Friday
So when we first got there, it was still dark out, raining, cold, and we were running on no sleep. As nice as they try and make those busses, there's still no possible way to get comfortable for an extended period of time and actually get a good night's sleep. But ah well. Anyways..of course, we had not packed umbrellas, jackets, or any kind of good clothing for the rain. And we couldn't check in to our hostel until 11:30, so we had about 5 and a half hours to kill. We quickly found a small little café (luckily something was open at 6 am) and ordered some coffee and hid out in there for an hour or 2 until the sun came up and the rain kind of died down.
(Court was not happy when her coffee was gone)
Then, we ventured out to try and make our way to the beach/main city area (where we were staying). Now, of course, this was not an easy task with the two of us. Long story short, we ended up walking in the completely opposite direction along the river, got stuck in some construction zone, asked multiple people for directions who all said different things, crossed over the river about 4 times, and finally eventually made our way to the beach. (Mind you, this is all in the rain, with our luggage) Luckily, we had plenty of time to kill anyways, and hey, we got to explore the entire city.
Once we made it to the main beach area, we were so relieved. Even though it wasn't the greatest weather, the city was still beautiful- all of the old, historical buildings, the bridges, the river opening up into the ocean, the coastline....oh how I've missed the beach. After some more searching, we eventually found our hostel, Roger's House. This was both of our first experiences staying in a hostel, and we were pretty nervous, but it ended up being the best decision. So we checked in, and got our room, which was a 6-person co/ed room with 3 bunk beds. There were about 6 of these rooms in the hostel, most with the same set up. There were 2 bathrooms and 3 showers for everyone to share, so that was interesting, but it worked out. The guy who checked us in was extremely helpful and friendly, and gave us a map and suggestions of what we needed to do while we were there. So after a much needed nap, we went out and explored some more, went down to the beach, did a little shopping, and just had fun walking up and down all the streets and taking everything in.
Later that night, the guy who worked at the hostel did this deal where if you paid 6 euros, you got his homemade paella for dinner, freshly made sangria, ice cream, and then he took us out after. So we figured we might as well...seemed like a good deal. I am so happy that we decided to do it, because we had the best night. First of all, the paella was absolutely delicious, probably the best that I have had since I've been here. He made a huge dish of a seafood one, with mussels, shrimp, and calamari...and then a chicken one for the couple people who didn't like seafood. And we got huge portions, along with about 4 glasses of sangria, and ice cream after. So the food was definitely worth it. But mainly, it was a great way to meet people. We met people from all over the world- Australia, Finland, Canada, and so many more. Everyone was so fun and friendly, and we all went out together to a couple bars and clubs after dinner, which was awesome to have a group to go out with. I don't have many pictures from that night, Court has them on her camera, but here's one of us and our friend Caley, from Melbourne, Australia.
Afterwards, we of course could not pass up the opportunity to go to the beach, so we met up with some friends we had made and spent the afternoon lying on the sand and soaking up the sun.
We headed back to the hostel around 6 to shower and get cleaned up, then went out again for the night. We made it back to the water just in time to watch the beautiful sunset- also something I have missed.
Then, we ventured out to try and make our way to the beach/main city area (where we were staying). Now, of course, this was not an easy task with the two of us. Long story short, we ended up walking in the completely opposite direction along the river, got stuck in some construction zone, asked multiple people for directions who all said different things, crossed over the river about 4 times, and finally eventually made our way to the beach. (Mind you, this is all in the rain, with our luggage) Luckily, we had plenty of time to kill anyways, and hey, we got to explore the entire city.
Once we made it to the main beach area, we were so relieved. Even though it wasn't the greatest weather, the city was still beautiful- all of the old, historical buildings, the bridges, the river opening up into the ocean, the coastline....oh how I've missed the beach. After some more searching, we eventually found our hostel, Roger's House. This was both of our first experiences staying in a hostel, and we were pretty nervous, but it ended up being the best decision. So we checked in, and got our room, which was a 6-person co/ed room with 3 bunk beds. There were about 6 of these rooms in the hostel, most with the same set up. There were 2 bathrooms and 3 showers for everyone to share, so that was interesting, but it worked out. The guy who checked us in was extremely helpful and friendly, and gave us a map and suggestions of what we needed to do while we were there. So after a much needed nap, we went out and explored some more, went down to the beach, did a little shopping, and just had fun walking up and down all the streets and taking everything in.
