9/15-9/22, San Sebastián, Kelly

Our first week in this little coastal city was sunny and warm. It’s honestly a little slice of heaven here in the Basque part of northern Spain: blue skies, the Bay of Biscay’s twinkling turquoise water, green hillsides, layers of mountains off in the distance. Of the two beaches, one has consistently nice waves, the other is calm with picture perfect views. There are ALWAYS surfers out at Zurriola, and we’ve joined them and bodysurfed a time or two (Jim more than me – the water’s a bit chilly, comparable to Southern Cal.) Other than that, we’ve spent our time walking, hiking, swimming in La Concha (the calm beach), exploring, people watching, nibbling on pintxos, and drinking wine in outdoor plazas. Each day we work out, do a little work, and then we head out to explore. We’re learning Spanish, but that is a long slow road to fluency and right now we are just pulling out of the driveway! Pequenos pasos! (Baby steps!)

What’s different? If you don’t understand what it says in Spanish – no problemo! – they have it translated into Basque right next to it (#NotHelpful). Restaurants and shops shut down from around 2-5, every day and many of the bars serve only drinks until 7pm – no food until later. Sometimes Jim and I go out to eat at 8pm and feel like we’re my grandparents hitting up the early bird special at Bob’s Big Boy (Muchacho Grande de Roberto). This is a late-night country!