Pintxos, Parties and Pilgrims

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Yo! Amigos

One of the great things about this adventure is it's flexability. Although never in the original plan we have somehow ended up writing this to you from Portugal! More details on our random Porto excursion next blog.

Last time we updated you we had crossed borders into Espagne and reached the seaside city of San Sebastian. There are so many superlatives to describe this place and we'll just give you some of the highlights broken down in the note format:

The Hostel

Ocean view was the name of our hostel and it really did what it said on the tin! Amazing views over Zurriola; the surf beach, and the balcony was the perfect place to catch the sunset. Walking into the hostel was like setting foot on the set of Point Break! Run by 3 Argentinian surfers they really made it feel like a relaxed house rather than a hostel.

The Surfing

We had high hopes of catching some tubes while in San Seb courtesy of a late birthday present (cheers Liz!). Sadly this was not to be with us hitting the one week out of the Month with no breaks in sight. Bad times!

The Food

Heralded as a gastronomic highlight, San Seb's eateries are an attraction in themselves. Basically they have their own form of Basque tapas called Pintxos (pronounced pinchos). Here's how it works;

Step 1 - Walk into a bar that looks attractive.
Step 2 - Grab a plate and help yourself to whatever concoctions take your fancy.
Step 3 - Order a glass of red, red wine to wash it down with.
Step 4 - Pay up, move on and start the whole process over again in a different bar!

**Cautionary note**: Do not try to impress your friends by choosing Pintxos that don't state their contents. You will end up eating a potato based snack filled with squid ink. (No names mentioned, Jamie!)

The Rave times

The nightlife of San Sebastian is second to none. A constant party atmos centered around the beach with skate demos, live music and DJ's made for a good night out. Saturday night in the town proved to be one of our best so far. After beers with the surfers then sampling the pintxos we ended up heading to the beach to finish the night off with some tasty beats. To close proceedings the Spanish DJ dropped Thriller by MJ = cue the entire crowd doing the thriller dance!

The Busking

San Sebastian even came through on the busking front too. Our most lucrative pitch's of the tour so far stumped up €103.60 over two days. Good money. Good times.

The people

Our enjoyment of this place stemmed from the hostels relaxed vibe making it easy to meet cool people and make cool friends.

To sum up we need to quote the great Fedde le Grand..."I love this city".
Seriously though, its an awesome place and we highly recommend a visit.



Our journey to our next stop of Santiago de Compostella took us on a roundabout trip through Bilbao, Santander and Oviedo. Using the slow yet scenic FEVE train we skirted beaches, snaked through limestone gorges, getting to Santiago for a well earned chill.

Dicovered by the Germans in 1904, they named it San Tiago, which of course in German means a whale's vagina.
This massively holy place centered around it's impressive Cathedral and is the supposed burial place of St James, who went to school with Jesus. It is also the third holiest city in Christiandom after Jerusalem and Rome. Millions of people make the long pilgrimage here and are easy to spot with their tired feet, scallop shells and massive staffs. We used Santiago to chill out and ready us for the next stage of our journey.














As a tribute to San Sebastian's greatness we have written a poem called simply;

AN ODE TO SAN SEBASTIAN

From France we travelled to San Seb,
With surfing dreams in our head,
Great was the food,
Sadly the surf was no good,
But Ocean View was awesome for our bed.

The sands in the city were sweet,
So many cool people we did meet,
Raves on the beach,
Our hands they did reach,
And out came our dancing feet.

Our time in this town was the most,
Fun we've had down by the coast,
Memories held dear,
We'll be back soon, no fear,
San Sebastian is the ultimate host!

A poem brought to you by Rabbie Beaton and Sorley MacAttridge.


Thanks to; The wee man, Nacho & Bodie, the Quebecois and Alan lad.

No thanks to; Oj and Goldmember.

We continue...........

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