Driving to San Sebastián was surprisingly easy –  40 minutes down the motorway we were there.  Entering San Sebastián was like time travelling or teleporting – you get into a car in one world and 40 minutes later you are in another world with a completely different language and culture.  In San Sebastián they are Basque which is a language that looks a bit like Russian or Greek with lots of X’s and Z’s. We did a crash course in Spanish in the car on the way down (we didn’t want to mess up our Fledging French by learning Spanish too early), but by the time we arrived we only had “Ola” and “Gracias”.
San Sebastián was gorgeous.  I was pretty much in love immediately. Beautiful old buildings, large pedestrian walkways, gardens everywhere, a sensational beach, bars every two metres – what was there not to love! The day we arrived there was a big bike race coming through town and so parking the car was our immediate problem. We arrived in a car park, got all the bags out but felt suspicious that there was no obvious way to pay. A brief chat to the car park attendent in French proved what we had suspected – we were in a private car park. So back to the car, back into the traffic and down into another parking building (this time a public one) and then lugging our bags across the park to our apartment building in the old part of the city. Chris needed to call the agent to let us in so we decided to kill time with some Sangria and tapas in the sunshine. Soon we were let in and how gorgeous (!) – a big three bedroom apartment, modern, very clean, and with a stunning view of the water and the old library. After a pokey little hotel room we spread out and were in heaven.  (Chris had booked this room and his price point is higher than mine, so he finds us really lovely places to stay). 

But we couldn’t wait to get out and explore the old city. A grid of old laneways with interesting shops and a bar every two metres and beautiful churches at the end of streets greeted us. 

We chose a tavern that had bar full of amazing looking tapas but had no idea what to do. Luckily for us, a barman there spoke some English and explained that you just grab a plate, grabs some tapas that appeal to you, show it to the barman and he charges you accordingly.  At 2 euros a tapas it was a delight and for once we could be sure that Michael would eat something! I chose a croquette, some bread with smoked salmon and fish dip, another piece of baguette with caramelised onion and brie cheese. Chris chose a baguette with a quails egg and chorizo. We washed it down with some vino tinto (red wine) and were feeling pretty good about San Sebastián. 

However our language skills were dire. We both felt completely paralysed not being able to communicate with anyone. Luckily many restaurants had menus in Basque, Spanish, French and English and so we could work our way through. One place we went for dinner only had a menu in Basque and even Google Translate couldn’t help us. Rather than play Russian Roulette with dinner we chose to leave. Over the next few days we picked up some more words but still felt like idiots. 
Exploring San Sebastián was such a delight. The old walls on the city border the wharf and the beach. 

We wandered around and took lots of photos. One evening Chris and I sat outside a bar next to our apartment on a lounge chair in the warm (but not hot sun) drinking aperitifs as we watched the dogs play on the beach and boats sail around the bay. It was all pretty amazing. I have to say San Sebastián is one of my favourite places.