San Sebastian, Spain

For the last few days, we have been enjoying the beach town of San Sebastian, Spain.  After yet another long travel day, we arrived in the evening and went out for a superb dinner of veal, goat cheese, risotto, and wine.  Exhausted from a day of flights, layovers, and delays, we went to bed early in anticipation of a relaxing few days at the beach.  We woke up the next morning only to discover that it was…RAINING!!!  Thoroughly disappointed in the sudden change in weather, we decided that it was a sign that we should get some exercise and go for a run along the seawall.  We ended up having a great day exploring the coast of this surfing town, stopping occasionally to get a coffee, or into a shop in order to duck out the intermittent rain.  By the evening, the weather was clearing up, so we ventured into the old town for dinner.  We discovered that the only way to eat in San Sebastian was at tapa bars.  Basically, every bar is completely packed during dinnertime (which starts at 8 or 9), and you have to fight your way up to the bar and point at which food displayed on the counter you want to eat for dinner.  Once you receive your plate of snacks, you can hopefully find a corner of a countertop to stand at while you eat.  While on our first night, we found this local style fun and different, by our last night we found it a bit exhausting and stressful.

view of one of the three beaches

view from seaside cafe

The rest of our visit was filled with exploring different beach areas and watching surfers practice their skills on the giant waves.  We also found some nice areas to walk and explore, including hiking up a 12thC fortress with a large statue of Jesus on top of it.  The statue can be seen from everywhere in the town, which gives you the impression that the town is being watched over and protected by some higher power.

statue of Jesus at the top of the fortress

After working on our tans, we are moving on to France to finish up our trip.  We will stop in Bordeaux for a few days before heading to our last European destination: Paris.  Look out for our final La Dolce Vita post later this week!

Wish you were here,

Rose and Sydney