Spanish adventures #2

Our time in lovely San Sebastian is coming to an end. What a gorgeous city. Ruined only by our stay in a dirty hostel, the only place under 100 euros a night we could find.

Arwen, you were right, they do throw garbage on the floor of tapas bars. And they stub their cigarettes out on the floor. It´s really weird.

I got a little sunburned, true to form. Then it clouded over, sparing me the embarrassment of being the sunburned tourist on the beach.

The tapas (pintxos) here are amazing. Ridiculously rich. Barcelona was quite a disappointment on the food front, but while San Sebastian does have its fair share of low quality eateries, there are some absolutely amazing places.

Yesterday we climbed the small hill/park to the castle. There are cannons in it from the early 16th century. And there´s a graveyard dedicated to English soldiers who gave their lives to defend the town in a war in the 1830´s, against the Carlists. Something I´d like to look into. Putting a damper on the walk were the swastikas everywhere, looked to be the work of one person, but on almost every bench and sign.

Today we´re going for a morning swim (the beach is a few blocks away), then coffee and croissants for breakfast, shopping for supplies and off to the train station for a trip to the Mediterranean coast of France. Au revoir!

Spanish adventures

Hey all. I may try to write some travel stuff here, depending on how often Nina and I make it to an internet place. So far:

Travel was 24 hours from door to door. Ugh. The Seattle airport is dreadful: crap food, crap appearance. Amsterdam airport, on the other hand, was quite pleasant. I had a beer on the flight from Amsterdam to Barcelona, 10am local time. Free. Nice work, KLM.

Barcelona is hot and sweaty. If you know what I mean, and I think you do. Wine is cheap, food isn´t. Our room is tall and small and has a balcony overlooking a pretty street. There are Bar Cafeterias on almost every corner that sell coffee, booze, pastry and sandwiches.

So far we´ve seen only a few homeless people, and only been asked for money twice. Maybe they all stayed away after being moved out for the Olympics in 1992?

Every building here is interesting. Every single one, for real. And the beach is right downtown. We went swimming in the Mediterranean last night, and it was warm and cleaner than Kits Beach. The benefits of not being a major port, I guess.

My Spanish is so weak, I couldn´t even remember how to say ´bed´.

Until next time.
B