Blogs from San Sebastián, Basque Country, Spain, Europe - page 7

A peaceful night except for Woolly’s snoring! The clouds were a bit lower this morning but the view was still stunning, the Pyrenees were still there and we hadn’t dreamt them. Woolly says – Snore, me….never! We seemed to be ready and packed into Oliver in good time and were at The Grottes de Betharram by 9.30am, although it opened at nine we were told by a sweet French gentleman with beret that the trip would start at ten past ten, we hovered around before getting on a coach. The coach took us further up the mountainside before we alighted at a building. Paying over 13 Euro each (approximately £11.90 GBP), we hoped it would live up to the price. We entered the caves with another bereted French man who split us into groups of French, ... read more

Like all the best laid plans, what we expected would be a fairly straight forward drive to the north of Spain turns out to be a long 6 hour nail biting journey as Charlie starts to lose power 20 minutes into our trip, just as we're about to overtake a lorry on an uphill road. We pray it’s only a one off but he does it twice more and we look at each other with a sinking feeling. We’re in the arse end of nowhere, not even a small town in sight so for the rest of the journey Greg is reluctant to go more than 35mph. To add to the fun and excitement, at one point the windscreen wipers start to go awol and nearly fly off completely. I can understand why Charlie is beginning ... read more

Paris to San Sebastián, Spain The only thing we knew about San Sebastián was it on the way from Paris to Seville and that it was a good point to spend the night. We caught the day train from Paris at 07:30 and traveled across France until evening. Change in Irun The last station in France was Irun and that is where we had to change trains for the twenty to thirty minute ride to San Sebastián. I had selected San Sebastián as we could catch the train to Seville there in the morning. Another day train and an opportunity to see the Spanish countryside. Travel between countries that are part of the Schengen agreement is so much easier now than previously. No border checks, no passport checks. It is like crossing state lines in the ... read more

What a wet weekend! It was raining when we left Pamplona on the Friday and the bus drove through thick cloud most of the way. By the time we got to San Sebastian it was quite torrential. That was how it stayed throughout Saturday and Sunday too!! Still, we're hardy British travellers and bit of rain (well, a lot of rain!) isn't going to put us off. The Hospedaje Ibai was excellent and mercifully dry. When we got there, about 40 minutes walk (or paddling) from the bus station, we had to wait outside because the landlady was cleaning her other hostel. Not a great start but she turned out to be from Mendoza, Argentina, so we were able to have a good chat. it's amazing how we still find Argentine Spanish so much easier to ... read more

Today was a simple day. We traveled across the country from Barcelona to San Sebastian. We stopped twice along the way. First we stopped for lunch in Zaragoza. After that we stopped at La Rioja which is the most popular winery. We got a tour of how they make the wine and then we had a tasting (they taught us how to taste and appreciate wine properly too). What I found interesting that our tour guide said was that when you taste wine you should have an empty stomach and you shouldn’t be wearing any perfume or scented lotion because it takes your senses away from the wine. We asked her why people serve cheese and crackers with wine in America and she said it was because the fat in cheese will line your mouth ... read more