A Fear Conquered?

This past weekend I traveled with my program (IES Madrid) to the northern region of Spain known as Pais Basco. We traveled to the cities of Bilbao and the legendary San Sebastian. How we got there you ask? A 6 hour bus ride. Now, if any of you know me, you know how much I hate buses so this wasn't a simple weekend trip. We boarded at the break of dawn (aka 7am), but not with a little bumps like a few people being a bit late, and me having to run off at the last minute. In the end we all made it on, and stopped 3 hours later in Burgos for breakfast at a nice hotel. There were eggs, chorizo, fresh fruit, cheese, and bread galore. I didn't realize how much I missed sunday mornings with my family eating eggs and reading the paper until I feasted on some of the best eggs ever. Of course after the feast, I faced the bus again for another 3 hours.

Upon arrival a few of us walked around and checked out the bridge designed by Calatrava (the same designer of our art museum back home in Milwaukee). It was gorgeous, both the weather and the scenery. As a program we took a historic walk of the city of Bilbao where we will be staying for the next three days. It's a tiny city in comparison to Madrid, but it's cute. We went out for pintxos (basque version of tapas) later that night and returned home at a decent enough time to get up and go to San Sebastian.

San Sebastian would have been the most gorgeous place I have ever been assuming I wasn't soaked, my shoes weren't puddles and I didn't have a cold. However even in spite of all of these things, it still was up there for one of the most beautiful places I have seen up there next to Denali, Venice and Sevilla. We walked around, saw the coast, visited the town and had an absolutely mind-blowing lunch. The steak was super tender, the bread fresh and warm and parmesan cheese that melted in your mouth for dessert. Overall the weekend was a success, minus a couple of 6 hour bus rides on either end. I may have survived the ride, however bus will not be my mode of transportation ordinarily. I believe for now, this fear has conquered me.