Christmas Vacation Part 2 (Asturias, País Vasco)

In part one, I began my northern journey in Galicia. Now we continue, as did my journey, eastword into Asturias, and finally, País Vasco. Sorry Cantabria, I'm sure you're great, but you're getting skipped.

The whole northern coast from Galicia to País Vasco is considered "Green Spain" (not to be confused with other meanings of green in the Spanish language). It's wet, oceanic climate makes makes it look more like Ireland than what is generally considered "Spanish" from an outsider point of view. *
 

* Get out your favorite American Western Movie. There's a good chance it was filmed in the semi-arid climate in south-eastern Spain.

Asturias. See, it's green (yeah I know, worst caption ever...)

Taken on my first stop in the city of Oviedo, Asturias.

After a brief stay in Oviedo, I headed towards Llanes, a small but highly recommended coastal city in eastern Asturias. Having not pre-planned any of my acommodation before the trip it was nice to finally go somewhere quiet, stay a few days, and figure out what the rest of my trip would look like. Llanes has a beautiful walkway on the bluff above the overlooking the ocean. Apparently, quite a few movies have been filmed there as well.

And I thought Americans overlit during Christmas time.

The permanently fixated sun rays help attract the movies.

My accomodation in Llanes was within walking distance of the beach seen below called, La Playa de Poo. Yes. Literally, the Beach of Poo. While apparently the locals didn't think too highly of it, I thought it neither looked, nor smelled like shit.

Ladies and Gentlemen, La Playa de Poo.

After a few chill days in Llanes, I headed over to País Vasco, the region I was most excited about visiting. The Basque people have their own language and unique identity among Spaniards. Many Basque's want independence from the rest of Spain and a small number have resorted to terrorist attacks to try to achieve this end. But the Basque people have a long and rich history that can't and shouldn't be defined in terms of the violence. A few interesting facts about the people: Their language is the last remaining language in Europe that doesn't have Indo-European roots or classification. They have a long history of nautical exploration. Magellan's crew that was the first to circumnavigate the globe was largely of Basque origin (after Magellan died during the journey, his second in command, a Basque man, finished the journey). Due to location and an abundance of natural recources, País Vasco has been the historic center of Spain's industrialization efforts and today is the wealthiest region in Spain. 

I started in Bilbao, the largest city in the region (about 350,000 people). Here is the city from the mountains above. The dark shades of green and blue were just how I imagined it.

The person who designed this deserves a prize in my book.

I don't know what it is about watching a building being destroyed that we men find so irresistable.

Beautiful architecture in Bilbao.

On my way to my final destination, San Sebastián. I stopped over in Guernica. Yes, that Guernica. The one from Picasso's famous painting. Here was a recreation they had in the town.

Ok, on to San Sebastián which I'm fairly certain the travel channel told me at some point was the culinary capital of the world. Many also consider it to be the most beautiful city in Spain. 

 

One of the city's plazas.

Well that just about concludes my trip but I'll end on a religious note. As my coaches always put it, the eye in the sky don't lie. And although they were mostly talking about game film, this was still the first thing to pop in my head when I saw this statue. Thanks as always for reading.