A Weekend in San Sebastián

Guys. I went to the BEACH last weekend. I saw NATURE. Don’t get me wrong, Paris is gorgeous and all, but it’s city to the extreme. Maybe it’s not all skyscrapers and grey (it’s not), but it is jam-packed with people, lacking in green stuff, and while the air is mostly fine, you wouldn’t inhale and call the scent fresh.

I met up with one of my high school friends (who is currently studying in Salamanca, Spain) in San Sebastián on Friday and we spent Saturday exploring and catching up. It was such a good time, and now I’m gonna tell you all about it. And bombard you with pictures. You’re welcome.

First, I just have to say, all my travel plans worked. I’ve never booked my own travel before, so I was 300% sure I would mess something up. I didn’t! I did get to the train station too early, though. Turns out, there was no security or anything. You don’t even find out what platform you need to be at until like 10 minutes before departure. Crazy.

I left around 8:00 am on Friday and made it to Hendaye (still in France) by a little before 1:00 pm. From there, I had to take a tram-like thing (Euskotren) to San Sebastián. I was super confused by “Euskotren” as a name. Then, I realized I was in Basque Country and pretty much every word has an ‘x’ or ‘k’ or both. What a language, y’all.

I got to the hostel we were staying at a little before 3:00pm and then I wandered out to explore. But mostly to go to the beach. It was sunny and around 75ºF on Friday, and I knew it was supposed to rain later, so I took advantage of the perfect afternoon. 

And then I walked around the city a little bit before realizing I was starving. With my travel times, I hadn’t eaten real lunch, and it was after 4:00pm.

The thing is, everywhere freaking closes till dinner, which is eaten super late in Spain. Except a little bar I found, so I went inside. There was food on the bar, which they call pintxos. Basically, they’re snacks that look like they’re going to tip over because they’re piled so high on top of bread. I also chatted with a very cute probably-couple of a bartender and local who babbled to each other a lot in Spanish. I caught enough to get the gist, but occasionally they would stop to translate and ask me questions. It was a lot of fun and I smiled the whole time. They made sure to ask about all the cornerstones of American culture: Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, Friends, and Donald Trump.

Abby got in close to 9:00 pm, so we went out for a quick pintxo dinner and then chatted and crashed.

We got moving pretty late the next morning and it was already raining. First stop was a run across the street for an umbrella because I forgot mine, and then we walked to brunch at Kafe Botanika. I had Spanish tortilla (kinda like a potato frittata) and an insane fresh carrot-ginger-apple-lemon juice, Abby got guacamole toast, and we caught up for quite a while as it rained outside. When it cleared up, we headed to a Basque museum and then on a hike up Monte Urgull.

My research yielded super mixed reviews about the hike. Some said it was an easy stroll, others a strenuous hike. Turns out, it’s both. I’m pretty sure there are different paths and trails. The paved paths are easy. The trails and slippery stones are much less so. We just started up the first way we found, which was not easy. Occasionally, we’d stumble across pavement and take that, but there was lots of uphill slipperiness. And only one almost-wipeout (by me, thanks for asking).

{Look who I found! I meowed at him a lot till he came close enough to take pics.}

{This slug was huge. I almost stepped on him because he looked like a banana leaf and then I realized he was moving.}

It was so pretty! So worth it! So fun! We walked around for a little over two hours all the way up to the top and a different way back down. It wasn’t raining while we walked, and it was jacket weather, but I was definitely glad to not be doing it in the heat and sun. That would have been pretty sweaty.

When we got back to the flat ground, though I wasn’t super hungry, I realized that if we wanted to have anything before dinner, it would need to be soon. So, we found a vegetarian-friendly option and sat down. Ubarrechena was pretty freaking good. Abby got veggie paella and I got a tapas menu. I didn’t realize how that was going to work. I kind of thought they’d bring everything at once so I could just taste everything, but no. One course after the next.

No pictures because they weren’t pretty at all, but my meal was:

1. Iberian ham with tomato chutney
2. Crab-stuffed sweet baby peppers in a roasted pepper sauce
3. Spicy sausage and slow poached egg in some odd broth on top of mashed potato-like things
4. Sirloin steak with applesauce and roasted potatoes (and foie but you know how I feel about that)
5. Brownie with ice cream and chocolate sauce

The first two courses were amazing, and all I really needed, but I wanted to try lots of things. The sausage and egg part of the third course were fab and I mostly skipped the rest. The steak was way well-done, so I had about two bites. The potatoes were oily but good, and I don’t think you can really mess up applesauce. I made Abby split the brownie with me and it was pretty solid. I’ve had better, but it was good.

Then, we wandered around some more and walked to the beach.

It was way cooler and cloudier than Friday, so we just sat on a ledge to watch the water and talk more before it started raining and we headed back to the hostel to chill for a bit and regroup. We never thought of anything else we had to do, so we just hung out there till about 8:00 pm when we decided we should grab a quick bite of food before going to bed since Abby had to leave by 6:00 am Sunday.

At some little waterside cafe, I got a great smoked cod salad that was more than I was really hungry for, but so good that I totally finished it. It had mixed greens, tomatoes, roasted peppers, smoked cod, not-sweet balsamic vinaigrette, and crispy onions. And then it was bedtime.

Sunday morning after Abby left, I lazed around until it got light enough and then ran a little over three miles in the drizzling rain. I take advantage of all chances to be near the water, even in a chilly rain. After I showered and got packed up, I headed back to Kafe Botanika around 10:30 am. I was going to go to a different brunch place, but I thought it was a little too far from the train station to be smart, and Kafe Botanika was really good. This time, I got guacamole toast and Spanish tortilla. I hung out there on my own until it was time to hit the train station for my long-ish journey back to Paris. I got home around 8:00 pm and have since written my final and final presentation for my first class. I present today!

Overall, obviously, it was a lovely weekend despite less than ideal weather. And I highly recommend you go to San Sebastián. LOOK HOW PRETTY.

Your turn:

What did you do this weekend?

Do you prefer nature or urban environments?