Today is one month exactly since we awoke in Valencia at 0800 to the sounds of fireworks going off, the official start to Las Fallas (The Fires). Which lasted almost the entire four weeks! The final night was bedlam and today, our first day back after a side trip to San Sebastian is…quiet. The streets are not congested, traffic flows and there are no smells of gunpowder nor incessant firecrackers going off. The ninotes (those large statues) are all gone and life is back to normal. Just in time for us to leave for our next leg one week from today. Meanwhile…San Sebastian.
It’s interesting how you can “feel” the energy of a city. When we got to Valencia, neither Kathleen or I were wowed. It’s a nice town, has great restaurants and cathedrals and other attractions, but nothing that gave us the warm and fuzzies. Seville on the other hand- lots of energy; good Feng Shui. We were there for just two days but gave it very high marks to return again. San Sebastian is that and more. The more is the ocean, mountains and the amazing history in one of the food capitals of the world! This town, also called Donostia, which is the Basque name for San Sebastian, has a history that goes back over 25,000 years and the lineage and genetic makeup of the people is amazingly pure. There are families that can legitimately claim that they go back thousands of years.
Located on the Bay of Biscay, and just 20 km from the French border, this town is magical and we felt it as soon as we left the train station to walk to our AirBNB room. Which was in the heart of “Old Town” and within a 15 minute walk of more restaurants than you could eat at in several months! Crossing the bridge over the Urumea River and walking through the amazingly clean streets was a great welcome. The population is about 200,000 but from what we heard, it is not the place to be in summer, when the population increases exponentially.
OK, foodies, here’s news for you.
Tapas are a well known Spanish food style, which are small dishes, and usually very affordable. Here they call them pintxo and they include every exotic seafood that you could imagine, along with meats as well. They are usually served on a small piece of bread roll, some of the most tasty bread I ever ate. We hit the streets Thursday night, which is their local night out, and on the bar sits, 20, 30 different types of pintxos. OMG, and so tasty! Beers and wine are about $2.00, about the same for the pintxos, so you can get your fill for not a lot of money.
We took a funicular (built in 1912) to the top of the Mount Igueldo and from there you could see the entire bay and the city and beyond. Breathtaking views. At the top is a tower, La Farola, which was constructed before America was a country. Also at the top is an amusement park, closed while we were there, but in summer it must be spectacular.
San Sebastian: huge thumbs up and recommended place to visit. The train station is accessible from any major city in Spain.
#sansebastian, #pintxo, #spain, #basque, #donostia
