Delicious scenery and fun in the Spanish sun

June 29, 2009 by Courtney Waldron 

The traveling shorts

Destinations: Barcelona and San Sebastian.
Barcelona: The land of Catalunia

The morning air was warm and sticky at 7:30. I stood groggily at the bus station in Barcelona with two friends, massaging the awful knots out of my neck from the seven-hour bus ride.

Our welcome to the most magical city in Spain was really early in the morning and we had no idea which way to go once we got there.

We had only thought far enough ahead as to buy bus tickets between Madrid and Barcelona. We reserved a place to sleep in an apartment that belonged to a family member of my host family in Madrid. But we hadn’t really thought about what to do once we got off the bus. We didn’t even have a map.

So we did what one does in such times of adventurous uncertainty—we walked. Slowly, my great weekend in Barcelona began to unfold.

The Gaudi structures in Barcelona exhibit some of the most amazing architecture in the world. The modern designs feature curvy walls, bulging windows and cascading pillars that look as if someone scrunched the cement between his fingers before it dried. I don’t know very much about architectural design, but fans of Gaudi have told me he introduced some of the most innovative concepts (both mathematically and artistically) to the art of infrastructure. But all I could think about when I looked at Gaudi’s buildings was dessert.

The colorful bunches of shapes that top the steeples of the Sagrada Familia church gave me cravings for sweet fruit tarts.

The circular tile chips surrounding the windows of the houses on the Rambla street (a street that extends all the way to the ocean) made me think of sugary gumdrops. The white rooftops that drip over the edges of the buildings in Parc Guel like vanilla icing made me think of real life gingerbread houses. I wanted to reach out for a slice of rooftop or a chunk of door and take a taste. I imagine the buildings would have tasted like cookies.

San Sebastian: Basque Country

A week later, some friends and I got back on a bus and headed to San Sebastian in northern Spain. A small town in Basque country, it felt more like a port than a beach town like Barcelona.

Deeply green trees weaved around the brick streets to make up a beautiful and quaint setting. And best of all, the weather was refreshingly cooler in the north. There aren’t as many sights to see in the town that’s mostly known for its beaches and good food, so, with less than 24 hours in the town, I tried to spend most of my time experiencing those two treats.

I fell asleep on the beach in San Sebastian. It was probably one of the most dangerous things I could have done as a tourist in a bathing suit sleeping on a pillow that was her whole life in a backpack (not one of my smartest moments). But since it happened without any dire consequences, I remember that light nap as one of the most tranquil moments of my trip.

La Concha beach is rounded like its name (“concha” means shell). Its ends curve and almost meet in a circle so that from the sandy shore one can see two small mountains on either side of the water outlet to the Mediterranean. Covered in trees, the mountains form a beautiful scene with the clear blue water of the sea.

In that setting, the smell of the salty ocean filled my nose while the rhythm of the waves soothed me to sleep. I closed my eyes and relaxed on the earth, feeling absolute peace.

Sometimes the best settings for the soul are rough on the body; I’m still nursing the sunburns on my legs from those unconscious minutes under the sun.

It was worth it.

Later for dinner, I ate at several pinxchos bars. (Pinxchos is the Basque word for the region’s small portions of food. They are like delicious appetizers and snacks.) We bopped in and out of several places among a few bachelor and bachelorette parties as the sun set and then, after we had our fill of octopus and Iberian ham, we headed back to Madrid on the bus.

I traveled to San Sebastian and Barcelona for the first time without an agenda, only with a vague idea of what I wanted to see. The experience of being completely lost, but still finding moments of complete peace and sheer enjoyment, was liberating. I found a way in being lost. And I am learning there are always experiences to be had if I open myself to them. I just have to start walking.