San Sebastian was a real pleasant surprise for us. We had thought about visiting Basque country (we learned very quickly not to call the Basque territory Spain) but weren't sure what we would find here. We discovered a very lush green hilly land whose people are very proud of their maritime heritage. Basque sailors have traveled to many corners of the world and their seafood is second to none. The Basque language is so old that nobody seems to know where it came from. We fell in love with the beauty of this region as we traveled through it with our new friends Ramon, Begona, and Xabi. They showed us amazing sights like long sandy beaches, quaint fishing villages such as Getaria (home to Juan Sebastian Elcano who finished Magellan's trip around the world as the captain), as well as the highlights of the city of San Sebastian itself. We traveled to Arantzazu (which means place of thorns), a monastery with quite a majestic but controversial (fourteen apostles statues?) cathedral high in the Basque mountains, as well as Bilbao to see the Guggenheim Museum which proved to be far more interesting on the outside than on the inside. (We are finding on our trip that we just don't 'get' a lot of the modern art we are encountering.) San Sebastian has many ornate older buildings that line the waterfront as well as decorated bridges. While wandering through the narrow old town streets of the city, we discovered a tiny restaurant called Quebec Cafe. The owner spoke English, French, Basque, and Spanish, was deeply saddened by the NHL strike, and had lots of Quebec paraphernalia hanging in his shop like a Guy Lafleur cap (the crepes were delicious too). During our time in San Sebastian our hosts exposed us to Basque food, wine, and most of all, hospitality. This is one delightful corner of the world that we will be sure to return to.
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