are some photos at the Chillida sculpture when the  tide was high, and the waves were gigantic. Notice the blow holes.  This is quite an attraction for visitors who feel their hair stand on end, and have their hats and glasses blow off (and shirts/skirt lift up) with the force of the wind blowing up through the holes during times of big waves.  (Go to this youtube link to see the Peine del Viento  sculptures  in action https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej5TibU7sBg)

Day trip to Hondarribia

Day Trip to Hondarribia

It's only a 25 minute bus ride away from San Sebastian to this lovely little town on the "fronterra." 

I had to laugh when I looked at my Lonely Planet guidebook, in which the town is described as "lethargic."  From the "pretty as a picture" marina you look across to Hendaye, on the French side of the Bidasoa river.  I love the atmosphere in these little medieval walled cities...from the colorfully painted fisherman's cottages (now home to a very big pinxto bar scene), to charming square near the Cathedral.   There is the very expensive "Parador Hondorribia" housed in an old castle that is part of the medieval fortress.  We had lunch in the old square by the Parador...a crab filled crepe (French?), and the traditional Basque red peppers stuffed with bacaloa (cod) with bechamel sauce.  We were content to admire the Parador's awe inspiring lobby; priced at 250EU a night, it was a bit out of our price range.  One of these days we'll splurge on a night or two at one of Spain's historic state owned paradors.  I wonder what kind of dreams I will have sleeping in a castle.  I shall make a point to find one that has a reputation for being haunted.  As you might guess, as a border town, Hondarribia was always at risk of of attack.  There were at least 4 major battles fought here with the French. There was a siege in the 1600's in which 27,000 French soldiers fired 16,000 shells at the city.  If those old fortress walls, pocked from shell fire could talk...

Veggies and fruit...mmmm

This little dog found my lap

fisherman's neighborhood in Hondarribia

a bride and groom in the old town

Looking across marina to Hendaye, France

View over Hondarribia towards France

Cool Gargoyle/down spout

A puppeteer's workshop

Basque Mannequin

Old town in Hondarribia

Colorful dinghies line the marina

crab crepe, and stuffed peppers with cod and cream sauce

Oct 20-31: Playing tour guide and Halloween

Oct 20-31
Visitors

The Cathedral Buen Pastor

We had our first opportunity to play tour guide.  3 visitors from San Luis Obispo came for about 3 days each, one day apart...this was by total coincidence rather than design that it all worked out so perfectly.  I had this list of places and things to do 1.  Hike part of the El Camino Del Norte from San Sebastian to Pasaia...Visit Abaola boat museum, then take boat taxi to adorable San Juan.  2.  Visit Telmo Museum for insight into Basque country history and culture.  3.  Go out for pinxtos in Parte Viejo.  4.  Walk to the top of Mt. Urgul (Jesus statue) and visit the museum at the top.  5.  Walk from our apartment in Gros from the beachfront passing the Kursaal cultural center, around the Pasea Nueva (for huge crashing waves if timed correctly), then along the boardwalk in front of La Concha and Ondaretta beaches, to the famous Chillida sculptures (and cool blow holes).  I thought this was all doable in 3 days.

Enjoying spontaneous singing and dancing in the
 streets, in Parte Viejo under a Basque flag.

Enjoying a shopping day

Jim was the first to come.  I'm using my friends as my "mules" to deliver things like medications and paperwork that I had left behind.  I asked for a tiny jar of Thai curry paste from Trader Joes...Jim said they couldn't find it, but pulled out 4 large bottles of red curry sauce that he transported in thick socks, stuffed in his suitcase.   I could have kissed him.

San Sebastian is supposedly fairly rainy in October...but we have had a glorious sunny October.  Jim had time for some work and a tiny bit of play time.  I controlled my urges to push my agenda on him...

Looking down on the bay from Urgul

Drew and Brian

Then Alissa came...girl time, yippee!  We Chipped away a bit more at the list.

Then Brian came...mostly worked, not very much play time.  Poor Brian missed out on his Paella.  Here, you don't plan on a quick lunch unless its a bocadillo,  ensalada mixta, Spanish tortilla or ready made pinxtos from the bar.  I mentioned to a Spanish friend that we had 2 hours to get to the paella restaurant (10 min walk), order, and eat paella and get to the train station (10 min walk), and she said, "IMPOSSIBLE!"  To get the waiters attention takes time, to place the order takes time, getting the food takes time, eating (we should take more time for this),  getting the attention of the waiter to pay "la cuenta" takes time, and then finally paying...takes time.  Its definitely a pace that takes a little adjusting to.

So in the end,

Another pretty view of Mt. Urgul

between 3 visitors I was lucky to tick 3 things off the list!

waves crashing along Pasea Nueva

Iglesia San Vincente

Iglesia San Vincente

Oct 31st
Halloween.
El Dia de Todos Santos...we saw several bars decorate themselves with spider webs, and regular stuff you see in the US in preparation for Halloween parties.  In school we were told it is a "sad" day (unlike in Mexico), in which people reminisce about loved ones lost.  Often families get together for a meal, and bring flowers to the cemetery.  I read quite a bit online the various traditions in different parts of Spain, all of which sounded more interesting than our actual experience of it here in Basque country.  Everything was closed, except bakeries, where people (including us) bought the traditional Spanish Buñuelos.  They tasted exactly like mini cream puffs to me.  They were to die for (OK, bad joke).

