Autumn Events: The Film Festival and Yes, More Visitors

We usually do an annual post solely about the film festival. That’s because we often see a ton of movies and have lots to say. But not this year. First, we both got COVID a week or so before the festival and were still in recovery mode. Second, we had a lot to do as right after the festival we would be meeting Jeff’s parents in Barcelona, coming back with my cousins, and then departing on another “Big Trip.” Third, while we had planned to see lots of movies, the festival’s ticket sales system failed us (and others) again.

The 71^st San Sebastian International Film Festival was disappointing. Like always, we spent a lot of time researching and putting together our lists of movies to see. But when it came time to buy our first set of tickets, after selecting the movies, the system wouldn’t allow us to pay, which meant we had to start all over. We lost the seats we reserved, couldn’t get tickets to certain movies at all, and were beyond frustrated because this has happened before – more than once. We had to decide, do we put up with this incompetence or not? We truly considered abandoning the whole enterprise. In the end we chose to see a few movies: I saw four, Jeff saw three. Sadly, we only really enjoyed one of them. Together we saw:

All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt about a Black woman’s life in rural Mississippi. Because it was told as a nonlinear stream of consciousness, it lacked cohesion, plot, and movement. It was so slow that we left after about 30 minutes, and we were not alone. Someone else I met found it compelling for its lack of direction, which just goes to show how differently a film can be perceived.

Un Amor, an Isabel Coixet film, set in a small rural Spanish town, about how a newly arrived resident copes (or doesn’t) with the locals and their oddities. There were some amusing moments but overall, it wasn’t her best movie, although Jeff liked it more than I did.

Bajo Terapia/Under Therapy was the winner. Based on a play in which three couples meet for a group therapy session. It was funny, intense, entertaining, and built to an incredible finish. The entire audience was rapt. We stayed for the Q&A with the director, producer, and some of the actors afterward.

I also saw The Practice, a Chilean movie about a male yoga instructor going through a rough time. It was intended to be a comedy, but the director’s sense of humor and mine didn’t coincide.

Perhaps next year will be better; perhaps we’ll skip the whole thing. The jury is out.

Just before the festival ended, we headed to Barcelona by train for 5 days to meet Jeff’s parents, who arrived by cruise ship. It wasn’t our best visit because Barbara came down with COVID shortly after arriving. We did enjoy the city’s beautiful architecture and visited Casa Batlo at night to enjoy a concert on the roof.

After Don and Barbara left, my first cousins Gail, Neil, Arthur, and Anne Marie arrived, also by cruise ship. We showed them around Barcelona for half a day and then all took the train to San Sebastian, where we gave them the grand 3-day tour. The weather was beautiful, and we enjoyed the city sights and the food and wine with them.

After the cousins left, we had 2 days to get everything together to leave again . . . for 4.5 months. In the end, seeing only a few movies during this year’s festival worked out well for us considering all that was going on.

Next up: How we ended up returning to New Zealand for 2.5 months.

Shana & Jeff

Closing Out the Summer with More Visitors

The last part of the summer was busy with more visitors and fun San Sebastian traditions. On August 31 the city commemorates the day it was almost entirely burned to the ground in 1813. We’ve attended this event before, but this year we took it in from new perspectives. We caught the beginning of the parade in the Old City streets, enjoying the costumes and music.

We then skipped the reenactment of the battle that is done in the area where the city walls were breached and waited to see the end of the battle in front of the San Telmo Museum. There we witnessed plenty of canon fire, soldiers fighting, and the symbolic setting of fire to the city. It’s a colorful and emotional celebration.

September brought visitors. First was a surprise contact from Dr. Tony’s sister Michelle and her husband Peter from Sydney. We reconnected with Tony and his daughter Romy (who we had met in Thailand) while in Melbourne last year. He told Michele we had to meet, and we were thrilled to exchange stories over drinks at a newer bar that is in an old convent. Note the beautiful ceiling.

Our next visitors were Robyn and Lee from the DC area, who know seemingly all of our friends there. We had a fabulous fish lunch in the port on a beautiful sunny day and got along famously. They were lucky enough to see some Basque dancing in Constitution Plaza before lunch.

Finally, we had a great time hosting Dave and Leslie, friends of our dear friends Debbie Dyner and David Harris. We walked all over, ate the best pintxos, and kayaked in the bay.

We really do enjoy showing off San Sebastian. On meeting us, everyone asks, “why did you move here?” Our response, “we’ll give you an hour and you’ll figure it out.” And they always do.

Hasta pronto,

Shana & Jeff

AWOL

We have been absent without leave from this space for some time now, but don’t worry because everything is fine. Things just got crazy for a bit at the end of summer and during September / early October. We had a nearly 6-year streak going that we broke by not posting in September and we’re really bummed about that, but we guess it had to happen eventually. As John Lennon said, “life is what happens to you when you’re busy making other plans,” and sometimes you just have to roll with it. We’ll be sure to fill in the gaps shortly.

