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Published: September 22nd 2005
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Bull Sculpture, Pamplona
Located just outside the bull ring so frequented by Hemmingway Egg No. 1 here.
The title of this blog is as far as my understanding of Euskara extends I'm afraid - I think it means "Good morning, San Sebastian!" in Basque - but it may not, so my apologies to the vast swathes of Basques who - I'm sure - read this blog.
Either way it makes little difference since, by the time we managed to find our way out of Pamplona towards the Basque Country it was very much no longer morning at all. Since most visitors to Pamplona are chased out of town by a herd of bulls, maybe the town council there have decided that, really, there's no need for road signs at all. It only took us about an hour of trying out every road in Pamplona - between the near-death experience of each roundabout - to find the road we were looking for. Once on the main road though, the journey to San Sebastian was straightforward enough and it was only about 75km.
Now, whatever your opinion on the politics of the Basque region, there's at least one endearing quality that they definitely do share with the rest of their Iberian co-habitees. And
that is that they don't like you going the wrong way down their one-way streets. I've always suspected this, but it was only when we arrived in San Sebastian that I really had the opportunity to put my theory to the test. Unknowingly (of course!) I careered straight down a side street "angulo contrario" (in Spanish football parlance). My years of service to megalithic corporate monsters has taught me to keep a poker-face and remain cool under pressure. Which I did. Clearly, the guy coming towards me was ill-prepared for this event and had no such training. He reverted to type and did what you'd expect - he slammed on his brakes, threw his hands in the air and made clear that he thought me some sort of lunatic by twirling his index finger round the side of his head while shouting "Loco, loco!". It was a scary moment but as I pointed out to Egg No.2, it merely underlined the clarity of the advice my old football coach gave me - "Never sh!te out of a tackle".
The Egg strategy when arriving in a new town for the first time is tried, tested and - to date -
Signor Accordionist
Entertaining the Pamplona masses foolproof. We find a big car park in the centre, deposit the ever-reliable VW, look for accomodation and crack open a beer. And so (we thought) it would be with San Sebastian. However hotel prices in this fabulous port seemed particularly high to our minds. We put this down to the beautiful surroundings, the proximity to France and the high cost of living resulting from the car insurance premiums required as a defence against thicko tourist drivers.
After tramping around for an hour or so and seeing nothing reasonable for less than 150 Euros a night we decided to change strategy, bringing forward the beer (and steak & chips) and pushing back the search for accomodation. Now you might think this foolhardy, but to do so would underestimate the amount of luck involved in an unplanned fishing trip such as this.
Within 10 mins. of polishing off lunch, we stumbled across the Pension Bellas Artes where we met what can only be descibed as the loveliest lady in the world. She had a cancellation and let us see the room which was an absolute snip at 75 Euros for the night - clean, nicely decorated and with a
Now That's What I Call Boozy!
It may not look much but this glass of cognac was enormous. And good value at only 3 Euros! balcony. It was only afterwards that she let us know that the 53rd San Sebastian Film Festival was underway as we spoke and that with so many Hollywood stars in town, accomodation was at a premium. Apparently many of the prices quoted by the big hotels (150 Euros was the cheapest we'd seen) were per person/per night! So we dumped the bags, had a change of gear and headed out to meet the A-list.
Following the instructions from Maria we had a pleasant stroll along Passeo La Concha and back along towards the harbour to have a look around the boats. I'm not sure if neatness is a general Basque caracteristic, but I've never seen such an ordered marina! And though I never thought I'd pen a sentance containing both "seamen" and "anal" this is a cause for exception because these guys really know how to tie a boat up neatly. This however is at the expense of their comprehension of other modes of transportation. There are some things that don't mix well together. A clear example to my mind would be Bikes, Harbours and Booze. More of which in the next installment....
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Geddie
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Hello
Do all spend all your time in internet cafes on the computer?!? Hope you are getting the e-mails I am sending. you now get more mail delivered than me... Hope you are enjoying yourselves. Geddie