We got to San Sebastian in the afternoon, after going through some beautiful countryside. We saw trees and grass (rare in Extremadura)!! And snow capped mountains, but we were more excited to see normal trees for once. San Sebastian is my favorite Spanish city, it was relaxed, beautiful, very tourist friendly but in a nice way—all the streets were marked in Spanish as well as Euskara (I know I spelled that wrong.. but I can't look it up right now, but in Pai...

This week has been the Festival of San Jorge, Caceres' patron saint, so there have been music concerts and processions all week. On Monday we went to a traditional folk music concert which I thought was really good. Tuesday there was a procession similar to the ones I saw in Sevilla where they brought a statuette down from the mountain of the Virgin. This went along Calle Caleros right below our balcony so Sara and I watched it from there. Last night was by f...

La Madrugada! We don't really have a word for it in English, I guess you could say the 'wee hours of the morning,' in Spanish it means the time from about 1 am to 4 am. Holy Thursday in Sevilla is the most famous Semana Santa celebration in Sevilla, so I had to see it. Basically all week the Nazarenos, those pledged to a church/convent/brotherhood all march from their home churches to the main Cathedral in Sevilla. They all march in .... um... KKK atire carry...

Bilbao isn't really a tourist town, its more of an industrial city. The next morning we were 'helped' by a local who took us, and herself, on the wrong Metro so we had to backtrack a little. The Guggenheim Museum was really cool once we found it; we all got the virtual tour guide devices to explain the exhibits. I think the coolest one was from the Chinese man who designed the pyrotechnics for the Beijing Olympics. There was a room dedicated to the 29 footpri...

Michelle and I wanted to see France, so we were planning on taking a bus close to the border - we were only 10 miles away - and going for a morning run. The hostel owner suggested that instead we catch a bus or train to a beautiful French beach town, Biarritz. It was hard to talk the other girls into going… not! We got up and caught a train for 2$ to the border, then from there it was a half hour to Biarritz. We waited in the border town for about an hour...