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Published: October 31st 2011
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This weekend I went to San Sebastian with my friends Leslie and Ally. We took a night bus from Barcelona to San Sebastian and arrived in San Sebastian at 6:10 A.M. after driving over 7 hours. San Sebastian was a beautiful city with amazing views of the beach from the two hills in the bay: Mount Urgull and Mount Igueldo.
When we arrived in San Sebastian we immediately made our way from the bus stop to the beach in the pitch black morning. We couldn't check into our hostel until noon so we decided to hang out on the beach and explore the city. We first walked to the river that empties into the Atlantic Ocean as daylight began to peer from behind the Pyrenees Mountains.
Afterwards we hiked up Mount Urgull. We were amazed with the greenery of the grass and trees on the hill. It looked as though we were in Ireland. We found a museum at the top of the hill when we reached the summit. The museum wasn't too exciting but we were able to walk on the top patio where the statue of Jesus, which overlooks the entire city of San Sebastian, was located.
From there, we had astonishing views of the city of San Sebastian and its beaches. San Sebastian was definitely the most naturally beautiful city I've seen in Spain (Granada was pretty, but the Alhambra and houses made strong contributions to the city's beauty).
Ally, Leslie, and I hiked the second hill after we checked into the hostel and ate lunch. Mount Igueldo was taller than Mount Urgull and had an amusement park at the top. We were too cheap to pay for the train that brings visitors to the top so we walked up the hill's windy streets instead. There were some great views of the Atlantic Ocean on our way up the hill. When we finally reached the top, we had the best view of San Sebastian with the Pyrenees in the background. Also, the clouds finally cleared and the sun was shinning so the city looked like a prime vacation destination. I remember the ocean water was very blue, a much cleaner blue than the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans in the United States. The entire view from the hill was picturesque.
It started to get late so we walked down the hill and walked around the
La Concha beach to watch the sunset. The sun did not set over the Atlantic, because the Atlantic Ocean faces the north side of the Iberian Peninsula in San Sebastian. Instead, it set over Mount Igueldo, but was still a cool sunset.
Later that night we ate dinner in the "old town" where our hostel was located. The food in San Sebastian was really expensive; my host mom later told me that San Sebastian and Barcelona were two of the most expensive cities in Spain. Luckily, it was still a relatively low-cost weekend because we didn't pay for museums or clubs. We ended the night early and went back to the hostel early because we were exhausted from the long day in San Sebastian.
The next morning we went to the other beach in San Sebastian. The girls saw people surfing and thought it'd be fun to rent a surfboard and wetsuits. I thought the waves weren't that good for me to surf: there were huge waves like the ones in Santa Cruz and then dinky white wash waves with a low tide. I decided to walk around the beach while they surfed and took in the scenery
of the town. I appreciated my decision to skip out on the surf session as the girls wore wet clothes on the bus ride home to Barcelona.
The bus back home was really cool because I got to see the Spanish countryside. I was surprised to see the majestic mountains and the greenery of the country. I also saw a lot of industrial towns, especially as we approached Barcelona. It was good to see a different non-touristy part of the country because I'm not particularly exposed to that when I travel.
San Sebastian was an absolutely beautiful city. I can't imagine how fun it must be to have a vacation there in the summer when the beaches are packed with swimmers and surfers. The weekend was also very relaxing because we didn't try to go to the museums in the city.
When I returned to Barcelona, I took the Green Line to the George Payne Bar next to Plaza Catalonia. I did this not only to watch some Sunday Football but also to see my friend Hannah Scott, who was visiting Barcelona from Florence. We caught up on some old times and exchanged our abroad stories. I
looked like an absolute fool in the bar though: I was wearing my backpack from San Sebastian and my running shoes. I was probably the only guy in the bar dressed like that but it was alright because I left within an hour. The only way the weekend could've been better would have been if the Patriots beat the Steelers that night. Owell, they're still doing really well this season.
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