In the meantime, after a long journey, we have arrived in New Zealand where we will be staying for the next 2.5 months. Here’s are views from the house and from the end of the driveway, respectively:

 

Maybe we’ll never leave.

Hasta pronto,

Shana & Jeff

August Musings

 

How is August almost over? The end of August means we’ve been back in Spain for six months. We’ve got a rhythm, a routine, new friends, and summer traditions to keep us busy. We are settled into and  satisfied with our new place, especially after experiencing our 7th (!) Semana Grande.

A main highlight of summer in San Sebastian is Semana Grande, with fireworks every night, numerous concerts (big and small) throughout the city, traditional Basque events, among many other fun happenings. There’s always a special energy and vibe. We thought we would be able to see the fireworks from our balcony since we our on the 5th floor, but had no idea that the view would be spectacular:

Having this view meant we didn’t have to go out to see the fireworks, but could watch (or not) and then head to sleep directly after. Jeff confirmed that you cannot sleep through them – it’s just too darn loud.

In addition, we could enjoy the roving bands that entertain throughout the city. The pedestrian street below us with several cafes, bars, and restaurants is a popular zone. So we had music too.

I danced with that same band during our first Semana Grande in 2017.

We especially enjoy traditional Basque activities. One afternoon we watched dancing at the central kiosk. The number of participants was incredible. We learned the hora and other Israeli dances as children; the locals learned their dances and truly love this communal act.

We also went to see a Bertsolari performance. Bertsolaris are individuals who improvise verse and sing their compositions in Basque. It is done competitively. This year I invited my friend Maje to join us, so she could translate. Maje was a wealth of information, explaining how the Bertsolaris were always men in the past and the type of rhythms that are required. The topics we saw ranged from disability awareness to retail sales. It takes real talent and a lot of work to be a Bertsolari. You can check it out on YouTube if you’re curious.

This year we had the opportunity to host friends of friends who visited during all the excitement. We really enjoyed meeting Amanda, Tom, Amelia, and Helena and showing them around. Next month we’ll have more “friend of friend” visitors.

We visited the city’s San Telmo Museum this past weekend for two special exhibits. The first was focused on vintage summer travel posters, which we enjoyed more than we thought we would. After living here for six years, we could relate to the locale, cultural events, and lifestyle that was being advertised – something a tourist would not feel.

The second exhibit was about Joaquin Sorolla’s special relationship with San Sebastian. He visited many times over the years – the exhibition was titled “Travel to Paint” – and like the posters, his paintings captured the essence of the city.

The second poster photo features our next favorite event – the San Sebastian International Film Festival, which arrives the last week of September.  

Hasta pronto,

Shana & Jeff

A Musical July

One of the highlights of summer in many places is music festivals. And we are fortunate to have access to two fantastic festivals back-to-back in July:  San Sebastian hosted its 58th Jazzaldia, and Bilbao hosted its 2nd Blues Festival.

Jazzaldia has numerous free outdoor concerts as well as ticketed concerts in various venues. The kickoff concert this year was – we kid you not – The Village People. While they don’t fit the definition of jazz, they do meet the definition of fun. And what self-respecting American wouldn’t go seem for free on the beach? We met up with a group of friends, two of whom are also American, together with some Spaniards and joined many thousands of others waiting to hear YMCA. Of course, they saved that for last, after Macho Man (a song that did not age well), Go West, and In the Navy, among others that all sounded the same. Only one member is original (the policeman), and honestly, they were, well … not good. Still, the crowd had a great time singing along and it was a beautiful night.

I won tickets from the local newspaper to see Enrico Rava with his band, Fearless Five. He is the best-known Italian jazz musician in the world. He was quite good. We also paid to see Joss Stone, the British singer, who is touring in commemoration of the 20^th anniversary of her first album. The performances were on consecutive nights at a very special venue, the Trinitate Plaza, an outdoor multi-purpose venue in the old city area. The stage is covered; the seats are not. Both nights we got rained on, and not just a little bit. Thankfully we were prepared, and they even provided ponchos (a clear way of saying the show will go on, so don’t expect a refund). Joss is a terrific performer, and we’d highly recommend seeing her – she ventured out into the audience multiple times, even in the rain.

The following weekend we headed to Bilbao where all the concerts were free and outdoors. This year we enjoyed the afternoon concerts even more than the evening events. These concerts took place at a smaller kiosk in a park. We found a bench, enjoyed the music, and watched the dogs, kids and people go by. It was incredibly relaxing. The second afternoon, between concerts, a small band paraded by, accompanied by Blues Brothers Jake and Elwood.

The night before we had seen The Original Blues Brothers Band play (2 original members), which was good, other than it rained before their show. We stayed on our bench, where we had watched the previous concert, under an umbrella and waited, not wanting to give up our seats.

On Sunday morning, before the music started, we stopped in at the Guggenheim to catch the Yayoi Kusuma exhibition. She’s a Japanese artist and some of her work has a Seussical style to it. Her use of color is fantastic.

