Les Playas y Montagnas de Espana

This past weekend we headed to North Spain to check out new country terrain (beaches and mountains) in the Basque region of Spain near France (on the coast), and it didn't disappoint! Since we came in late Friday night, we stayed in Bilbao, a neighbouring city that we flew into. Bilbao is famous for an architectural masterpiece designed by Frank Gehry - the Bilbao Guggenheim museum. Unfortunately we didn't stick around long enough on Saturday to visit the museum, but upon viewing it from the bus as we drove across the river we have no doubt that its fantastic!

In San Sebastian we stayed in a hotel on a city street, so it was not optimal for sleeping late, but it was within walking distance of a great beach, and 30 minute walk along the promenade to the old medieval section of the town where there were bars galore. The town is famous for having a international film festival, on par with Toronto and Cannes (though not as popular), for the last 50 years. The promenade and massive modern theatre certainly gave us a flavour of how it would be in early September when the city is awash with theatregoers.
I was thankful for knowing a touch of Spanish before going on this trip, as very limited English was spoken by shopkeepers or bar staff - much to Syd's frustration he had to leave the talking up to me. Syd said that he was impressed with how well I did at getting the things we needed - including a refund on tickets for a bus that we bought from the wrong company by mistake. ;o)

We rented bikes for 24 hours to cruise around the town and go out at night so that we could avoid cabs and the long walk. I love city bikes with the upright seats. Mine even had a basket, and I was right chuffed to put my purse and any purchases in the basket while we drove around. We especially enjoyed the somewhat grueling uphill climb up Mount Imuelda to where we had the best views of the city and bays. There was a cheesy run-down amusement park at the top as well as a tower, but the views made it worth it. Of course, the ride down the mountain was the best part, it was hard to not speed like a demon down the steep street! ;o)

Later that day on Sunday after we returned the bikes we climbed to the top of Mount Urgull, which we thought just had a statue of Jesus at the top, but were pleasantly surprised to see that Jesus sat atop a castle that used to defend the city back in the 1600s to the 1800s. There was a great exhibit up there describing the history of San Sebastian as a main iron-weapon making and commerce town. In 1863, San Sebastian was named capital of the Gipuzkoa province. The role of the city changed, the walls were demolished, the focus was more on commerce, the city became a popular tourist destination and spa resort, the economy boomed and it became one of the most cosmopolitan cities in Europe. We quite enjoyed learning about that evolution.

Also deserving mention was the cuisine. Being the culinary capital of Spain, the people really appreciate and identify with their food. In fact, the city has more bars and restaurants per head of population than anywhere else on the planet! Don't say tapas, say 'pintxos' in San Sebastian, as that is all that you will find when you walk in every bar there. What makes the pintxos unique is that they are served on top of the bar, in every bar, like wares for people to select and eat, and then people all eat standing up while they drink their cervezas/vino and smoke. It's quite weird...its like fast food with a twist! Syd learned quite quickly to say 'no pescado' so that they would show him some tapas without fish in them (a very limited selection to say the least). The limited spanish/basque language knowledge coupled with the copious amounts of tuna/squid/octopus/crab and some other unidentifiable pintxos left us feeling quite wary as to what we would order day in and day out. Needless to say, we ate chorizo and prosciutto on baguettes for most of the weekend - not very adventurous we know! ;o)
On Monday we checked out of our hotel and had a fabulous lunch (okay, fabulous starters and dessert and sangrias - the battered pork chops for the main left much to be desired) in a great cafe overlooking La Concha Bay.

To make the most of our last day we decided to rent surfboards and long wet suits and try out the beginner surfing beach. As it was my first time ever on a surfboard I treated it mostly like a boogey board, but Syd had fun getting into a standing position a couple of times. It was a fun hour and a half, and Syd said the sexy beachy hair made me 'au naturale' for the bus and plane ride home!