The Fury of San Sebastian
The Fury
This city on the north side of Spain is quite something. Known for its unique language, culture and world renown food… Donostia-San Sebastian has a little bit of something for everyone.
I arrived late at night after taking a train from Barcelona and even though the train was a good 40 or so minutes late getting into the station… I was ready to explore. It’s because I knew I didn’t have a lot of time in the city and I wanted to make the most of it. First things first… I checked into my Airbnb… threw my bags into my room and headed off into the misty night. I honestly had come to this city for one reason… and it was beer related. To visit Basqueland Brewing. So… it was only fitting that I visited their city taproom as my first real stop. I will absolutely be doing a full article on Basqueland Izakaia - their taproom - so you will just have to wait. Trust me… it's full of hijinks of course!
After spending a really good time at the Izakaia… I headed back to my Airbnb and zonked out fairly quickly. In the morning I set out to explore the city and man oh man was there a good amount to see. Since I was located in the Old Town quarter of the city… there were restaurants and bars almost everywhere you could look. Nearly every place in Old Town served pintxos. For those not familiar with the term… they are very similar to tapas but even better and are a Basque country speciality. It is extremely popular to hop around to different pintxo bars and only get one pintxo and a beer and then move on to the next place. Throughout my stay in the city I received many tips and tricks on the best way to do this… which I greatly appreciated.
I would be remiss to mention the weather that I had to deal with throughout my stay here. It was… less than desirable. And by less than desirable… I mean pretty bad. Rain and gale force winds that exceeded 30mph. But was that going to stop me from exploring this fine city??? I daresay… Not One Bit.
It doesn’t look like its raining much… but trust me… this picture is deceiving…
I had been told when I arrived that I should climb one of the steep hills in the city since the view was exemplary. So even though it was rainy… I set out to one overlooking the Atlantic and the city and since it had an extremely old medieval fort on the top of it - it was the perfect choice. As I was hiking up the windy trail to the top… I couldn’t help but notice… no one was out and about on a day like this. Probably for good reason… but what’s a little or… a lot… of rain to an explorer such as I?
Wet yet exhilarated.
After a fairly good climb… I made it to the top and entered the completely deserted fort. It was a tad bit eerie because you have the extremely strong rain and winds coming off the Atlantic and then an extremely old fort dating back to the 12th century. With no one there besides myself. It definitely had some ambience. Murder-hobo vibes… but vibes none the less. With that knowledge I was hopping around large puddles and taking a good amount of pictures. There absolutely is some beauty in the storm.
After exploring the fort and some extremely dark crypts… I decided that I had had enough and ventured down the hill into the city proper. I did decide to seek some sanctuary from the cold in an absolutely gorgeous baroque 18th century church… just to warm up a tad bit. Besides the insane rain and wind… it was in the 40s and I was chilly.
SANCTUARY!!!
Since I was already out and about, I dedicated myself to making the most of this day… I decided to do something pretty crazy. See… San Sebastian has the most beautiful natural harbor and quite the expansive beach. I had been told by a friend that there were some very cool looking sculptures on the opposite side of the harbor close to the inlet to the Atlantic. And so… the daredevil inside me said: “Let’s do this.” In for a penny… in for a pound. I don’t mean to belabor the point… but it was basically monsooning at this point. Winds were absolutely at least 25mph and I was about to walk a very long and exposed stretch where I would have no reprieve from the wind and rain that was currently blowing sideways.
As I started out… I was still in and amongst large buildings which afforded me some cover from the tumultuous wind that was blowing but… I was basically already soaked. I had my very amazing rain/wind jacket on that wicks and is outstanding… but this weather was putting it to its limits. As I was walking past the very last stretch of buildings… I looked down at a trashcan nearby and lo and behold… I saw an umbrella sticking out of it! Like Arthur pulling Excalibur from the stone… I activated it. It wasn’t perfect but it was 90% perfect. That's all I needed. This wooden-curved-handled gentleman’s umbrella with a plaid design on its fabric would serve as my shield and sword against this monstrous weather. Now properly armed with my umbrella as my shield… I stepped out from the protection of the buildings and turned it fully horizontal against the wind and walked over 30 minutes… fully exposed to the fearsome storm.
There was one small hiccup in the middle of the walk and it was where I was entering a pedestrian tunnel and the wind changed direction on me suddenly. The umbrella then was blown inside out which then clipped my finger and caused me to bleed just a tad bit. It wouldn’t be an adventure if I wasn’t bloodied a tad bit, right? I do have to mention that as I was walking this distance… I wasn’t the only crazy person out in this weather. I counted at least 30 other people… which absolutely assuaged me of thinking I was nuts for doing this.
At last… I reached my destination and though I had to fight tooth and nail to get there… the view was worth it. Because right there was the ocean in front of me with the full fury of the North Atlantic bearing down on me and I got what I came for. Some beautiful memories and more importantly… video evidence of the fury of which I have been detailing. Enjoy… and we will pick up even more of my trip in the second part of… my adventures in San Sebastian!
