Tour Day 6 - San Sebastion

Wednesday 27th July 2016

It is a later start today, so we are allowed to sleep in a little. The only activity we have organised is a walking tour of San Sebastion with a local guide at 10 am.

We all met in the foyer at 10am, and were divided into 2 groups of 20 with a guide each for the tour which is expected to take around 2 hours. Our guide Christina, explained that our Hotel was named after Queen Maria Christina, who loved San Sebastion, and held court here for the summer months. She and half of the women in town are named after her.

The main entrance to the Hotel

Across the square is an equally impressive building that is the main theatre in town.

Victoria Theatre

The major event each year in San Sebastion is the annual film festival. Both Victoria Theatre and Hotel Maria Christina have had long and key roles in the running of this festival. The festival used to be held in the Victoria Theatre and the Hotel Maria Christina was closed to all guests other than participating celebrities. A red carpet used to run from the Hotel to the theatre throughout the festival for actors and actresses to use going to and from the venues.

Now however, it is held in the new convention centre, not a pretty building, but the celebrities still stay at the Hotel.

The futuristic grey building is the convention centre, located on the waterfront not far from the hotel

Christina went on to explain that during the Spanish civil war 1936 to 1939, Spain was in turmoil, and whilst the Basque Country was not heavily involved, there are some bullet "holes" on the facade of the Hotel that have never been repaired as a reminder of the dark times of the war.

When Franco came to power after the war, the Basques were given a hard time, as they were supposedly not supposed to speak their language, as everyone had to speak Castillian, but the Basques were unable to, as their language has no connection to Spanish at all.

Having briefly covering some Basque history Christina went on to show us around the new part of San Sebastion, where the architecture has a strong French influence (San Sebastion is only 17 km from the French border). She said they copied many French architectural designs they liked, giving the new town a real French feel.

This impressive building is the Seat of the Provincial Government

This building used to be the Grand Casino, before it was closed down and converted to the Town Hall

There was a very upmarket shopping strip lined with all the designer label stores, but this not of much interest to us and of even less interest to the locals, The Basques are very down to earth people and Christina had a great sense of humour and had us in stitches throughout the tour with her local perspective on many things.

This is outside the towns most expensive fashion store where she was telling us some of the prices

Next we were off to see the old town, but first walked around the seafront to enter through the remains of what was the old city wall. The old city was almost completed destroyed in the early 1800's when it was burnt to the ground. So most of the buildings are only a few hundred years old.

Before entering the old town, Christina gave us a brief history lesson

The location of history lesson was next to the marina, so I strayed and took a few photos, but could still hear her talking through our personal audio system.

Some very tight berths for small boats in this little port

Some bigger boats were located in adjoining bigger port

Most boats around 40 feet and over were on moorings out in the bay, as the protected port areas were not well set up for boats this size.

The Royal Nautical Club

Back to the tour. We entered the old town from waterfront, and walked into the usual narrow cobblestone streets, with more restaurants and bars than you could imagine. Eating and drinking are serious pastimes in San Sebastion. There are three Michelin 3 star restaurants in San Sebastion !

As we wandered through, Christina gave us a full rundown on the good and bad eateries and bars

This Baroque style church can be found at the end of one street and a Neo Gothic Church (based on the Cologne Cathedral) at the other end of the street

Nearing the end of the walking tour, we ended up in a square that used to house the town hall, before it moved to the previous Grand Casino Building. The old town hall is now used as the library.

Old Town Hall , now the Library

Surrounding the square are apartments with numbers on them. Chistina explained, that older times, this square used to be used for bull fights, and the owners of the apartments used to rent out their balconies to spectators (hence the need for numbering).

Numbered balconies surrounding the square

As the final part of the tour Christina took us through the fish market. There was a great range of fresh fish and shellfish, not all of it familiar to us.

Some of the displays were quite creative

Lunch and dinner are our responsibility today, as the rest of the day is free time. The lunch recommendation is to try some pintxos (the Basque version of tapas). we are also told not to settle for just one pintxo bar, but try a few, having a drink and some pintxos at each one.

We followed the advice , first stopping at a bar recommended by Christina.

The Pintxos are lined up on the bar and you get a plate and help yourself. you pay for the number you have. We had two each and a cider.

They were delicious, especially the one with the anchovies.

Next Pinxto bar was near the Baroque church.

Here we had 3 pintxos each and a drink, and that was enough for lunch.

A walk was in order to burn off the pintxos and make room for dinner. We walked from the old town back down towards the water and exited near the marina where we had entered the old town this morning. There is a walkway from the main beach La Concha, around the headland to the surfing beach where there is some possibility of a wave.

The walk takes us past the small port area where the is sort of a marina for small boats, and larger boats can tie up in an other port but only against the shore. Along the path there are many restaurants, and colourful buildings.

Interesting tiled facade, may have been a clearance sale

A bit further around there is a huge boat ramp, with a couple of kayakers sunbathing on it. It would have to be one of the most luxurious boat ramps I have seen.

As we continued on our walk around the headland we saw several tourist boats going out, and we think one or more of them may have had a viewing panel in the hull, as they we going very close to the island in the entrance to the bay.

There was also a snorkeler swimming along the rocky shoreline, so there must be some sea life down there.

Up on the headland we noticed what looked like 2 large cats. Apparently Lynx are native to this area, and when I got back to the room and looked at this photo, it does seem to be a big cat.

Finally we got back around the surfing beach side and it was only a short walk to our hotel. Whilst we haven't quite got into the custom of having a siesta yet, it is looking more compelling as the days go on. We spent a couple of hours back at the hotel, before venturing out again at about 5.30pm, for a beer and some pintxos. Our dinner booking tonight is not until 9 pm, and that is very early in this part of the World.

Only one pintxo this time

We had dinner at a local restaurant, La Fabrica, in the old town (it that was recommended by our tour guide). The two other Aussies from Forresters Beach, Ian and Pam, joined us. We had a great meal and the fixed price menu including a bottle of wine per couple was only 30 euros a head for a 3 course meal.