Step off the beaten track of Spanish tourism with a detour to Bilbao, a modern city nestled in the heart of the Basque country.
What To Do?: If you've made it this far you absolutely have to go to the Guggenheim Bilbao, if only for its Jeff Koonz statue "Puppy View 4" (a giant dog) and river views. But the Euskal Museoa (Basque Museum) is a great place to start your trip by getting acquainted with Basque culture -- not only is it a small and well organized museum, it's smack dab in the middle of the casco viejo, the oldest part of town. And there are plenty of mom-and-pop restaurants nearby to give you your fix of pintxos, or Basque tapas.
Getting There: Air France flies from New York to Bilbao's uber-modern airport via Paris (a seven-hour flight followed by a two-hour flight). Or fly through Madrid or Barcelona and pick up a discounted fare through Vueling. EasyJet flies to Bilbao from Londson-Stansted, base for Eos and MAXjet.
Where To Stay: The advantage of staying here, as opposed to Madrid or Barcelona, is you can usually find a great deal just by wandering around. If seat-of-your-pants travel isn't your thing, check into the Ria de Bilbao Residencia -- a hostel that looks like a hotel but is priced (at $33/night for a double private room) like a campground.
Bonus Tip: While most people in Bilbao speak Spanish, secession-hungry activists have been campaigning for a revival of Euskara, a language resembling almost no other in Europe which separatists claim is proof the Basque civilization predated anything in Spain or France. Maybe a little far-fetched, but make sure you catch some Euskara speakers in action or at least on the news.
The Costa del Sol in Spain is not beautiful. Yeah, it's a coastline on the Mediterranean with endless beaches, but one doesn't go there for the nature. Instead, one goes to party. Northern Europeans started the trend, and the rest of the world obediently followed suit, turning beaches like Malagueta into centers of hedonism.
It is in Andalusia, so there is lots of interesting history and culture, if you look for it. But you might be the only one in the museum, especially in the summer months, when the beaches are most packed. In fact, MTV has taken to holding concerts there, and Enrique Iglesias performed at one recently. He's really a perfect match for the place, all sweaty suaveness. Bet he wears cologne.
We thought that Jai Alai (pronounced high lie) was just for crossword puzzles, but the game is quite popular in the Basque region of Spain. Sadly, it's nearly gone from the national consciousness of most other places on earth. Even though it was an international craze at the turn of the 20th century, only two courts remain in the U.S., both in Florida. Hardly national treasures, they operate more like OTBs than anything else.
It's surprising, because the game sounds exciting; players compete by alternately hurling a goatskin ball against a wall with a cesta, which is made from Spanish chestnut and reeds, trying to get their competitor to drop the ball instead of returning it successfully. The ball goes really, really, fast: Up to 180mph. Think of it as death squash, or extreme racquetball.
If you want to see jai alai in person, villages along the Spanish coast near San Sebastian are your best bet. Information is sometimes posted here as well. It sure beats watching a bullfight, if you ask us.
Explosions? What red-blooded male doesn't love 'em? Gents, this is one explosion that you can use to show your sensitive side; it's an explosion that is even supported by Greenpeace. How's that for touchy-feely?
A hotel project at El Algarrobico beach, near Carboneras in the southeastern region of Spain was half-completed. However, Greenpeace, among others, protested the construction, claiming that it was adding to further destruction of the Spanish coastline.
The regional Spanish government is paying about $2.5 million dollars to buy the hotel back from developers in order to have it destroyed. Greenpeace had seized upon the complex, which would have included a gold course and 1,500 apartments, as a symbol for overdevelopment in the region.
See, if Greenpeace spent more time appealing to the Maxim contingent while pursuing their agenda, they would get a lot more done.
Ferrán Adria may be the chef of El Bulli, the top-ranked restaurant in Europe by quite a few different tallies, but that isn't stopping the man from bringing edible sea foam to the world of fast food in Madrid. He's just opened the second branch of his takeaway joint, Fast Good, in Madrid. A brave name for a restaurant, even one by a Michelin chef with three stars to his name.
The menu looks to be a mix of lunchtime staples; hamburgers, salads, even bocadillo sandwiches made with high-end pata negra ham. Unlike many chains, which replicate their menu everywhere, the menu here changes quite often; we'll see if customers get frustrated at not having permanent access to their favorites over time.
The chain seems to be doing well: branches are planned for Barcelona, Valencia, and Las Palmas. Sure beats Arby's, doesn't it?
The English haven't offered the world much in the way of cuisine, except for perhaps fish and chips. Now we think the Spanish have them beat at even that. Pescaito frito, a fried-fish delicacy from the southern Iberian province of Cádiz, is miles ahead of its English counterpart. Not only does it taste better, but the Spanish version also offers a lot more variety: You're not limited to just cod fillets here, folks. They'll fry you up any seafood you wish, from baby squid to fish eggs. Our personal favorite is cazón en adobo, dogfish in "special" spices.
Where can you get some of that delicious dogfish for yourself? It doesn't get any better than in the capital of Cádiz Province itself, also named Cádiz. A peninsular city jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean (Cádiz claims to be the oldest in Europe, at 3,000 years old) is dotted with dozens of fast-food fried-fish joints, known as freidurias. Our personal favorite is Freiduria Veedor, located on a street of the same name in the center of town.
Once you've found Veedor, go for the surtido, a mix of everything they have to offer. Just don't expect any boring ol' cod in that mix; you'll have to go back to England if you want those.
Those in, near, or visiting New York have until May 1 to check out On-Site, a fantastic overview of recent and future Spanish architecture at the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA).
It's noteworthy how many of the buildings profiled in the exhibit are for public use. Public housing, government buildings, health centers, and museums all feature prominently. On-Site makes a great case for the cultural value of ambitious government-funded public architecture.
Highlights include Murcia's Town Hall Extension and, of course, the ridiculously beautiful new T4 terminal at Madrid's Barajas. The latter is surely already prompting travelers to route connections through Madrid in order to spend even a few hours under those amazing bamboo waves.
Each profiled project is helpfully plotted on a map of Spain, which is an indispensable aid for those working out a fantasy contemporary archi-tour itinerary.
This week's bad fare is a bit of a shout out to one of our favorite writers, Anthony Lane. He's one of the New Yorker's film critics--we hazily remember that he may have liked one of the films that he reviewed in the late 90s, but there hasn't been much since then--and this week, for the magazine's Journeys Issue, he tackles low-cost Irish carrier Ryanair.
To prove his point, Lane pretty much choses a destination at random; one that he has not heard of, and then tries to figure out where, exactly, he has arrived. His choice? Vitoria Gasteiz, in the Basque region of Spain. If you want to recreate his trip, it'll run you $2.82 before taxes if you book by tomorrow and travel anytime before the end of October, save for a chunk of summer blackout dates.
However, do you really want to be jammed on a Ryanair flight with a bunch of other people who are enamored of Anthony Lane? It's one thing to consider having such a insouciantly cantankerous seatmate such as he, but being stuck with a tweedy Lane-wannabe sounds even worse. So take that cheap flight to Spain, but do so at your own risk. Or at least bring some headphones.
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by egw
