Mi Donostia

Last Friday morning, I got up way too early to make my way to Charmartin to catch a place to what I would soon discover is the most beautiful place on Earth, San Sebastián. Or in Euskera (Basque), Donostia.

The train ride is a five hour journey through Castilla y León, stopping in cities like Segovia, Valladolid, Burgos and Vitoria before arriving in San Sebastián (and going off to Hendaya, France). On the train, when I went to have my café con leche while watching the world go by at 180 kilometres an hour, I ended up meeting two footballers from Cadiz. How fun, Spanish celebrities!

Stepping off the train was like stepping into another world. País vasco (Spanish), Euskadi (Basque), or the Basque Country in England, is known for having very temperamental weather this time of year. However, I walked into sunny and 20 degrees. I stopped along the way to the hostel to take several pictures, awed by the beauty of this place.

After checking into the hostal, I went to Juantxo to grab the world's best bocadillo de tortilla. It would take me a few times ordering to get the hang of "pintxos", which are tapas for the north of Spain. All the food is on the bar, and you point or ask for a plate and grab what you want. And the pintxos are so amazingly delicious.

I took a walk along the beach, La Kontxa (Concha). The bay is shaped exactly like a shell. The tide is very big, causing almost all of the beach to disappear. But at low tide, the beach is quite big. And it took forty minutes or so to walk all the way across it. Separating two beaches is the Palacio Miramar with a huge green lawn where people picnic. I stopped for a café con leche. And then I saw the amazing El peine del viento (Comb of the Wind) and amazing views of the city. I walked back and walked through the old part of town and headed to the bus station to buy my ticket to Bilbao the next day, falling in love with this amazing city.

Bilbao. The journey is beautiful, of course. The bus was forty minutes late. And when I first arrived upon Bilbao, I was slightly disappointed. The Guggelhiem, which I didn't enter due to it's high cost and my low interest in the actual exhibits, wasn't as impressive as pictures and Mariah's video for "Sweetheart" lead me to believe. I took a walk along the river and then saw how amazing Bilbao is too. But not as amazing as San Sebastián. I stopped at a famous café with un camarero guapo named Pablo and meandered around the casco antinguo and the Siete Calles. In the Plaza de Unamuno, my camera decided to die. During siesta! What luck. I went up to the puente colgante and watched it for a few minutes, then came back. The metro in Bilbao is so much better than the metro in Madrid. I kid you not. So nicer, cleaner, more efficient...I digress. I bought new batteries, went back to Unamuno's birthplace, went up the stairs in his plaza to take some more amazing pictures and enjoy the scenery, and headed back.

On the way back to Donostia, after the bus stopped at the tool booth, a member of the Guardia Civil stopped the bus and boarded it. For a minute, I was scared to death. Is this a coup? Is this really the Guardia Civil or ETA in disguise? What's going on? I think it was just a check to see if there were any ETA terrorists, but I never found out for sure. A minute later we were on our way.

I originally had plans to go to Pamplona on Sunday, but I was tired and falling in love with this city, so I ended up cancelling them to explore more of SanSe. I am glad I did. I took a hike and saw Jesus. Literally. A huge statue of our Lord and Saviour, who the Spanish choose to honour the death and resurrection of by dressing up like KKK members and marching, is perched on top of a castle. More amazing views of the city. I then walked over to El Peine del Viento again and took the cable car up to the lighthouse and (mostly closed this time of year) amusement park above the other mountain (okay large hill, but it's Mount so...) More amazing views. I tried taking a siesta but couldn't sleep, so I went to the third beach on the other side of the river, which has the highest waves, and walked through Barrio Gros. I saw that the Pamplona bus schedule had changed, so I cancelled it all together as I didn't want to have to be there at 8.30. I loved this city so.

Monday morning, I got up and took the Euskotren to France. Hendaya(Spanish)/Hendaia (Euskera/Basque)/Hendaye in that awful language the French insist on vomiting upon the world to be exact. The French police stopped us to check residency cards...I had my passport too just in case. And yes, please speak French to the person with a SPANISH residence card and an US passport, as I'm sure it will be completely understood. I stopped for a cafe au lait and tried to order in what little French I knew. She ended up asking me "café con leche?" and I said "SÍ! ¡SÍ!" in the same boastful way the Spanish have about their language. Confidence and boastfulness of a language. :P I walked forever to get the beach and touristy stuff, took a picture of some hot shirtless surfers who two seconds later I overheard speaking beautiful castellano. Seeing Spain across the river was torture! I missed it so much! I bought a Coca Cola, and the hot clerk was like "Bonjour o hola?" I said "Hola" and we talked in Spanish. And the Spanish think it's ENGLISH you need to travel. Hendaia was nice, but not Spain. I went back to mi tierra nueva and walked more around San Sebastián.

Monday night, while walking on the beach taking some time to myself, a wind picked up out of nowhere. I ran back to the hostel, making it back before the torrent of rain started. Due to the on-and-off rain on Tuesday, I didn't make it to the pueblo I wanted to see. Ah well. Another excuse to go back to this amazing place.

Such an amazing trip, so many awesome memories. I <3 Donostia!