Day Tripping to Bilbao and the Guggenheim

Last Friday (June 22) we returned to Bilbao to see the Guggenheim's new Chagall exhibition, “The Breakthrough Years, 1911-1919,” and to enjoy lunch at the Bistro Guggenheim. In addition to the exhibit, we had tickets to a related piano recital and projection titled “The Great War.” It is super easy to get to Bilbao, we just hop on a bus (they leave hourly) and an hour and 15 minutes later we’re there. And then it is a quick, scenic 25-minute walk to the museum. Alternatively, there’s a convenient tram to take.

This was our 3rd visit inside the Guggenheim and it never ceases to amaze us. This time we got the audio guide in Spanish – we try to practice every chance we get! The architecture is truly part of the experience and impacts the way you experience the art. For example, compare these two views of a fun sculpture outside:

As we noted in September, you can enjoy the Guggenheim without going inside because there is so much art outside.

And of course, the Puppy (who was much more colorful than during our visit last September) -- a personal favorite:

Lunch was fabulous, we even had a view to the river and the sculptures outside. The food was artistic, but the photos I took didn’t do it justice. Plus, the art photos are more fun. They recently installed this funky decorative “creature” in the atrium – it’s so new there is no explanation yet.

The Chagall exhibit was interesting but limited. Chagall left Tsarist Russia for Paris in 1911 where he was influenced by many masters (Picasso, etc.), but when he returned for his sister’s wedding in 1914 he was stuck for eight years due to the outbreak of WWI. His surroundings greatly impacted his art during this period.

The piano recital was fascinating. While the pianist played classical music from the WWI period, we watched historical footage showing various European events between 1911 and 1919, the era of the Chagall exhibit. Much of the footage related to the war, but it also included the English suffragette movement and the Armenian genocide. Slides introduced each song and included a narrative about the events and music – in Spanish, of course. This was an interesting exercise for us – reading the explanations, with music playing, and not knowing when the slide would disappear. We were very proud of our efforts. Overall, the recital and projection were an interesting way to portray the era.

It was a fantastic day. We’ll be back to Bilbao and the Guggenheim again soon for sure.

Hasta pronto,

Shana & Jeff

Twin Basque Pueblos: Zumarraga & Urretxu

We continued our exploration of nearby Basque towns recently (June 17) when we visited Zumarraga and Urretxu, two small pueblos an hour train ride from San Sebastian with a joint population of about 20,000. Why these towns? Well, Ignacio (the school’s Director of Students) lives in Urretxu and he invited us to visit. The invitation came during the winter, when there was snow on the ground, so we deferred our visit until the weather improved. Luckily, we had a fairly sunny day.

We hopped on the local Cercanias train and Ignacio met us at the station. We spent the next 8 hours walking some 10 miles and learning about the history of the pueblos and region. Of course, we spoke Spanish the entire day! It was a long and fun day, and by the end we weren’t sure which were more tired – our legs or our brains.

Zumarraga and Urretxu are not really “twin” cities, but they sit side by side, divided by a small river, which made us think of Minneapolis and St. Paul. The area is gorgeous – surrounded by rolling green hills. Each town has a charming town hall and square with medieval roots. Zumarraga was the birthplace of Miguel López de Legazpi, the Basque-Spanish navigator and governor who arrived in the Philippine Islands in 1565; Urretxu was the hometown of Basque poet Jose María Iparraguirre, famous for the hymn "Gernikako Arbola" (1853).

Another famous Basque citizen was born nearby – Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit order. We visited the historic hermitage of La Antigua, one of the churches on the Ignatius Route of Three Churches. It has a Romanesque façade with a gothic gate, and inside it is a simple, perfect mixture of stone and wood. Much simpler and more natural than the many cathedrals we have visited.

We wandered through the towns, along the river, up to the church, back through the towns, and up towards Monte Irimo where we had lunch at the lovely Santa Barbara hermitage and hostel. Note that even the cows were enjoying the nice weather.

Ignacio was a gracious host. We exchanged fun stories, compared cultural references, and enjoyed getting to know each other better. It was a great way to start our summer break. We’re planning to do it again soon.

