A vacation from my vacation: San Sebastian

I just got back from an incredible trip to San Sebastian, Spain! I was there from Tuesday till Sunday and kept sort of a little journal while I was there, so I summarized it to put in my blog!

Tuesday: I had a full day of traveling. I took the train from Leeds to Manchester, then flew from Manchester to Bilbao.  Once in Bilbao I had to find the bus to take me to San Sebastian.  I was very worried about this, because this was my first time traveling by myself in a non-english speaking country.  I usually have the privilege of my mom with me, who speaks fluent Spanish.  Luckily i found it just fine! Anyways, after 8 hours of traveling I made it to San Sebastian where Sydney met me and we headed to her apartment.  It was so nice to talk with someone from home, Sydney is in my sorority so we have a lot of the same friends.  I don't think there was a break in conversation the entire night.  After relaxing for a little we went pintxo (pronounced pincho) bar hoping.  Since San Sebastian is in Basque country they call tapas pintxos.  Sydney and I went into the first pintxo bar and chose a few we liked and got some sangria.  The pintxos were incredible! Such fresh seafood and delicious cheeses, i could have them for every meal! After eating and chatting we headed to a different one where we got more pintxos and more sangria.  And then we ended our night splitting a nutella crepe with vanilla ice cream.  I think it was one of the best meals I have had since I have been abroad, a lot of the culture in England is based around pub food and pasties, so it was nice to have some amazing seafood and incredible Spanish pintxos.

Walking across one of the four bridges that Sydney takes to her apartment

Such an amazing sunset at La Concha

La Concha

La Concha

Pintxos!

Pintxos round two!

Delicious nutella crepe

Wednesday: Sydney had class all day so I got to explore the city! It was a nice sunny day so I started out at the beach.  I laid there listening to Jack Johnson and watching people walk their dogs, occasionally a dog would come up and play with me which I loved.  All of the dogs are so well behaved they just follow their owners around, with no care to what the other dogs are doing.  After relaxing at the beach I walked around the edge of the Paseo de Concha, which was the walking area next to the beach.  There is a figure of Jesus that overlooks San Sebastian so I decided to get to the top of it.  I ended up getting lost but still got some breathtaking views of the beach and San Sebastian.  After trying to find Jesus I continued walking along the coastline, and ended up back by Sydney's apartment.  I grabbed some stuff from the market to make dinner then headed back to her place to get some schoolwork done.  Her roommate who is from Spain offered to make me Galician style octopus for lunch, because she was having some as well.  It was so delicious! It was very interesting to talk to someone from a different region of Spain my flatmate is from near Barcelona and it is clear there are two very different lifestyles.  When Sydney was done with class we went down to the beach to watch the sunset then made dinner in her apartment! Afterwards we went to this fun little bar with spanish music and dancing!

Such a gorgeous sunny day at La Concha

Jesus! I tried to hike up but got lost

La Concha and Paseo de Concha

Down by the fishing warf

The view that I got when attempting to climb up to Jesus

Gorgeous sunset

Thursday: Sydney had class again, so I decided to wander San Sebastian's shopping district.  I loved window shopping and seeing all the pretty displays.  I spent a little too much money because all of the clothes were so cute!  After wandering around I stopped into a bar and got a jamon sandwhich and cafe con leche, which was a great lunch to have after walking so much.  Then I headed back to the apartment, walking slow and enjoying the gorgeous day.  Sydney and her friends have 'Pan Jueves' or bread thursday every thursday night, so we went over to her friends apartment to have bread, brie, jam, chorizo, and wine.  It was so fun to just sit and talk and enjoy food.

The CUTEST dog! It looked like it had little dreadlocks and was hopping all over the beach

Colorado State in San Sebastian? I creepily took this picture because I thought it was really funny

One of the many cathedrals in San Sebastian! 

My lunch, a ham sandwich and cafe con leche

These were little queens that had the hands waving back and forth! I thought it was funny I saw these in Spain not England.

A delicious chocolate croissant for desert

Sunset on the beach

They had Harry Potter in spanish at a bookstore we went to! So of course I took pictures of all seven

Sydney bought a cactus for her room! If I can find one in England, I might do the same

There were so many markets! I loved seeing all the colorful fruit set outside them

Friday: We went to the beach for the whole day! It was an absolutely gorgeous day out so we went and laid out on the beach the entire day.  We walked along the beach, played with dogs as their owners walked them, listened to music, and watched the surfers.  It was a nice relaxing day and I was so happy to have a sunny beach day in March.  At night we went and tried to find a paella restaurant but were unable to find the ones on the map, so we went to a modern italian restaurant with a spanish twist.  There were four of us, so we split a pizza with marinara sauce pesto and salmon, meat ravioli, and calamari.  Then we got a delicious chocolate brownie and tiramisu for desert.  Afterwards we wandered the streets of San Sebastian.

We went to a beach on the other side of La Concha.  If you remember the pictures of Jesus earlier, the hill in the background is him.

The ladybugs were flocking to me! At least 5 landed on me while we were at the beach!

I loved watching all the owners play with their dogs.

Sydney

More dogs

One of Sydney's friends is staying with a host family in San Sebastian, and they had a dog so she brought it out to the beach.  We all had a great time playing with him!

Calamari, and Pesto, Salmon, and Marinara Pizza

Ravioli too!

A hamburger vending machine? Disgusting

Saturday: We went to France! With only 2 trains and a bus we went to the little coastal town in France called Biattriz! It took us a little bit to get there, partly because they didn't speak english or spanish and partly because thirteen of us went.  Once we got there we got a french baguette panini and sat by the beach to eat it.  Afterwards we took a little tourist train around the town to see where all the main spots were.  It was cute and had an audioguide that told us about the history of Biattriz.  Afterwards we climbed up to the lighthouse and sat there for awhile enjoying the views.  After collecting pebbles on the beach we headed back to San Sebastian.  We got a delicious 3 course meal and had a great night wandering the streets of San Sebastian!

Biarritz

Biarritz. We walked all the way to the lighthouse! Pictures to come later

Sydney on the little tourist train

30 km down this coast is the border of Spain

I want to live in this apartment!

Where all the French royals used to stay

I loved these electric kettles! If they weren't 80 euro I would have bought one

These radios too!

Biarritz

Sydney sitting up by the lighthouse

We went pebble collecting! All of the pebbles were so smooth and pretty. So fun to collect

Sydney 

I want this car!

One of the many squares in Biarritz

The buses had sun roofs! 

Train station at sunset

After relaxing for a little we went to a restaurant that had a "Menu de Dia" We chose it because the menu was only in Spanish, and it had Paella.  Course 1 was a delicious seafood and chicken paella! It was incredible

Course 2 was cod in lots of olive oil and butter, with potatoes.  It was so fresh it fell apart as you picked it up with your fork!

Course 3 was flan.  We thought we were ordering something else, but it was still decent.

Sydney and I

Sydney and her other friends from her program

On Sunday it was rainy so we spent the day catching up on homework! And then I had another 8 hours of travelling to get back to Leeds! It was such a nice trip to go and see her, I was so thankful that I was able to.  It really made me appreciate Leeds, but also jealous that she was able to live on a beach! I learned that every study abroad program has its negatives and positives, so you need to be thankful for the positives in your program.

-G