San Sebastián, I'm in love

My weekend getaway to San Sebastián was perfect. A quaint but lively coastal city in northern Spain (Basque Country), the relaxing weekend was a pleasant contrast to the chaos of doing Paris in 48 hours the weekend before and an appreciated break before midterms this coming week. San Sebastián is a popular tourist destination and common vacation spot for Spaniards due to its amazing food and beautiful beaches. Named the European Capital of Culture in 2016, the city is said to have some of the best food in Spain, specifically seafood. They aren't wrong.

When we arrived Friday morning, it was cold and raining and I was admittedly a little skeptical about the outcome of the trip, but thankfully the crappy weather was short-lived because it was sunny & 65 for the entirety of the weekend. Naturally we got a drink while we waited for the rain to stop and for our hostel check-in time (my first bloody Mary thus far in Spain was greatly anticipated). This trip marks my very first hostel experience and I have nothing but good things to say. Our hostel was called A Room in the City and it was extremely cute, clean, secure, and in a great location. After this weekend I am now officially a big supporter of hostels—it's such a cheap and fun way to experience a city! It's also a great way to meet other travelers, including other students and Americans.

After settling in, we wandered around the city, stopping for a few drinks and pinchos (to be explained in detail shortly). We paid a visit to Tabakalera, the city's international center for contemporary culture, where we explored an interesting exhibition about the historical correlation between stimulants, euphoria, and human consumption. Very abstract but intriguing. The main highlight of the first day was without a doubt our dinner. Because San Sebastián's cuisine is internationally recognized, it was absolutely necessary to splurge for one of our meals at a fancy restaurant. We chose a place called Ni Neu after reading about it in a New York Times article and were not disappointed. My spider crab gyozas, roasted lamb with cream cheese sauce, and sheep's milk mousse along with the fresh bread and two bottles of wine for the table comprised arguably the best €29 I ever spent. I am still having dreams about this meal.

Saturday was one of my favorite days of my entire semester so far. We started the day with a 7-mile hike to a fishing village recommended by the hostel staff. Starting off, we didn't know much about it other than the name the receptionist wrote on a map, Pasajes. Of course we weren't quite sure if he was referring to the name of the hike, street, or village (it was the village). After a few good ole authentic Spanish interactions with some locals, we slowly but surely made our way up the mountain, a trek consisting of frequent stops, multiple considerations of turning back, tensions teetering on the brink of mutiny and incessantly asking each other, "Are we sure this is the right way???" in which case no, we obviously weren't sure. We ended up at a campground where we were given another set of extremely vague directions. Meanwhile we seemed to be walking away from the ocean and therefore seemingly impossibly towards a fishing village. Tensions were high. Finally we were blessed with an encounter with an old Spanish man who just happened to be walking to Puerto de Pasajes (or Pasaia in Basque). Once we started following him it was all downhill from there (sort of literally) and we ended up on an awesome trail along the cliffs of the mountain and overlooking the ocean. After finally arriving in the village we had trouble finding a lunch spot that a) had open tables as Carnival was in full motion at this time and therefore the whole town was infested with drunk Spaniards in absurd costumes (will be discussed further later) b) was in our price range because we are broke college students or c) was open, since February isn't exactly the hight of tourism season. We ended up snagging the last unreserved table at a restaurant overlooking the water and eating some monkfish, prawns and clams that were worth the hike. As cool as the village was, however, we all agreed that the experience was more about the journey, not the destination.

We took the bus back to the city and wandered around, finding some margaritas and ice cream to treat ourselves after the long hike. Then we bought some beer, bread and cheese (because what else does a girl need??) and headed up Mount Urgull to spend some quality time with Jesus. Let me explain: Urgull is pretty much a large hill overlooking Playa de la Concha (San Sebastián's main beach) topped by a 12th century castle and a 12-meter tall Jesus statue that was added in the mid-20th century. The hike is minimally challenging, a total of probably 20 minutes up to the top and accompanied by lots of stairs. After circling the statue once or twice we settled onto a ledge to admire the incredible view during the sunset. Sitting on this wall with my friends watching the sun go down with a Heineken in one hand a slice of Brie cheese in the other, this was one of those moments that I felt really thankful to be in San Sebastián, and in Spain, and abroad in general. (I am now accepting all monetary offers from Heineken for the purchase of this ad-worthy photo.)

Mount Urgull & the Jesus statue

After climbing down Mount Urgull when the sun had set, we embarked on a pincho bar crawl. Time to explain pinchos. Traditional to northern Spain, especially popular in Basque Country, and famously delicious in San Sebastián, needless to say that the pinchos I ate this weekend consisted some of the best food I think I've ever had. Basically a pincho is a tapa comprised of some delicious seafood/meat/veggie skewered to a piece of bread. Running from about €1.50-2.00 a pincho, buying one or two of these at each bar was an easy, cheap and delicious way to eat dinner. Highlights included splitting a plate of supposedly the best pulpo (octopus) in the city and my two favorite pinchos ever, one of which was ham and mushrooms piled upon bread with the most delicious sauce I've ever tasted, the other a piece of bread holding three of my favorite foods—salmon, eggs, and shrimp. Need I say more??? We ended the night hanging out on the beach, because in my opinion there's really nothing better than the beach at night (except for maybe during the day).

Pulpo

It is important to note at this time that Carnival was in full swing during our weekend stay. Comparable to Mardi Gras, it is basically a pre-Lent extravagant celebration with lots of parades, street dancing, costumes and of course, drinking. I still don't fully understand the cultural norms and traditions behind Spanish Carnival, as it is so unique to an outsider, particularly when it comes to the costumes and street performances. I can't quite determine if there's a common theme behind the costumes, but did identify an interesting pattern of the most popular types of costumes that included fuzzy animal jumpsuits and Medieval apparel. Over-the-top, crazy hair and makeup were common as well, as was cross-dressing. We saw large amounts of men with full faces of makeup and dresses doing rehearsed dances in the streets with their wives snapping photos from the sidelines. At dinner on Friday a table of eight or so of these finely-dressed men sat across from their wives, drinking wine and batting their fake eyelashes. I thought it was so intriguing because this sort of scenario would just not happen in the US. On Saturday night the city's main plaza was filled with music and people of all ages drinking and dancing crazily. The Spanish are something else, and I'm so glad I was able to experience Carnival in San Sebastián.

Sunday was a lazy day consisting of hanging out and doing whatever the f we wanted until our 7pm train back to Salamanca. We got more ice cream, ate more pinchos, and laid on the beach for hours. Earlier in the weekend we had considered the idea of surfing at the city's surfing hotspot Playa de la Zurriola but when the day came, we remembered that it was only 65ish degrees outside, the water was freezing, and of course the casual fact that none of us knew how to surf. Next time? But actually the weather was so nice (Salamanca, I love you but I am just over the cold already) and it had been a long half a year since I was last at a beach, so just simply laying in the sand was definitely a highlight of the weekend. I mean have you ever seen someone so happy?! San Sebastián, I'm in love!!!