France: Basque Country

Bayonne street market: mushrooms!

Bayonne street market: meat!

Bayonne

On the cathedral grounds listening to the Basque singers

Typical architecture of the Basque region

Streets of Bayonne

Biarritz

 

Thomas & Fanny in the rain in Biarritz

Mass all in Basque

The church's cemetery (notice the Basque cross!)

Appetizers & Apparitifs 

 

Fanny singing in Basque

Fanny & Me!!

Fanny's grandparents

Basque countryside

St. Jean de Luz

St. Jean de Luz

Basque flag

Ainoa

Espelette

Anglet

...it was a bit windy

From April 27-May 1, I went to visit my French friends, Thomas & Fanny.  I left on a Friday morning and flew into Toulouse, France.  Thomas and Fanny still had work, so I took a bus in to town and went for a walk in the center while I waited for them to finish.  Toulouse is a really cool town, and it also seems like a "good quality of life" city... if you speak French that is.  It seems very accessible and has everything you need and a lot of life in the streets, which is nice.  That is something I love about Europe is living life in the streets... that is something the US is missing.  I bought a crepe with red fruit inside in my horrible French with a Spanish accent (haha) and then went to meet up with Thomas and Fanny.  We drove to Anglet, France, which is along the coast and near the border of Spain.  We were staying with Fanny's dad and I had my own room at the house.  Her sister and her sister's boyfriend were also there for the weekend, and her mom also dropped in from time to time.  When we arrived, we had a traditional French meal with apparatifs (sweet appetizer drinks) and then some bread with a duck spread on top.  We had a carrot and mashed potato mixture and some sausages, and then some French cheese (always my favorite part!) and some dessert and tea.  How French! The next day we got up and had croissants and fruit for breakfast and then went in to the town of Bayonne with Fanny's dad.  It was rainy, but I could still see how quaint and beautiful the town was.  We went to the local market where I bought some cheese and then we went in to the cathedral grounds where we watched a group of Basque singers (which is the video that I have above).  We were lucky since that only happens once a month!  We walked around the beautiful streets and then went back to the house for some lunch of meat and veggies, and of course, cheese!  After lunch, Thomas, Fanny, and I went to Biarritz, another town nearby although it was still raining.  We looked out to the coast and saw people surfing.  I'm sure it would have been even more beautiful in the sunshine!  In the evening we had dinner and then watched a kind of French American Idol.  The next day we left early after more croissants (yay!) to go to mass in a very little town called Mendionde.  This was a little village where Fanny's grandmother had grown up where a lot of people spoke Basque.  The church was really small and wooden and the service was in Basque, so nobody really understood, but we all sang (or tried to) Basque songs.  After the service we went to this bar where they had rented it out for Fanny's grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary party and we had appetizers and aperitifs (sweet liquor or wine appetizer drinks).  After a little drink, food, and dancing, we went across the street to a restaurant where we had the big back room.  There, we just had a feast!  For the first course, we had a soup that had invisible spherical pearl shaped/sized pasta in it and it was delicious.  The next course was the seafood dish, which was fish in a hollondaise sauce, a shrimp, an unidentified seafood, and some white wine.  The next course, which was the main course, consisted of sauteed mushrooms and green beans, seasoned new potatoes, a piece of toast with marmalade and foie gra, and a very rare cut of very good beef.  DELISH!!! Although I was stuffed and had had plenty of red wine, the next course was cheese! And oh how I love the French cheese!  It is traditional in the Basque area to eat your cheese with cherry marmalade, and I actually really enjoyed it with my sheep, goat, and cow cheese.  And finally, there was the dessert.  It was ice cream, creme brulee, and a fruit angel food cake type pie.  I was stuffed to the brim, and was quite impressed with the people that managed to get up and dance after all that food!  I was content enough watching everything going on while people conversed and sang and dance to Basque songs.  It was a very fascinating yet exhausting experience with all of that food and foreign language that I didn't understand! I went to bed early that night and got up bright and early to go check out the ocean, although at this point, the weather still wasn't that great.  We went to St. Jean de Luz which was a very pretty town where we walked along the beach.  Now the Basque region of France is on the border of Spain, so me being with a bunch of French people, they wanted to cross the border for lunch and also to buy goods that were cheaper, like booze and cigarettes haha.  We had some fresh fish for lunch in Spain, and then drove back to France where the weather was now wonderful and we went to the small town of Ainoa, which was my favorite.  It was just so small and quaint, and like everything in the Basque region, very picturesque.  We then went to Espelette which is a town famous for peppers that hang off all the buildings.  I bought some spice for me and some mustard with the peppers in it for my dad (which we have now tried and is very delicious).  I bought some more French cheese from the area and then we headed back to Fanny's parents house for some beef, salad, more cheese, and a typical Basque cake with a cherry filling for dessert. The next day we went to the beach in Anglet, which is actually the town where we were staying before heading back to Toulouse to the airport.  Fantastic trip as usual... I love my Frenchie friends!!! 

Feria de Sevilla

The flower on the top of the head is very typical... but I don't like it

In Cari's very traditional Spanish patio

The full view of the dress

The door to Feria

Awwwww

Even the horses get dressed up!

