Life or Something Like it: San Sebastien!

I don't even know where to begin while thinking about San Sebastien. The fact that all eleven of us were so reluctant to board the bus back to Barcelona on Sunday, such an amazing city in itself, seems like a good indicator as to just how sensational it was. I'm pretty sure we lucked out by traveling there last weekend because the regatta races were in town. I had no idea what a huge deal regatta was here in Spain but the people, the town, and the crazy fans sure let me know.

We took the 7-hour overnight bus to San Sebastien on Thursday night and arrived at 6 am. Not a whole lot to do at that hour as nothing was open, so naturally we decided to hit the beach. Now I'm actually glad to say that so many promises of surfing lessons by friends in California fell through since I'm able to say I learned to surf in San Sebastien. One of the guys we were with gladly gave a few lessons to me and two other girls on the trip. I almost emerged from my hunched-over form to stand upright completely but not quite. Definitely next time.

After a few hours at the beach we walked just a couple blocks to our hostel and after climbing four flights of a steep spiral staircase (my calves are still a little sore from climbing it constantly) a very friendly husband and wife greeted us. They provided us with maps and recommendations on where to go to explore the city.

It took no time for us to discover the pintxo bars in Old Town. Pintxos are like tapas, but way better. The bars generally have standing-room only and everyone crowds around the counter eating pintxos and drinking kalimotxos, half wine half coke, the signature drink of San Sebastian. Paying is all based on the honor system, when you finish you simply tell the bartender what you have had to drink and how many pintxos you ate. They generally cost about 1.50 euro each which was pretty easy on the pockets. After just a couple weeks in Barcelona finding cheap yet great places to eat is always a plus.

We generally stuck to all cheap or free attractions while in San Sebastien. The first night we walked quite a ways to one end of the city to take the funicular up the mountain though found it just closing when we finally arrived. We still enjoyed the night view of San Sebastien just across the beach and watching the waves crash quite violently against the edge of the walkway we were on. The next day we did a bit more walking/hiking up to the giant statue of Christ overlooking the city and of course the view was incredible. Little did we know that the trails to and at the top would be absolutely packed with people watching the regatta races the next day.

I haven't seen anything quite like what was going on all over San Sebastien for the races. The entire town and surrounding areas seemed to take the day off and fill the streets, beaches, and any of the city's surrounding hills with a decent view of the beach to celebrate and watch the regatta races. People were dressed in their team's color from head to toe romping around the beach and crowded streets with thunder sticks yelling cheers and chants or singing songs. So many enthusiastic people provided such great photo opportunities. Some just bluntly asked for me or Katie to take their photo. I only filled up my 4 gigabyte SD chip with roughly 700 photos.

After this experience I can only wonder how intense people must get during fútbol or other popular sports here. Spain seems to use any excuse to celebrate. I know of four festivals in Barcelona alone coming up within the next couple months and apparently there is one tomorrow in Barcelona! I wish the US would follow suit!