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Fortunately I finally found a room in the Parte Viaja right in the middle overlooking the town plaza. This was great as long as you didnīt go home until after 4 am. There was always activity in the plaza. I had great roomates at the hostel, all solo travelers, and interestingly all americans except for one notable exception. Since Iīm horrible with names, the fact that they all had names starting with S made it easy.
Sam: 25 yr old American from Seattle who had just graduated from UW and was looking for an apartment to live in San Sebas. I went drinking with him a couple times and he was a little dopey, but a good drinking partner.
Sara: 24 yr old Art Student from New Mexico who loved to complain about everything. Life is oh-so-hard. She was traveling for the summer and was graduating from UNM in the fall. She said she was looking for a city with a good avant garde art scene. Yikes. We had the predictable conversation about Nike/Gap sweatshops. Iīm not painting a pretty picture, but after a glass of wine Sara was actually slightly tolerable.
Sylvia: 20 yr old Student/Model from Switzerland. Wow. 1/2 columbian 1/2 swiss. Spoke 5 languages. She got kicked out of our room after the 2nd day because she hadnīt reserved another night. It was a sad, sad day. Iīm a little choked up just thinking of poor Sylvia packing her bags, and me banging my head against the wall as an ex-sorority USC law student (Legally Blonde 3) took her place chatting away on her cell phone.
San Sebastian was a great resort town. It is the only place I have been that rivals Hawaii in beauty. It was simply incredible. The beach was beautful white sand and extended for about a mile and 1/2. There was an island you could boat out to (or swim) just off the beach which was really nice. Did I mention the beach is topless? I wonīt get into that now for the PG-13 audience..
San Sebas is a resort town in the Basque country that many of the wealthy spaniards go to. It shows in the prices as beers and tapas are about 2x as much as in Madrid. My room also was 25euro a night and I was sharing with 3 others, and in Madrid I had my own room for 27euro.
It was well worth it though for the great beach and relaxation. I woudnīt rate the nightlife highly, as it is very young and colllegey with many drunken annoying aussie and u.s. and brit kids. It was fun just hanging out with my roommates in the cafe drinking wine. Sylvia...sniff sniff..
Great shopping also in San Sebas with very nice stores and restaurants. I also had some terrific fish there, but paid the price.
There is ETA graffiti everywhere around the town. ETA are the Basque seperatists who want independence from Spain and are willing to get it using extreme violence. The often make the IRA look like wussies. There have been a few bombings this summer, and I was slightly reluctant to visit the Basque region, but if the Spainiards arenīt concerned, then I figured I wouldnīt be concerned either. They refuse to let the ETA intimidate them.
I didnīt see much ETA activity except for daily graffitti on many buildings, which was amazingly often cleaned that day only to reappear later that night. A few people I talked to support the ETA sentiment of independence, but are horrified at their methods.
San Sebastian was just I needed. A few days of laying on the beach, drinking wine and beer outside and soaking in the sun. Iīm very tan and relaxed.
Next to Bilbao and the Guggenheim.