San Sebastian: the day that made up for yesterday

After a series of doing two nights, one day throughout most of France, I felt kind of exhausted, and decided that I'd spend longer in each place if I could.  If that meant seeing fewer cities, so be it.  So I booked three nights in San Sebastian.  And that was just about the greatest foresight ever, because of that unfortunately-timed thing that happened the day before that I blogged about in the last post.  It would have been literally the very worst timing if that had been my only day in San Sebastian, but as it was I knew I had an entire second day so the crisis was reduced to Amusing Inconvenient Anecdote.

But apparently my foresight can only take a stumbling traveler so far, because when I walked to the train station to buy a ticket for Porto the following day, I was told "Night train only, to Coimbra."  I'd have to buy my ticket to actual Porto once I got to the Coimbra station.

Well, balls.

So I walked back to the hostel and told them my situation, and they very generously said I could stay all the next afternoon and evening instead of checking out tomorrow at noon like I was supposed to.  Excellent.  I was able to move my Porto hostel dates back one day also with no problem, and by the early-bird hour of 1:30 I was out and ready for my first Pintxos-and-beer of the day!

Those puffball things were surprisingly delish.

Today I was determined to walk up the big coastal hill with the fortresses, topped with a giant statue of Jesus.  Which I guess I could have done yesterday, but was kind of over everything once I'd finally found lunch.  To get there I had to walk through the Old Town, which is beautiful and ever so much more welcoming when things are actually open.

Signature San Sebastian architecture

The walk up the hill was very easy and pleasant, so much so that I can't even really call it a proper hike.  But it did offer some breathtaking views of the town and the Atlantic.

On the other side of the hill I ran into a surprise of a tiny crumbling graveyard and monument to some British soldiers who had died there in the 1800s.

Finally I reached the big fortress on the top, which unfortunately did not offer any good photo spots of the giant Jesus, being directly below it and all.  The views were spectacular though.  The fortress was huge and left largely open for exploring, which of course I took to like the giant kid in an adult-sized ancient ruined playground that I am.

Was trying to use my flash to see inside a dark room.  Captured this.

On the way down, I passed through the ruins of an old battery fortress, also cool.

This is BASQUE country!

Favorite shot I took in San Sebastian

And then... it was time for a CHURCH!!  Because Lord knows, no trip to any European city would be complete without a church a day.  (I even got one in yesterday during Strike Day.)  I walked across Old Town to the imposing Buen Pastor Church, but found it closed for some reason.  Ah well, I guess a day in a European city would be complete without me trying to see something that was closed.

Buen Pastor

I decided I should at least check out the long swimmer's beach on this side of the river.  So that happened.  I took a long slow walk from one end to the other and back, which probably took close to an hour.  Halfway down the beach, I came across a section inexplicably choked with red algae.  See how the wave looks so dark?  A genuine biblical moment of turning the seas to blood.  Good thing this was only in one part and not across the whole beach, as swimming in this would be gross.

Red Sea

No.  Olympics.

And that, friends, was pretty much my day in San Sebastian.  Did not feel up to tackling any museums, but spent some lovely time outside enjoying this beautiful and unique city in the Basqueland.

For dinner, I suddenly realized that I did not want yet another meal of straight pintxos, so ended up walking around for something like 45 minutes in search of a nice, clean, inexpensive, not-too-crowded place with an English menu, that sold either pizza or hamburgers, and where I could sit outside.  Ah, the joys of solo travel, when you are allowed to indulge yourself in increasingly frustrating moron quests for as long as you damn well please.  The cheeseburger I finally succeeded in ordering left a lot to be desired, but hell.  With a list of requirements like that, something's gotta give.

For my unexpected extra day in San Sebastian, I ended up doing almost nothing.  Or rather, I did a lot, I just did it on my laptop in the hostel.  Planned out my trip through Portugal, Spain, Malta, and all the way to Pisa, Italy, which is where my RyanAir flight will take me after Malta.  I'd wanted to do Greece before Italy, but RyanAir said NO to that idea, so once again I cheerfully altered my plans a little.  It will be great to see Italy in maybe some better weather, and hopefully visiting Santorini in late November will not suck too much, as that was one of the top three places I really wanted to see on this trip.  But planning all this shite takes time, let me tell you!!  It took all damn afternoon pretty much.  But I felt a lot better knowing I was set, especially for the RyanAir flights.

In the evening I headed out deciding to maybe treat myself a little, and check out some pintxo places that a good friend had recommended.  The first one I found, Gandarias, did indeed have the best pintxos I've eaten so far, so props to the inside scoop.  I walked around the Old Town for a while, checking out a few more places and just enjoying the people-watching.

Too soon I had to head back to the hostel, pack up the last of my stuff, and head out to the train station for my first Night Train Experience of the trip.  Next up, Portugal!!