The first is the Spanish version, the second Basque & this is very much a Derry Londonderry solution as we are in the middle of all things Basque. The signposts etc are all with two language versions. If you didn’t have a navigation system, you would find the road network bewildering with roads above, below & seemingly everywhere else. The city lies at the bottom of a mountain, exploding up it & benefitting from land reclaimed from the sea last century. One wrong choice & you’re heading back to France. We had updated our international Covid passes prior to crossing into Spain but, of course, the border is undetectable, we’re in the EU.
Our hotel is a 15 mins bus ride from the old town, the bus stop adjacent to the hotel, & costing a flat rate of about £1.40 per person per journey. We have chosen to stay here a whole week as our constant moving on has become a bit of an issue. However, the hotel is corporate-style & Kath has decided she doesn’t like it.
Our first day is consumed by Pinxtos, or we consumed them, fabulous fresh snacks of seafood, vegetables, meat etc recipes. Superb wines to accompany them make our revisit to the old town delighful yet hazardous: la goutte has returned with a vengeance, so Chris has to go teetotal & seafood free again. In this city, of all cities, this is purgatory. A cinema visit for Top Gun Maverick rounds off the day, so a taxi ride back to the hotel at midnight is needed. Not so for Friday & Saturday nights, when the buses run until 2 & 4am. Why do we love this city?
Friday turns into a fuzzy day, hours spent trying to find a charger that will work without a Spanish accessible only app, sorted by a VW garage charger at the bottom of the road, 3 minutes away! Then retraining the venues of the previous night, vainly seeking Chris’s reading glasses. We visit the San Telmo museum to learn about Basque history & traditions, but are only impressed by the museum’s old & new architecture. After waiting an hour to visit a jazz bar, for it to mysteriously stay closed, we concede, stopping off on the retreat at a local restaurant near the hotel to be given chicken, egg & chips, ham, egg & chips & a mixed salad with tuna. Our fault for not reading the menu properly. But the chips were good after all those squidgy, tepid frites in France. Not one good frites experience.
Saturday is better: the cloudy weather forecast delivers a blue sky almost uninterrupted, so beach is where we lie, in between swimming in the sea. Then a coffee in Wimbledon pub – there are many tennis courts here – & a ride in the funicular railway up Monte Igeldo for its stunning views of the city & the Pyrenees behind.
Hotel then to change & a bus to the old quarter for a bite to eat then music bar time. Except both venues were closed, no notice on their website or social media. Not good enough. Sent the one we’ve now tried for two nights a shitty review, explaining the digital world demands better. Not sure they’ll be bothered to read it, ‘though. We called into a few bars on the saunter home, as the European Championship Cup Final between Real Madrid & Liverpool occupied the audiences’ attention. We were told every local was supporting the latter, as seemed to be the case. Just like Cardiff or London attitude from the ‘sticks’.
San Sebastian Donostia – Pt II
Chris & Kath's Travel Time 