Lucky for me, there weren't too many things to remember about our trip to San Sebastián and the things that needed to be remembered will not easily be forgotten. Why's that? Well, my friends, it's because that despite our efforts to enjoy the beach in San Sebastián (thus prompting us to wait until JUNE to visit even though it we established that we wanted to go in September), we never made it there. Because...
the
weather
was
crappy.
How crappy? Well besides the 15 minute walk from the train station to our hostel,
it
rained
every
minute.
Not a Madrid rain, where everyone hides inside because its drizzling for 5 minutes. We are talking buckets. It was the kind of rain that got everything we brought wet and gave our room a nice musty smell because it was below 70° and nothing was drying. Napala even went so far as to ask the hostel to turn on the heat in our room... with no luck.
Speaking of our hostel... where should I start talking about this gem? Perhaps with the welcome, which we received on the corner of a street from an old man who walked out of a cafe, asked us where we were going, showed us a key with "Olga" written in chicken scratch on the label, and then led us to an unmarked apartment building. Believe me, my warning signals were going off and I was noting escape routes. We entered an unlabeled apartment with a less than pleasant smell and it wasn't until I saw an award for "Olga's place" from Hostelworld on the wall that I began to take this guy with any note of seriousness. (I can't imagine what the award was for... I should've looked closer.)
This was just the beginning of a weekend of confusion about who worked at the hostel (the first man we met, yes; Olga, yes; the cleaning lady; yes... still not sure about the others...), who lived there (Victor, the Italian, was legit living there even though his roommate changed every few days), and who was just passing through (this is also still undetermined since some people seemed to have been there awhile and didn't look like they were moving on anytime soon). But the fact that we were confused is proof of some guests' hospitality, in particular the surfer who woke up his sleeping friend to give us a map and a basic description of the layout of the city. (We figured out that he didn't work there... but I guess nobody who works at Olga's Place was there and he thought it was worth interrupting his friend's REM sleep to point out some restaurants?) Then two days into the trip, we found out that three other Fulbrighters who we were trying to meet up with were staying in the other apartment (right next to ours) that belonged to the hostel. It's a story to tell at least.
So what did we do? We ate, obviously. Which worked out well since it was Keler Pintxo Week and they had special pintxos combinations that you could get for 10€ at a bunch of really cool restaurants. Here are photos of just a few...
Pulpo a la plancha (Grilled octopus)
An assortment of pintxos
Seafood stuffed red pepper
Shrimp/veggie kebob
The edible cut-out (Well... the edible part is debatable. We ate it but anyhow.) should give it away that this is conejo (rabbit)!
Risotto with something in its own tinto (ink)
Pig's ear, I do believe
Another surtido (assortment) of pintxos
Well we had to have some sort of dessert.
Chocolate deliciousness with applesauce
So, the fact that these are only about half of the food pictures that I have from 3 days should tell you something. But you have to remember that these are all very small dishes, and we split them all between 3 people. So, taking into account that I only took 2 bites of everything pictured above, don't expect me to be obese when you see me.
Our second day there, we tried to do a 3 hour hike suggested to us by another Fulbrighter who was in San Sebastián a few weeks before us. However, the hike consisted of us attempting to do the Camino de Santaigo backwards, which is by no means a good idea. The camino consists of following arrows that mark the path. However, when you are walking backwards and your path suddenly diverges into three paths, it's a little difficult to know where to go. People who were already on the camino, going the correct direction, would know to continue in the same direction and hardly notice the merging paths. However, when you are doing it backwards, you have no idea which of the three paths is the right one. (Okay, hopefully you can pick out which is the right one, but it's difficult to know which one is the correct one.) This predicament came accompanied by a downpour that caused Meg's sunscreen to run into her eyes, our sneakers to become mini boats, and me to start wearing my rain coat over my backpack instead of my body in an effort to protect my camera that was inside. So perhaps it was lucky that we picked the wrong path and ended up, an hour after starting, right where we started.
Nevertheless, even with the rain that plagued our every move, I could tell why everyone thinks San Sebastián is so beautiful. I loved being so close to the water; I even endured the rain for a run along the beach on Sunday morning. And after a year of travels (and amidst preparations for a busy summer), it was a welcoming city to spend a relaxing weekend, eating, drinking, and chatting with friends.
Crossing the bridge into old town
Plaza de la Constitución
La bahía de la concha
The gang by the river outside the train station
(Of course, it wasn't raining when we were about to get on the train)
Much love,
Amber
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