Hasta pronto,

Shana & Jeff

400+ Hours

The title of this post refers to the more than 400 hours we have spent in Spanish class over the past 10 months. On Friday we finished our 35th week of school and now embark on a four month break before we return in October. It is going to be strange not having the structure of daily classes, but given how crazy the school had already gotten with new students in the first two weeks of June, we definitely made the right decision to take the summer off. Just this week the school welcomed over 60 juniors (i.e., high-school students) from the US. In contrast, there were times during the winter when there were fewer than 20 students in the entire school!

When we started back in August, we were at the A2 level. For our last two weeks of school, we were  moved into a higher level class (C1) due to a lack of students at our level (B2). Although the class was not completely beyond our ability, we definitely struggled somewhat, especially with the speed of the class. We suspect when we return it will be at a high-B2 level, but we will see.

So, what did we discover through the process of studying Spanish? We discovered that learning to  speak a language properly is hard. I know that seems obvious, but I mean it is really hard. One of our teachers suggested that it is easier to learn a new language if you are younger, already speak more than one language and are motivated. So, we were basically 1-for-3.

I am sure each language is different, but for Spanish, there are two things that are particularly difficult: (1) vocabulary and (2) grammar.

Right now, our vocabulary is probably at the level of a smart 14-year-old. We can express many of the ideas that we want to, but we tend to use general or simple words, because we don't know the more specific or complex words that would express those ideas better. Building vocabulary is just a matter of time and experience, and we hope that reading the local newspaper over our break will help with that. Knowing a word and being able to recall it at the right time are also two different skills.

Spanish grammar is nothing short of crazy. Just as one example, here are the verb tenses that we have learned:

1. Present
2. Preterit Perfect
3. Imperfect
4. Indefintite
5. Pluscuamperfect
(2, 3, 4 and 5 are all past tenses and one of our biggest issues is knowing when to use each past tense)
6. Future
7. Future Perfect
8. Conditional
9. Conditional Perfect
10. Imperative
(a form of command that is used much more in Spanish than English. For example, rather than saying "hello", many people in Spain answer the phone "dime" (dee-meh), which literally means "tell me")
11. Present Subjunctive
12. Preterit Perfect Subjunctive
13. Imperfect Subjunctive
(just to add unnecessary confusion, there are two forms of the imperfect subjunctive, which are completely identical in meaning, but you have to learn both because people use the two interchangeably)
14 . Pluscuamperfect Subjunctive
(the subjunctives are not literally tenses, but rather a "mood"; basically, there is nothing at all like it in English)

Frankly, looking at this list makes me wonder how we have managed to get as far as we have. Probably all of that motivation.

For now, we are looking forward to a summer of travel and seeing friends and family. We will, of course, have more posts about our adventures as they come, so stay tuned.

Hasta pronto,

Jeff and Shana

Exploring Basque Pueblos - Tolosa

We visited Tolosa, a small Basque pueblo on June 3. The local tourist office was offering a special cider-themed tour in conjunction with the weekend’s cider/grilled fish festival, and we decided to check it out. The Basques love a good festival. A few weekends back there was a nautical/tall ships festival in Pasaia that we visited as well. We were fortunate to enjoy sunny days for both.

We learned about Tolosa initially from one of our former classmates, a young Chinese woman who had moved there to live with her Basque boyfriend. She commuted each day to school – about a 30-minute ride on the “Cercanias” (local) train. We hopped on the train and enjoyed the picturesque green vistas.

Tolosa is small – it has about 20,000 inhabitants – but it is full of history and character. The tour was in Spanish, of course. Interestingly, it appeared that many of the people enjoying the tour were locals. We knew this because they kept saying “hello” to various people they knew as we walked through the city. Perhaps they wanted to learn about Tolosa’s history as well. Our guide was enthusiastic and proud.

Tolosa sits on the historic trade roads between France and the kingdom of Navarre, playing a role in the history of Castile as early as 1256. Sadly, it suffered multiple fires over the centuries. A few photos: (1) the Castile gate (18th C.), (2) the town hall (17th C.), (3) a typical narrow street, and (4) the Santa Maria Church (17th C.).

Our regular readers may remember we visited a local cider house back in January. There are several functioning cider houses in the Gipuzcoa region. But it turns out not in Tolosa. Rather there is a history of cider houses there. Many being traced back as far as the 13th century. We were a little disappointed to discover this because we thought we’d be visiting actual cider houses, as opposed to buildings that used to be used cider houses. Regardless, we learned a bit, enjoyed our guide’s energy, and got to taste locally-made cider accompanied by tortilla de bacalao. All in all, a fun little excursion.

