San Sebastian

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After the plaza de toros action and a small party with breakfast, we headed out of town to the Basque Country coast of San Sebastian. This drive was even more beautiful than the previous one! I would absolutely go back, if anything, just for the drive through the countryside.

We arrived into San Sebastian and it was raining quite a bit. So, we checked into a hostel and found a short nap waiting for us there. Only 4 of us made this trip, so it was a bit easier to make decisions on what to do and so on. Our room had 8 beds, so we shared the space with 4 guys from New Zealand! (They have such fun accents!) Anyway, the time there was really fun. The hostel had a big covered terrace and offered free wine to guests. It was a nice afternoon getting to talk to a bunch of people!

After the rain stopped and we were more energized, we headed out to discover San Sebastian. We went to a beautiful beach there called la playa de las conchas (shell beach). It was really nice. The big mountainous rocks come right up to the shoreline and maintain that amazing green color. It was wonderful... and the sand was super soft!

We saw the cathedral there, actually attended Mass since it was a Saturday night. It´s always neat to experience that in other places... just to get a feel for how other cultures are. Next, we traveled up a funicular (train that goes straight up the mountainside) and saw amazing sights. One of the pics here is from that trip up high!

After this, we found a little restaurant for dinner. Food was good, but the kindness of the people was even better. It continued to amaze me that I had this vision in my head of what the pais vasco as a result of what teachers had said about the huge presence of terrorists in Spain, and in the end, these have been the nicest Spanish people I have met so far! After dinner, we found a cute little cafe and tried some of the local sweets for dessert. We all ordered something and shared... I still think mine was the best choice... some kind of cream like pudding stuff with cranberries. YUM-OH... right, Mom?! 😊

The hostel was on a little street (another one of those pedestrian only places) filled with bars and small restaurants. The parties there lasted until about 3am full of noise and music. I went to bed around 1am after tasting the local brew... they love their light beer here. It´s so unfortunate! 😉 On Sunday, I got up really early (like 5am early) and walked out through the bay to another beach called la playa Gros. I think that is an Euskaudi word. Oh, I forgot to mention that up in this part of the country a whole other dialect, not even latin based language is spoken. The Basque Country is the only part of Spain that was never fully conquered by the Romans, therefore they have maintained their native tongue... completely different from Spanish. Almost German-like!

I spent an hour or so on the beach... some surfer guy took my pic there. The morning was kinda dreary and cold, but the water was surprisingly warm. In all, this part of the trip might have been my favorite... I was longing for some time alone to let the whole experience sink in a bit.

I´ll submit another blog for the trip to Bilbao on Sunday afternoon/evening... Hope you´re enjoying the adventure!

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Photos

San Sebastian
This pic was taken from the mountain top! Isn´t the Cantabrian Sea beautiful!!!

La Playa!!
The tide was coming in, and the water surprised me a bit before this picture was taken... kinda silly!