Basque Country

On Friday March 20, we caught an 8:00 a.m. train to San Sebastian, known as Donostia in the Basque language.  The city name is usually hyphenated as San Sebastian-Donostia.  Luckily we had bought our train tickets in advance, as the train left from the second train station in Madrid, which is located in a northern suburb.  We took a taxi to a commuter rail stop near us, which took us to the train station.  The price of the commuter rail was included in our train ticket.  The train trip took 5 1/2 hours, but just sped by.  Lots of interesting countryside as we headed north.  There were only about six stops along the way on the fast train.

Heading north though small towns

We arrived at 1:25 p.m. and headed over a bridge on the river that runs through part of the city.  Our Pension is only a ten minute walk from the train station.

Walking across the Urumea River from the train station

We are staying at a small Pension, as we couldn't find a reasonable apartment online.  Pension San Ignacio is well located on the Plaza Buen Pastor in front of the Buen Pastor Cathedral.  It is on the first floor (second floor in Canada) and there is a small elevator, which meant no lugging luggage.

Back of Buen Pastor Cathedral

Everyone we told that we were going to San Sebastian lit up and told us what a beautiful, special city it is.  We agree.  The setting is spectacular as the city is on a peninsula in the Bay of Biscay, with the Rio Urumea running though part of the city.  San Sebastian has a population of around 160,000 and is very easy to walk around.  Besides having the reputation as having the best food in Spain (and this is a tough standard to meet, as the food throughout Spain has been excellent), it is a very fashionable city, with lovely stores, buildings and cafes.  

We started our stroll through the central part of the city, where our Pension is located, to the tourist office, located near the older part of the city.  We walked through many streets with strange looking trees.  Many streets are pedestrian only.  We have found that all the Spanish cities we have visited have large pedestrian only areas-- no "war on cars" here.

The Basques are the oldest traceable ethnic group in Europe.  Their language, Euskera, predates any of the Romance languages.   The Basque region had a large degree of independence until the 19th century.  Even then they still had certain rights and privileges granted by the Romans until 1876, when the Basques rebelled over succession to the Spanish throne.  They were persecuted by the Franco regime, which led to a deep resentment against Madrid.  The separatist movement ETA engaged in guerrilla activity for many years.  A unilateral cease-fire was declared in 2011.

Strange trees

There are many belle epoch structures.  We passed a beautiful gazebo where summer concerts take place.

Beautiful gazebo in the central part of town

We walked over to one side of the Bay of Biscay to see the ocean.  There was a 2014 memorial to the 400 men and women executed by Franco's regime during the Spanish Civil War.

Memorial plaque

The memorial was in the shape of the coastline around San Sebastian and the names of the 400 people executed were written below the sculpture.

Memorial with names in front

After getting some information from the tourist office, we went looking for a few recommended cafes to have a coffee.  We saw both sides of the Bay.  It is an incredibly beautiful setting for a city. Unfortunately, we are here during a very cloudy, cool six days.  We kept thinking how wonderful the city would look in the sun.  Apparently, the rest of Spain flocks here in the summer for the beautiful beaches and good summer temperatures.

The first two pictures that follow are from one side of the Bay.

Our attempt at a selfie with our camera

The Bay of Biscay

The City Hall was a beautiful building.  We discovered that San Sebastian-Donostia was the co-winner of the European Cultural Capital for 2016.  Apparently about 15 cities in Spain competed for the honour (we had seen a promo tile in Cordoba earlier in our travels).  San Sebastian-Donostia and Wroclaw, Poland were the winners.

Poster on City Hall 

We passed a beautiful flower market in front of an old building that once housed a fish market, but now contains a number of stores.

Flower market

We then walked to the other side of the peninsula (a ten minute walk).  The waves were crashing on the rocks and we crossed another bridge to see the Congress centre and check out a restaurant we had read about.

View of Congress Centre

Close up

We have made a reservation for our last lunch in San Sebastian at Nineu.  (They were not open for dinner during the week, until the day we leave).

Apartments on the side of the river where the train station is located

Marching for San Sebastian

We finally stopped for a coffee at a wonderful bakery.  The Spanish like a lot of cream in their sweets.  This cake had a wow factor.  We just had a coffee here.

Lots of cream!

Lovely pastries

We walked by a large plaza surrounded by shops in archways.  The plaza had beautiful trees and sculptures.

Plaza de Gipuzkoa

We stopped at another bakery called Barrenetxe, which dates back to 1699.  It featured amazing almond treats and chocolates. 

The photo below has one of the almond muffins featured and the bakery's  boxes for take-away.  We shared an almond treat.

Lots of treats at Barenetxe

We passed more of the strange trees during our stroll.  

Strange trees

Cathedral in the evening (about 8:30 p.m.)

We got back to the Pension at around 8:30 p.m. and had a brief rest.  We headed to dinner at a nearby tapas bar at about 9:30 p.m.  Javier, the manager of the Pension, walked us over to the bar and introduced us to the manager.  We ate at Casa Valles, an old fashioned bar dating back to 1942.  It was full of locals.

Outside of Casa Valles

Mushrooms and tortilla with cod and potatoes (tapa size)

Octopus with oil and paprika - racione (plate) size

                                       Raciones menu

At the bar

We had a wonderful afternoon exploring San Sebastian.  It is now Saturday March 21- another cloudy, rainy day.  However, even the bad weather cannot mask this incredibly beautiful city.