Mullets galore amid Basque nationalism
Trip Start
Dec 06, 2005
1
48
80
Trip End
Jun 17, 2006
San Sebastián,
Spain
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Anyway, San Sebastián. Very cool little town of 200,000 situated right on the Bay of Biscay, and only a short drive from the French border. Still in Basque Country here, as shown by the red, white and green flags in the shape of the Union Jack which are flown around the town. It´s a more ´happening´ town than Bilbao - more travellers, surfers, tapas bars and pubs, and a better town vibe in general.
We stayed at a place called "Pensión Aussie" which is run by a crazy guy with the nickname Skippy, who kicked a prostitute out of the place in front of our very eyes! Met some cool guys there, a south african and an aussie, who we enjoyed a few pints with while watching a Champions League Semi Final soccer match at a random Irish Pub. Another night we rocked out to a DVD concert of ACDC - an aussie band the Spaniards absolutely adore.
Food here is similar to Bilbao - loads of tapas and stuff, but we discovered a cheap goldmine - the bocadillo with tortilla. As Skippy said, "It´s like putting a brick into your stomach". Big bread roll with massive potato omelet thing inside, fills you right up, and if you want you can have it with mushrooms, chorizo sausage, cheese, and/or a variety of other fillings. Brilliant. Another brilliant meal we had was a breakfast one morning. Paella, cod fish with capsicum and salsa, dessert and beer. Yep, breakfast.
A very pretty town with similarities to Rio de Janeiro - big Christ statue on a hill overlooking the town and a couple of small bays, European greenery all around,... 3 very nice beaches, a bit too cold to swim but it was nice just to see them after the grey gloominess of London! A few random and ugly rusted-iron sculptures by a famous Basque called Eduardo Chillida hang around the place, amongst the accordian players and weird pistachio-nut can vending machines.
Photos from here are stored in the previous entry (Bilbao).
