A Weekend in San Sebastian

April 2017

Towards the end of my time on my Workaway, myself and the new Japanese workaway Nioko asked for a weekend off so we could do some touristing. We had worked out that it would be fairly easy to get to San Sebastian as we were so close to the Spanish border anyway, so we decided to go for it!
I'd heard of the town and knew it was firmly on the tourist map, but aside from this I knew nothing about it.















We arrived in the late afternoon and walked the short ten minutes from the city center where our hostel was meant to be. At first we couldn't find it at all, there were no signs and we were worried we may have been ripped off (having prebooked it online) however we finally saw the hostel name stuck to one of the buzzers on an apartment complex! It was very small with only a couple of rooms (each dorm room fitted eight however) and the owner was very nice, happily giving us a map of the city and recommending his favourite eateries!
Nioko had a beautiful camera perfect for close-up shots and she was kind enough to send me her food photos after our trip - all food shots within this post are therefore her excellent photography!

















Our first stop was to the Pintxo (tapas) bars, where we were eager to try out the food San Sebastian is famous for! The city has so many Michelin starred restaurants it felt a bit ridiculous, however with our budget just slightly below the lofty reaches of Michelin, we headed for the quainter style of eatery.

















We didn't do too much that day beyond wandering and eating (far too much as we were too excited to choose what to eat so tried as many as we could!) We had an early night so as to make the most of the next day, and I was pleasantly surprised that the beds were comfortable and clean, and the lockers all had locks on them so we didn't have to worry about our stuff. The rooms were co-ed and I was soon forced to stuff my earplugs in to block out the snores, but aside from that our roommates were quiet and we were able to sleep well.
We decided to head to the iconic mountain around the bay as we had heard the views from the top were spectacular. We knew there was an old funicular that would take us up the hill, so we decided to walk to the base rather than taking a bus. It was a ridiculously beautiful day and already felt like summer, allowing us to enjoy our beach-side stroll immensely.















The small mountain of  Monte Igueldo dominated the town, and upon reaching it I was rather glad we were taking the funicular up! It was also incredibly sunny and I was starting to wonder if I'd applied enough sunscreen. The funicular had been running since the 1920s, and gave us a lovely old-fashioned and slow paced trip up the hillside.

























I was surprised and somewhat dismayed to find the hilltop had been taken over by children's fun-rides and looked like a mini Disney-land. However if you climbed a little higher, these dropped away and we were left with spectacular views.
















Obligatory photo-of-ourselves-in-front-of-something-cool completed, we admired the views for a little longer before heading back down.

















With perfect timing, we realized it was now lunch time, and the chance to try more food!

















A few hours of slowly picking our way through every Pintxos that appealed, we decided to push our limits further with one of the town's specialties, cheesecake at 'La Vina'.















Feeling completely stuffed, we stumbled to the beach and napped the afternoon away in the sun, watching the surfers jealously (well, maybe that part was just me!)

For our last night in San Sebastian, we decided to head to what we had heard was the best cheap Pintxos bar in town, Borda Berri. This quickly became my favourite restaurant that we tried, as although the bar was so crowded (a problem we found at every place at lunch and dinner-time however) that we were literally squished upright as if we were on the London Underground at 5pm, the food was so damn good it was worth both the wait and the crowds! Drinking cheap beer didn't hurt either.
Unlike the other bars we had been to, there was no food on the counter and instead the Pintxos were made fresh, and although a little more expensive (by which I mean 3.50 per dish rather than 1-2.50) they were also larger (and much, much nicer!) Every single thing we tried was to die for, but the fresh grilled Octopus blew me away, and was easily the best I've ever tried.

















We had befriended a couple of our dorm-mates that morning, and decided to all go out for a drink after dinner together, as it was everyone's last night in town.
Keiko headed off to bed early, so before too long we felt like the start of a bad joke - 'an American, a Kiwi and a Frenchman walk into a bar...' Jokes aside, it was a lovely evening and a wonderful trip overall!