San Sebastian

Isn't this a beautiful little town! The narrow pedestrian streets, the gorgeous architecture and three fine sand beaches; it's beautiful in the morning, in the afternoon, and most of all at night. I think this picture (left) is one of my favorites of all time - this was my view upon stepping out into the evening after a long train from Barcelona; a crystal clear calm river, ornate bridges and walkways full of pedestrians, cyclists and dogs (some large, some Yaletown sized). I'll see if I can't put together the panorama I took on my walk to the hostel from the bus station. As far as first impressions go, this is pretty fantastic, yes? (Here is the panorama, in tiny miniature version - it will give you some idea. Remember to click on it to make it bigger!)

Since my arrival, I've spent one entire day trying to plan ahead on my trip; European hostels fill up quickly, especially the good ones. It's not even close to high season, but everytime I check on booking sites, there's another hostel with no space left for my selected days. I've never really had to plan this much before while traveling - in the past I've just shown up and found myself super little posadas and guesthouses. But here, I'd be stuck somewhere unpleasant if I didn't book ahead continually (and I don't mean some crappy cheap dive - I mean a 220 Euro budget-breaking hotel). This is both a blessing and a curse; I find that when I arrive to a new town, I'm stress free, and I simply follow the directions to the front door of whatever hostel I booked, where my bed is ready, they already know my name, and I simply pay my bill and head on in. But the flip side is that I spend a bit more time than I'd probably like on the computer here, booking planes trains hostels and tours. And I've got to book without any intimate knowledge of the place I'm booking, which makes it rather interesting. I have to rely on the word of people I've never met, whose intentions and preferences are unknown to me, whether one hostel is better than the next. Then again, all of the hostels here have been of high quality, and since I'm not all that picky, I think I will get along almost anywhere (left; the church just down the street from my hostel). For instance, right now I'm at a cheap hostel right in the center of town, with a comfortable bed in a very loud room just over one of the busiest streets in town, and I have no problem getting a good night's sleep. The kind French fellow beside me is not quite as lucky (light sleeper translates into no-sleep-at-all-er).

Well, what to do in San Sebastian? Today I walked around for hours and hours, stopping only briefly at a local fruit shop to buy an apple, a pear and a plum for lunch. I made my way up to a fantastic viewpoint of the city, by way of old ricketty "ferrocarril" (train car, pictured right), heading straight up the hill at around 50 degrees of incline. At the top, I met an old lesbian French couple, an American basketball player playing for San Sebastian's team, and a pair of young lovers from Barcelona. We all took pictures together and marvelled at the view. There is a lush variety of people here in Spain, especially so close to the French border. I find myself using all three of my languages in near equal amounts all day long, and I continually hear German, Flemish, Italian, Basque (a truly unique and fascinating regional language here in Spain), Arabic, and all sorts of foreign tongues I can't even being to classify. It's a very touristy town but only in the touristy parts - tonight I'm going on a pub crawl to the local bits of pub culture, which can be found down nearly any and every narrow street in this lovely town. I imagine the pub crawl will effectively end around 5 PM tomorrow evening, when my head finally stops hurting.

I still haven't gotten used to the whole siesta thing, nor do I think I will be able to (I'm not a napping kind of guy), but at least I've figured out when everything will be closed. I plan on spending the next few days surfing (there's fantastic surf here, although the Atlantic water is a bit cold; pictured is a surf school in the foreground, with the local experts navigating the waves in the background), beaching it up, and exploring the endless side streets, churches and pubs of San Sebastian. I might even rent a bike and take a trip a bit further afield! And of course, I've left one day for the grueling climb up the local hill to the obligatory Christ statue there; apparently there are wonderful views, there too. I'm not sure how much more wonderful the views can get before I lose all interest in leaving. Maybe Kelly can just move here after Dan's wedding? What do you think honey?

C