Day 23 - Bordeaux to San Sebastián.

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Hola....

See how good my Spanish is already. NOT...

Up early for our 0800 check out. Man arrives at 0815 apologising for early start and then tells us how the apartment is his daughters who is studying medicine at bordeaux uni. Expalis the pink sheets and pretty pics around the walls.... Anyhoo, all good and security deposit back in our hands. Wander the town which is just waking up. Find a place and get pastries and fresh squeezed OJ. Sit on the steps of the opera house and watch the crowds go by. Interesting way to start the day.

Off tour tram and to the station. Lucky we have ourselves plenty of time. The automated ticket printing bit failed miserably. Noticed our booking and tickets but when I had to enter the card it just spat the dummy. Asked the man at the counter - oh, not a French card, you need to go to the ticket hall down the other end. Ok, Chris sits with the bags and I wander off in pursuit of tickets. Get a nice gut who speaks English and we are off. Tickets printed, says there are plenty of seats even though he can't allocate any and we wait for the 20 minute shotgun of platform announcement. Bingo bango, platform 2.

Down we go and then up to 2. Find whe our carriage will stop - they have letters on the platform that identify where each carriage will stop - they do it well over here. Watch out for the dog shite on the platform and to our designated letter. Train pulls up, struggle bags on and Chris dispatched to get seats while I get bags stowed. Done and done. Good seats and bags nearby so all good. Away and flying before we can speak.

This train will stop at a few stations on the way. All good. Countryside flies past and so does my stamina to stay awake. We make our first stop and lots get offm but more get on. Constant flow of people on and off all the way.. Get close to our destination and people start asking me how long and is this the right station. Hello, I am guessing as well. Anyway, we arrive at our end point, clamber off and try to work out where to go. Spot our train time and see San Sebastián on the stations stopped at. We are on platform 6 and it leaves from platform 5 which is across the tracks. Underground here we come, and guess what, our 22 minute stopover has diminished to 5 minutes due to late arrival. Scurry down the stairs - lots of people waiting for the lift. Up the lift on 5 and to the train. Luckily our carriage is the first one so battle with bags into stowage. Our seats are there and quite a few who followed us get on as well.

Settled and within minutes we roll away. Think most people around us breathe a sigh of relief. All good, inspector checks tickets and we are then about to arrive. Struggle once again with bags and off. We have been given instruction on which bus to catch that passes our new accomodation. No.45 for €1.7 each - bargain. Out the front and No.45 is there waiting. On the bus, ask for 2 tickets in my best Spanish, luckily he had some English as well. Show him the stop we need at the end, no problems, he will tell us. Looking better all the time.

Rolling and through town, along the beach and finally into the burbs. The driver alerts us to get off, gracias (that's Spanish for 'good on you'). Get directions off email and wander of our next play of abode. As we get to the door, I get the phone out to call our Spanish only speaking host. Next thing we have 2.5 Spanish people approach us. Are you the Australians. Yes. They had been sitting having a coffee. Host is the Spanish only speaker with her 4 year old daughter, and her niece who speaks pretty good English.

Up we go. I tot he apartment which looks really good. Lots of goodies, town map, Internet password, 2 sets of keys and then lots of instructions on whatnot do, etc. Mix of Spanish and English crossovers but we feel very welcomed and they love to share their information and knowledge which is really nice.

Open bags, the after a little while decide to walk back towards town and the information centre. Quite a way out of town but the walk will do us good after sitting on the train. It had rained after we got into the apartment but looked good now so off we go. Nice wander along the cove with a beach at our end then a rocky outcrop with a road and pedestrian tunnel then back to sandy beach all the way into the town. Half way along when it starts to drizzle. Chris reminds me there was an umbrella in the porch back home. Too late now. The it gets a little heavier sp we dash to the nearest cover. A bar.....

Oh dear. Just in time, and we actually got to pick the best outdoor seats for rain. Wine. Prawn skewers and chips and we are happy. Not only a bit of rain, it pours. We sit out the rain, then it is bright sunshine. Off we go again. Finally make the old town and the information centre. Lots of ideas, maps and stuff. Armed with all this we move to the surf beach for a look, then back to the free museum on Tuesday place for a look see. Out of there and it getting close to eating time. We had been give the name of 2 places to eat. Wander the streets looking for the first named place. Eventually google it and walk the streets we had done before, only to find it up a street we had trudged but not quite far enough. Walk in, empty so looking good. Sorry, not open till 2030 and we are full. Bugger off.

Ok, no 2 place. Find this one much easier, but guess what. Closed altogether. Not meant to happen. Decide to head back towards where we had our rain stop. Right on the beach looking out over the little island in the middle of the cove. Find one and go to sit. Ok, but can't order till 2030. This is the only time in a sit down restaurant that you can order after.

No probs, but get me a cold beer, please. Done and much better. Had dinner whic was really nice the the walk back home. Lights on the foreshore are very pretty and they also have the island lit up as well. Stunning views at night. Made it home without issue and now to react the weary legs....

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