Visitors from Home

Once again, people from back home made the long journey to Pamplona – this time, my aunt Caro and my uncle Martin came to visit. Unfortunately, when their plane landed in Pamplona at 1:50 pm on Saturday, they weren’t greeted by the sunny Spanish weather they had hoped for, but by thunderstorms, hail, and pouring rain. The weather remained unpredictable for the rest of the afternoon, with blue skies and sunshine followed by clouds and rain.

Luckily, it improved in the evening, and we were treated to a surprise street concert in a crowded alleyway in the old town.

For Sunday, we had reserved a car and headed to Tudela, where a vegetable festival was coming to an end that day. We tested some products and strolled through the small town.

Then we drove to the Bardenas Reales semi-desert, which I have now seen for the third time. It is simply one of my highlights of Navarre and has amazed absolutely everyone so far.

Afterward, we drove to Olite and visited the former royal seat of Navarre. Again, I’ve been there a few times now, but I’d forgotten how beautiful the place actually is, especially in good weather.

Finally, we went to Foz de Lumbier, a gorge not far from Pamplona.

On Monday, Caro and Martin spent the day in San Sebastián without me, since I had classes in the morning. In the evening, we met up again in Pamplona and happened to come across a dance performance in Plaza del Castillo in honor of the International Day of Dance. There was a variety of traditional dances, ballet, and modern dances.

On Tuesday, we rented a car again and this time explored the coast of the Basque Country. Starting from Bakio, we walked to San Juan de Gaztelugatxe. However, if I had known beforehand how steep the path would be, I definitely wouldn’t have suggested it, as I was wearing jeans in the midday heat. Thanks to the views, however, the exertions were quickly forgotten.

By the way, San Juan de Gaztelugatxe was the location for Dragonstone in Game of Thrones. I already visited the place in January, but back then the stairs to the chapel were blocked due to renovation work. So on Tuesday, I was finally able to climb the 241 steps to the highest point, and I felt a bit like a character from the fantasy series.

The way back to the car was much more pleasant, as it was downhill and cloudy. We also didn’t mind that the clouds later turned into light rain, as we were back in the dry car by this point.

Our trip’s last destination was the Basque Country’s capital, Vitoria-Gasteiz. We strolled around the beautiful old town and admired the graffiti walls.

With that, this visit from back home was coming to an end, and I had to say goodbye to Caro and Martin, who were going to fly home on Wednesday. Thank you for your visit and for the lovely time we spent together!

Some Climbing Action above San Sebastián

On a trip to Monte Igueldo in November, I noticed the “Canopy Donosti Aventura” high ropes course on one of San Sebastián’s hills. Since then, I’ve been dreaming of visiting the place myself and admiring the fantastic views from high up in the trees. It was finally time to visit it with Abigail, the Scottish language assistant, this Friday.

We had a relaxed start to the day, as our high-ropes-course adventure didn’t begin until 12:30pm. When we saw a large group of students at the meeting point, we initially worried that we would have to share the course with them, but things turned out quite the opposite: We were the only visitors in the early afternoon and had everything to ourselves. After a short introduction, we immediately started the Flying Fox Parkour, which consisted of no less than fourteen ziplines and three obstacles.

My favorite part of the course was the view of the bay of San Sebastián. I wanted to just stay on the small plateau forever.

However, there was still a second course, so we carried on. This parkour only included three flying foxes but nine obstacles, some of which required a lot of courage or at least huge leaps.

After that, we certainly more than deserved the huge bánh mì at Gosea. Who would have thought that I would find an incredibly delicious version of the Vietnamese sandwich in the Basque Country of all places?

San Sebastián certainly hasn’t seen the last of me today, and I’m looking forward to sunnier (bathing) days at the beautiful Basque coast in the coming months.

Hiking in the Aragonese Pyrenees

On Sunday, another hike of the Universidad Pública de Navarra (UPNA) took place. We were headed to the neighboring province of Aragón, and this time I even had company as Klára from Slovenia, who I know from playing volleyball on Sundays, came along. Since she used to go to school in Vienna, we were able to talk in German, and I was happy to be able to use my mother tongue again for everyday conversations.

After almost three hours on the bus, we reached our destination (or at least got close to our starting point). Unfortunately, the bus could not navigate a tight bend, meaning we had to walk the last 3.5 kilometers to Oncins. A warm-up exercise for what was to follow and the reason why the hike didn’t take us all the way to Peña Montañesa as planned. However, we were already able to catch a glimpse of the mountain ledge from below.

We hiked steeply uphill over stones and scree with a wonderful view. At first, I kept up with the group, but it soon became clear that I couldn’t keep up the pace. Many times I was on the verge of simply turning back, but my pride and the motivation from our guides were simply too great.

We finally stopped for lunch in a large meadow at half past one. Not a minute too late for me, because the 1000 meters of altitude covered had made me pretty hungry.

Instead of taking part in the subsequent speed hike up La Tuca, I offered (quite selflessly, of course) to guard the backpacks. A good choice, because for one thing, the others didn’t reach the summit anyway due to the lack of time and for another, a herd of goats appeared out of nowhere and the backpacks had to be protected from the hungry animals.

On the way down, I realized once again that my favorite part of hiking is simply reaching the top and descending.

All in all, it was a strenuous but also beautiful hike on a wonderfully sunny Sunday.