Spain – August 2021

The first time I’ve been to Donostia (how the locals call the city) was in 2016. I was at a surf camp with a couple of friends and we joined a day trip to the coast town. We spent the afternoon eating, hiked the hill with a Cristo statue on top for sunset and partied with the rest of the camp on a boat at the harbour. And then it was already time to head back to France. I would have loved to spend more time in the picturesque town, and 5 years later it’s finally time.

Michèle joins me in Barcelona for the Basque Country portion of my journey around the Iberian Peninsula. We take a train to Pamplona via Zaragoza and switch to a bus for the last hour to San Sebastián. Only a short walk from the bus terminal we are met by Marco, our AirBnB host for the next 2 nights. Though we’re tired after the long day of travelling, we quickly unpack our bags and head to the local supermarket to buy some snacks and wine for an aperitif on the rooftop balcony.

At around 7pm we head towards Old Town and only briefly stop on the ways to check out a cute town park. Arriving at Casco Viejo we are – just as I remembered – met by an abundance of dinner choices. We walk down one of the main streets lined with little shops and check out all of the small side streets. Alley after alley brings restaurants next to more restaurants. We circle the whole neighbourhood so Michèle gets a good first impression and finally decide to stop at a place which doesn’t have too many people queuing outside. 

We order some beers and a variation of Pintxos (the Basque version of Tapas). We make the mistake of choosing Bocadillos with Tortilla and with Jamón y Queso. Because of the rather low price we were expecting small portions – however the sandwich turn out to be huge. We manage to finish the couple of Croquettas and Bolas de Carne we ordered, but decide to not order seconds. Instead we take a relaxing walk along the river back to our accommodation and have an early night.

The next day I want to take Michèle up to the Cristo statue, as this was my highlight on my previous visit. But first we stop at a hip café on the other side of the river and go for a stroll along the surf beach. Back in Casco Viejo we quickly find the street leading uphill from the port. For the 20 minute walk on the warm summer afternoon we are rewarded with an incredible view of the town and the Bahía de La Concha. After a short visit to the Batería de Santiago including the terrace with the Cristo statue, we start our descent back to the port.

Walking to the Muelle where I want to take a picture of the colourful boats and buildings I recognize a familiar structure. Is it possible that the building which houses the Nautic Club and looks like a boat is in fact the place where we partied all those years ago? As my memories of the night are hazy, I decide to not think about it too much and we continue our stroll along the 1 km long beach of La Concha. Arriving on the other side of the bay, we want to take a funicular up to the theme park. However, upon inspecting the looong queue, we decide to rather walk up another hill. We admire the beautiful houses lining the winding street and are slightly disappointed to find out, that the last stretch of the street is private property. So we take a couple of pictures and then return down to sea level.

Back in the city centre, I let Michèle take me on a shopping spree. Hungry from walking all day, she then convinces me to have some Pintxos before jumping in the shower. We order Tortilla, Croquettas and a toast with crab at a bar with the name “Café con Leche”.  Later we head back to Casco Viejo for dinner. Our preferred spot “Kapadokia” unfortunately is already fully booked, so we resort to another bar on the other end of the street. Once again we overestimate ourselves and order wayy to many Pixtos. The problem is: As you order them straight from the bar, you can see the whole set of choices, and they all just look too good not to try. Nevertheless, we can’t help but stop by at Santa Lucía for some Churros for the way back home.