"Basque Country" - Stopover San Sebastian Donostia

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I left France on another cold morning, leaving the contest at semi-finals stage as the surf dropped right off. Kelly Slater exited in round 4. He was unlucky, snapping his board and couldn't find a second good wave. Still, his surfing and ability still sands out and the spectators just love him. Mick Fanning eventually went on to win the event and I suspect he has the world title firmly in his grasp now, notwithstanding disaster. They say San Sebastian is the cultural centre of the Basque region and I know for sure that among it's 180,000 odd inhabitants, there are few that must spend much time at home around dinner time. Everybody is out, seemingly doing a tour of duty through the impressive maze of tapas bars and restaurants that line the old quarter. Just beyond the French border on the Atlantic coast, San Sebastian or Donostia as the locals call it is nestled at the bottom of the Bay of Biscay. It's a grand looking place with two nice city beaches, one that masquerades as a sometime harbour and another that masqurades as a sometime surf beach although it didn't make an appearance during the course of my short visit. I wasn't too concerned though as I had a large bag of laundry was was now a burden too mighty to bear.

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