Marisa came into Madrid very late Wednesday night. While riding to the airport on the metro to pick her up, she texted me saying her flight was delayed. I was at Chueca stop so I decided to grab a beer to wait out the delay. I had a cana and then walked around. I saw two guys making out in the street. I am really not homophobic and I’m all for whatever makes people happy but it was still extrano to me. I met Marisa at the airport and we took the metro ride home. We were talking and then noticed how hungry we were. Luckily, I had picked up chicken from the Mercado earlier that day. We enjoyed some sensimilla at a park by my house and then headed to the kitchen to make a feast. I made my potatoes with onions and cucumber (my specialty). And she made awesome breaded chicken. Amazing. We were laughing and cooking and I guess we were being a little too loud and woke up our room mates. Whoops.
I woke up early to get to school while Marisa slept in. I was so jealous. I finished my class and headed back to my house to pack things to head to San Sebastian. It was the nicest day, and Marisa greeted me by hiding and scarying me in the stairwell. She is unreal to travel with. Fun, funny, dependable, and willing to go anywhere. I packed my backpack with a jacket, my passport, a couple shirts and I we were off to the Basque Country. The basque country is very green and has a unique culture and language. We landed at San Sebastian airport and headed for the bus stop. We had no plans and no reservations. I had a guidebook and my friend Cameron had studied there last fall, but we basically had a foreign city waiting for us to explore.
The ride there was scenic and very green. Basque country is near Ireland, and reminded me of it. Marisa told me on the ride that the scenery was what she imagined Europe would be like. That made me happy. We got off at a Plaza in San Sebastian and our first goal was to find shelter in the rain. We walked to a hostel we had read about called Urban House. I rang the doorbell and was greeted by an Hola. I said Necesito un cuarto. The speaker box gave me a sarcastic Muy Bien! We were buzzed in. The man behind the box was named Unders. He was a slow talking Swede who was incredibly nice and had great information. He said that before he moved to SS 4 years ago, he used to spend his money on traveling and clothes. Since moving, he only spends it on food and drink. San Sebastian is basically the culinary capital of the world.
This is veals cheek cooked for 6 hours. It melted in your mouth.
More on this later. He told us theres basically 3 things to do in SS, eat, surf and walk. I was hooked from there. Unfortunately, Unders told us that they were all booked up tonight, but at their sister hostel down the street they had a room. He walked us over there and on the way showed us some great eateries. The first one he said that chefs from all over the world come to that restaurant to eat Pinchos (Basque Tapas). We ended up going to that spot twice. I ate veals cheek (ternera) that was cooked for 6 hours. It was the best thing I’ve ever eaten. We also had caramelized goat cheese and a tomato filled with bonito. Down the next street, he showed us a cheap Pincho place that me and Marisa came to know all too well. The huge Spanish tortillas were piping hot, huge and only 2.50 Euro. Our hostel was located on a street known for being the hang of Basque Seperatist. Unders told us not to wear anything Spanish related when walking around there. Our room was huge, clean and cheap. The couple that took care of the hostel had just moved there from Australia. They were the nicest people ever. They had a rad set-up, they cleaned the hostel every afternoon in exchange for their rent. Dave, the Ozzy mate, had a surfboard in the common area, which he lended to me. We set our things down and headed out for a drink. I wanted to go to the Seperatist street. Marisa was up for anything, and we sat down at a dimly lit bar with huge wooden tables for a drink. After the drink, I went to the bathroom and saw Viva ETA sketched in the walls. Wikipedia ETA. Having a long day of traveling, me and Marisa decided to call it a night. We picked up a bottle of wine, had a glass and retired to our cama. We woke up feeling fresh and excited to see the new city.
While Marisa was getting ready, I walked to talk to Unders about a good coffee shop and where I could surf. Unders told me that there was a groovy coffee shop right by the surfing beach across the river, Gros. I thanked him and me and ris were on our way. We crossed the river, which drains out into the Bay of Biscay. Most of San Sebastians energy is concentrated around this river. After we crossed it, we went about two blocks to Café Andorre for a coffee and croissant. It was a great cup of joe and the bartender was blasting the sweetest tunes. Hot Chip was my favorite. After we drank our coffee, Marisa had to use the facilities and while she was down there a man walked up to the bar and asked the bartender if he had any tobacco. The bartender gave him some and the man sat down and rolled a huge spliff. They lit it up right there in the bar and shared it. This became our favorite hangout in San Sebastian. We’d always start our morning at the “spliff bar” and to get the sweet aroma of the green leaf. After getting our contact high, we decided to explore the city. We walked along the beach of Gros. The waves were small but surfable.
