Inconcievable

In my high school Spanish 3 class we were assigned penpals from Spain. My penpal was from San Sebastian, a city on the France/Spain border. And while the penpal didn’t last longer than a semester, my interest in visiting San Sebastian has continued through high school and university. And finally, after a six-hour bus ride to the north, I made it to see the bay and beaches firsthand. It was amazingly beautiful, and the city lived up to the images I’ve forever seen on posters and postcards. It didn't feel like I was in Spain anymore- afterall, San Sebastian is only 9 km away from France. And while it was beautiful in San Sebastian, there was something about the vibe of the city that bothered me. Maybe it was the huge crowds of well dressed people flocking all over the beach. Maybe it was the pretentiousness dripping from every bar and hotel along the water front. I'm not sure.



The trip, while imagined in my head for years, was a last minute affair with Jed (a Carlos III kid) and Melissa (Eugine Oregon from my adventure in Santorini). We had no plans other than to hit the beach and feast upon the famed food of Pais Vasco.

Which is exactly what we did after checking into our pension, run by a friendly Australian who made us speak to him in Spanish. We wandered around the old part of the city to a few tapas bars and then along the waterfront, which looked like a Disney resort. In between feasts of pinxos, we had hotdogs at a beachfront café. It was like being back in California.


As night fell on our first evening in San Sebastian we hike partway up one of the 2 hills on the edges of the beach to get a sunset view of the city. It was a bit too late for that, but what we found instead was just as nice. Old ruins and stonewalls lined the walk up. We had a swordfight as the surrounds looked like something out of The Princess Bride and then stood very close to the edge of the Cliffs of Insanity. On the way back down, we listened to a live band playing in a bar in the hillside as it bounced off an old church across from it. The acoustics were incredible.

The next morning we hiked up the hill again, this time to the top, where we discovered more ruins and a giant statue of Christ. The views of the bay were amazing from the top. And as we made our sweaty descent, we decided to hit up the surfing beach (the least crowded of all) for a swim and a rest. At the beach we encountered many a topless sunbathers as well as a completely nude man (except for his goggles and swim cap, that is). We were the only people on the beach to appear phased by the nudity. It truly is another culture.

For the second sunset we were to experience in San Sebastian, we decided to get an earlier start and made way to the other end of the bay while the sun was still high in the sky. We missed the road up the hill and ended up in an odd park with old and young people alike just loitering around. We loitered awhile with them before finding the road we needed to get up the hill, passing huge estates on the way up the hillside.

(look at the sun- its setting?!)

Nearing the top of the hill, we discovered that we were on a lovers’ lane of sorts as we passed by couples pulled over in their cars watching the sunset. And as the sky went dark, the cars stayed parked on the side of the road as we hiked past to the very top of the hill.

Somehow, we had gone from lovers’ lane to Scooby-Doo set- an abandoned amusement park. We just kept waiting for the disgruntled grounds keeper to walk out from the ticket booth asking us to get rid of the Wolf-man haunting the place. And as I walked past a spooky old tent, I stepped on one of those little popper things, creeping us all out even more. Scooby-Doo chase sequence over, we returned home for the night.




Another long bus ride, and I’m back in Madrid.

About a half-hour after getting home I left my apartment to go see Volver with Chris. I’m always impressed when I can watch movies in Spanish and get everything- I feel like I’m actually accomplishing something over here. I’ve less than a month left of class here and then I’m off to do some serious traveling. Its gone by so fast.