Sun Seeking in San Sebastian

After a monumental cockup on the morning of our arrival in San Sebastian (that involvement ringing Mum in Australia and getting her to google the address of our pre-booked hostel (Thanks Mum) then moving to another hostel as the first was being closed because of bed bugs) we hit the beach. Despite a few drops of rain it still managed to wash all the disgruntled thoughts of the morning away. After an afternoon on the beach we headed to the pintxo bars and ate and drank until we could stomach no more. The idea behind pintxo is so simple and appealing it’s a wonder it hasn’t caught on in the rest of the world. Step one: walk into a bar that looks good. Step 2: graze for as long as you like on the small tapas laid out along the whole bar. Step 3: Order a beer or wine when you get parched. Step 4: When you finished tell the barman what you’ve had and pay up. Step 5: Move to the next bar and do it all again!

That’s about the sum of a visit to San Sebastian, beach and pintxos. There’s a few other things to do like walk up hills for some good views, see the local church etc, but essentially it’s about the beach and food. And both are good too. The town has 2 main beaches, the main beach and the surf beach. Both get pretty packed on the weekends but they’re real beaches with turquoise water and white sand, not like the pebble variety north of the border. We spent a few days on both beaches but the surf never really materialised, making for an even lazier days. To counter all this lying around and eating we did get our for a few jogs, our first non-incidental exercise of the trip. After the first jog we were both stuffed and our feet covered in blisters. It does not bode well for the rest of the trip…

The small world of travelling hit us again when we ran into some friends we’d met in Valencia on our first night. After a memorable night where no names were exchanged we rang their mobile number and were greeted with “ Oh it’s the Doctors”. Thus we became known. Many more fun nights followed and it was great to have a group to go to the beach with. Then just before we left we met an astonished Billy, a friend from Granada, walking along the street. Going out with Billy and the girls from Valencia on our last night was a definite highlight.

Stayed: Surf Backpackers. Great small place run by a mostly absent surfer/owner (Leo) and recent arrival, work for a bed Canadian, Kelsy.
Ate/Drank: Too many places to mention, they were all good.