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Sent from Seville on Wed, 29 Mar 2006

Barcelona, San Sabastian, Bilbao, Vigo (Galicia), Porto
(Portugal), Hi fr.Lisbon

Actually, I am in Seville now.

ENGLISH.  Better in Spain and Portugal than all of Latin
America, but still VERY deficient.  Sometimes the people
who can speak English are a surprise, like this morn, the
street cleaners in DENIA, but no one else until I got my
ferry ticket.

1. A bit of geography.  So far I have covered all northern
provinces of Spain, including the 3 Basque ones. Starting
from Barcelona in Catalonia (Catalunya in Spanish) and
going counter-clockwise: Navarra (Pamplona), Pais Vasco
(San Sabastian, Bilbao), Aragon (Tarragona), La Rioja
(Zaragoza), Castilla y Leon (Leon), Asturias (passed),
Galicia (Vigo), Portugal, Extremadura (Cacere), Andalucia
(Seville, next Cordoba, then Granada), Murcia (later), and
Valencia (later), plus 2 of the Balearic Islands.  Madrid
and Castilla Mancha (Toledo) I had done on earlier
occasions, as also some of these.

a) Andalucia is where the Moorish heritage of Spain is most
concentrated, though also in Toledo south of Madrid, for
example.  Of these, Catalonia and Basque provinces of Pais
Vasco, Navarra, and Aragon (collectively referred to as
Euskadi in Basque) are richest and they want their
independence from Spain, though I dont know enough of the
details to suggest if they also want to secede from Spain
as does Quebec from Canada periodically.  The Catalans
speak their own Catalan language, as do the Basques, the
Euskara.  The ETA term referring to the Basque terrorist
group stands for Euskadi ta Askatasuna.  The Guggenheim
Museum in Bilbao (by architect Frank Gehry) is one of the
most uniquely spectacular creations, as the opera house in
Sydney.

Some of the names you hear in conjunction to these parts
are: Costa del Sol is the region to the west of Malaga,
incl. Torremolinos and Marbella; Costa de Almeria is in the
south, to the east of Almeria; Costa Blanka (I will do
after Granada) is on the mainland across from Ibiza, south
of Denia; Costa Brava (Rugged Coast), is the coast north of
Barcelona to Perpignan, which I did coming from
Montpellier, will do again when I leave the Iberian
Peninsula for Marseille; Costa Vasca is around San
Sabastian; then in Galicia you have inlets and sheer rock
cliffs at Rias Altas (facing north), and Rias Bajas, the
coast facing west, Northwest of Vigo.

2. San Sabastian.  Barcelona to San Sabastian (Donostia in
Basque) is about 10 hours by train, a little less from
Madrid.  The bus station is next to the river.  (Keep the
cathedral to your left, walk along that street to the
river, turn right, walk another 1/2km.) (I am not sure how
Donostia ended up as San Whatever, unless of course it was
named by a religious fanatic who saw a saint regardless
where he looked, as in New Brunswick and Quebec, Canada
where EVERY place you pass is named after a saint.) The
city is one of the prettiest places I have seen anywhere,
at the level of Rio, Miami Beach, etc.  Rather than
describe it here, wait till I post the photos.  Suffice for
now to say that the Atlantic is to its north, 2 very nice
crescent beaches, each with about a mile diameter, adorn
the city, literally hugging the visitor and residents in. 
People stroll along these late at night, even on week days.
 The HI hostel is at one end of the bay.  It is a nice one
with free Internet.  You would need to take a taxi to there
but walk back to the city along the bay, as I did.

3. Bilbao.  Is one hour by bus from San Sabastian on a nice
road.  From the bus station, take the tram nearby--ask
Information where--directly to the Guggenheim Museum and
the mall surrounding it.  The enclave is nicely designed
next to the river. The elaborate parts of the building are
all from titanium and glass.  It is awesome.  Wait for the
photos.  Oh, I should add that the 1st floor is occupied by
huge (10ft tall, 3 inches thick, very heavy) metal designs
by a Stern.  Some are arranged as undulating pathways about
50m long, others as concentric domes you walk in and find
your way out.  The HI Hostel in Bilbao is an imposing
building on top of a hill, not near anything.  Bus 58
passes near it and takes you near the train station--still
1/2km walk though.

4. Bilbao to Galicia is about 12 hours by train, either to
La Coruna (with a change), or directly to Vigo, about an
hour south of La Coruna.  The tracks go south to Tarragona
then turn west to Miranda de Ebro.  Then appear the Picos
de Europa mountains, awesome, rugged sheer rock cliffs on
top of lush mountains.  The closest thing I saw--even more
awesome--are the TEPUI (sheer mesa cliffs) as we sailed
along the Churun River to the Angel Falls in Venezuela. 
Then it is flat farmlands--as if going thru Ohio--followed
by a coal mining region where the mines are strip mines on
the surface and the earth looks all black.  It is an
unusual sight.  The mountains start again after Leon and
become awesome, blended with beautiful meadows and a river
that accompanies the tracks for several hours, all the way
to Vigo.  I considered going to La Coruna, but the sky was
overcast and it was raining, not the best time to see the
very scenic cliffs to the northeast.  There are frequent
trains back to Vigo (one hour) that connect to Porto (2.5
hours) in Portugal, to Lisbon (5 hours) from there.