Later that night, the guy who worked at the hostel did this deal where if you paid 6 euros, you got his homemade paella for dinner, freshly made sangria, ice cream, and then he took us out after. So we figured we might as well...seemed like a good deal. I am so happy that we decided to do it, because we had the best night. First of all, the paella was absolutely delicious, probably the best that I have had since I've been here. He made a huge dish of a seafood one, with mussels, shrimp, and calamari...and then a chicken one for the couple people who didn't like seafood. And we got huge portions, along with about 4 glasses of sangria, and ice cream after. So the food was definitely worth it. But mainly, it was a great way to meet people. We met people from all over the world- Australia, Finland, Canada, and so many more. Everyone was so fun and friendly, and we all went out together to a couple bars and clubs after dinner, which was awesome to have a group to go out with. I don't have many pictures from that night, Court has them on her camera, but here's one of us and our friend Caley, from Melbourne, Australia.
Saturday
Saturday morning we woke up to a very pleasant surprise....sun!!! After sleeping in a bit, we got ready and went out to get a late breakfast/brunch. We ended up finding this crepe place....I got one with ham, cheese, and egg, and a coffee to go with- oh my goodness it was absolutely amazing. Is it bad that I miss Aroma's crepes at USD? :/
After our scrumptious meal, we decided to go work it off and take the famous hike up to the Jesus statue to see the city. Unfortunately, we did not bring hiking shoes, or even tennis shoes for that matter, so we suffered through in our sandals with absolutely zero traction. But let me tell you, it was way more than worth it. Especially with the sun out, the view was unbelievable. I honestly felt like I was in paradise. These pictures are great, but they don't even do it justice.
Afterwards, we of course could not pass up the opportunity to go to the beach, so we met up with some friends we had made and spent the afternoon lying on the sand and soaking up the sun.
We headed back to the hostel around 6 to shower and get cleaned up, then went out again for the night. We made it back to the water just in time to watch the beautiful sunset- also something I have missed.
Then it was time for pintxos! So, this is the thing in San Sebastián...instead of going out to a restaurant and sitting down and ordering a meal, you go out for drinks and pintxos. These are basically like little appetizers- you order them individually and they each only cost 1-3 euros. So there's a ton of these pintxos bars around the city, really close to one another, so you go to one, order 1 or 2, hang out for awhile, then head to the next one, order a couple more, then keep going. It's such a cool experience- so different from anything at home. People are just lining the streets all over, standing, sitting, talking, drinking, and eating their pintxos. Oh, and the plates of food are just lined all along the bar, so they just give you a plate and you take whichever one you want. You don't need to wait to order them, and you already know exactly what you're getting, since you can see it right in front of you. And by the way, they are absolutely delicious. There's so many different kinds, but the majority are probably seafood. Some that i can think of are a piece of bread with crab salad and shrimp on it, a pastry type thing with ham, goat cheese, and a berry sauce, a wrap with artichoke, ham, and cheese, little sandwiches (bocadillos) with all different kinds of mixtures inside, tortilla españolas, so much more. I really like how they do this here because it makes you realize that it really is unnecessary to eat all that we do in America. I was pleasantly full off of about 3-4 small pintxos, and it made me wonder why the US restaurants insist on giving you a huge plate of food that you can never finish, and if you do finish, you always know you ate way too much. Anyways. I don't know. I think I should bring this pintxos tradition home. I think people would like it. Well, for the rest of the night, we just went in and out of bars, ordered some drinks, and just had a great night.
Sunday
Sadly, this was our last day in San Sebastián, but at least our bus didn't leave till 6:30, so we had most of the day. We didn't do too much, got some food for lunch, and headed back to the beach, since it was sunny again...even nicer than the day before. The beach was packed- the people of San Sebastián aren't used to beautiful weather at the end of September! There was also some triathlon or race going on, so we got to watch a whole bunch of swimmers go out into the ocean and swim a pretty long distance out and back...I was definitely impressed. That's a lot of work. Anyways, after we got too hot to stay on the beach any longer, we decided to treat ourselves to some gelato- oh what a good idea that was. I got half brownie and half "Trufo Negro", which I'm pretty sure is dark chocolate truffle. I was in heaven. The rest of the afternoon we just walked around more, got one last pintxo, checked out of the hostel, and then walked to the bus station.
So that was our trip!!! I probably missed a few things, but that pretty well sums up what we did. As I'm sure you can tell, we had an amazing time, and I would recommend taking this trip to anyone. It was so worth it- I really did not want to leave. First weekend trip- success! Now it's back to classes and homework, lots to do this week. But I guess I can't complain, I'm still in Madrid, Spain. Not too shabby. Alrighty well that is all for now! Until next time!
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