San SebastianOct 20, 2009
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Fly to San Sebastian with a week’s notice: $600
Take a Train to San Sebastian: 100€
Rent a car with 3 other dudes: priceless
So that is what we did, finding people who had interest in San Sebastian the night before embarking on the 5 hour journey through the Spanish countryside, we rented a car at the Sants Estació train station. The only requirements required by the rental company for us to begin our trek were: a person 21 years of age and the ability to drive a stick shift. Through a combination of the four of us (2 of the four were 21 and I knew how to drive stick), we met those requirements and were left to navigate our way through a foreign, European city and make our way to the Basque Country. I was the driver and before leaving I took our newly rented hot-wheel sized MERCEDES around the parking lot a time or two to make sure I had a good feel of this go-kart. We made it through the city with no major problems, but whoever thought putting the street names on the sides of the buildings instead of having a street sign, like in the United States, is an idiot.
The interior of Spain is very dry and looks a lot like Nevada, but driving in kilometers is great because they go by so fast. You see a sign that says 60km till the next town and you’re like “man, we have a long way to go,” but that’s only a half hour instead of an hour. Also, unlike in the US, there aren’t police staked-out looking for speeders. I’m not going to tell you how fast I got my 6-speed matchbox car up to for my mother’s sake, but not having the police to worry about was quite nice.
Navigating through San Sebastian was worse than Barcelona because everything was in this primitive, ugly language they call Vasco and we knew nothing about where to go or what to see in San Sebastian. Our directions, as well, weren’t to any specific point, like a hostel, because we intended on saving money and sleeping in the car. Needless to say, although the Mercedes did have a new car smell, two of us wouldn’t have been able to sleep in that car, let alone four; so we got ourselves a hostel, which turned out to be the best hostel I had been in yet, complete with a night-stand size TV and huge terrace balcony.
One of the things San Sebastian is most known for, besides being incredibly beautiful, is their great Txiquiteo (Vasco for hopping from bar to bar) and pintxos (tiny snacks; basically tapas but its only one bit of food, not a plate). While in San Sebastian, we were told that San Sebastian had the most bars per square foot than anywhere in the world. So having to fulfill our American college-student reputation that was what we did first, and as luck would have it our hostel was on the same street. Tapas bar hopping is the thing to do all over Spain, but me being a penny-saver for my travels, I had no clue on what was good because I don’t eat out at all. So, naturally, I found the closest English-speaking, girl, local and had her pick out six of the best tapas; four for my friends and me and two for the friend for home, Alex, and his girlfriend who were both in San Sebastian at the same time. Tapas hopping was an absolute blast, but at 1.50€ to 3.00€ a pop it gets expensive fast.
San Sebastian doesn’t have a lot of sights. The sight is the city itself. The city is filled with building that make you say “whoa!” and “holy crap,” and now having a pretty impressive list of European cities to compare it to (Paris, Rome, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Dublin, London), I can say that San Sebastian is more than just the prettiest, but the most elegant of all the cities I have laid eyes on. Besides the language which spells everything with a “tx” even chocolate, everything about the city is beautiful: the buildings, the beaches, the mountains, the clean streets, and—even though it’s a relatively old population—the people. San Sebastian has two massive, green hills/mountains on either side of its 1-mile long, pride of San Sebastian, beach. One is a path-filled park with a statue of Christ at the top that looks over the city and the other provides a view of the city that no postcard or picture could give justice too. The day we went, the sky was as blue as could be with not a cloud or haze to interfere with the breathtaking view this lookout provided of the city below. If you haven’t seen San Sebastian you don’t know what a beautiful city even resembles.
The rental car ended up costing each of us 75 Euros, which is cheaper than any plane or train ride, no matter when you schedule them. And if it weren’t for the immense amount of tolls, one of which costing us 20.75€ both ways, it would have been a lot cheaper.
On the Thursday before, it looked like we weren’t going, but we made the trip, and it was one that must be done by anyone who steps foot in Spain.
¿Dónde está el mejor paseo?