Oct 20th: Finally have internet

Reaching the summit

I feel like I summited Kilimanjaro today!  Another language litmus test…I initiated my first phone call and successfully managed to change an appointment time for the internet guy to come to hook up our DSL.  I think I did a little dance, and afterwards, there was a bit of "fist bumping", and "high five-ing."  We are now officially connected!

(evening photos in San Sebastian)

October 16th: Visa issue finally resolved!

San Sebastian autumn sky

La Concha Beach

La Concha inlet

We received a message from the university this week indicating that we must go to the police station to complete the required registration process.  This is required if you are planning on living in Spain for over 3 months.  Usually you have 30 days to register with the police after arrival in Spain.  We had to wait to register until the visa mess caused by the LA consulate  (giving us student visas for some inexplicable reason, when we paid and submitted the correct paperwork for work/residence visas) was resolved.  The university, Office of Extranjeros and someone, somewhere in Madrid fixed our visas for us.  I really don’t know how it would have been resolved if we would have tried to do it ourselves.  Drew was given a paper indicating he now had a work visa.  We had our proof of *permanent residence paperwork and our passports (*last week we had to take our apartment contract to the city hall to prove that we had a place of residence, they then issued us an official document as proof of residence)... So off we went to the police station.

FYI:
In Spain, everyone has a Document of National Identity number (DIN)/identity card.  This number/card is issued by the police department.  Without that number, we are unable to get internet for our apartment, buy train/bus tickets online and many other things.  

We assumed we would be making one trip to the police station to get our resident card.  The process was actually a mini-adventure.  We went through security (like at the airport) and were escorted by an officer to show us how to get our ticket (number) to see the appropriate officer.  The officer initiated drew’s paperwork, and gave him a triplicate form to take to the bank to pay for the residence card with additional instructions.  I was told that I needed to go to the Office of Extranjeros first before he could start processing my paperwork, to get a paper showing proof of my resident visa status.  Luckily he gave us a city map and marked vaguely where we needed to go.  With a little bit of "explaining" we obtained the right paperwork from the Office of Extranjeros.   From there it was to a photo copy shop to have every page of both our passports copied, even empty ones, as well as a copy of out proof of residence/work forms.  Then we went back to the police station…through security, got a ticket, waited our turn, and initiated my paperwork process…I was issued my triplicate form to take to the bank to pay for residence card.  We noticed that this form was a "790" form...I remembered that I had paid a similar fee when submitting a 790 form in Los Angeles, so I showed the officer the copy of that form, thinking maybe I didn't need to go to the bank after all.  He said "Its a different 790 form."  This just struck us as funny, that with all the possible numbers to choose from, there would be 2 different 790 forms.
Off we went to the bank to pay the two 15EU fee's.  The bank clerk confirmed that they indeed take payment for residence cards, but only the first 2 hours of the banking day (she pointed to the sign indicating this strange policy), and of course we were too late...bummer.   Off we trudged to a second bank, which processed our payment.  From there it was back to the police station, for the third time that day…After presenting all my paperwork, and proof of payment,  I was electronically finger printed.  We thought this was odd, since electronic finger printing was part of the original visa process.  The police then issued papers with our national identification numbers.  The official cards will be ready in a month...requiring one more trip back to the police station!

First thing we did was rush to the Vodafone store and get an internet plan for our apartment. YES!

These hurdles are all part of the process.  There is a lot of running around, but in truth, everyone was totally nice.  When you talk to Spaniards about the bureaucracy they just shake their heads in acknowledgement.  Here are a few photos to show why all this hassle is totally worth it.

Oct 10th: Italian fiesta picnic

Picnic on the floor

Cultural lesson…fiesta plans were 7-11 at our apartment.  Our Swedish friend Elin came a fashionable 15 min late with her salad.  The delightful Germans and Swiss came a bit after that.  The first wonderful wave of Italians came about 1.5 hours after that with bags of groceries to prepare risotto.  I abandoned the kitchen and left them to do their thing.  Magically at 10, when the risotto was ready, the second wonderful wave of Italians appeared with prepared pans of Eggplant Parmesano.  That’s when we finally ate.  I heated up my now cold chicken and spinach with peanut sauce (I have a secret source- canned peanut butter from middle eastern grocery store) and we all loaded up our plates and sat on the floor, picnic style.
There were about 15 of us, and it was MUCH LOUDER  than at my 50^th birthday party in May when we had a gathering of about 75….  In terms of decibel generation, I figure there was about a 5:1 ratio between Italians, and every other nationality represented at our party.  Of course there was the obligatory breaking out into song now and again.  We had a fun time till they left at about 11:30…of course they were heading out to go dancing! They were just getting warmed up!