We get up and moving and head out to find the supermarket to get some supplies for the day. Luckily we find a Busabouter who's been there already because we'd started off in completely the wrong direction! It's all
underground and is a pretty cool place because there's a supermarket, but also a whole load of specialty vendors - selling meats, or breads, or vegetables, or cheeses etc. We make the most of it and load up on supplies for the whole day -including brie, ham and tomatoes to fill our bread later for lunch. A weird point to note is that they don't sell cold milk here. It is all UHT milk in warm packets. Shona is rather cautious of it, but as it's only for our hot chocolates and our only option it will have to do. It's then off to see JC at the top of the hill. He's a little bit hard to find because the walkway we've been directed to is under scaffolding... so we have get directions from a souvenir shop. The lady is really nice and even gives us
translation guides before suggesting the scenic route via the Aquarium to get to the top of the hill. It's a really hot day - which makes it a bit of a struggle to get to the top, however it's worth it because the views are great and the sammies are yummy. As per the norm of this trip, there's a mini museum at the site, sadly this one is almost entirely in Spanish or Basque and therefore not a lot of help. San Sebastian is located in the Basque region of Spain. They speak their own form of Spanish here called Basque and they would like to become their own country. At least they still understand Spanish and our attempts to say Ola (hello)! We go through the museum pretty quickly and get up to the base of the big guy for more views. The walk back down is more enjoyable and the next stage is to head to the star attraction of San Sebastian -the beach. There are two main stretches of beaches in San Seb, the small surf beach and the much larger main beach. We go to the main beach and find a good spot amongst the crowds of people enjoying the hot weather. The water is much much colder in the Atlantic than the Medit
erranean we were in at Valencia... which makes it very, very refreshing. We spend a couple of hours alternating between lying in the sun and frolicking in the water. It's the perfect way to relax. Because the markets were so mouth watering we cook ourselves steak and veggies for dinner in our kitchen. It is not as good as anticipated because the meat has heaps of water and doesn't fry that well. Plus it always tastes better if it had a marinade and cooked it on the BBQ. It was good to have some red meat and vegetables though. We've timed our stay perfectly because the 31st of August is a special day here. Many years ago the English helped Spain defend off the French but in the process they burnt down almost all of the old town. Only two churches and one street survived the great fire. This street is now called 31 August and on 31 August everyone gathers in
the street to light candles, sing songs and let off guns to remember the great fire. Mike points out that a Spanish festival is not a festival unless it involves cramming a whole heap of people into a narrow street and then trying to get something down it (tomato trucks, bulls or in this case a band). Even though we have no idea what is going on it is fun to be part of the occasion. The activities end at 10pm and with most people clearing home we decide to call it an early night.
underground and is a pretty cool place because there's a supermarket, but also a whole load of specialty vendors - selling meats, or breads, or vegetables, or cheeses etc. We make the most of it and load up on supplies for the whole day -including brie, ham and tomatoes to fill our bread later for lunch. A weird point to note is that they don't sell cold milk here. It is all UHT milk in warm packets. Shona is rather cautious of it, but as it's only for our hot chocolates and our only option it will have to do. It's then off to see JC at the top of the hill. He's a little bit hard to find because the walkway we've been directed to is under scaffolding... so we have get directions from a souvenir shop. The lady is really nice and even gives us 
translation guides before suggesting the scenic route via the Aquarium to get to the top of the hill. It's a really hot day - which makes it a bit of a struggle to get to the top, however it's worth it because the views are great and the sammies are yummy. As per the norm of this trip, there's a mini museum at the site, sadly this one is almost entirely in Spanish or Basque and therefore not a lot of help. San Sebastian is located in the Basque region of Spain. They speak their own form of Spanish here called Basque and they would like to become their own country. At least they still understand Spanish and our attempts to say Ola (hello)! We go through the museum pretty quickly and get up to the base of the big guy for more views. The walk back down is more enjoyable and the next stage is to head to the star attraction of San Sebastian -the beach. There are two main stretches of beaches in San Seb, the small surf beach and the much larger main beach. We go to the main beach and find a good spot amongst the crowds of people enjoying the hot weather. The water is much much colder in the Atlantic than the Medit
erranean we were in at Valencia... which makes it very, very refreshing. We spend a couple of hours alternating between lying in the sun and frolicking in the water. It's the perfect way to relax. Because the markets were so mouth watering we cook ourselves steak and veggies for dinner in our kitchen. It is not as good as anticipated because the meat has heaps of water and doesn't fry that well. Plus it always tastes better if it had a marinade and cooked it on the BBQ. It was good to have some red meat and vegetables though. We've timed our stay perfectly because the 31st of August is a special day here. Many years ago the English helped Spain defend off the French but in the process they burnt down almost all of the old town. Only two churches and one street survived the great fire. This street is now called 31 August and on 31 August everyone gathers in 
the street to light candles, sing songs and let off guns to remember the great fire. Mike points out that a Spanish festival is not a festival unless it involves cramming a whole heap of people into a narrow street and then trying to get something down it (tomato trucks, bulls or in this case a band). Even though we have no idea what is going on it is fun to be part of the occasion. The activities end at 10pm and with most people clearing home we decide to call it an early night.
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I presume the guns are blanks only? Sounds like you have timed your locations on the Spain leg of your trip perfectly!
ReplyDeleteGreat view of the beach!
ReplyDelete