San Sebastian

August 2018

For the last 2 days I have been in San Sebastian with my wonderful husband Ryan. He has been working in San Sebastian for the last 2 weeks and convinced me to venture traveling alone from the U.S. so that I could join him.

Traveling was going fairly smooth, until I reached Madrid....

I had slept on the floor in the USO at LAX, which felt grungy and run down, but at least safe. They kindly made me a sandwich and gave me some snacks. I happened to arrive just the night before they were moving to a much nicer, newer building and everything was stripped to the bare minimum in preparation for the new facility. Bad timing.

I had had a few long layovers, but all in all nothing too unnerving. I knew that when I got to Madrid I would have 1.5 hours to catch my connecting flight to get to San Sebastian.

You would like to think that's enough time... but it took 45 minutes to get through the passport check. Why was there only 1 employee checking passports so that it took 45 minutes to get through the check point??!!?? Then I had to take a shuttle over to terminal 4 to catch my plane.

I got to my gate at 9:05am, and the plane was scheduled to leave at 9:25am.

I could SEE MY GATE, and Iberia refused to let me get on the flight.

Their policy is a 30 minutes prior boarding time and they close the doors after that and will not open them. I get it's their policy, but I was so frustrated. The plane wasn't leaving for another 20 minutes. Wasn't that enough time to get little me on to it?!?

I also felt like in the U.S. they would have done everything possible to try and help me get on my flight. In Madrid the customer service was basically, "sorry, tough luck. bye now."

Instead of allowing me to get on the flight, I had to go stand in several lines through 3 separate counters to try and speak with someone to help me change my flight. I was told that the only available flight options were 1st class tickets and I would have to spend another $700 to upgrade and catch the next plane, which was in 10 hours.

Defeated, I went to look into my other options.

Turns out a rental car was going to cost me just under $600 and the train was $50, so I went with the train. It was an 8 hour train ride. I also had to switch trains at one point, which I figured out, but not without a total melt down first. I was tired. I was lost. I was cranky. I was angry at the airline. I just wanted to be there already.

Getting lost in a foreign country where you don't speak the language, are alone, miss your flight, and have all your travel plans altered can really throw a damper on your plans.

*sigh* okay, rant over.

On the train I was able to see the versatility of Spain, and I also witnessed a lot of poverty. At one point I saw a field with some slightly naked people in the rows.

I gasped, thinking, “Oh my gosh! It’s so hot outside and they’re working naked!?! I can't imagine the sunburns.” but then … we got closer and I realized they were scarecrows.

There were beautiful gardens and many small towns I passed through. I started to count down the number of stops before San Sebastian as I went. 33…..27….22…10…14…7… Finally! It got down to 1 stop left. San Sebastian! After 8 hours of winding through half of Spain I had arrived!

My arrival was very much deserved at this point (at least I felt that way).

And San Sebastian was so beautiful I think it was worth the struggle.

Ryan was there to pick me up from the train station. It was so good to see him. I really missed him. We didn’t do much for the remainder of the evening, since I was so tired from Jet Lag and traveling, but it was soooo wonderful to sleep in a bed after a couple nights of trying to sleep on planes, trains, and hardwood floors.

The next morning we woke up and it was Sunday so we went to church. There were about 50 people there and the love in the branch felt tangible. The people greeted me by kissing me on either cheek and they really wanted to get to know us. The Stake President spoke and even though everything he said was in Spanish, I was able to understand some of it, especially his testimony. The spirit in the room was touching, gentle, and comforting. We said our goodbyes and headed to catch our bus back to our hotel at Olarain.

Olarain was a great place to stay. We loved the staff, the atmosphere, our room, and we were within walking distance of everything we wanted to see and 3 incredible beaches. The cafeteria serves breakfast and dinner, which were included in our room price. This saved us some money on eating out and we were able to enjoy our lunches snacking on pinchos.

The hotel also is filled with antiques collected from around the world, so it's like staying in a museum. There are foosball tables in the basement, laundry facilities, ping pong tables, and lots of sitting areas. Our room was a little hot because there is not A/C at Olarain, but they did give us a fan which made the room cooler and enjoyable.

After returning from church we went to meet up with my cousin and her husband who had flown in from Italy to spend the weekend with us. We started our adventures by heading to Monte Ilgeldo, where we rode the funicular, which was over 100 years old, to the top of the mountain.

