Round The World and other travels
A frequent flyer's collection of trip diaries
This is: Northern Spain 2015
Making the best of a deluge
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| An unpromising outlook for our full day in San Sebastian |
This was our only full day in San Sebastian and unfortunately, as predicted by the previous day's forecast, the weather was simply dreadful. A quick peep through the curtains revealed mist and gloom hanging over the city, while driving rain swept through its streets - in other words, a complete washout. It was clear that our planned sightseeing programme was going to be taking a major hit. A 3km stroll from one end of La Concha Bay to the other? What, in these conditions? A funicular ride up Monte Iguelda to look down across the city and the bay? Now rendered completely pointless. A coastal walk around the tip of the Old Town peninsula? We'd be soaked to the skin by rain, waves and spray. The one ray of hope seemed to lie in further exploration of the Old Town itself, where the narrow streets might afford some degree of protection from the wayward elements.
We had breakfast in the café section of a nearby McDonalds. The food component was an unusual offering consisting of a toasted English muffin served with Ibérico ham, tomato jam and olive oil. Was it too fanciful, I wondered, to think that this might almost have been pintxo-inspired?
| RIGHT: La Bretxa Market offers a few minutes of shelter from the rain |
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After returning to base for a bit, we eventually concluded that further exploration of the Old Town was the only part of our plans that could sensibly be taken forward in present conditions. We popped into La Bretxa market in the hope of minimising our time out in the open. Although the building itself was of no merit, it's always interesting to see stalls stacked with colourful and appetising displays of fresh, local produce.
Our next objectives were the two historic parish churches of the Old Town, San Vicente and Santa Maria. Fortunately, both were open for visitors. St Vincent's is the oldest church in the city, dating from the sixteenth century, and its outstanding feature for me was its large and intricately carved reredos (or altarpiece). St Mary's Basilica is both newer and larger, having been completed in the second half of the eighteenth century. I thought its interior was lofty and imposing, but like its counterpart along the street, it contained some rather graphic depictions of the Crucifixion. A curious fact about St Mary's is that it is possible to stand at its door and look down Nagusia Street all the way to Good Shepherd Cathedral, exactly 1km away.
These two historic places of worship, between them, kept us occupied and under cover for at least an hour. I was able to garner some reasonable photos despite the low level of light inside both buildings.
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| ABOVE: San Vicente church, in San Sebastian's Parte Vieja (Old Town district) | ||||
| BELOW: Santa Maria church, also to be found in the Old Town | ||||
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| Old Town harbour, around midday | |
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| A rain-soaked Constitution Square | |
Having finished with the Old Town's historic religious sites, we braved the elements for a short while to take a look at the Old Town harbour. Unsurprisingly, there was little activity in evidence on a day such as this. Heading back into the very heart of the Parte Vieja gave us the opportunity to see Constitution Square again, this time in daylight. Constructed in 1817 following a devastating fire four years previously, this public space was originally used for bull fighting and the upper-floor apartments and their balconies originally served as bullring boxes! Those days are long gone, but the square remained an impressive place even in such adverse weather conditions.
By now it was quite definitely lunchtime and we
decided to have another tour of the pintxo bars.
It was much the same routine as the previous evening: we ended up
visiting four or five establishments and having small amounts to eat
in each of them. Once again, I just loved the whole concept!
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| It's lunchtime, and we're back in pintxo heaven! | |||||
Having abandoned all thoughts of our planned activities on the La Concha side of town and having more or less exhausted what the Old Town had to offer, we found ourselves facing a little problem: it still felt too early to be forced into returning to base. As the rain had eased off just a little, we decided to risk having a look around the part of town on the other side of the Urumea river. This part of San Sebastian is home to Zurriola Beach, also known as the surfers' beach. And indeed there was a lone surfer out there among the giant waves, which seemed perhaps a little foolhardy.
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LEFT: Braving the mid-afternoon elements at Zurriola Beach |
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RIGHT: And a welcome return to the Maria Cristina |
After
resting for a while back in our room, the evening brought a welcome
return to the Maria Cristina's well stocked cocktail bar, where I
sipped my way through a couple of Negronis. This was followed by a
superb Asian dinner at the prestigious in-house restaurant, Café
Saigon, following which it was time to settle down in preparation
for the next morning's departure.
It had been a real washout, but not a complete disaster!