Spain
Parque Cristina Enea

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    • Day 26–30

      San Sebastian, Pais Vasco, Spain

      December 2, 2023 in Spain

      What a beautiful city! Even in the winter, San Sebastian is a great place to visit and soak up the charms. We're at the east end of Basque country, not far from the French border. Many older gentlemen here still wear the signature black berets. When do these people work, except in Pintxo bars? People are drinking at all hours of the day, it seems. Slowly, and with food, but still.... People are friendly and the pintxo (PEEN shows), which are basque tapas, are amazing.

      Deanne saw a tourist "Pintxo Bar Crawl" tour advertised for $175 Euros each. What the hell. Do you really need someone to take you to a bar to order simple and delicious seafood apps and great wine? We do this on our own and after 4 wines and 4 tapas each, we have a hard time paying more than $65 Euros for both of us. Most pintxos are in the $2 - $4 range and a glass of good regional wine is slightly cheaper.

      We scored an amazing large 2 BR apartment in the Egia district, which is not in the trendy old town or up and coming Gros district. But it's not far from either and it's convenient to the bus and train station. We're walking a lot, but that's a good thing. There's no need for a bus or metro pass here.

      With 4 days in Sanse (as locals sometimes refer to it), we spent one going to France for the day. See the St. Jean de Luz post for that. The rest of the time we've spent just walking and soaking up the sights while stopping at random Pintxo bars. Today, we went to the Sao Telmo Basque museum. Lucky for us, Tuesday is free for everyone. It gave a good overview of the Basque culture but I need to read up more on the language, Euskara, which is not related to any other language and is the oldest living language in Europe. But they talked about how this was iron country and it seemed to be the most industrialized part of the country. The iron ore deposits and vast forests led to ironworks, charcoal making, ship building, and fishing industries.

      We walked through the old quarter several times, at night and during the day, and it's just lovely. It's full of tourist shops also, but it's still lived in by locals and every other shop is a pintxo bar. But tourist apartment rentals do seem to be common here also. There's a great promenade along the coast at Concha (Kontxa) beach and walking along it is a treat. An Art Deco spa sits right in the middle, at beach level. There's a huge ferris wheel near a plaza. Christmas decorations are up, and people are out and about, rambling along, as the Spanish are wont to do. This walking is officially called the Paseo, and it's one of the best thing about Spanish culture. People just walk here. They walk to talk with friends and happen upon other friends. They walk off the wine, and they walk to and from work or the local tienda.

      We've also spent a fair amount of time in the Gros district, just east of the old town and on another bay that's popular for surfing. Even at this time of year, with temps in the 40's F, people are surfing and we've seen lots of elderly people swimming. Our friend Mo gave us a great recommendation for a Michellin star restaurant called Bar Bergara. They won one a few years ago and again this year. We walked right in the other afternoon and sat at a shared picnic-style table and had several pintxos and wines. Amazing. (Thanks Mo!) Where else can a couple eat a fair amount of seafood and have 2 glasses of wine each for under $41 at a Michellin starred restaurant?

      We've had nothing but good times on this trip, but we are especially loving the Basque Country. Bilbao and San Sebastian have been great and it's some of the best food we've had on the trip. We have been planning on visiting the Rioja wine region. It's become my favorite red wine since our trip here a couple years ago. It doesn't give me a headache (bonus points!) and I've never had a bad one. It's just a great wine. But, tomorrow is Constitution Day in Spain, which is a day off. And it seems a lot of Spaniards are traveling to Logrono, the largest town in the Rioja region. Rooms are sold out or more than twice what they should be and many bodegas are not giving tours in December. Soooo, we're shifting gears and heading to Pamplona. It's a city I've always wanted to see, but we thought that since we're so close to the Rioja region, we should check it out. We're going with the flow and now looking forward to seeing the city made famous to Americans by Ernest Hemingway in "The Sun Also Rises."

      More photos and videos are here. https://photos.app.goo.gl/hviwzo8bebJJ8Kxh7
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    • Day 3

      Düne von Pilat + Biarritz

      May 31, 2023 in Spain ⋅ 🌙 17 °C

      Die Dune du Pilat ist die höchste Wanderdüne Europas. 110 m hoch - zu begehen über eine Treppe. Was natürlich dazu führt, dass ganze Heerscharen von Touristen sich oben tummeln. Sonst aber sehr schön. Super Ausblick

      Biarritz - ein mondäner Badeort, der angeblich Surfer anzieht. Breiter Strand, wenig Surfer.

      Dann ist Spanien erreicht - wir übernachten in San Sebastian
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    • Day 22

      San Sebastian

      August 12, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

      Es ist und bleibt unsere Lieblingsstadt, auch wenn am Samstag jede Menge los war. Die Parkplatzsuche war schonmal einfacher als gedacht, zwar war der Stellplatz voll, und in der Umgebung standen schon sehr viele Wohnmobile, aber wir konnten noch einen Parkplatz ergattern, und auch dort schlafen.
      Mit dem Bus 33 waren wir in 10 Minuten in der Stadt. Wir schlenderten zum Strand, dort gab es riesige Wellen. Danach ging es in ein paar Geschäfte und dann wollten die Kids noch ins Wasser. Nach der Abkühlung ging es zur Altstadt. Da waren jede Menge Menschen, denn an diesem Wochenende wurde die "Semana Grande" eröffnet. Jeden Tag gibt es ein Feuerwerk, Streetfood, Dj's auf verschiedenen Bühnen, und wir mitten drin. Wir essen in verschiedenen Bar's leckere Tapas, und laufen durch die Gassen. Gegen 22:30 Uhr fahren wir müde mit dem Bus zurück.
      Einfach eine schöne Stadt, sicherlich in einem anderen Monat etwas entspannter, aber wir kommen wieder.😉
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    • Day 12

      Die baskische Küche

      August 9, 2018 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

      Für heute hatte ich mich zu einem Kochkurs angemeldet. Was ich nicht wusste: Dieser fand in einer echten Sociedad statt. Das ist eine typisch baskische Gesellschaft von Männern, die sich regelmäßig zum Kochen treffen. Frauen sind dabei in der Küche eigentlich nicht erlaubt, aber für uns gab es eine Ausnahme:)
      Das Kochen war zum Glück recht einfach: Es gab 3 verschiedene Pintxos (Gilda, Thunfisch und Champignons), als Hauptspeise Marmitako (eine Art Fisch-Gulasch) und als Dessert gab es eine Art überbackenes Milchbrötli mit Eis.
      Obwohl fast alles auf spanisch erklärt wurde hab ich viel verstanden und es war ein echt lustiger und interessanter Abend!
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    • Day 2

      Lacunza

      May 6, 2019 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 9 °C

      Lacunza ist die Sprachschule die ich besuche :)

    • Day 6

      Hängematte

      May 10, 2019 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

      Die hat meine Gastmutter für mich auf dem Balkon aufgehängt

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