There, we looked out over the city, ocean, and islands for a spectacular view. We also rode the little roller coaster that was at the top of the mountain. At one point we went through a tunnel and Ryan yelled out for my cousin's husband to duck his head so that he didn’t get decapitated! The ceiling was low and he happens to be very tall. I am sure my cousin will have decided to never go on vacations again with Ryan and I after their adventures with us in San Sebastian.

When we went to the beach, we put all of our items we wanted to keep safe (wallets, IDs, phones, smart watches, money, etc.) in these lockers that the San Sebastian city provides for beachgoers for a small fee. We thought it would be a good idea to keep all our items safe and dry while we went out swimming and paddle boarding. While we were paddle boarding on the ocean, I went to push my cousin into the water as a joke (our family is notorious for water fights), and when she fell in she lost something quite important—her glasses! They sank… to the bottom of the ocean. I felt awful!! She was seeing blurry for the rest of the day.

We went to return to the locker facility to retrieve our items, only to find out that they had closed and locked up 10 minutes prior! They were not going to open again until 9am the following day—exactly the same time my cousin and her husband needed to leave on their flight to go home. We frantically began to search for options, chatting with locals to see if there was a number we could call, seeing if we could somehow retrieve their items in the morning and overnight mail them, trying to find out if we could give them money to take and uber to get to the airport, etc. We were LITERALLY trying to think of everything.

Luckily, Ryan ran over to a little stand just down the port where a woman was thankfully willing to help us! She ran over and pounded on the door. “Emilia! Soy yo! Abre la puerta!”

A woman opened the door and allowed only Ryan to run inside real quick and retrieve the items. I was so grateful that Ryan spoke Spanish and that we were able to get their things back. That could have potentially ended horridly! 

We also swam together in the ocean out to these floating platforms that were about a quarter mile out in the ocean. I wondered why there weren't more people hanging out on them, because they had slides and looked like a lot of fun. From the beach, they did not look that far out, but once you got swimming…well, there’s really no turning back. You just had to make it to the platform. I really thought I was going to drown for a moment! I was getting so tired, and I am not a talented swimmer to begin with, but we made it! Then we had to swim back, which was easier since we weren’t fighting against the ocean waves but rather letting them carry us safely back to shore.

Once back at shore, we played in the waves for a while. At one point, I had my back turned and a giant wave came rushing over us! Suddenly we all disappeared. We were flung across the ocean floor and spiraled out onto the shoreline. We got a good laugh out of being knocked over. The waves here can be incredibly powerful! One thing that is really surprising here, is that many of the women just walk around topless on the beach! They’re not nude beaches specifically, but there is definitely nudity.

We also watched a group of locals playing volleyball on the beach using only their heads, chests, and feet! It was like soccer combined with volleyball. They were INCREDIBLY good. 

(Click through for photos)

I really feel San Sebastian is a vibrant city, full of life and people here seem genuinely happy and helpful. We were buying gelato near Playa de la Concha and one of the gentlemen scooping our gelato for us joked with us, “are you sure you want chocolate? No, here taste this. It’s dark chocolate with rice milk,” and something else I can’t remember. He helped change our minds.

There is laughter, sunshine, friendship and family, and relaxation all around. We even ran into this skilled artist who had set up a little booth, and was painting tiles with his fingers in just a matter of minutes! He produced several works of art. Unfortunately, he told us at times the police will harass him to move and he has to pay them money to be able to stay and keep painting. We bought two of his paintings because we loved them so much. 

San Sebastian is also known for the many lampposts throughout the city. As you walk around you will notice different lampposts in all their varieties. They're really beautiful to see at night. I chose to sketch out some of my favorite ones from around the city and especially enjoyed sketching on the beach.

We rented bikes and rode around town while Ryan was in training most of the day. It was a blast! It is so hot and humid here that the wind rushing through your hair feels relieving while you’re riding. It was also a quick and efficient way to get around the city.

We did a little bit of Pincho bar hoping and had delicious pinchos. All of the food here is delicious. Don't forget to bring a water bottle around with you! It's hard to get water at the bars because they expect you to buy their beer.

We hiked Monte Urgul, which was a battlefield during Napoleon’s era. There are many French and British soldiers buried on the mountain, and unmarked graves. As you walk through the mountain you stumble across tombs, monuments, and there is a castle at the top filled with cannons, relics, cannon balls, and uniforms that the soldiers would have worn. I really loved the hike. It felt like traversing a jungle island in the middle of the ocean.