Bonus photos:

Last weekend we went out to Lasarte-Oria, a suburb of San Sebastian, which was hosting an Andalusian-style festival. Our teacher’s daughter was dancing Sevillanas and we went to watch:

FYE – the “patitos” (baby ducks) in the park we walk through on our way to school each day:

We are in our last week of school – week 35! We’ll have more on that soon, along with stories about our visit to another Basque village this weekend.

Hasta luego,

Shana and Jeff

The Free Concert to End All Free Concerts

One Saturday evening earlier this month, we headed to the San Telmo Museoa, the local Basque cultural museum, to partake in the International Museum Day festivities. Admission was free, and the activities included various musical performances by students from the local music school. The museum’s buildings include a former 16th century church and convent. The church building has beautiful, huge paintings depicting Basque history and traditions. 

We knew there would be a concert in the church but didn’t know the nature of the performer. It turned out to be the final recital of a graduating opera singer – a very talented soprano, who was accompanied by a pianist, and for a few songs by two of her fellow students, a tenor and a baritone. The performance was situated in the church for maximum effect, both visually and acoustically.

Jeff and I have each only been to one opera, and those were before we were even together, so opera is hardly our passion. After looking at the program, I figured we would stay for a few songs and then move on to enjoy the museum’s exhibitions.

But when this lovely soprano opened her mouth to sing it was astounding. The acoustics in the high-ceilinged church were amazing and her voice took flight. No microphones were used, nor were they needed. The setting and her voice glued us to our seats as we took it all in. We stayed for the entire hour-plus performance, including an encore. She sang in Italian, French, German and Spanish. My favorite number was a duet she did from La Boehme. The most amazing part . . . Jeff enjoyed it just as much as I did. What a treat!

It just goes to show that you never know what you’ll encounter when you seek a little culture here in San Sebastian.

Ciao, 

Shana & Jeff

Jerez de la Frontera: Land of Sherry and Horses

We made another day trip from Sevilla to Jerez de la Frontera, which is famous for sherry and horses. We were introduced to sherry on our first trip to Spain in 2007 and are big fans of the sweet dessert sherry, Pedro Ximénez (which is also the name of the grape varietal), but we knew very little about the numerous other types of sherry, especially the dry white style. After visiting two port bodegas in Portugal, we wanted to learn more about how port and sherry differ. So, we hopped on a train and were in Jerez within an hour.

Our first stop was Bodega Lustau for a tour and tasting, in Spanish (of course). There were only four of us on the tour, so it was easy to follow, although our guide spoke a bit fast. Both sherry and port are fortified wines with their own protected designation of origin. Port can only be made from grapes grown in the Douro Valley (Portugal) and sherry can only be made from grapes grown in the Jerez region of Spain. Port and sherry are fortified at different times during the fermentation process. Both are aged for varying lengths of time, depending on the style being produced. We learned about the Solera System of aging sherry, in which the wine is blended in various fractions from different aged barrels. There is a sequential-set of oak barrels used in this process. The magnitude of barrels lined up and stacked is astounding – we walked through football-field sized warehouses with rows upon rows of barrels. In parts you could smell the difference between the types of sherry being aged in the barrels.

The best part of the tour was the tasting. We tried 8 different wines, ranging from fino and manzanillo, the dry white varietals, to oloroso (reds), to the sweet dessert varietals, and also “vermut.” We were surprised but thrilled to finally try Spanish vermouth. Vermouth is a fortified wine as well, but it is aromatized, i.e. infused with herbs and spices, and sweetened. Most people only know vermouth as a martini (or other cocktail) ingredient. Here in Spain, vermouth is very popular and the Spaniards drink it neat or over ice. We really liked it and even bought a bottle of the vermut rojo, along with a bottle of our favorite Pedro Ximénez. We continue to adopt the Spanish customs that please us most.

The week we visited Sevilla also happened to be when Jerez was holding its annual Feria de Caballo (horse fair), so after our sherry tasting, we headed to the Feria. Each May the whole city turns out over the course of a week to celebrate the Andalusian horse culture, flamenco, sherry and food. Most everyone is decked out in their finest traditional garb – this was the first time in Spain that I truly felt under dressed. The photos below show you why. The women were wearing beautiful Sevillanas dresses. Even the horses were dressed up for the occasion. You can ride through the fairgrounds in a horse-drawn carriage, dance the flamenco, and eat your heart out in the various casetas (restaurant stalls).

