San Sebastian, or Not
Aug 23rd, 2013 by willmarks
From Bilbao, we headed toward San Sebastian, also in the Basque country, but I didn’t learn my lesson. I figured that if we show up earlier in the evening, rather than at 1 a.m., there had to be some amount of available lodging. But there was absolutely nothing. So, we headed to the nearby (15 minute drive) town of Tolosa, situated on the river Oria. Tolosa accommodations did save us some Euros and the town was pleasant…but as my family would agree, San Sebastian would have been better.
Giving up on me, Evelyn booked a great San Sebastian apartment for the next two nights using Airbnb. San Sebastian was wonderful, as expected, with large beaches and pintxos galore (web definition: a “thorn” or “spike” or a small snack, typically eaten in bars, traditional in northern Spain and especially popular in the Basque country and Navarre).
Highlights of San Sebastian included those tasty pintxos, served all over the old town, as well as a bike ride we took that circled the city, passing the futbol stadium (Real Sociedad), winding through a long tunnel, and then spanning the fantastic beachfront.
Getting used to the late lunches in Spain and ready for a full meal, we found a nice spot in the old town, Ubarrechena. The food was good, not great, while the waiters could not have been more accommodating to needy children. At this point, after surviving on pintxos/tapas for a couple of days, we really needed a broad spectrum of choices for all, and we found it here. We also enjoyed the company at the adjoining table of a nice Bilbao family in town for a futbol game. While its stadium was under repair, Athletic Bilbao (or Athletic Club) was using the nearby (one hour drive from Bilbao) San Sebastian stadium for its home game against Club Atlético Osasuna, the Pamplona team. This was our first experience with the futbol fever of Spain, and the San Sebastian streets were crowded with fans, mostly those of Athletic Bilbao, loud and at least a bit drunk, but generally well behaved.
Our friends at the table next to ours introduced us to the history of their team, noting that traditionally every player on the Athletic Bilbao Lions (team is known as “Los Leones”) comes from the Basque country; recently the team has lightened up on this policy but not much. Other teams in the Primera Division of La Liga tend to recruit more from outside the region and country we are told, with obvious examples being Barcelona and Real Madrid. La Liga (Primera Division) is made up of the top 20 Spanish futbol teams. Every year, the 3 teams with the worst performance are” relegated” (moved to the second division) and of course 3 teams move up to La Liga. Only 3 teams in La Liga have never been relegated, with these being Athletic Bilbao, Barcelona, and Real Madrid. During 2012/2013, Athletic Bilbao finished 12th, with Barcelona and Real Madrid first and second.
