Waking up each morning to overcast cloudy skies and fog so thick you cannot see the end of the street was really starting to get to me. Not going so far as to claim I have sadd or whatever the affliction is called, but this girl gets a little blue after three days of no sunshine. It was challenging to get into the new apartment after 10 straight days of sun on Gib and wake up to Soviet bloc apartments and gray skies. So it was good news when we decided to take the short trip to San Sebastian on Saturday.
It was fast trip, with lots to see. We think we traveled through about 7 separate tunnels, with one of them extraordinarily long-. Math question: if your car is traveling at a rate of 100km/hr, and you are in a tunnel for approximately 1min16 seconds, what is the length of the tunnel? (Answer: I think we said around 2kms-beat that, Eisenhower Tunnel!). There were lots of Bavarian-looking forests and lots more red roofs and white stucco houses, you could definitely see the French influence on their architecture the further north you went.
We got into San Sebastian and found the beach easily. The city is developed heavily along the coastline, with rows upon rows of hotels hugging the beach. To correspond with the heavy tourist industry, you guessed it, lots of tourists. San Sebastian is considered one of the nicer beaches in Europe, and we could see why. Palm trees and warm clear shallow water, which you could walk out into for yards into without battling a heavy surf. A memory I will always hold is standing in the water and watching Tank swim headily about 30 yards away from me, and I could see him in the water as clear as if he was right beside me. There is just not water that clear anywhere. The sand was like powdered sugar, not sticky, and it brushed off easily. Out further into the coastline were dozens of sailboats, yachts and boats moored or slowly cruising back and forth. There were a few islands that were accessible via those brave enough to swim nearly a mile out to them. At the northern tip of the beach was Monte Urgull, where an old castle commandeered and protected San Sebastian from vicious onslaughts and allowed it to prosper. The San Sebastian coastline was split into two sections, Playa de Ondaretta, and Playa de Concha. In between was a beautiful collection of white stone mansions, including La Perla, formerly the spa and residence of visiting royalty. We stayed mostly on the southern section of the beach, and I was reminded yet again that we needed to invest in some paddleball boards because that was a darn good fun time on Gib.
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| Playa de Ondaretta...we chose not to go the cabana route and went to a less-populated section of the beach. Populated = less possibility of topless sunbathers. Massive fail. All part of the European culture I said. |
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| Do not throw sand at each other |
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| did you hear what I said? |
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| now you are all alone. |
While the kids walked around on the rocks and collected tiny little crabs in their empty water bottle, Beloved kept his backpack on and walked back into town to check out hotels and to buy us some lunch. After about 90 minutes he came back, empty of any hotel reservations but with a pack full of salami, cheese, bread, nectarines and some little orange and chocolate cookies. (Have I mentioned I have lost at least 10 lbs on this journey). We had a quick lunch, swept up our trash, dusted ourselves off and headed into town.
San Sebastian is a fun town. Beautiful, charming, with a party atmosphere. Lots of cute shops, countless boutiques of clothing and restaurants. After buying ice creams at the tip of the Old Town, we wandered in towards the cathedral. I could see a large collection of people on the steps milling about, dressed in bright clothes, and as I was taking pictures I heard a loud Bang! and then a 'mummer' came running towards us. An explosion of noise, music and colors as we then watched the parade of traditional Basque mummers come towards us, envelop us in noise and music, and then pour by leading us to obviously follow them on their parade. "Mummers" are like large-headed mascots, dressed in Carnivale or traditional European costumes, and they are hired by wealthy families to commemorate celebrations like weddings. Tank-among all the other kids- got pummeled by one playfully with what we first thought was a balloon, but in the end of was a dessicated and blown-up pig stomach!!! It was a riot! It was very surreal following the parade and watching it all unfold.
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| watching it unfold from a safe distance ;) |
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| yes that's right there's the girl you made scream in fright, you mean mummer you! :) |
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| Definite Carnivale atmosphere ;) |
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| It was such a riot! |
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| twirling and dancing |
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| Each giant mummer is attended by a group of young men wearing blue bandannas |
After that experience, we decided to stick around and see what was next. Was able to see first-hand the arrival of a Spanish wedding party. It was fascinating. There was no 'theme', just brightly colored formals worn by all the attendants, and black suits and waistcoats worn by the men. I felt like such a party-crasher, but if you're going to hire a mummer to playfully bap my kid with a pig stomach, I am going to investigate ;)
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| not sure but I think this was the groom. He was left mostly to his own devices. Walked so close to me I could see the makeup that he had on. |
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| Possible mother of the bride in black and red... |
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| loved all the head-dresses |
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| Two members of the Corleones (kidding---but they look it, don't they?) |
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| Love this grandmother and fatherly-very serious-looking figure |
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| Late to the wedding they came in on the side entrance |
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| The bride wore hot pink. |
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| First thought---TOTAL party-crasher |
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| the shorter the skirt, the larger the hat |
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| The blushing bride and some really hot-looking mother-type. I wanted her chic outfit.... |
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| Welcome to the Family... |
After the wedding, we chose to walk up to the Monte Urgull overview to get a better view of the shoreline. It was breathtaking...
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| Walking quayside by all the tugboats |
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| love this photograph of my two girls. I am going to print it when we get home |
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| San Sebastian |
After our hike, we walked back into town and found a place to eat for dinner. The Basques are big into pintxos, tapas or txikiteos, which are really just assorted finger foods. They place an array of selection on trays in their bars at their restaurants and you go through and point to which ever one you want. Then the proprietor tottens up the total on each plate and you can sit and eat. Being on the coast I had to try all the different types of fish, seafood and of course, my favorite food, the shrimp. Everything was insanely good.
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| Traditional Basque dress---you can buy cheap copies of these costumes at your local grocery :P |
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| had to try the garlic-marinated mushrooms, the hard-boiled egg, shrimp and artichoke heart combo, the fresh anchovies and the octopus....yummm |
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| Yet another wedding later in the afternoon around the corner. The bride began to cry as she saw the dancers ready to perform at her exit. |
Adios San Sebastian...we will be back! xoxo
PS: Another gentle reminder....watch videos from our excursion to San Sebastian (beach, mummers and wedding goodies) on my Youtube channel:
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