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San Sebastián Travel Blogs

Background: Spain's powerful world empire of the 16th and 17th centuries ultimately yielded command of the seas to England. Subsequent failure to embrace the mercantile and industrial revolutions caused the country to fall behind Britain, France, and Germany in economic and political power. Spain remained neutral in World Wars I and II, but suffered through a devastating civil war (1936-39). In the second half of the 20th century, Spain has played a catch-up role in the western international community; it joined the EU in 1986. Continuing challenges include Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA) terrorism and further reductions in unemployment.

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By ahappz
September 26th 2009

What Luck!!!!!! Europe » Spain » Basque Country » San Sebastián

Imaginarium of Dr. Pernassus

You will not believe my crazy luck yesterday!!!! So the San Sebastian Film Festival has been going on for the past week and there were two main big movies that were being shown during it along with a bunch of other smaller less well-known films. There was the Brad Pitt movie Inglourious Bastards and of course you already know that Brad Pitt actually came to San Sebastian to promote the movie and actually watch the first showing. And that was exciting although i didnt get to see him. But the second big movie was The Imaginarium of Dr. Pernassus which is [View Full Entry]

By ahappz
September 22nd 2009

Studying and Dancing... Europe » Spain » Basque Country » San Sebastián

Basque Folkdance

What a rough but amazing couple of weeks so far! I'm finally starting to really enjoy my classes besides the hours of homework and work i have to put in to them. But it all really seems to be worth it. I am really learning a lot! It's crazy how much spanish i have already picked up from just being in Spain for 3 weeks. Plus my teacher is absolutely the sweetest and nicest lady ever. She tells us all of this interesting information about spanish and basque culture and she really wants for us to learn and get the most [View Full Entry]

By pumanomada
September 18th 2009

From the rain to the sun Europe » Spain » Basque Country » San Sebastián

Barcelona room view

Wherein I leave the rain for the sun I awoke Friday morning to find it was *pouring* rain in Donostia. Thunder, lightening, the whole works; it was beautiful! Think Seattle rain mid-winter: it was coming down sideways, in buckets. I had planned to walk to the local bakery to grab some breakfast to eat on the train (they had some lovely whole wheat rolls Thursday). The bakery was still closed when I walked by, so I kept walking. Made it to the station with time to spare. The station store was open, but all they had were Panier and doughnuts - [View Full Entry]

By ahappz
September 18th 2009

Some good days, some bad days... Europe » Spain » Basque Country » San Sebastián

Well yesterday was a pretty good day even though today was a pretty miserable day. Yesterday, Brad Pitt arrived in town for the film festival and he is staying at the Maria Christina hotel which is right down the street from our apartment. That was kind of exciting. Also, last night Meghan, Mia, Guy, Chuck, Laura, and me went to this jazz bar and it was really really cool. The music was live and it was this guy who played acoustic guitar and he sung in spanish and sometimes he had a drummer and tamberine player too but he was really [View Full Entry]

By joblessandhomeless09
September 18th 2009

The rain in Spain Europe » Spain » Basque Country » San Sebastián

Lovely spot, shame about the english

We leave the blue sky behind as we head over the border into Spain and on to San Sebastian. Lonely Planet rave about the place and it is a pretty mix of narrow old streets, bar tops stacked high with extravagantly prepared tapas and several beaches right outside the door. However the image is tarnished once the sun goes down by the number of english (well aussie actually) touts trying to coax you into bars ... just not prepared for that in this spot. Plus the rain comes in spades which doesn´t make for happy travellers. So being the troopers we [View Full Entry]

By pumanomada
September 17th 2009

Day 5: Donostia art and castle walk Europe » Spain » Basque Country » San Sebastián

Torta Chocolata and the sea

Beach walk Walked the beach again this morning, there was better light so caught some great pictures of the Manolo Valdez sculptures along the promenade. I then had an amazing lunch at one of the restaurants along the marina. I had a salad, and grilled squid. It was the most I've spent for a meal here, 30€, but totally worth it! An amazing meal I will remember for years. Hike to the castle To be honest, by Seattle standards, it was more of a short walk. I assumed there would be great views from the top, I was not disappointed. Donostia [View Full Entry]

By pumanomada
September 16th 2009

Train to the coast Europe » Spain » Basque Country » San Sebastián

Donostia Harbor

Departing Madrid After getting up early this morning, I checked out and went to grab some breakfast at the hotel restaurant. A beautiful older Japanese woman came in and attempted to order her breakfast in Spanish. The waiter was having issues understanding her, and looked at me. After talking with her for a moment, I discovered she knew a smattering of Spanish and Japanese. And she was traveling alone. I am in awe. I can usually find an English speaker when I get into trouble with my limited Spanish. There are few Japanese here. So! Got to the train station with [View Full Entry]

By ahappz
September 13th 2009

Boring day... Europe » Spain » Basque Country » San Sebastián

Buen Pastor

Today has been a slow day. We were all planning on going to the Regata this morning and swimming to the island but after a late night last night none of us wanted to get up before noon. After a lazy morning, I did homework all afternoon until Mia and I decided to go to the 6 oclock mass at the Buen Pastor, the main cathedral in El Centro where we lived in San Sebastian. The service was kind of cool. It was completely in spanish (obviously) but it was cool to get to try and understand what the priest was [View Full Entry]

By ahappz
September 8th 2009

Moved in and starting class... Europe » Spain » Basque Country » San Sebastián

Numero Siete, Piso Dos!

Ok what a long two days! I have so much to talk about. Yesterday I took my placement tests and moved into my apartment. It was a pretty rough, stressful day. The test took like three hours long plus an interview in Spanish with a professor that lasted for like ten minutes. By the end I had a headache and was already sick of Spanish. Not looking too good for me seeing as I have a whole 3 ½ months left of it. Although apparently I did well enough that they put me in track 2 spanish which is intermediate when [View Full Entry]

By ahappz
September 6th 2009

A six hour bus ride, short stop in Segovia, and we are finally here! Europe » Spain » Basque Country » San Sebastián

Segovia Castle

Today was a long and exciting day. We left from Madrid at 8 am this morning and drove to Segovia which was started as a Roman military base. It took about an hour and a half to get to Segovia and during that hour and a half of course we all slept. When driving into the city of Segovia there is a Castle perched up on top of a cliff which inspired Disneyland’s Sleeping Beauty castle. It is a magical view that brings back childish thoughts of princesses and princes and fairytale magic and love. We spent five minutes taking pictures [View Full Entry]

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