Basque Country - San Sebastian

May 3-5, 2015

With out two days in Barcelona complete,  we caught a train to the airport and picked up our rental car-- a Citroën Cactus. It is one ugly car! 

I always feel anxiety when we drive rental cars in foreign countries (but to be fair, I feel anxiety when driving in an unfamiliar place in Canada or the States too...),  but to date,  our experiences have been positive.  We drove in both England and Italy (and by 'we',  I mean Tom drove),  and had no major issues,  unless you count a 150 euro Italian traffic ticket that came in the mail when we returned!

We are sticking mainly to highways in Spain,  and avoiding city driving whenever possible. Highway infrastructure is amazing in Spain.  And there are a billion service stops conveniently built off the roads.  We have stopped at many,  and came to enjoy these flowers. We wondered if they are considered weeds in Spain,  kind of like dandelions at home. 

San Sebastian is in Northern Spain,  in Basque Country,  near the border with France.  It is considered a vacation town. There are about 185,000 local residents,  and nearly double that during high tourist season.  We visited in the off season,  and it was delightfully easy to get around,  and find places to eat.

According to my Fitbit,  we walked a record breaking 32,000 steps,  which equates to over 21.5km. Essentially,  we walked a half marathon around San Sebastian in a day.

We started by heading to Monte Urgull, on the Eastern side of San Sebastian. We wound around the pathways, and passed a crumbling memorial for British soldiers who gave their lives to defend the city from Napoleon.

British solider memorial.

 We continued our way up the hill, and took in the view of the Bay.

View of San Sebastian from Monte Urgull.

At the top of the hill sits Castillo de la Mota, and a giant statue of Christ. Indeed, the statue has an amazing view of the city and the surrounding area.

 Giant Christ statue.

San Sebastian Cathedral poking up from the city skyline.

 Tom and I on Monte Urgull.

Next,  we walked the promenade around La Concha Beach. Although it was an overcast day,  it was the hottest we've seen so far (29 degrees!).  The clouds began to clear as we strolled our way down the promenade. Here we saw our first top less sunbather. First and only...  For now.

 Beach along La Concha Bay.

Flowers along the promenade.

On the western side of the promenade was Monte Igueldo. There was a funicular (trolley car)  to take us up the steep side of the mountain,  but we decided to hoof it.  This was not the easiest task,  as there weren't really sidewalks.  So we used the road,  and made sure to get out of the way for any passing vehicles. At the top was the most depressing theme park. It probably seemed especially depressing because it wasn't open,  so it was deserted and dilapidated. 

La Casa del Terror on Monte Igueldo.

Monte Igueldo gave us a great vantage point of San Sebastian, and Monte Urgull that we had been on earlier in the day. We took the funicular down the mountain.  It was also old and rickety,  and Tom made me promise that if the brakes failed I would jump out without hesitation,  because to stay inside would  mean certain  death for us both. We arrived safely at the bottom.  Crisis averted.

A view of Monte Urgull from Monte Igueldo.

 Another view of Monte Urgull.

We made our way back to the hotel by strolling on the beach. We were baked from the sun,  but surprisingly,  had no sunburns (this is a miracle for Tom,  King of the Pasty White Folk). 

We ate a delicious meal of octopus,  fish stuffed with seafood,  baked Alaska and cheese,  and took a last admiring look at the bar counter of delicious pinxos (say it,  pin-chos),  aka tapas, before calling it a night.

Basque-style tapas.

Next stop,  the capital!  Madrid!