San Sebastian, Spain

We arrived in San Sebastian from France via a train ride to the border then another train into San Sebastian. One surprise was the number of Americans on the train and in San Sebastian itself. Everywhere we went we heard American voices.

San Sebastian is a beautiful city full of shops and good food. It is known as a food lovers paradise. Our hotel here was the most expensive of our trip at $262/night but it was very luxurious and just a 7 minute walk to the train station.

San Sebastian is in Spain’s Basque country and when you combine Basque and Spain you get pinxtos which is Basque for tapas. Cider is the drink that is native to the area. We arrived tired and hungry and found a great pinxtos bar near our hotel. We tried the cider, which is very different than English cider, and the pouring of the cider is a ceremony in itself. I wasn’t too impressed with cider but switched to a local white wine which was excellent and we each had a pinxtos which was just the right amount of food since we planned to go out to dinner later.

After our late lunch, we went for a long walk through the old town, waterfront and along the boulevard.

Harbor with Christ overlooking the safety of the mariners.

We returned to the old town for dinner. There was a myriad of places to choose from. The trick is finding somewhere with room for those without reservations. The restaurant recommended by our hotel was full already at 7 pm. We wandered around and picked one that looked nice and wound up having the best meal of our trip so far. The lemon sorbet in Cava was a great dessert! Barry preferred the cider, local wines and after dinner brandy to Spanish beer.

The greenery and gardens around the city were beautiful even in September.

We headed to the train station the next morning. We would definitely return to explore the city further if the possibility arose. The bridge from our hotel to the train station was amazing. I’ve posted a few more photos in the Gallery.

The longest travel day…

Biarritz, France