San Sebastian

Sorry it’s taken me a week to post about my last weekend’s adventures! This week was midterms, so I was studying for exams and didn’t have much time to write about my fabulous weekend! My parents took Kim and I up to Northern Spain to the Basque country.

We stayed in San Sebastian for two nights, in a gorgeous little apartment with stunning views of rolling green hills. First of all, I must explain that San Sebastian is relatively near the boarder of France, so the french influences throughout the city were very prominent. The city lies on the northern coast of Spain so it has great views of the Mar Cantábrico, but at the same time it has stunning green hills that reach toward the sky. The people dressed so classy every day with dresses, pea coats, heels, and collared button up shirts! The old ladies dressed up in their sunday best, every single day… It was adorable. There was significantly less smokers around compared to Madrid, which was a huge plus! Also, every family walking the street seemed to have a fancy stroller pushing their newborns on a walk around the promenade, my favorite strollers were the vintage looking carriage types. 
The first day we were there we walked around the historic district a bit, and saw a gorgeous neo-gothic cathedral (from the outside) lit up at night. The way they had the lights shining on the church made it look amazing at night! We didn’t stay out too long because it had been a long day of driving, so we went back and relaxed at the apartment.

The next day we headed into downtown. Luckily we hit tapa time just right! The streets in the historic district were flooded with people, and we were a little hungry, so we decided to check out a couple tapa bars. The food was amazing. They display their tapas on the bar (unlike Madrid), so it was very nice to see exactly what you’re getting to eat! We went to three different places, and the food was amazing at all of them! They had lost of salmon items, some kind of cooked mushrooms (they were SO good!), but my favorite of all is a dish I’ve already had before. The pimientos rellenos (stuffed peppers) were amazing! I found out that the Basque country in Northern Spain is where these peppers became popular, so it was nice to get a taste of the original delicacy! After tapas, we climbed a huge hill to the top where there lies an old castle and a huge statue of Jesus. The view from the top of the hill was stunning! You could see the whole city, the sea, and an island off the coast. After we climbed down from the steep hill, we were hungry once again. We found a little place and got some food and churros and hot chocolate for desert. Churros and chocolate is a classic dessert or breakfast choice here! After eating we wandered a little and found another gorgeous church. We saw tourists entering, so we walked inside as well. As soon as we step in, we hear a priest speaking, so naturally we sat down to experience a little Spanish mass. As we sat down in the back of the church, I looked down the aisle, and what did I see you may ask? A bride and groom kneeling at the alter! We had crashed a wedding on accident! We couldn’t believe that we just walked into someone’s wedding celebration! Oops! We snuck back out the back, and no one saw! That was pretty much it for the night. We went back to the apartment and played some cards, then went to bed!

The next day we drove back to Madrid, but we stopped in Burgos for some lunch along the way. We found a little chinese restaurant to eat at, and it was so good! I hadn’t had chinese food in probably two months at that point, so I was happy to eat a little something other than the Spanish food or fake American food that I’ve been having! 
I loved San Sebastian so much, it was such a gorgeous city and it had amazing food. After our trip, I decided it is one of the cities I must live in, at some point in my lifetime!