This was part of our Spain Basque Country (2019) with our younger son Cutie.
(Click here to see all our trips.)
We arrived in San Sebastian yesterday evening, and had a few hours to explore the beach, which was only several blocks away from the hotel. The weather was really nice.
We walked all the way to the Old Town, which wasn’t very far away anyway. Then we had more pintxos, and Rei and Cutie had more wines and beers. We had paella and shrimps for dinner. Shrimps were very delicious, but the paella was only okay. Cutie managed to do some shopping after dinner.
Today Rei considered driving to other nearby places for sightseeing, but Cutie did not like the idea, so we would stay in San Sebastian for the day.
We walked to the Old Town to have some pastries and coffee for breakfast (the breakfast at the hotel was super expensive), and then we climbed the nearby Monte Urgull. The hike wasn’t too difficult and the view from the top was splendid!
There’s a castle, Castillo de la Mota, on the top. The castle was still in pretty decent shape. We could see several old cannons that used to guard the castle. There was also a Jesus Christ statue overlooking the castle.
We had more pintxos, wines and beers for lunch. San Sebastian was famous for its pintxos; the selections were really amazing. After so much food and drinks, we needed a siesta.
Later, we walked the other direction to Playa de la Concha and visited the summer palace of Queen Maria Cristina. The place is also called the Miramar Palace. It was built in late 1800s with the style of an English noble country house and a marvelous view of La Concha Bay.
We originally planned to go to a seafood restaurant to have dinner. However, the hot pintxos (grilled shrimps, chicken, beef, etc.) in a place we stopped by were really tempting. So, we had dinner there instead. Cutie did more holiday shopping after dinner. Overall, this was a very relaxing day.
Amy 'n Rei 