It was a bit of an overwhelming scene for us. Too many casetas to even know where to start and while the horses are beautiful, exploring the fairgrounds required that you watched where you stepped at all times.

We spent just enough time at the fair to get the feel of it and then headed back into town for a lovely lunch at La Carbona, where the chef has created a tasting menu that matches each course with a sherry wine. This was much more our speed than the horse fair. We enjoyed it so much, including the people watching, that I forgot to take pictures of the best dishes and the few photos I took didn’t do the food justice.

Jerez was a worthy day trip. Perhaps next time we'll go back and see a show at the Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art.

Hasta Luego,

Shana and Jeff

Cordoba and The Mezquita

Cordoba is another city we visited in 2007, but since it is home to one of the coolest sites we have ever been to, we thought it was worth going again as a day trip from Sevilla. Also helping us make this decision is the existence of high-speed trains in much of Spain outside the north. (We don't have high-speed trains yet where we live due to the mountainous terrain.) Although the high-speed trains in Spain do not travel as fast as in China, Japan or even France, our non-stop train made the 85 mile trip from Sevilla to Cordoba in just 45 minutes (it would have taken 2 hours on the bus or 1.5 hours driving).

As with much of Southern Spain, Cordoba was ruled by the Moors prior to its "reconquest" by the Catholics, which in the case of Cordoba occurred in 1236. For the last 200 or so years of Moorish rule, Cordoba was ruled by the Almoravids (Berbers from Northern Africa), but before that it was ruled by Muslims from Damascus (the Umayyads) and during that time (around the years 750-1000), Cordoba was among the most populous and technologically advanced cities in Europe. It is estimated that during the height of Umayyad rule, Cordoba's population was 200,000 people or 0.1% of the global population - equivalent to a city of over 70 million people today(!!)).

The result of this mixed history in Cordoba is one of the most amazing buildings we have ever visited -- the Mezquita (known in English as the Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba). The Mezquita is a huge, ancient Mosque, which was built over centuries beginning in the year 784. At its peak, as many as 20,000 people would worship there together. And remember, for Muslims worshiping means having enough space to lay out a prayer carpet and prostrate yourself during the service. Now try to imagine a big enough space for 20,000 people to do this together.

After the Catholics conquered Cordoba, to their credit, they did not destroy the Mezquita. Instead, they placed a Church in the middle of it. And, that is how it remains to this day...a giant (non-used) Mosque, with an operating Catholic Cathedral rising up from the middle of it. We recommend that you do a quick search for pictures of the Mezquita from the air, it is the only way to really understand the magnitude of it.

Of course, the Mezquita is a giant tourist attraction. It seemed to us that most of the people were more interested in the Cathedral in the middle, but we can see and have seen plenty of old Catholic Cathedrals (there is even one in San Sebastian). For us, the most interesting part is the remnants of the old Mosque and the way that the Church has integrated itself without destroying what was there. Here are a few pictures of our favorite parts:

The different shades of red in the double arches reflect the original arches in contrast to newer arches added as the building expanded. The third picture is the mid-10th century mihrab, where the imam stood as he led the prayers. You can see many more pictures on the web, but we recommend a visit to the site itself. It is definitely something that should be experienced in person.

In addition to the Mezquita, Cordoba has an interesting history that includes a significant impact from its Jewish citizens who lived there in peace with the Muslims and Christians under the Umayyads, but  Cordoba's Jews were later forced into conversion or exile after it was conquered by the Almohads in 1148 (the great Jewish philosopher Maimonides was among the exiled). And, the Catholics completed the process begun by the Almohads after the Reconquista. We enjoyed walking through the narrow lanes of the old Jewish quarter and around the ancient walls of the old part of the city.

A triumphal arch in the Renaissance style:

The ancient Roman bridge (the foundation is from the first-century AD and the arches are from the 16th century) across the Guadalquivir River, which was once navigable but is now silted up:

All in all, we had a great day in Cordoba. And, we even slept on the brief train ride back to Sevilla :).

Hasta luego,

Jeff and Shana