It’s been a pleasant summer so far, albeit overly humid and a bit rainy. We’ve been lucky to only have had a few very hot days while the rest of Spain has seen terrible heatwaves. In addition to music, we’ve also been out paddle boarding in the bay – thankfully on a day without any jellyfish, which have been responsible for several beach closures so far this year.

Semana Grande is this week, so there will be plenty more music and other festivities. We also will start to see a steady stream of guests coming our way.

That’s all for now,

Shana & Jeff

Mainz, the Mosel Valley, and Trier

We continued our German adventures in Mainz, a relatively small city (population around 220,000) at the confluence of the Main and Rhine rivers, which has been an important location since Roman times. In the middle ages (around 1400), Mainz was the birthplace of Johannes Guttenberg, the inventor of the printing press. We visited the Guttenberg Museum, which contains many interesting exhibits of old books and printing presses. We even saw a demonstration of how the original printing press worked -- in German, so we didn't get much, but it was cool to see the page that was printed as a result.

The cathedral in Mainz is quite impressive.

Even more impressive is the Church of St. Stephan, not for the modest church itself, but rather for the spectacular stain-glassed windows designed by Marc Chagall near the end of his life. The windows, which depict scenes from the Old Testament, and were intended as a contribution to German-Jewish reconcilliation, ended up in St. Stephan as a result of Chagall's friendship with the church's senior priest.

Our next stop was the Mosel Valley. The Mosel River arises in the Vosges Mountains, and runs east-west through western Germany before emptying into the Rhine. The Mosel Valley region is even more beauitiful than the Rhine -- more vines, more little towns, and more ruined castles. But near the Mosel we were able to visit a fully-intact castle: Burg Eltz.

Burg Eltz, which sits in a forest, has been around for over 700 years, and has remained unchanged for about the last 500. Built and owned by three branches of a single family, the castle is fairy-tale-like when you first see it.

The approach to the castle feels like going back in time as well.

The tour of the castle interior is very cool, but no pictures are allowed, so you will have to go yourselves to experience it. We recommend it.

After Burg Eltz, we went for lunch in the lovely little town of Beilstein on the Mosel River. The vines run directly up a steep hill from the road along the river to the city's ruined castle.

Our view from lunch was spectacular. The river in the foreground, and another small town (almost village) in the background.

After lunch, we walked through the town and saw the site of the former synagogue, which dates from 1310. In the 1300's the leaders of Beilstein invited several Jewish families who had been persecuted and expelled from towns along the Rhine to settle there. By 1840, a quarter of the town was Jewish, but after the 1871 constitution provided political and civil rights to German Jews, most of them moved to larger cities looking for better economic opportunities. By 1933, only one Jewish family remained in Beilstein, and they were deported and killed in the Treblinka death camp. Amazingly, there is an intact Jewish cemetary above the town's castle.

While in the Mosel Valley, we stayed in a literal castle, now converted to a hotel, in the small town of Schloss-Lieser.

One of the best things about the Mosel Valley was the wine, which we prefered to the wine we tried along the Rhine. On our last day in the Mosel Valley, we biked along the river, which is very easy to do in this area. We ended up riding over 60 km, while stopping for two wine tastings. But first, we found the world's best vending machine.

Yes, that is a vending machine selling bottles of wine. You can see the RVs behind me, and it is clear that this machine serves the immediate needs of the campers who presumably have their own corkscrews and glasses.

We stopped for lunch at a winery in Trabben-Trarbach, a slightly larger town along the river.

The winery was on the hill you see in the picture above, so we had a good view of the surrounding hills and their ubiquitous vines.

Shana found the information for the area's Riesling Route, but as we were on bikes, we could not try all of the listed wineries ;)/.

Our final stop in Germany was the country's oldest city, and once a capital of part of the Roman Empire (we had no idea), Trier (rhymes with clear). Even before the Romans, the area is believed to have been inhabited by the Celts for 1,300 years. Under the Romans, Trier was the capital of the western empire (roughtly modern-day England, Spain, France and Germany) in the 4th century, and during that time was a favorite residence of the emperors.

In Trier we saw the ruins of the Roman baths, as well as the Cathedral, which is the oldest church in Germany. After Emporer Constantine legalized Christianity in the Roman Empire, he began the construction of two great cathedrals: St. Peter's in Vatican City, and this cathedral in Trier.

However, the most impressive building we saw during our day in Trier was the Basilica, which was the Emporer's throne room during the 4th century. It is considered the largest intact Roman building outside of Rome itself, although it had to be rebuilt after being servely damaged during WWII.

The building has been a Lutheran Church since 1856, but it retains the same shape/form that it had when it was a throne room. The picture does not do a great job showing how huge its single room is. To give you a better idea, note that each of the wooden squares that make up the ceiling is about 10 feet by 10 feet!

Well, that was the end of our adventures in France and Germany. We returned to San Sebastian by train from Luxembourg through Paris. We don't have much to say about Luxembourg City, where we stayed for one night, but we did have a very nice Vietnamese dinner there.

More to come soon on our summer back in San Sebastian.

Hasta luego,

Jeff and Shana