So, what did I do during this break, you might ask? Well, I narrowed down over 14 cities to only 4, and tried to experience them in 5 days. Those cities were Zaragoza, Pamplona, San Sebastian, and Bilbao. Since I had been very indecisive about my trajectory throughout the country, I booked all of this rather late and didn't really do a lot of research into the cities I would be visiting.
My first stop was in Zaragoza. I didn't realize that this town dated all the way back to the Roman times, but this fact made Zaragoza a stop that was well worth it on my journey. I took a bus to the roman part of the city, and decided to walk to my hotel from there.
After checking in at the hotel, I grabbed a quick lunch, then went to the tourist office, which was housed at the bottom of one of the tours that is part of the old city. They let you climb up to the top for free, and it offered a side view of the Basilica.
From there, I decided to walk down and find the Roman Amphitheater. I thought it might be difficult to find, and in a way I was right. I walked past some modern buildings, and didn't really see anything that looked like it could be the amphitheater. Then, all of a sudden, I saw an alleyway down between two buildings, and the view at the end of the alley opened onto the amphitheater. 
After finding the amphitheater, I decided to find the castle. It was a bit of a walk, and once I got there, it appeared to be closed for a special event. There were people going in and out of the castle with heavy duty cameras, and the guards were stopping everyone who tried to go closer to the castle. So, I decided to sit down on a bench for a while and see if I could figure out what was going on by observing. That didn't happen, but pretty soon this old man walked up to the bench and sat down right beside me. Normally, the older generation seems to like to say hello when they sit down next to someone. I responded when this man greeted me, and then he just kept talking. I could only understand the occasional word, and he just kept talking. This was my first encounter with the stronger accent to the north of Spain, and I already knew that older people mumble a lot. Pretty soon I excused myself to walk back to the Basilica.
I got back to the Basilica and was able to go inside. It was a bit more modern than others I've been in, and the biggest thing I noticed was that the columns inside were square and not round. It was also very bare inside, so I would say that the outside was more breathtaking than the inside.
When I left the church, I saw that there were people dressed up all walking in the same direction. I decided to follow them, and ended up in front of a church. I was going to get to see my first Semana Santa procession! I grabbed a spot in the front row, and then I waited. And waited. And waited. I had no clue when it was set to begin, so I just waited. I think I was there about 2 hours. Finally, it began. This one was fairly tame compared to the other one I saw in Bilbao, but it was still impressive. Once everyone paraded out, I thought it was over, but no, they were going to continue into the city. Once they had left the square I was in, I went to grab Chinese takeout, and took that back to my hotel. I heard the drums from the various processions in the city going well into the night.
The next morning I wanted to experience a part of the Roman city, so I decided to go to the Roman baths. There was a video that explained the importance of the city to the Roman empire and how the baths were constructed. It seemed like a lot of effort had been put into presenting the baths to my small audience of one.
Then I was on my way to Pamplona. My train was a bit worn down, but still I got to see some gorgeous fields and hills and mountains along the way.
My hotel was pretty far from the city center, so I took a bus to the older part of the city. For some reason, a lot of the architecture reminded me of Germany or even Strasbourg. It was really beautiful walking around.
I went to the cathedral in the town. There I asked if there were going to be any processions that I could see while I was there. It was a Tuesday, and I was told that the procession would be on Friday. That was too bad, but I was glad I had already seen one procession.
After the cathedral, I wandered around a bit in the older part of the city. I ended up in some touristy areas and some deserted areas. It was all really beautiful, but I was exhausted. I decided to go back to the area where my hotel was, and I stopped in at a café to get some churros. Yum!
The next morning I was set to head off again. I left my hotel, and took a bus that I thought would take me to the city center for some last minute wanderings. Well, it was a different route of the same bus I had taken the day before, and after it followed it for a while it shot off in another direction. I decided to just ride it out and then take it back, and I got a great view of the city and cathedral at one point, but it didn't come out so well in photos. When I finally did make it to the city center, I only had enough time to buy a bottle of water and hop onto a bus that would take me to the train station. I arrived at the train station and noticed that there was a long line at the ticket desk, but didn't pay it any attention. I went to the café to get a napolitana and juice, and then I saw on the tv that there was a strike on the train service, Renfe. All of it was in Madrid, so I didn't really put it together that it was a country wide strike. After I finished eating, I went to use the computers they had. I checked my email, and then it dawned on me that the strike was effecting my travel for the day, too. I got in line. It took a while, but when it was my turn I received a full refund, and they pointed me in the direction of the bus station. I got to see a little bit more of the city on my way to the bus station. The bus was actually cheaper than the train, and it was faster, too.
