San Sebastian

Pasaia Donibane is right next to San Sebastian. The four of us, after a very slow morning which also turned into a slow afternoon, drove to the city. We knew that in San Sebastian the Semana Grande, a week full of festivities had just begun. We were ready for lots of people and lots of music. We weren't so well prepared for the lots of rain. Luckily we quickly found a bar with some cañas and, finally, pinxtos😋

Once the rain had cleared a bit we heard Basque music somewhere around a corner. Without knowing it we had stumbled upon the "march of giants and cabeduzos". Apparently these giants are huge dolls that are several meters high (carried by people). They are dressed in national Basque costumes and depict fishermen, shepherds or cooks, with the puppeteers hiding in the traditional folds of dolls' clothes. Noble giants are always accompanied by cabezudos. Their outfit is simpler: a Basque peasant dress and a big papier-mache head with a sly expression. They carry inflated sacks of pigskin that they gladly use to spank passing by people." The sacks of pigskin were quite a surprise to us since before we knew what was going on we saw children, adults and even the elderly being hit by the giants! But as we found out later, apparently this is very fun 🤣 We managed to stay in the safe zone though.Read more