5. Lisbon.  Is a sprawling city.  The sites are scattered
in every direction.  The train station (for Madrid) is at
Station Apolonia, not far (but steep hills) from Castelo de
Sao Jorge.  I took a taxi there and then walked down the
very quaint and steep cobble-stone streets of the old
Alfama section where the castle is located.  The Mosteiro
(Monastery) dos Jeronimos is a must-see site, alas 6km in
the Belem section of the city.  Take Bus 28 from the
station (to its right, facing the front entry) directly to
the front of the monastery.  It is an awesome building that
took 100 years to complete, I was told.  Further away is
the Torre de Belem, a tower on the river.

6. Addendum.

a) HOSTEL in MADRID.  Try 2 new hostels, LOS AMIGOS SOL and
same OPERA (www.losamigoshostel.com) both very centrally
located.  Browse around the old town; be sure to visit the
PRADO MUSEUM.

b) BARCELONA to SAN SABASTIAN. The train from Barcelona
Sants Station to San Sabastian does NOT list the latter. 
It says 12:30pm Bilbao, Hendeya (direction). This is the
one that first stops in San Sabastian at about 9pm.

c) IN SAN SABASTIAN. When you 1st arrive at San Sabastian
at that hour, right outside the station are 2 ornate
columns that you may want to take a photo of.  Take a taxi
to Hotel Nice only, get off, walk back along the ocean
drive to a well-lit large ornate building.  Unless it is
raining, the streets are alive with people.  It is a very
scenic walk especially at night.  Take some photos if you
wish and then take a taxi to the nice HI hostel there at
the other end of the bay--and a bit inland.

d) SAN SABASTIAN to BILBAO. There are more buses and more
frequently--and faster--than trains all over Spain.  So
even if you have a train pass, at times it may be more
expedient to take the bus, like from San Sabastian to
Bilbao.  I had described where the bus station is in San
Sabastian: at PLAZA PIO XII.  It costs about 7E for the
one-hour ride.  And the bus station in Bilbao is near the
tram (No. 28) to the Guggenheim Museum; the same tram also
goes to the train station, after the museum.  If you are
already in San Sabastian, not seeing Bilbao would be bad
planning.  You can do the museum in a few hours.  There is
not much to the city besides that. So you can leave in some
direction the same day, as the HI Hostel there is not
conveniently situated, but stay if you have to.  Use Bus 58
to get there.

e) BILBAO to GALICIA.  There is a 10:30am bus that arrives
in La Coruna at 20:30, and one at 1:30am arriving at
12:15pm.  There is also a 9:15am train (12 hours) to both
VIGO and LA CORUNA in Galicia, the SAME train, from the
ABANDO Train Station.  They separate in OURENSE, Galicia, a
very scenic mountainous region, where the one VIGO you
continue, the one to La Coruna you change trains.  Arrival
times are: Vigo at 20:10, to Coruna at 21:10.

f) IN VIGO.  If you find yourself at night in Vigo, not a
particularly attractive city, and you want to stay there,
say for the connection to PORTO, Portugal then LISBON, just
cross the 30m or so of the parking lot and glance to your
right to see large HOSTAL MADRID written on the back side
one of the buildings.  Get to the street facing the front
and you will see 2 other hostals: RESIDENCIA and NORTH. 
You will be very close to the train station for the early
train to PORTO, Portugal.

g) BEWARE!  Hostal Madrid charges supposedly 12E a night
(bath outside), BUT the receptionist will ask 20E because,
he will say, he has only large or double rooms left.  Tell
him you will only use one bed.  This is a trick at many
hostels, to get more money from you, AND since they rarely
give receipts, pocketing the difference from 12E.  This is
how I got cheated much more in Barcelona the 3rd night, BUT
I did not have a easy alternative.

h) LA CORUNA to VIGO to PORTO to LISBON.  There are many
trains from La Coruna to Vigo, the transfer point for train
to PORTO, Portugal, from there to LISBON.  The trains from
La Coruna start at 6:10 to 22:35, 18 trains per day.  From
VIGO, there is a 3hr 15min train to PORTO, PORTUGAL at
7:45am, there at 10:56am.  Right upon arrival in Porto, a
fast train will be waiting for you to Lisbon, BUT should
you miss it, there is another an hour later, arriving in
Lisbon about 5 hours later--still daylight.

i) LISBON. I had already described the city in my last
report.  It is a sprawling metro.  I limited myself to the
Monastery of JIRANEMO, the TORRE de BELEM, back by Bus 28
to APOLONIA Train Station, taxi to the CASTELO de SAO
JORGE, then walked back thru the lovely ALFAMA section to
the station, stopping at the terrace of LARGO das PORTAS do
SOL, for the lovely views around.

Sirman