We did a little shopping and then went into a bar for a cana. We drank beers and quizzed each other with our Spanish dictionary. It was a very amusing drinking game. After our beers, we both were feeling a bit cold, so we started running to get warmed up. We ran through the streets, with beer in our stomachs and no worries on our minds. We ran to the top of this hill where a church stood and took in the view for a second. We saw the beach in the distance and once again started running to la playa. This beach is one of the most amazing beaches in Europe.
The city comes right up to the sand, with restaurants and nightclubs overlooking the sand. Theres a huge statue of Christ on a hill, and a cool little island in the middle of the bay. We were checking the beach out when Matt Helfrich called us, telling us he wanted to party. We said we would meet up with him and everybody after dinner. Ris and I, being the saavy world travellers we are, loaded up on fresh bread, turkey, chips and vodka. We sat down in the hostels “chill out” room, and were hoping to meet some international travellers while we ate. Our hopes came true. First, a French trio sat down with bread, anchovies, cheese and vodka.
After listening to them speak French, it made me realize how much I can understand Spanish. Marisa acted as the translator between me and the frenchies. The words were flowing over her vodka soaked tongue. I was impressed. The French people were from Bordeaux and I hope they stay in touch. As we departed to meet up with the Barcelonians, they told us of a club at the beach that opens at 3.a.m. We met up the the Barca crew and immediately started bar hopping. San Sebastians nightlife is unreal. Variety of bars with the best food. Being around all my friends was awesome. We headed to this district that Unders has told me about. We ducked into a cool bar playing Iggy Pop and the Dead Kennedys. My kind of place.
At that time, it was around 3 and we wanted to hit that club on the beach. We stumbled down to the beach and tried to sneak in. Scott jumped the fence but got kicked out in no time. We paid the 10 euro fee and went to the bar. It was very loud and crowded. Me and ris were kinda over drinking and partying, so we walked home. Upon awakening, we had to take our belongings because that hostel had been booked for Saturday night. My australian friend lent me his board, and a rented a wetsuit (neopreno) for 5 bucks in an from Pukas and set out towards the water.
I paddled out and felt right at home. I was surfing in the middle of the bay with awesome architecture behind me and dramatic cliffs framing the ocean with the Atlantic Horizon in front of me. It was small and cold (11 degrees Celcius)I caught a couple little ones, got an ok left and a right where I got a turn in. It was too bad I have such a shitty camera cause all the photos Marisa took were out of focus. After surfing, We carried our luggage all around San Sebastian looking for a place to put our things. We weren’t feeling to hot and really needed a siesta.
We finally found a hostel that Cameron Guy had recommended around the surfing beach. We walked in and it smelled like an animal had died in the past month. It was just a smelly backpacker, so we splurged for our own room to avoid the smell. We took a siesta. That night, we went pincho hopping. I got that veals cheak again and also the best cheese ever. We had a glass of red wine at every pinch bar we went to. We finished off the night with an Italian dinner than retired to the castle. We went to bed early and exhausted. We woke up Sunday and our flight was at 4:30. The one thing I really wanted to do was climb this mountain that overlooks the beach and we hadn’t done that yet. So we once again packed up, and headed to the mountain. It was quite a walk with my backpack and Marisa’s suitcase but I carried it all the way up. The views were breathtaking, and I was thinking that most people would be bumming about work or school the next day, but at that moment I had no worries, only burning in my arms from that suit case.
We had worked up quite an appetite so once more headed to that torpedoe sized bocadillo place and then to the bus station. We were very early for our flight but hung out and relaxed and caught the plane to Madrid. We went back to my apartment and did homework and fell asleep. We woke up at 5:30 a.m. so Marisa could catch the early flight back to Alicante. I wasn’t in the best mood, but she bought me some coffee and croissants and I felt better. I gave her a kiss and said hasta luego, and headed to class with a siesta on my mind.
