patrick.net

My wife and I just spent two weeks in northern Spain, getting back yesterday just before the internet crash cancelled a lot of flights, whew. We flew into Madrid, visited an old college friend of mine, then took the train up to the Basque country, rented a car, drove across the northern coast of Spain, ending up in Santiago de Compostela, where we returned the car and got a train back to Madrid for the flight home.

Thoughts:

Way more prosperous than Mexico or Argentina, Spanish-speaking places we have also visited.

Most people were Spanish. People would turn their heads when I spoke English. Not many people were the Indiano mixed types I see in California. They were all pretty much European looking, except for maybe a few percent each of friendly Africans selling things on the streets, and Moroccans who don't seem to work and look very unfriendly.

Basque country had everything dual language, even things like banks. Basque is definitely a living language, though used more in the countryside than cities. They had a lot of "Free Palestine" graffiti in Basque. Galicia also had graffiti like "Galicia no es España" where some counter-protestor had crossed out the "no". Galician language seems to be mixed Portuguese and Spanish.

Lots of homo flags still up from Sodomy Month, and gays and some trannies were about.

Restaurants were generally high quality and about half of what it would cost where we live. People use credit cards for pretty much everything, even tiny purchases. No prices in restaurants or cafes, but very few problems with getting overcharged or crap food. Happened a couple of times in very touristy areas. I remember Italy as being full of scam restaurants.

One graffito in Santiago said "tourists go home", but their whole existence has been tourists forever, being the end of a major pilgrimage route.

Driving was a bit stressful, since the speed limit would change over and over in large and unpredictable ways. I don't recommend driving in Spain.

Lots of smokers everywhere. People drink a lot late into the evening, especially Friday and Saturday nights.

Overall, people were quite friendly and chill.

This was not even a tourist restaurant, but instructions on how to piss were in English: