I have mentioned several times how much I like to find some free time to take a walk in the most centric big park in Madrid, Retiro. Last week, I have been twice. One on a sunny warm Saturday morning, and also on a foggy weekday. Two totally different moments to realize Winter is here in a natural environment.
A new year has just started and it is time to review the past year and prepare the new year’s goals.
Looking back to 2010, it has been quite a satisfactory year. I guess my main goal one year ago was to achieve some sort of change happen in my professional life, and I managed to get it by mid-year by changing role, company and industry; and I cannot really complain about the rest of aspects in my life. So, the review of the last year is full positive.
Regarding the new year’s goals, after reading this article in HBR, I have decided to share some of those with you, so I fulfill both the female and male requirements: writing them down and making them public.
First, in one year time, I will try to be studying French at some level. In order to make sure I achieve this, this should mean that I should be attending regularly French classes. Why French? Well, why not? I prefer starting with a new one, rather than improving the ones I have.
Second, I have already started a new project related to one of my hobbies: photography. This project is quite common among people who like taking photographs to make them take pictures even when there is no reason for that. As you normally publish them, you normally try not to make random pictures but to think them a little bit, improving your skills hereby. So, my project is called 52 Weeks (yes, I did not find a less original name for it), and can be found online. This goal will be achieved if I successfully publish a picture every week (I am a bit more relaxed about the fact of having taking the published picture that very same week…).
There are more, but I still keep something for myself. Internet knows already quite a lot about me. Let’s see what we can do with 2011.
The longest weekend in the year in Spain (5 days) is the perfect excuse (do we need one?) to travel. This time was the turn for Euskadi or Basque Country. Well-known region in the world, but totally unknown for me.
First stop in the last trip to the North of Spain, Burgos welcomed us with a white landscape.
Beautiful city crossed by the Arlanzón river (I have a soft spot for the cities with rivers) and really good food. After getting warm with a soup, we took advantage of a couple of advices from a “burgalés”, and enjoyed some good tapas, made of the typical black pudding.
From the touristic point of view, there are several monasteries worth the visit, and very good spots. We went to the Real Monasterio de las Huelgas, and took the guided tour which I really recommend to see the different rooms and the two cloisters.
Then, it was time for Vitoria. It is the southernmost province of Euskadi, and also the least known one. Just a couple of hours there were enough to visit the old town and get a feeling of the city, accompanied by a local friend. The first stop in Euskadi started showing us a pattern in most of the cities in the region: polished streets and lively old towns.
Bilbao is one of the biggest cities in Spain and one of the most industrial ones in the region. Yet another city with river (did I mention I like these?), full of warm people which made us not notice the wind and rain that accompanied us during our visit. You cannot miss here the “Ensanche” (where you can still find some jewels in form of old palaces in the middle of tall buildings), the city centre is also really nice and full of people who actually live there.
The surroundings are also worth a visit. The famous “Puente Colgante” de Portugalete links Las Arenas de Getxo and Portugalete over the river. Constructed by a pupil from Mr.Eiffel, it is nowadays a UNESCO World Heritage.
Last but not least, one can enjoy nice food (anchovies, tuna,…) with a great Txakoli wine in the Old Port of Alkorta together with an amazing view from Bilbao, the river, and the very close mountains behind the city.
After having visited Bilbao, it was time to drive east towards San Sebastián. The best option if you can afford one day here is to invest it in enjoying the coast between these two big cities. There you can find lots of scattered towns in a breathtaking orography. Some of the places we stopped in were Bermeo, Mundaka (beloved by the surfers due to its almost perennial wave – not when we went, though!), Elantxobe (so small that the main square needs to turn to let the bus turn around!), and the night caught us before getting to Getaria.
And finally we arrived to our last stop: Donosti/San Sebastián. In opposition to Bilbao, Donosti is open to the see. There are two mountains in each corner of La Concha beach, which are also surrounded by the water and when the wind blows from the north, the water hitting the rocks everywhere offer an amazing spectacle… or at least that is what the travelguide and the locals say, because (lucky us) when we were there the wind blew from the South, which meant no wave at all, no water hitting in the rocks, etc.
(Even) More pictures in this slideshow.
