Sangria and Siestas – San Sebastian, Spain

I’m finally back in the land of sangria and siestas! Huhuhuhuhuhuh! I was very excited to get back to Spain after two palette cleansing weeks in Portugal for two reasons. First, I could resume practicing my Frankenstein Spanish skills, but more importantly, my first stop was a city that I have visited twice before and loved dearly, San Sebastian.

Tapas

Situated on the north coast of Spain, within baguette flinging distance of the French border, San Sebastian is small, immaculate and, by my own humble estimation, the tapas and sangria capital of the free world. Tapas are small, tasty, bite sized (usually two or three bites, actually) snacks that are served in most bars in Spain. The main difference between San Sebastian and the rest of Spain is that the tapas in San Sebastian are a self-serve impulse snack. Plates and plates of tapas are laid out right in front of you, covering the bar, so you can just reach over and help yourself whenever you get the munchies. In many parts of Spain, tapas are very basic, sometimes little more than a pathetic, dry, little piece of baguette bread with some ham and cheese on it. In San Sebastian, tapas preparation is an art form. Colorful, mouth watering morsels of food, skewered onto fresh bread, featuring various types of seafood, a large variety of pork, peppers, wedges of Spanish potato omelets, vegetables, garnishes and much more, just begging to be eaten. San Sebastian’s tapas are the Spanish answer to sushi, except infinitely more filling and exploding with taste. Ignoring these tapas is like ignoring a heart attack, particularly when you’re standing there with a glass of the best sangria in the world.

The sangria in San Sebastian is addictively tasty and it will turn you into a sangria elitist after just a few sips. Instead of the usual lazy plunking of a few ice cubes into a glass and splashing in ready-made sangria from a tin can, they take pride in their sangria, making it from scratch right in front of you when you order it. Red wine, some kind of fizzy drink, orange juice and sliced fruit are the basic ingredients in San Sebastian, but most people add their own little flare by throwing in extras like rum, vodka, various fruit juices and/or spoonfuls of sugar. It’s booty-kicking potent stuff and it goes down frighteningly easy, like Kool-Aid. An unintentional sangria bender can sneak up and vanquish you in the span of about an hour if you’re not careful.

Basque Spray Paint

Then there’s the city itself! If your sangria hangover doesn’t leave you brain-dead and bedridden during the daylight hours, random exploration is a must. After getting settled at my hostel, I promptly set out to fulfill this requirement. Basque activists had been busy the night before. There was fresh spray paint, posters and banners of dissident propaganda everywhere, written in the indecipherable Basque language that dates back 10,000 years, older than any other language in Europe. Basque supporters reportedly get out and blanket the city with graffiti once or twice a week, thus building cleaners and sand-blasting companies in San Sebastian are kept very busy and garbage men have to scale lamp posts to pull down banners. Being one of the larger cities in the disputed Basque region, San Sebastian is a popular target for protests. Personal safety is nothing to worry about, however. The car-bomb-enthusiast Basque almost never stage violent attacks near home, as even the crazed members of the Euskadi ta Askatasuna (ETA; Basque Homeland and Freedom) realize that there is little sense in blowing their own country to smithereens and instead usually target Madrid. Despite bombings and attempted bombings becoming less frequent in recent years, the ETA are nevertheless as active as ever and have been declared a terrorist organization by the European Union. With certain neighborhoods in San Sebastian being perennial ETA strongholds, authorities conduct raids on a semi-regular basis, but these measures seem to have little effect. Ever since my first visit to San Sebastian in 1993, I have kept an eye on the Basque situation in Spain and re-visiting the city confirmed what was being relayed in the news; the Basque have made absolutely no progress toward their goal of independence.

After a cursory walk through the Parte Vieja (”Old Part”), I decided to put off a thorough investigation until bar hopping hour. After indulging in a lunchtime tapas feast that would have done my gluttonous countrymen proud, I trudged heavily up Mount Urgull at the edge of the Old Part, the best scenic hike that San Sebastian has to offer. The mountain is covered with several medieval ruins, a cemetery, public gardens and a giant statue of Christ. It also affords the best high view of the city. I vividly remembered seeing hoards of tiny, gecko-like lizards living all over the mountain when I last climbed it in ‘94, but I didn’t see a single lizard this time. With the early October chill settling on the city, I briefly imagined that perhaps the lizards were all madly dashing south for the winter in one big herd. Boy, wouldn’t that be a sight?

Famous Beaches

Back down at sea level, the ocean was getting riled up. Huge waves were crashing against the coastal breakers, sending plumes of foamy water 30 to 40 feet straight up into the air and occasionally splashing down onto the walkway that circles Mount Urgull, drenching strolling tourists. After cutting through the city center to get a closer look at San Sebastian’s two relatively small, yet still picturesque cathedrals, I walked the entire length of San Sebastian’s two, crescent-shaped beaches to take pictures of a few odd seaside sculptures. While there, I stumbled onto – actually, it nearly knocked me down – a strange area where little exhaust holes cut into the ground violently shot out air and mists of ocean water each time the waves crashed into the caves below the walkway. Some of the explosions of air that were blasting out of the exhaust holes were so powerful that they could take you right off your feet if you weren’t prepared for them. Sensing the potential for a little entertainment, I took a seat and watched several unsuspecting people get the bejesus scared out of ‘em and a few skirts go flying up as the crashing waves and people crossing over the holes coincided. It was great fun.

On the return trip the Old Part, I stopped in a small, but beautifully manicured, beachfront park where I sat and ogled a few, possibly insane elderly men who were taking an objectionable October dip in the Bay of Biscay. Also visible was San Sebastian’s Aquarium, which, if your bar budget can spare the money, will completely pacify your finned creature quota, in addition to any Basque explorer and pirate diversions you might have.

While it’s no Barcelona, San Sebastian has long been a retreat for wealthy Spaniards and if you’re not fiercely frugal, the city can inflict a disfiguring beating on your wallet. The jump from off-season to high-season prices is dramatic, particularly in the accommodations arena, but blowing your budget is rarely as enjoyable as it is in San Sebastian. If the tapas and sangria don’t lull you into carefree rapture, the exquisite beaches and beguiling cityscape will definitely quell the indigestion from your dinner bill. If that doesn’t do the trick, you can always retreat to the Old Part, where roughly 30 bars in a two block radius will zealously aid you in the task of drinking-to-forget.