The last of our two full days in San Sebastian, Spain is coming to an end. It has been a rainy day, which means we’ve seen nothing but rain here. But, following serious academic research, it’s been discovered that San Sebastian is cloudy and wet much of the year. Oh. January is 48 degrees and August is 70 degrees. And, there is sunshine at times in the summer. But, we’re having fun.
We’ve covered the primary geography of the city like a glove. Four bus rides (the total route each time) have given us a good idea of what the city is all about. We’ve engaged both days in the Basque lifestyle of eating pintxos (peen-chos). Tonight we’re heading to the “best” restaurant in town, with the scouting report being “great and impressive steak house”, which is less scary after having a pintxos today that included pretty tasty sirloin steak. We never give up.
Let’s go to the photos. Our hotel is very fancy in an old building, next to a great looking theatre built in 1912, with an impressive statue located between the two buildings. You should see all three in photos. Heading to lunch in old town today, we happened to pass a local bar (they all feature pintxos) where folks were floating inside and outside, so we took a photo of a more European scene. Marz and the kids posed on one of the main streets of old town. We visited Bar Astelana, where you see Keaka near the bar laced with various pintxos. We had capellini-wrapped prawns. Bueno, bueno, bueno. They take this delicacy and lightly deep fry it and then drop a little soy sauce on top. Oh baby! Bar Astelana is just off the square, where you see the tour director standing. On the edge of old town is the busy street you see in a photo, which is simply showing a typical street scene in San Sebastian. And, in the Centro Area of the city is a great little park, which you see in a photo.
Apparently in the 1990s the folks here totally renovated the city. Wow! They did a great job. It’s a beautiful city. Almost totally apartment living, with very few single family homes on the outskirts. We assume those houses are for the super rich. The houses would be less than large in the U.S. and probably cost about $600,000 in the western United States. Nothing ---- NOTHING – is built with wood. Lots of brick construction. When you think of how many wood-constructed houses you see in the U.S., to realize there’s no such thing here is pretty striking. I’m not sure we’ve seen many wood-constructed homes anywhere in Europe.
San Sebastian is very clean, very organized and very orderly. That’s exactly what we found in Barcelona. The people seem peaceful, quite in contrast to the more excitable people of the south of France. Barcelona and San Sebastian are much more like the United States than France. In fact, everywhere we’ve been in Europe is more like the U.S. than France.
As we’ve noted, Coca Cola is everywhere and Pepsi is rarely scene. Coke is almost always served out of a bottle in a glass with ice cubes and a slice of lemon. I really like the bottled Coke flavor, which to me is quite different than fountain Coke. And, fountain Coke is quite different in Europe than in the U.S., when and if you find fountain Coke.
More photos of San Sebastian on the way, as we prepare to move on to Toulouse, France tomorrow (Thursday).
The Wilsons
