Paraiso in San Sebastian!

Tuesday morning and on the road...train...again! We caught the early morning train, setting out for another 5 and 1/2 hour renfe ride from San Sebastian to Barcelona for leg 3 of our spectacular Eurotrip adventure.

If I had to sum up San Sebastian in one word, it would probably be paradise. But that would make for an extremely and uncharacteristically short blog. But overall, San Sebastian, a smaller and very tourist-oriented beach city on the northern coast of Spain, was absolutely incredible, and we all agreed that we could not have picked a more perfect Spanish city to include in our itinerary. San sebastian is most well known for its food, its views, and it friendly and relaxing beachtown vibe, so here is the redundancy disclaimer: I'm going to try to find as many different synonyms for "delicious" and "beautiful" as i possibly can, but no promises. After busy big-city Madrid, it felt like we really were on vacation and could relax a little bit, so much so that I even almost felt like we were in a different country!

We arrived early Sunday afternoon, and right away were greeted with the first major difference from bustling Madrid city life. You can only catch taxis from designated points throughout the city, and they are about 1,000 times less frequent than in madrid. Allison lipp was able to travel out by bus from her city of santander, about 2 or 3 hours west on the same coast! After waiting for almost an hour for the taxi, we decided to walk to our hostel, easier said than done when your luggage weighs as much as several small children.

Blaring difference #2 from Madrid: the language. I realized that every region in Spain is very different, in everything from traditional food to culture to dialect, but usually the languages, although clearly distinct and sometimes difficult to understand when spoken, at least bear some resemblance to the original castillian Spanish. San Sebastian lies in the basque region, and their language is a completely different haphazard schmorgesboard of letters that I have never seen before and that looks nothing like any Spanish i have ever seen. And what was interesting was that regional pride, although
very strong in every one of the 50 autonomous communities, was even more prominent here, and many native San sebastians preferred to engage with tourists in English than castillian spanish, although most seemed to speak and understand it perfectly. And because of its close proximity to france, most of the public notices and street signs were in basque, Spanish, French, and English.

After dropping our luggage off at Pension Garate, a quaintroom, the four of us headed towards the beach! San Sebastian is situated in a semi-circle shape around a huge bay, Playa de la Concha, with a small island, Isla Santa Clara, in the middle and mountain peaks at either end. There is a big, beautiful boardwalk with a parallel bike path that runs the entire length of the bay, connecting old town on one end with the funicular at the other (if funicular is a strange and concerning word at first, you're not alone, I'll get to that). The weather throughout the entire weekend was absolutely perfect, we lucked out! It was so refreshing and picturesque walking down the boardwalk, people strolling with dogs and families and couples, riding bikes down the path, a club/disco underneath the path right on the sand, a merry-go-round on one end, all of the little cafes and restaurants, the beautiful architecture of the old mixed with the new. I loved how almost all of the buildings had lovely wrought iron and flower-adorned balconies and rooftop terraces, and how little structural details like turrets at the top of apartment buildings gave the city an almost disneyland type feel. It was so perfect it felt unreal and like out of a movie. In the early-mid 1800s, there was a huge fire in the city as the spanish, portuguese, and english fought to get napoleon and his army out of spanish rule, and consequently you dont see buildings or monuments as old as those in madrid, for example, but the eclectic mix of older architectural styles and more modern buildings made for an exciting landscape.

We walked along, taking in the 360 degree postcard images that were all around us (excluding, perhaps, the customary and very Spanish topless tradition participants), and stopped for sangria, calamari and tortilla at Cafe de la Concha situated right on the boardwalk in the middle of the bay overlooking the beach, and walked on the sand along the water, heading toward the west point of the city, Monte Igueldo.

Sangria at Café la Concha

View from the boardwalk

Here we found the royal tennis club, along with the famous funicular. The funicular is a cable-car-looking vehicle that is situated on a track on a very steep hill going up the mountain. As you walk towards it, as soon as sight of the beach disappears you feel like you've entered a completely different landscape or city, there were trees and forest views everywhere, and we even thought it looked a little bit like northern California! The funicular treks slowly up the steep mountain slope, unveiling more. And more impressive views as it climbs, until finally you reach the top with an absolutely stunning view of the whole city and beyond - you could even see parts of France! At the top of the mountain was also a mini amusement park and a hotel, and we got our fill of postcard-worthy photos, breathtaking scenery and oohs and aahs before heading back down.

We walked back the almost 2 miles along the boardwalk to the other side of the bay where old town, or "parte vieja" was situated - an area filled with restaurants, bars, shops, a huge gazebo in the middle, and beautifully laid out streets and plazas.

