San Sebastian (rewind)
I should have posted this sooner. I went through quite some trouble to memorize a number of things worth posting, and I may even have written them down, but I’ve lost both the note and the memory. At least you’ll get a few pictures of the old town of San Sebastian, which in the warmer time of the year is supposed to be humming until late. I didn’t see much of that, but the location on a scallop-shaped bay and the design of the old town and its alleys made it easy to visualize.I began my evening in a pintxo bar (tapas bar in Spanish). The word reminds me that I wanted to include three Basque words for you to translate, merely to make the point that Basque doesn’t seem to be related to anything. Here they are:
Jatetxea
Komunak
Eskerrik asko
The answers will come after the photos.
Kukurruku pintxo bar in Donostia - San Sebastian.
Donostia - San Sebastian: Waterfront with Mt. Urgull barely visible above the town (look for the statue roughly above the four-story building that’s three windows wide).
The Basilica de Santa Maria del Coro at the foot of Mt. Urgull.
Donostia - San Sebastian’s Constitution Square - a former bullring and site of the former town hall.
Another view of the square.
A street in the parte vieja of Donostia - San Sebastian.
The above picture is close to the jatetxea where I had a donostiarra soup and a fine duck confit. After dinner I used the komunak, then paid the waitress, who said eskerrik asko and bade me good night.
I found out on the taxi drive to the bus terminal that “eskerrik asko” will get you a grin every time. I also learned that the Basque country is so green because it rains a lot. Fortunately, I was spared.