Blogs from San Sebastián, Basque Country, Spain, Europe - page 8

San Sebastián - ou Donostia, em basco - é uma charmosa e divertida cidade de aproximadamente 190 mil habitantes, localizada no litoral do país basco espanhol, muito próximo à fronteira com a França. Tranformada na capital do reino de Navarra em 1174, a até então vila de pescadores começou a se desenvolver e, graças à sua estratégica localização, se transformou em palco de inúmeras batalhas, conquistas e reconquistas durante séculos subsequentes. A última retomada foi das mãos de Napoleão, em 1813, quando a cidade foi toda incendiada, restando apenas uma rua do bairro antigo, a calle 31 de agosto, nome que relembra a data do incêndio. A partir daí, sua reconstrução foi totalmente planejada, ganhando uma forma octagonal já implementada com sucesso em Paris. A arquitetura das ruas do bairro antigo foi preservada, mas as fachadas ... read more

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 ... read more

Six hours in a bus takes us through landscape that changes from the flat dryness of Madrid, to jagged and rocky (and still dry), and then dry and undulating around Lerma, a little less dry looking around Burgos (the three hour mark), then industrial and industrious looking at Vitoria, and into countryside that is more undulating and getting greener by the moment. These undulations change into substantial hills and deeper river gorges with the highways snaking their ways around the edges and through a series of substantial tunnels. At the five hour mark we get our first glimpse of the ocean, and an hour later we roll into San Sebastian. My start here is not good as I have one of those pathetic tourist moments with the taxi driver that results in me holding out my ... read more

We had a slightly longer drive, around 500kms, and we ended up in Olite. No particular reason, really, just that it was on the way to France – sort of - and there was supposed to be a good castle there. The campsite cheaper than we had been paying, and there was a reason. It was a bit open. Well, a lot open, actually. It was like being back in Patagonia, except the wind was hot. The sheer amount of wind mills on the hills nearby should probably have clued us in about the wind. We had planned to stay two nights, but cut it back to one. We managed to get the tents up eventually, and settled in for the night. Crickets. That's one thing this place did have. You get good at hunting them ... read more

I know I have been fairly silent the last couple weeks, but with all the rain, there has not been a lot to report beyond the wonderful jazz festival. For the most part we have been holed up in our apartment trying to stay remotely healthy and dry. However today, finally the sun came out and we were reminiscent of our first days here in San Sebastian as our days here come to an end Saturday morning when we board the train for Barcelona. Today, we finally got to rent bikes and head to the other parts of town, to see the combs of the wind, and the holes drilled down to the caves so that air and some ocean water is blown through during high tides, we got to see the stadium of the football ... read more