San Sebastian

San Sebastian, well its taken me a long time to get my act together and write the rest of my blogs for Spain and the UK but here goes, San Sebastian was absolutely brilliant, as soon as I got off the train and arrived in Spain, there was a whole new feel to it , the sun was out, people looked friendly and I was in a well populated city, which I really did miss. After being in Lacanau for a long time, this is exactly what I needed. I spotted two blokes on the train who looked aussie, they were Lebanese originally but you could tell they were aussie as they come. We stared at eachother for a while and then spoke, I said I was from perth and it was up hill from there. Coincidentally they were also staying at urban house backpackers too, I kind of knew how to get there and so did they. My stupid suit case broke well and proper for the last time, the last wheel fell off and the handle so I carried the 30 kilo sucker on my head like an old Thai woman, it was great, NOT! We trekked through San Sebastian the longest way possible asking people for directions on how to get to the Boulevard, where the main urban house was based and eventually found it. This one was all booked out but they had 4 more properties, we joined a group of about 40 other travellers who needed accommodation and met the people running it who were very nice and friendly. Urban House really did have a great young, homely feel to it, it looked well lived in, bright colours, big communal kitchen, chill out room and good Australian hip hop playing through the loud speakers. Pretty much everyone working and staying there were aussie which was nice to see after being around all the French. There was a girl from perth in my room, Keira and the two guys I met on the train, Adam and Ben from Sydney. Our room had a little balcony looking out over the city of San Sebastian, we were very central. I went out for a walk around town, there were two beaches surrounding the city, a surf beach and a swimming beach, La Conchea? Where all the people tanned and swam. There was a large island in the middle that you could swim to aswell. Everything was cheaper in spain too, beer and fresh food from supermarkets, fruit and veg stores, etc. There was a little bar which had a happy hour deal close to our place called Zibbibos, everyone went there to start off their nights. Tappas were great in San Sebastian, the old town was called Donostia or Basque country and the Basque weren’t too keen on tourists but they were okay, the tappas were so delicious, lots of fresh seafood and veges, I was in my element! Sangria was the local drink which is very Spanish, a red wine with fruit, juice and ice, I drank far too much of it all the time, you could drink it in the morning, it was so tasty. People came and left the urban house quite regularly but I loved it so much I just kept on staying, the staff there were so awesome, I became good friends with the girl who ran our floor, Dimi, a Sri Lankan – Australian girl from Canberra and ended up going to Valencia with later on for the La Tomatina festival. I made some other awesome friends there who stayed in my room, Nik from Germany who taught me lots of german profanitys, Keira, Ben, Adam and a Canadian guy called Kyler who I clicked with straight away and will hopefully meet up with again to learn Spanish together. And I can’t forget Dimi and Wendy who worked there, the most beautiful girls in spain !

The urban house offered lots of group activitys and excursions to go on which were great fun. I went on one where you all meet up by the ocean, walk to the oldest tappas bar in San Seb and have a nibble and a beer, then to a basque restaurant and have a delicious three course meal and all you can drink sangria. Have a dance in the restaurant and then off to a club on the beach where we didn’t leave until 6:00 am. It was a huge night, I had so much fun and met some really great people, it only cost 20 euro for everything that night and it was one of the best nights of my life!

I bumped into my old travelling buddies, Dan, Holly and Jordan in the street by chance the next day and continued to celebrate. They too fell in love with San Sebastian and were staying in an apartment on the surf beach.

By the end of my stay at Urban House, Kyler and I were practically running the joint, with free washing machine privileges and had dinner made for us by Dimi. It was brilliant.

All good things must come to an end though, and I went on a train to Valencia with Dimi to celebrate “La Tomatina”, the tomato throwing festival.

All in all, San Sebastian was the biggest highlight of my trip and would thoroughly recommend Urban House to anyone who wants to travel Spain. AMAZINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!