Girls dancing the Sevillana

Dana and Me

Riding in a horse-drawn carriage

FERIA

Some of my coworkers

Men dressed up in their carriage

Feria after dark

The door at night!

So, the week of April 23-28, there was the famous Feria de Sevilla (Sevilla Fair).  It is one of the most popular events in Andalucía, and of course in Sevilla.  It is a week long in the neighborhood of Los Remedios in a big open space that gets filled with tents, lights, decorations, and lots of people! I went with my coworkers on the Thursday.  Even though I have some pictures at the top in a flamenco dress which is worn by almost all the women at the festival, it actually didn't fit me so I didn't wear one to the Feria.  My American coworker Dana did though, and she looked so Spanish! We entered the Feria through the big "door" that is different every year.  It is supposed to be representative of the city, and this year it looked like the Salvador church which is near my house.  Upon entering the Feria, I was immediately surrounded by men dressed up nicely and all the women dressed in their uniquely designed flamenco dresses.  There were many different tents that you have to know somebody to get in to.  Some people pay for a membership to certain tents, and then they can invite people inside.  One of my coworkers Flori (the religion teacher) has a tent, or "caseta", that we all could to in to.  Everybody drinks the same drink of rebujitos, which is manzanilla (a sweet Spanish wine) and Sprite mixed together.  Sevillana music plays over and over all day all week and people dance the typical dance "Sevillana" when they want to.  Horses trot through the street, some with carriages and some just with people riding them.  The vibe all throughout the Feria is that of a very elegant and macho feel.  People eat various tapas in the tents and hang out with their friends there, and then can go to other tents of their other friends.  We hung out some in the caseta of Flori and then one of Noami, another teacher at my school.  One treat that we got was we got to go on a horse-drawn carriage ride from Meli's husband (Meli is my coordinator) all around the grounds of the Feria.  Normally, those rides are super expensive, but we got to go for free!  It was cool to have a nice little tour of the festival.  It was interesting to see, but it wasn't really my scene, but I'm glad I got to go see it!

Arcos de la Frontera

View outside my hostel

View outside my hostel

View outside my hostel

View outside my hostel

Down below my hostel

A summary of my weekend getaway

Beautiful!!!!!!

Streets of Arcos

View from down below the cliffs

View from down below the cliffs

So, being that I am about to move back to the United States after living my super unorganized and flexible life here in Spain, it is completely natural that I would be a little stressed.  The culture in the United States is sooo different from here as far as concept of time and efficiency, which are things that are going to be crucial as I embark on my job hunt when I return.  I don't know what job I'm going to have, where it will be, or how long it will take to find one, so yea, my stress level has been a little high.  On April 21, I decided that I needed to get away and do some thinking.  My 1000 Places to See Before You Die book had mentioned that Arcos de la Frontera was worth a visit, as it is the first pueblo on the "Ruta de los Pueblos Blancos"  (Route of the White Villages), so I decided that I had to go there, especially since it is not very far away, and not very accessible for a day trip.  I thought that if I didn't go there this year while I am here living in Sevilla, than I may never go there.  I am soooo glad that I went.  I took the 2 hour bus ride there in the morning and still arrived early in the day.  I got on a local bus to go to my hostel, but the driver forgot to tell me when to get off so I got a little tour of the village, haha.  It is quite small, and the historical center of town is even smaller. When I arrived to my hostel, it was much more like a hotel.  I was the only person staying there too so it was awesome!!! The upstairs had a sitting room with wifi with free tea and coffee and a beautiful vista.  Down below were the rooms, and my room was perfect for me, with an individual bathroom that was nice and clean.  The guy that ran the hostel was a British guy that was really artsy and peaceful.  After dropping my stuff off I went for a walk around town and then stopped in the center for some tapas.  WOW, the food was awesome.  I had crepes with ham and asparagus with a balsamic sauce, pepper stuffed chicken, and spinach & pine nut croquettes.  Delicious!  I read my book while eating in the sun and it was really relaxing.  Since I was travelling alone, I could do whatever I wanted to do, and ya know what, I wanted to take a nap, so that is what I did.  It was a great nap too with only the sounds of the peaceful surroundings and the goats grazing at the bottom of the hill.  After my nap, I went on a hike to the bottom of the cliffs.  It was so beautiful, and the hike back up the cliffs was a great work out! I bought some wine when I got back in town and went up to the rooftop terrace of my hostel to read, think, admire the view, and have some wine.  It was absolutely perfect.  After it started to cool down, I used the internet for a while and then went to eat dinner at the place recommended by the guy that ran the hostel.  I had quail breast in an orange olive oil sauce, chicken "cake" with ham and a pate oregano sauce, and spinach and pine nut stuffed hake fish.  I was the only one eating there so the waiter talked with me for almost the whole time which was good Spanish practice.  I returned to the hostel where I took a nice hot bath with my music blasting since I was the only one there, did some sewing, and then slept peacefully.  I woke up to some roosters and the goats grazing again with their bells clanging along the cliffs.  I left after getting up and going.  It was a fantastic trip and just what I needed!  I am so glad that I went.  One of my best mini-vacations ever!