Government building in Old Town, or Parte Vieja

In front of a Gothic Cathedral

Fortunately for us, the San Sebastian soccer team had played Bilbao earlier that day, so where usually streets would be quieter on a Sunday night they were packed with people - loud, excited, fun people, most of whom sported the blue and white striped San Sebastian soccer jersey. For dinner, we opted to test out the traditional style of San sebastian dining - tapas style on the most well-known tapas hot spot street, Calle Fermin Calbeton. But tapas here are called pinxos (pronounced pinchos), and all of the bars are covered with different plates of tapas, with everything from stuffed peppers to tortilla to skewers of shrimp, olives and artichoke hearts, to sardines and anchovies (specialties of the north coast), to tostadas of Brie cheese and sun dried tomatoes...literally anything and everything you could possibly imagine, and then some! We loved this style because they give you a plate and you get to pick off the bar exactly what you wanted, meaning y could see exactly what you were getting before you ate it! We tried out 2 different pinxos bars, and it was so much fun making our way through the crowds of people out with their friends having a grand old time ("don't worry Susan, it's just like a frat party! See your feet even stick to the street!" Allison's encouragements worked for a little while, until mom saw people pushing strollers of kids through said frat party scene) and was great to experience this very customary kind of night out! Not to mention, of course, absolutely delicious.

Bar FULL of delicious tapas! 

We ended the night walking allison back to the bus station, along the canal that runs the length of the city, which was absolutely beautiful lit up at night, and was lined by broad walking and biking paths. We slept in a little the next morning (a first for me on a European weekend vacation) and headed back out for old town first thing, and were shocked to see that the entire city had been cleaned to sparkling perfection overnight! Hardly a piece of trash on the street, unbelievable considering the city-wide party that had taken place the night before.

We started out at the Brexta farmers market that took place in the morning, loving the beautiful arrangements of fresh fruits and vegetables in booths lining the streets, and venturing down underneath the street to a lower level of butchers, bakeries, fish and seafood stands, and more independent local sellers.



We then found the famous cheese shop of San Sebastian, sampling their prize winning products, the "basque street" known as the place where many political activists collaborate called Calle Juan Bilbao with basque flags flying in the doorways and marijuana shops (its legal to grow it in quantities for "your own personal consumption") and a little bit of a sketchier vibe, as well as plaza constitucion, where the bull fights used to be held. We learned that the city used to technically own the balconies of the apartments facing the square, so for a bullfight they could sell them as seats while the people who actually lived in the apartments could watch over the shoulders of the paying customers, and for this reason all the balconies are numbered.

The famous cheese!

The Basque Flag

The seal of San Sebastian in Plaza de la Constitución 

The numbered balconies, seats to watch the bullfights

We then proceeded toward the marina, taking in the view of all the sailboats, fishing boats coming in from their morning catches, tour boats, and kayaks from the pier. Next came the big undertaking of the day, the trek all the way up the second mountain of the city called Monte Urgull. Remember the steep mountain we climbed via cable car the day before? Right well this time, we hiked. In flip flops. (we were extremely proud of ourselves, and i was specifically instructed not to leave "hiking mount Kilimanjaro" out of this blog). It was a steep and exhausting climb, but beyond worth it for the views of the city from the top, exploring the old naval forts at the top that used to protect the bay from invading ships, an up close and personal encounter with the enormous statue of Jesus Christ that looks down over the city, and our private secret garden picnic spot with a stunning view of the ocean and horizon.

Isla Santa Clara

After hiking back down the other side, we crossed the bridge over the canal to the next town of Gros. Immature I know, but we had to say "eww Gross!" every time we referenced it. Ok maybe that was just me. But they say Gros has a very "California" vibe to it, and we agreed. That was where the surfing beach was, and it was fun to people watch on the boardwalks and beaches. We ended up renting bikes, and cruised down the Gros beach, then heading back into old town San sebastian, back around the Jesus mountain and around the boardwalk circling the bay, ending up at the Miramar Castle, where Queen Maria Cristina used to vacation (according to our handy dandy Rick steves tour book, it was recommended she took her holidays in San sebastian and bathe in the ocean there to help with bad skin problems). Today, the castle is used as a music school, so as we laid out on the grass watching the setting sun over the water, we were serenaded with something resembling a student learning how to play an instrument. (At first, dad was amused with the fact they were playing "haunting music" to contribute to the old castle allure. Nope, just a very beginner level cello player.)

Miramar Castle

We returned the bikes to Gros and headed back into old town for a last dinner, enjoying again the delicious calamari, a pitcher of sangria, some paella and bacalao, and of course some ice cream to top off the night, and headed back to the hotel, fully exhausted but extremely satisfied with an incredible San Sebastian experience. It's amazing how much you are able to enjoy in just a day and a half, but its not difficult when the cities are as wonderful and beautiful as this one was, and i have no doubt that the rest of our Eurotrip will be just as full of new things to see, try, and marvel at, incredible experiences and memories in the making.

Barca, it'll be good to see you again, and I'm bringing some new friends!