From Salamanca we caught an early train northwest to San Sebastián, on the northern coast of Basque Country. The hotel was only a short walk from the station, allowing us to cross the Maria Christina bridge on our way in.
The walk was mainly through shopping strips, so the first time we got to see the famous La Concha beach was when we entered our hotel room. Wow!
We had spoiled ourselves for this stop and it didn’t disappoint. The reality was that everywhere was expensive so we decided to go all out.
It was mid afternoon, time for lunchtime Tapas in the hotel bar before exploring the shoreline.
We walked along the promenade around the beach toward the old town. The whole strip was buzzing with people and buskers.
There were a few brave swimmers, apparently the water is pretty cold. The forecast is good so maybe I’ll find out how cold tomorrow. We will see.
After an initial reconnaissance of the old town we had some more Pinchos, a bite size style of Tapas traditional in Northern Spain.
And then bought some snacks in the supermarket before heading back to our room to enjoy the sunset. Beautiful.
Sunday morning was kicked off with breakfast in our room, we are making sure we get our money’s worth’s from the view.
Followed by a bike ride to burn off some of the calories. The bike hire was very helpful and mapped out a 10km loop around the city for us to explore.
We started along the beach front and at Miramar Park came across a classic car display.
At the far end of the beach is the sculpture(s) “Comb of the wind” and next them there are little blow holes that had been built into the path. You can stand over them and they spurt wind when a wave comes in.
The bike paths here are really well done, and everyone rides bikes as they are closing more and more roads to cars. We saw many family groups on bikes heading to the La Liga match of the day.
The most impressive path was a tunnel that crossed all the way underneath the city, from the outer suburbs back to the city centre and beach. Apparently it was a disused rail tunnel, now converted to bike path.
Once through the tunnel we reached the Urumea River and followed it back to the water front where we could see the other beach – Zurriola Beach.
We then looped around Urgull mountain, that has a statue of Jesus perched on top looking over the city.
Next stop was the port. Many of the units along the edge of the port had washing hanging out the front, clearly more a local area.
From the port it was only a short ride back to La Concha beach and the end of our loop.
After another late lunch we hit the beach for a couple of hours. The weather was perfect at 29c, and the water was actually quite warm – even Bel had a swim!
In the evening we went across to the old town in search of a bar playing the rugby, I had done some ringing around earlier and the best answer I got was maybe.
We decided to take a risk on one and unfortunately they did put it on and we had to suffer through getting smashed by Wales, with Welsh fans!! A miserable end to the day.
Our last day started with a walk around La Concha Bay, along the La Concha and Ondaretta beaches.
The two beaches are separated by a small headland, luckily the tide was low enough for us to do some rock hopping and make our way around.
At the end of the beach we reached our destination, the Funicular that would take us to the top of Mount Igueldo.
It was unfortunately at the same time as two bus loads of school children, so we decided to go and grab a coffee while the queue cleared.
We eventually braved the lineup and it thankfully moved quite quickly (the worst part of traveling is the endless queueing, and we’re not very good at it 😂).
Up top we discovered the theme park that was advertised below. It was much like Luna Park in Sydney and had been operating since 1912, over 100 years.
But the real reason we came up was for the view. Very cool.
After another queue to get back down, and a long walk back, we enjoyed our first Daily Menu. Very much like France, a set 3 course lunch menu at a pretty reasonable price. Bel ate hers so fast I couldn’t even get a photo.
After lunch was more beach before freshening up to explore the old town.
It was just Pinchos for dinner after a big lunch and then Ice creams to finish on the walk back.
We absolutely loved San Sebastián, such a beautiful place. We have heard it can be quite rainy here, but we were blessed with the weather while we were here and are very grateful. Hopefully we can make it back one day!