Our first stop in Spain was San Sebastian, the capital of Basque country on the north east coast of the country. San Sebastian has three beaches surrounding the old part of town which is overlooked by a mountain fortress housing a giant statue of Christ. We stayed in the old town where the party never stops. The old town is a small compact collection of streets full of pintxo bars, restaurants and shops. San Sebastian is brimming with tourists who crowd the beaches by day and bar hop by night.
A visit to San Sebastian is not complete without a visit to some of its pintxo (pronounced pinchos) bars. Pintxos are small h'ordeuvres which consist of a topping such as chorizo, seafood, cheese, omelette etc on top of a crusty piece of bread pierced by a toothpick. The bar top is packed full of plates of pintxos and you basically order a drink like sangria and have as many pintxos as you want. Once you've had enough you tell the bar tender how many you've had and then pay a fixed price for each one you had. The price varied from one to four euros. Then you go to the next bar and start the process all over again. Each bar had its own speciality. We had pintxos many times while in San Sebastian and I have to say I really liked them.
We spent the days in San Sebastian exploring the area surrounding the old town. We climbed to the hilltop fortress for great views of the town, sea and beyond. We walked along the beaches to the end of the bay to see the famous seaside sculptures. At night we would go out for Sangria and pintxos or tapas. The hostel we stayed at was really cramped but had a very friendly feel. On our last day a week long festival started in San Sebastian. Although it rained most of the day it didnt seem to deter the many bands, parades or the crowd. That night everyone in the hostel headed out together to watch the fireworks over the beach. All in all it was a nice end to our stay in San Sebastian.e
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