Stewart in Spain!!!

Donostia-San-Sebastián.

Saturday, 12th April

Up early to go and explore the City!!

Kathy's ready! :)

Bit of info: the City of Donostia-San Sebastián (first name Basque, and the second, Castilian) lies in the Basque Country in the north of Spain (and, indeed, is the Capital of Gipuzkoa Province), and it has been fashionable as a summer resort ever since the Spanish Royal Family made it their summer residence in the 19th Century. It's famous above all for its four beaches, and indeed is a paradise!! :)

Wandered through the old streets to nearby Plaza de la Constitución (which wasn't that impressive!) until we came to the Basilica, which had a beautiful façade, but which was strangely empty inside...

Strike a Pose! :p

On Plaza de la Constitución

The Baroque Basílica de Santa María, dating from the 18th Century.

Interior of Basilica

Wandered to the harbour (in the sunshine!!! :D), seeing a few kayakers in the water...

And then we found a carrousel near to the impressive Ayuntamiento!!! :D On we got!!! :p

On the carrousel!!! :p

We then headed along the front (some beautiful views!) to the Palacio de Miramar, former summer residence of the Royal Family, where we had a seat, and came across a freezer filled with books in the garden!!! Innovative...!!! :p

Looking back to the Ayuntamiento

Looking back to the Parte Vieja (Old Part) of the City

Beach volleyball! (The one to the left in the pink hoodie had nice legs! :p)

Palacio de Miramar

Kathy goes to retrieve her lost map! :p

Me and the hairy tree!!! :p

Looking out to sea!

Hmmm...Where to go next?! :p

The book freezer!!! :p

Engrossed!!! :p

After that, we headed for some lunch--bocata de tortilla and a Cola Cao for me!!! :p

Mmmmmmm!!! :p

Treated ourselves to ice-cream afterwards (mmmm!!! Strawberry!!! :p), and we headed to Monte Igeldo, getting a funicular up to the top...and sharing it with a bridal couple lol!! Congratulations!!! :p

Yummy!!! :p

In the funicular! :)

Going up! :p

Awwwwwwwww!!! :p

Views from the top were STUNNING, and absolutely worth seeing!! They had a little fair too, but nearly all the rides were shut!! :( I wanted a go on the big chute!!! :(

View from the top! :)

And from the other side! :)

Ride was shut! :(

Going down!!! :p

So after staying up there for a bit, we went down again, heading back along the front (little bit of rain, but it came to nothing), had a seat in the sun, and then UP Monte Urgull we went! :) An all right walk, and WHAT a view from the top!! :O BEAUTIFUL!!! Took a seat underneath the figure of Cristo, and relaxes...and had some weird Polish guy take pictures of Helen, as well as a Colombian guy telling me how 'cute' my friends were!!! :p

Random...!!!

Basilica again...

On the way up Monte Urgull

Peek-a-boo!!! :p

Under siege!!! :p

The three of us! :)

We were told to leave at around 5:30 (some wee man shouting 'One minute! One minute!' Till what?!), so off we went to a bakery for some treats, and then back to hostel--too hot!! :p

Fluffiness! :)

Had a much-needed siesta, and then we headed out for dinner. Had wanted to sample the local tapas that the City's famous for, but everywhere was packed, and so we just settled on a pleasant little restaurant called Caserío, where I tried 'Basque Beans' (no idea what they were, but they were nice! :p), good old steak and chips, and ice-cream! :p Ye cannae beat it! :p We then went around a few bars (including Dioni's--the local gay bar--which was quite classy, and had good music, but it was soooo packed!!) before heading back to our hostel, suitably impressed with Donostia-San Sebastián! :)

Mmmmmmmm...Basque Beans!!! :p

Out and about! :)

Off We Go! :)

Friday, 11th April

Helen, Kathy, and I took the 3:45 p.m. bus to San Sebastián (which of course, being Spain, left 10 mins late!), getting there--after the usual long, boring journey--at around 10:00 p.m.! Had a bit of a hairy moment when we stopped for a bit in Santander, and set off again without Helen and Kathy lol!! Had to shout '¡Señor!', and the people on the bus raised a bit of a fuss till the driver stopped again! :s

So, anyway, got a taxi to our hostel (with a dick of a driver who told us to hurry up 'cos we weren't counting our change quickly enough!), staying at Urban House, on San Sebastián's main street: the Boulevard!!! :p A nice little place, with our own room of 3, clean, and quite homely! :) Had passes a McDonald's on the way, so off I went there for some fries, and then I wandered back to the hostel (in the pissing rain!), ready to explore the next day! :)

Din-Dins!!! :D

Thursday, 10th April

Went to a talk at uni on Summer Universities: basically, you go to just about anywhere in Europe to either learn the language or take part in numerous cultural activities, and it's so cheap! Probably would be roughing it slightly, but I was interested (Portugal??), although they didn't have anywhere in Scandinavia! Hmm...!!! Kathy, Helen, and I then headed to the bus station, and bought tickets for San Sebastián (País Vasco) for tomorrow!!! :D

Helen and I then headed to Kathy's later on that night to make some food lol!! :p Kind of like a broth, with chicken, rice, mushrooms, red peppers, onions, and carrots, and it was yummy!! :p (I took a hand at chopping the mushrooms and peppers, and stirring lol! As far as my culinary expertise go...!!! :p), and we followed it with strawberries!!!

Helen!

As you do! :p

Grrr!!! :p

Don't know what you're smiling at Helen! :p

Gordon Ramsay? Who?!

Me! :p

Supercup!!! :p

The result!! :p

I then headed (alone) to La Más Barata to meet Kate, Cameron, Burak, Sam, Jerad, Alissa, and the Czechs (Martin and his girlfriend! :p)! Stayed in there for a short while, before we headed toTeatrillo, meeting Andrew , and Lívia (from Szeged, Hungary!! :D) on the way, and meeting a SHIT-LOAD of Americans in the bar lol!! Yapped to a few people (lovely [and crazy! :p] Leah from Buffalo included!) before we headed to Morgana, where we kind of...stood about a bit before heading to Escondite, where I had a little dance before heading home at around 2:40! :)

The Group! :)

Kate! :D

Kate dances up a storm in Morgana!! :p

House-warming!!! :p

Monday, 7th April

Went into town to see if anyone could give my camera a little clean ('cos--after all--it's only sand!!), but I got the same answer from like 5 shops: 'An Olympus camera?? Send it to Madrid!' (Yeah that'll be f**king right: probably get stolen along the way!!), so I took the screwdriver to it myself (as one does!), and when that didn't work (the 'Bang!' told me that!), I just went out and bought another camera with my newly-received bursary!! An Olympus FE-340, so a slightly newer model than my old one, with a larger screen and higher zoom, so! :) Felt dreadful about having to pay so much money, but I CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT A CAMERA!!! :s

Helen and I went out later on to grab some things, and then we had a little soirée chez nous to celebrate 1) my moving in and 2) Valerie's essays being gone!!! :p Quite a good crowd, and we had a good laugh, playing some game where you had to bend down and pick up an ever-decreasing cereal box with your teeth and 'Rind of Fire' ('Remove the little man from your glass before taking a drink'!!), and 'Spin the Bottle/Truth or Dare' (which really just consisted of our asking each other filthy questions!! :p), and watching Valerie roll about on the couch!! Good times!!! :p

Chloe!!!