Yummy San Seb

​July 9

The start to our time in San Sebastian was slowed down by the weight of our bags. We sat for breakfast in a café and had toast and coffee. We walked to the beach to see the ocean for the first time. San Sebastian is so beautiful and it took our breath away.

We decided that we didn’t want to swim at the beach with all of our luggage so instead, Alastair took us for a food tour. We visited Bar Antonio which was incredibly packed. We left our luggage in an alley to sit at the bar and eat dumplings, anchovy pinxos, and beef cheek wontons. We also tried txakoli, a local sparkling white wine. San Sebastian is one of the food capitals of the world so Alastair is beyond excited for the eating that we will do in the next few days.

After our snack, we walked through the cathedral and then found a Starbucks where we could sit and play cards until check-in at the hostel that we missed last night. The reviews for this hostel said that we should only book it if we had no other options, and because we booked it so late, we really didn’t have any other options. However, once we arrived, we were pleasantly surprised. Our room is tiny, but we have our own bathroom and we are right in the heart of the old town.

Once we were free of our bags, we headed out for another round of pinxos. Most of the famous pinxos bars are actually on our street, and we started at Bar Sport. We had the best calamari we’ve ever tasted, a crabcake crêpe, sea urchin soup, foie gras and Alastair had a squid stuffed with crab.

The next stop was Casa Urola for beef cheek, a mushroom tartlet, and the best scallop that we’ve ever had in a white soup called ajoblanco.

Next was Beti-Ai for tortilla with cod, the local cider which tastes kind of like apple cider vinegar, croquettes, and pork cheek. Our last stop of the evening was at La Vina for traditional basque cheesecake, at the very restaurant where it was invented. This cheesecake is crustless, less sweet and more soft than we are used to in the United States. We paired it with dessert wine, which was essentially syrup. Insanely delicious.

Once we were all full and happy, we walked back to the beach to watch the sunset. It was very cloudy so there was no real sunset. We moved to the roof of our hostel to play cards. A very successful day for all of us.

Adelaide

Travel Days…

​July 8

Today was our travel day to San Sebastián and it was a total wash. We slept in as much as we could this morning and then found a café to kill many hours with our bags. We played lots more Rook, drank coffee, ate lunch, FaceTimed mom and dad, and eventually made our way to the train station. 

Our train was supposed to leave at 4:30 PM and arrive in San Sebastian at 9 PM. This is important because our hostel closed check-in at 10 PM. Our train ended up being delayed once we arrived at the station and it didn’t leave until 5:45 PM. We ended up eating sandwiches and Oreos in the train station for dinner. Once we knew that we would not make it to our hostel, we raced to find accommodation for tonight on Airbnb. We ended up finding a last-minute option that cost us each $100. Dagny and Alastair wanted to sleep on the beach, but I was grateful that we had beds and a shower.

Once we were on the train, they made the announcement that the AC went out. We arrived in San Sebastian at 10:45 PM and to our relief, it was cool and there was a misty rain. 

We walked through the beautiful streets to our place, situated on top of a hill. A local tipped us off that there was an escalator running the height of the hill along the sidewalk so that we wouldn’t have to climb it. Super funny in a residential area.

Once we made it to our place, Mags and D showered while Alastair and I went to grab midnight doner kebabs. A great relief to be in a prettier city with much more to do. Can’t wait to explore tomorrow!

Adelaide 

Sleepy Zaragoza

​July 6

We ended up in Zaragosa because it was the only place we could get to last minute from Madrid. None of us have been here before, and it appears there isn’t all that much to do.

We slept in this morning before walking to the Aljafería Palace. There’s a beautiful riad inside, but other than a Goya exhibit, there wasn’t all that much to see. We are now officially in the middle of the European heat wave, and we were eager to get indoors.

One of our interesting finds for the day was a shop called Taste of America that had all kinds of goofy American snacks like Cheeto flavored mac & cheese, cream soda, and ramen.

Tonight was the first evening that we split up to do our own things. I stayed in, Alastair and Magnolia went out for dinner to have suckling pig (a bucket list food for him), and Dagny went to walk around on her own. After dinner, Magnolia and Dagny went out to the bars. They’re very much enjoying the freedom of being their own adults in Europe.

July 7

Yesterday was so slow that we knew we needed a solid plan for today to stay busy. With the heat, we also knew that it had to be indoors.

We started the day by taking the tram to a new part of town. We found a Nespresso café to get fancy Americanized coffee. Our lattes were delicious and had ice cream and cookies in them. We’ve been playing cards everywhere we go. This morning as we played Rook, we got to FaceTime our mom which was delightful.

After coffee, we walked to the Zaragosa aquarium with low expectations. It ended up being great. Two full floors of freshwater fish, saltwater fish, turtles, alligators, birds, monkeys, and more. 

From the aquarium, we walked to a giant shopping mall. We stopped at the food court for lunch and had KFC and fruit smoothies. We played more cards before shopping for white clothes to wear to the running of the bulls in Pamplona. Everyone found some good items and then we headed back to our place for FOB in the AC. 

It was movie night back at our Airbnb. We wanted to watch Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked. However, we couldn’t find it for free on YouTube so we ended up watching The Ron Clark Story with Matthew Perry, which was actually very good. Leaving Zaragoza tomorrow and we feel as though we have exhausted all there is to do.

Adelaide

Moving On Up to Zaragoza

​July 5

I was lucky enough to find a seat reservations for a train at noon, which meant that we got to sleep in this morning. We had chocolate croissants and juice for breakfast before riding the metro to Atocha station in Madrid. I bought empanadas and iced coffee for lunch on the train and then we had a 90 minute ride to Zaragoza, Spain. Magnolia and I were the only two who got to sit together.

Once we arrived, we took a local bus to get us closer to our Airbnb. Our bags are quite heavy and attempted to pull us over multiple times on the bus ride. Alastair booked our Airbnb and it is pretty good. Most important things are the washer, dryer, and air-conditioning.

We dropped our bags and then walked around the city. We visited the Basilica, which is incredibly impressive in size. The tiles on the roof are colorful and inside, there are two bombs displayed on the wall from the 1930s.

We were ravenous, and found a late lunch at Popeyes. There was only one grocery store open because it’s a Sunday, so we made our way there to stock up on groceries for our time in the city. It’s always fun to shop around in a grocery store in a different country because their offerings are often obscure. My new favorite thing is pistachio cheesecake ice cream.

Back at the apartment, we had more FOB time. Alastair and Dagny made pesto pasta and salad for dinner. Alastair and Dagny watched a movie while I got to FaceTime my friend from home, Fiona.

As we got ready for bed, we realized that there were only three pillows in the whole apartment. Magnolia and I get to share a really long one. Magnolia rolled over in her bed and found a tiny shard of glass that cut her leg and hand. Ouch. Oh well, I guess you get what you pay for.

Adelaide