Feeling very nostalgic now. I bet the road through the Pyrenees is more navigable these days - that’s the way I’d like to do it. but I really should go back there some time by hook or by crook.
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We spent 10 days up and down the Catalan Coast in fall of 2019 and I was very impressed and daresay moved by how many Catalan flags and signs of support for independence I saw everywhere. I have been working on my Spanish for years and I had a bartender early on tell me when I ordered a drink in Spanish that Spanish was the 3rd language there behind Catalan and English(no idea if that is actually true). I thought the food in that region was fantastic but everyone raves about Basque food so I can’t wait to get there and check it out.
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I enjoy the travel threads, been to 65?ish countries, mostly all over Asia, Central and S America, and Africa but shockingly little time in Europe, so I can’t comment much on France/Spain!
I was tempted to go trekking in Peru (Huayhuash circuit this summer, but broke my collarbone in Mexico, so I’m sidelined for a bit.
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Rick Stein is a restaurateur who also does a very watchable UK TV series on food around the world, where he travels and chats to people who cook for him (nice gig).
San Sebastien
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Tapas/Pinchos are definitely the way to go when they’re available, imo.
A friend and I bummed our way around Southern Spain 30+ years ago and would have run out of money after the first week if it hadn’t been for the (free) tapas with every glass of wine. 
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Well, the official name of the Spanish Autonomous Community (that’s the term they use) is Pais Vasco/Basque Country, but if you really want to be 100% accurate, you can call it Euskadi (which is what it is in the Basque language)
Some tips:
The letters “tx” together are pronounced like “ch”. You’ll see it everywhere.
Pintxos are basically the Basque version of tapas, but oh, so much more. And better. and fucking amazing. Here’s a pintxo bar in the old part of the city (sorry for quality, I took this in 2012 on an iphone 4, lol):
Txacoli is a Basque white wine, very dry and slightly carbonated. Order it at least once at a pintxo bar just to see the pour.
Cidra is Basque cider, which is more like wine than the beer-style ciders we’re used to. Careful though, it’ll fuck you up.
If you’re truly a foodie, try to get a reservation at one of the many Michelin starred restaurants in and around San Sebastian (which is called Donostia in Basque). Someday I will go to Arzak. Someday…
https://medium.com/toureaux/visiting-spain-san-sebastiáns-michelin-star-restaurants-53f31c1a02a8
Talk a walk along the beach all the way to the western end for some truly unique public art and gorgeous views. It’s only a couple of km all the way around.
Enjoy. It’s my favorite place in the world.
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You guys are really making me want to hit up Basque Country. Only problem is I’ve never been to Andalucia either, really want to go to Barcelona, and we’re landing in Madrid. It doesn’t seem like there’s an easy way to go Madrid - Sevilla - Basque - Barcelona without backtracking a lot or flying. Other issue is that my girlfriend and I are traveling with our dog (Chihuahua) and some of the discount airlines don’t allow dogs and we’d prefer to mostly use trains if possible. If I have to choose Andalucia or Basque, I think I’d go with Andalucia b/c it will be Winter and the weather will be a bit nicer.
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This is going to be an unpopular opinion here but I was not a big fan of Barcelona. Maybe it had been hyped too much to me. Maybe we stayed to close to La Rambla and I hate tourist fests. But I didn’t love it at all. We had spent the previously mentioned 10 days in small towns along the coast with fantastic food, friendly people and gorgeous beaches/views. So showing up in Barcelona after that just had me feeling like it was shit compared to the previous experiences.
I do have a general hate of mega cities though so take that with a grain of salt.
I’m mega-cities all the way so naturally Paris and Barcelona are my 1 and 2 and it surprises me when people dislike them. But it’s cool that there are so many varying opinions in this group and the dissension isn’t due to dumb reasons like “it’s not American enough”.
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How good is the transport between the Spanish and French parts in Basque Country? If it’s super easy to cross over to Biarritz from San Sebastian then that could sway me b/c I’m also looking for excuses to see more of France.
I’m going to edit in a full explanation when I have time. There is nothing inherently wrong with mega-cities imo. I grew up in Kansas and my whole family is mega risk averse. So for me I prefer going places where there is no bailout for me. I always tell people they are fucking up when traveling if every person at their bar/restaurant/location looks just like them. I find that happens to me way more in mega cities. It’s very possible I just suck at them and am bailing out because it is easier. When you go farther off the beaten path and no one speaks English and you don’t see Americans that’s when things get interesting for me.
I’m sure there are parts of Barcelona I would have loved. I wasn’t there long enough nor aware enough to make it there.
In short i love travel but hate tourism.
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Shit, anybody having their summer flights regularly cancelled? I had my flight to Bulgaria rescheduled and a flight out of Bulgaria cancelled twice. Don’t recall having this problem before.
Bulgaria Air also gonna take 3 months to get me my refund for one of those flights.
American Airlines cancelled a bunch of flights this past week, and has started adjusting schedules/ cancelling stuff through July. Seems to be a labor shortage, particularly with regards to pilots who need to get recertified because they missed out on training and flight hours during the past year.
Big lol if airlines didn’t keep their pilots up to date. My dad is a pilot for a large bank and even though he didn’t fly a real passenger trip for about 16 months they had everyone get in the required flight and school hours. I also believe the airplanes themselves need to be flown on a regular basis, they can’t just sit dormant for a year and then go right back to normal action.
I’m trying to schedule a flight for the last week of July and am wondering if I’m planning it too early. Two flights seems like bad luck.
I think some of the airlines went penny wise but pound foolish. They furloughed staff and parked planes in the desert for a year and then haven’t been able to get the staffing/equipment to ramp up as quickly as the travel demand picked up. With pilots specifically, what I’ve read seems to indicate that one of the big hurdles is that not every pilot is necessarily qualified to fly every plane in the fleet, so they are running into mismatches there. But it’s not just pilots. There have also been reports of super long telephone wait times because of a lack of customer service agents, and Delta was reportedly even asking gate agents and pilots to take shifts cleaning tables and running food in the Sky Club lounges.
Any recommendations for Budapest and Vienna. Looks like the wife and I are going to europe next year.
That’s a tough call, but my WAG is that they they’re going to try to stave off further cancellations as much as possible… Which means that if the do cancel stuff again, it’ll be on short notice because they absolutely have to. So if the decision is between booking for late July now vs waiting a week to book, I’m not sure that that one week would buy you much additional certainty.
Update here, we finalized our itinerary and will be hitting all of these cities. A couple of the train trips have been replaced by flights after we looked at durations. I’m not big on hour-by-hour planning but I like to have a basic list of activities for each city that we’ll finalize a couple nights in advance, depending on how we’re feeling, weather, etc. Since it’s our first time in each city we’ll definitely be doing the basic tourism stuff, but any other recommendations are welcome as well.
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Wait, thought you said you know Barcelona? Anyway, enjoy, that looks like amazing … Can’t believe I’ve never been to France but lived in Barcelona a few months and love the city.
Barcelona in August can be rough though. …
Anyone know that feeling where it’s been so long since you went to a place you don’t even know it anymore … have I even been to barcelona bro? I dunno.