Hola amigos!

I´ve finally crossed the boarder and am actually out of France!

It was hard to leave Biarritz but it had to be done eventually. I was so lucky to have such a great host, she really helped to make my experience an amazing one. She has such a positive and uplifting outlook on life and I´ll be sure to keep in touch with her in the future.

Biarritz at sunset

Monday morning I was up early to catch my train to San Sebastian - only an hour and a half from Biarritz. Once I arrived I had quite the hike from the station to my hostel, which was located in Old Town. Luckily for me though, it was a pretty cheap stay (only 12 euros a night) and super close to the beach!

My bunk! I made sure to lock my bags to my bed posts. This room held 6. 

I was able to drop off my bags and head back out to explore! Ernesto (the guy running the hostel) pointed out great places to eat and what sights I had to check out. First on the list - a mountain. What a stupid idea. But what a beautiful view!!

Isla Santa Clara

Bahia de la Concho - Best beach so far! Warm waters, tame waves and only 5 mins from my hostel.

At the top of the mountain (Monte Urgull) is an old fortress where  Napolean supposedly fought. 

Tired after my long hike up

View of the Pyreneese

After the hike I decided to take it easy and walk down along the beach. I took cafe (as the europeans say) to re-energize and walked to the end point, about 30 mins away. 

Ba ha ha!! Apprently there were quite a few old old men who liked to  laze around nude. I luckily saw none. 

After touring around I met up with 2 girls from Vancouver and we went for dinner. In Spain,  the bars, cafes and restaurants all have little Tapas and Pinxtos lined up for customers to choose - I discovered that night that im not a huge fan! Something about food sitting out for hours just doesn´t appeal to me. The sangria on the other hand, was delicious. Other local drinks I´ve had the chance to try is the apple cider (Txakoli) and Mosto, a really sweet white wine.
That night I met 2 guys at the local pub while out with a group from the hostel. They told me about a surf school in town so I decided to check it out! I ended up booking a lesson with Rodrigo Machado - a pretty highly skilled surfer who instructs profesionals! He gave me a great one hour lesson and was pretty impressed at my wave riding abilities.
I know. Who knew!

The next day I decided to check out Bilbao - just an hour west by bus.

Nice little park in the middle of the city centre. 

The Guggenheim - who knew there were 5 of them? New York, Venice, Las Vegas, Berlin and Bilbao! 

One very large flower dog

Beautiful Bilbao!

The MOUNTAINS!! I couldn´t stop looking out my window

Thursday afternoon I packed up my bags and headed out of San Sebastian! I enjoyed my stay but the city was full of tourists. And tourists make prices go up - not good for a traveller on a budget. Next stop was Pamplona! Known for being the city that holds San Fermin - the running of the bulls. They hold the event in July, so unfortunately i´m going to miss it.
While in Pamplona I´ll be staying with a guy I met through CS - Javier was born and raised in Spain and is currently in school learning English. He shares his flat with another roomate and has 2 spare bedrooms - It appears I got lucky again! I get my own room AND a great view.
Yesterday he invited me to his parents house for lunch. His mum made a delicious salad with olives and tuna, followed by chicken pealla. I thought we were done but apparently in Spain, its custom to have 3 dishes, then dessert! And all with bread of course. She made a FANTASTIC hake dish with roasted potatoes and garlic and we finished it off with ice cream and cherries. Everything was so simple and so amazing! After lunch, we walked around the village to take in the view and visit the local church. One of the women who volunteers there happened to be working and gave us a personal tour. It´s been great staying with locals because you get a really good in depth look at the culture and surroundings. I found that when I stayed in the hostel, I didn´t see anything more than the beach, shops and restaurants. Everyone knew as little as me and we wandered the city unaware of the history and traditions. Living with someone from the area though is like having a personal tour guide, 24/7. They enjoy showing you around and teaching you about their culture. It´s two very different experiences.

View from the top.

Tiny little village

Afterwards we headed back to the flat to pick up another CSer who was staying for the night. It was pretty early so we went to the centre of Pamplona and saw the hippies protesting in the town square. There are lots of hippies in the north of Spain.
Today I cruzed around town and got to check out the sights then cooked an amazing Provencal tart for dinner!

Struttin his stuff in the local park

Part of the walled city

Looks just like it!

A few things I´ve learned or noticed along the wayl:

* I love Fruit. Fruit that I thought I hated, is for some reason delicious to me now. Kiwi, strawberries, oranges, cherries and pears. Tomorrow I try a plum! Or nectarine... I donno what it is.

* Pate isn´t so gross. It´s actually pretty tasty.

* I can carry WAY more than I thought possible, and walk pretty far

* Everything in Europe is up some sort of hill. The churches, castles, supermarkets, you name it. You always seem to be going up. 

* Froi Gras, apple sauce and mushrooms are amazing when stacked on each other. In any order!

* After the bulls run through the street, they run straight into the bull ring and are later killed and eaten by locals and tourists. Kinda sad...

* France and Spain are spotlessly clean! There is no garbage to be seen and there are always little sidewalk washers out, cleaning up the streets. Garbage bins are everywhere and in spain, there are drinking fountains for the kids. 

* Nuts are everywhere! Peanuts, hazelnuts, walnuts! I had my first walnut from the shell yesterday. No wonder they´re so expensive - Those suckers are impossible to get out.

* Finding a McDonalds or Walmart is harder than I thought it would be. Seems like they try to keep the big chains away.

* Nobody is in any rush of any kind. No, you cannot get that to go, dont even ask. (Unless your in the UK)

* Lights in building hallways, entrances and parking lots are on sensors or have switches in order to conserve energy. 

* Your swiss army knife is handy for spreading jam on crackers and slicing cheese, so that you can enjoy a cheap lunch on a sunny day in the local park. 

* You need to clean said knife afterwards. Jam is sticky. 

Buenos noches!