The bus took me to San Sebastian. I wasn't really sure where I was going, but I knew I wanted to see the water and that my hotel was closer to the water than where I was. The bus station was by a river, so I followed that river in the direction of the sea. After walking for probably half an hour, I arrived in the area where my hotel was. This place was more of a hostel than the others I stayed in, and it reminded me a bit of a dorm. I dropped off my stuff, and then I went in search of the waves. I had to walk around a big hill, then I found the boardwalk. The tide was coming in, so the waves were crashing against the rock and spraying salt water into the air.
Once I had my fill of watching the water splash, I decided to walk up the hill that I had to walk around. It turned out to be an old castle, and you know how I love to climb around on old castles! It also provided some magnificent views down onto the city. Near the time I was starting to think about going back down the hill, it began to rain. Then it started to pour.
I took shelter a few minutes at my hotel while I looked over some of the tourism guides that I had picked up. I played around with the idea of going to a casino, but in the end I decided to go to the aquarium. Outside, the rain was still pouring. I walked with a purpose to the aquarium, and at times it seemed like the rain was coming at me sideways. Despite my umbrella, I was getting soaked. Then, I finally got to my destination and saw that it was closed! I didn't know what to do, really, so I turned around and tried to check out the restaurants along my way. It was still early by Spanish standards to eat dinner, but I didn't know of anything else to do. I found a place that was open and offered a menu, and decided to eat Surf and Turf there. I ordered shrimp, and I knew there was the possibility that I would get full-bodied shrimp, but decided to think positively that I would get shelled shrimp. Boy was I wrong. This was the first time I had ever had to completely take apart shrimp... I decided to decapitate them first and hide their heads under a leaf. Then, one by one, I cut off their legs and tried to take their shells off. They were grilled and really good, but it was a lot of work!
The next morning I went to one of the cathedrals in town. Only while leaving did I notice a sign indicating that tourists weren't supposed to be coming in at the time. Oops. The place was empty, so I don't think it mattered too much.
Before going to the bus station I stopped by the beach. There were actually a few people swimming despite the frigid temperature of the water. I also ran into a couple of Americans who asked me to take their photos. I chatted with them a bit, but mostly I just stayed at the beach to listen to the soothing rhythm of the waves crashing into the sand.
The last city on my journey was Bilbao. It was a lot smaller than I expected it to be, and a lot prettier, too. The first thing I decided to do was to go to the Guggenheim Museum. You can't really say you've been to Bilbao but didn't go to the Guggenheim. So, I decided to walk along the river front. As I walked towards the river, I came across the Bible depictions that would be used later on in the procession.
Then I came across this nice modern looking sculpture (it was in front of the Ayuntamiento if I remember correctly).
I decided to take the long way around to get to the museum. It really is a spectacular building.
In front of the entrance, there is a huge sculpture of a dog out of steel with plants growing all over it. Very neat. There were also birds flying in and out of it that seemed to live in it. I went into the museum, and I guess I should just say I don't get into art that much. I just don't get it. All of the sculptures were fascinating, but I don't understand the message behind them. I guess I could go into how the thousands of pounds of concrete pushed through a tube to look like excrement might reflect on the artist's digestive problems, but I won't. I guess my favorite part was the mirror room - they had a bunch of stuff by the same artist that made the Gate Cloud in Chicago. Unfortunately, that artist is the same one that made the aforementioned excrement piece as well. No photos were allowed, so click here if you'd like to see some of this stuff.
After the museum, I wandered through a market near my hotel and bought some little souvenirs. Then, I saw that the procession was beginning. I didn't have a good view at first, but it was taking forever and a lot of people left, then I left and went into my hotel room, then I came back out of the hotel (the door was facing onto the street where the procession was taking place) and I got a front-row viewing of the rest of the procession. I didn't notice this in Zaragoza, but a lot of the people were going barefoot. That shows a lot of dedication, if you ask me!
The next morning I kept running between taking the tourist bus and the tourist boat. I first decided to take the bus first, then I could take the boat after, and make it to the train station in plenty of time. The bus showed up, and then they said they weren't running that hour due to a parade in town, but they would be running in an hour. I hightailed my way to the boat, hoping to make it, but I got there just in time for them to tell me that they weren't taking any more passengers. I then had an hour to kill, so I slowly made my way back to the bus, and was able to take that through the city. I didn't really learn much more, but it was a leisurely way to see more of the city.
One thing I did learn from the bus was that there was a funicular up a hill that went to a park that offered a good view of the city. Since I knew there wasn't enough time anymore to try to take the boat, I went up the hill instead.
Then, I went to a pastry café right by the train station prior to leaving. It was a sweet way to end the trip, if you know what I mean!
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