San Sebastian is a small town on the Northern Coast of Spain. It became a popular destination back in the 1400s when some queen discovered the city and made it her summer home. It’s small and oddly shaped (google it to see what I’m talking about). People in Utah always use the mountains as their directional cue (ie If there are mountains on your right, then you’re headed north). This is always confusing to me because at any point in Provo you have mountains on three sides. In California it makes much more sense to me, if the ocean is on your left, you can’t be going any direction but north. This is not so in San Sebastian, its odd shape had us mixed around with directions all week.
We took a train from Madrid early Monday morning, arriving on the coast in the early afternoon. Our first day was pretty cold and we soon realized our dream of a sunny beach retreat would not exactly become reality. Notice we’re wearing sweaters and scarves! Perhaps more distressing was the realization that the spa we had heard so much about, perched right on the beach full of all sorts of relaxation opportunities, had been destroyed by a bad winter of storms. Sad!
The city has 3 miles of boardwalk that wrap along the coastline. It was fun to have a chance to run along the beach again and feel connected to fellow runners doing the same. But I found it odd that most of the men running along were wearing capris! I don’t think I’ve ever seen that at home, rarely if at all. But here almost every single man running by was wearing a running outfit I wish I owned myself. I missed a photo of the perfect threesome of men all in cute little running capris but I caught some others.
Day two of our adventure began with an absolute downpour. Eventually it cleared up and we took a full tour of the town on the Tourist Txo-Txo (choo-choo) and enjoyed the warmth, sunshine, and people watching. There are tons of cool strollers here. This carriage one reminded me of a cabbage patch stroller Annee had back in the day. Most of the others look very space-agey and cool.
At 6pm, we waited outside the local McDonalds where we met up with Matt Harding and Mikel. (After figuring out where I was going, Sarah told me “Hey we have a good friend in San Sebastian.” Well of course you do! The Wileys are extraordinarily well connected.) Mikel grew up in the Basque region and Matt spends a few months a year here. Mikel brought his little daughter and they gave us a full tour of Old Town, full of recommendations for dinner. They pointed out about 10 different places, probably assuming we’d choose 2 or 3 for our night. We went to every single one.
***Hmm experiencing serious technical difficulties so I'll have to finish this post tomorrow. Check back for an edit later. Ciao!
2 comments:
OK so I totally didn't realize Matt was in town too. Hope that wasn't too weird. Sounds like an awesome trip, even in spite of the weather and hotel setbacks. Thanks for the report.
What a fabulous trip. I love the running photos. That is so funny. That's what's great about world travel. You can to see how it's done somewhere else.
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