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TRAVEL BLOG ENTRY
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“Besides going to the beach and eating gelato there isn't much to do here in San Sebastian” |
After our wonderfully exhausting visit in Pamplona we returned our rental car and hopped on a bus to San Sebastian which is just about one hour north of Pamplona. The bus ride in was smooth and quick except that there were many festival runners on the bus and they all had that horrible smell stuck on them so the entire bus smelled like a Pamplona alleyway...I had to put perfume right under my nose about 1/2 way through the bus ride but it didn't help. I was glad we arrived into town quickly and that I could get off the bus and away from the SMELL!!
We called Hotel Parma as we were getting on the city bus in San Sebastian and believe it or not they had a room for three at a reasonable price. We arrived to the hotel within 20 minutes and booked it without even looking at it. It was kinda funny because when we walked in the hotel Chloe just looked at the lobby and said to the man behind the counter, "We'll take it". Good thing the man already told us the rate over the phone or we could have been taken advantage of in a big way!! We were very fortunate to get a room at the Hotel Parma recommended by Rick Steves and located near the Old Town which is around 1000 years old. The location was great, room clean, and the price was right at 156 euro per night for the three of us.
San Sebastian is a lot like San Diego weather wise, sunny with a cool breeze even in the heat of the day. There are three beaches in San Sebastian and we are closest to the beach called Plaza Zurriola. So here we are, we showered and spent the day doing nothing. We washed some clothes and ate some Pintxos (PEEN-chos) which is Basque for tapas, walked around town and decided that we'd go to the beach the following day. We all slept like babies our first night here... I think we slept over 10 hours. We were exhausted.
The beach here is wonderful. You can rent chaises and umbrellas for a small fee and that is just what we did. AHHH...that is all we did. We purchased some bread and fruit from the local outdoor market around the corner and ate it at the beach... At about 5pm the beach was starting to clear out and so did we...we went back to the hotel and showered and looked for some dinner. Turns out there is a festival going on this weekend...there were locals drinking the local beer which is called sidra (it is a hard apple cider) and eating salted sardines that are BBQ'd over a wood fire. The smell was in the air was amazing. (Hey Mom - On this trip I learned that I love anchovies and sardines, this suprised even me!)
After a bit of walking and bar hopping eating Pintxos we sat for a while at an outdoor bar sipping wine...when we looked at our watch it was already 9pm. It is hard to keep track of the time because the sun stays out till 10 at night so you think it is only 7 but it is really late.
Soooo, at this point we decided that it is time for some gelato. Everyone eats gelato here... all the time... everyday. And it is pretty cheap too! 1.80 euro gets you one scoop of delicious creamy gelato. My favorite is the Catalan Creme, Chloe likes Vanilla and Dana likes Chocolate Chip. The flavors have all been delish and we should know...we have tried A-LOT of them. We figure all the walking we are doing is counter acting the fat and calories so we are okay...we'll see...
Today is Saturday, tomorrow will be our last full day in San Sebastian. The only thing we have planned is to go to the beach again. Besides going to the beach and eating gelato there isn't much to do here in San Sebastian. Which is just fine with us...we are totally happy here.
We will be sad to leave San Sebastian. This was just what we needed, to stay put, lay in the sun and do nothing for a few days. We realized that for nearly a week we slept in a different town every night. That part of the trip was exhausting for us. We needed a rest. Chloe enjoyed it here in San Sebastian too...it isn't Cadaques, which is what we really were looking for again but it fit us just fine, has given us great memories and we feel refreshed again.
On Monday we catch the local train up to a small town called Hendaye which is the last town in Spain before crossing the boarder into France. We have reserved tickets for the train to Paris. The train takes about 5.5 hours, we should arrive around 4pm. From the train station we plan to take the underground to our apartment that we have rented in the 5th arrond.
We are pretty proud of ourselves because we have only used private transport once on this trip, it was in Pamplona and we needed a taxi to get to the bus station from the rental car place where we dropped the car off. We could have walked it, but we had already spent two hours walking all over the place trying to figure out where our rental car return office was located so we'd know how to drive the car there. (we never did find it, not until we got in the car, then we nearly drove right by it!!) We were tired, sweaty and wanted out of Pamplona...so we got a cab to the bus station after we dropped off the rental car. Other than that, we have used the local public buses, subway, rental car, planes, trains and our own two feet on this trip! It has forced us learn how to read the sometimes confusing underground system and bus maps, I still get it a little backwards and upside down but Dana has proven to have a great sense of direction on this trip and understood it all really well.
previous travel blog entry
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