Unda Da Sea

So Thursday morning I woke up very early, and made sure I had all of my stuff. I triple checked my room, and made sure all my bags were stacked up. I took the elevator downstairs for the first time ever, and went to grab a bite of breakfast before walking to the train station. I found Dakota in the lobby, and she offered to let me share her cab, and we ran out pretty quickly after I heated up a croissant. It was a short ride to the train stain, and a slightly longer wait for the train. Dakota met up with her family, and they got on a different train, and I waited. I got on the train, and read and chilled and looked out the window for the trip. 

I've passed this lake on every trip between Valencia and Madrid, and it still takes my breath away.

Getting to San Sebastian required 3 trains, well 3 and a half, so I admit that Thursday wasn't terribly eventful. Basically, I lugged all this 

Around for most of the day. I changed train stations in Madrid, just like I had to for Salamanca. And I'm so glad that I had already done it with less stuff. Really, I am incredibly grateful for those weekend trips I took, because they taught me a lot. They taught me how to pack and how to navigate trains, and how to change stations, and where to put luggage, and oh so much. I did figure one very important thing out in Madrid. I passed a post office that was closed, and it hit me, it was Maundy Thursday in a Catholic Country. There was no way I was going to send my stuff home Thursday. Or Friday. The entire country shuts down for Holy Week. But anyway, I got on the train to Valladolid, another town where I would have to change trains. And I read and I listened to music and I stared out the window. Sadly, I did not get to write on these trains. I had too much stuff to feel comfortable taking my laptop out of my bags. Life was already complicated enough. In Valladolid, I found a cool little place by the train station with a bunch of little restaurant stands in it, and I got a hamburger. Which I had really been craving. It was actually a lamb burger, which was even better. And I got ice cream, because I was done with finals. Then I got on another train that would take me out of Castilla and up into Basque Country.

I had never been that far north in Spain before, but I heard great things about Basque Country. And it certainly did not disappoint. It was stunning. Green, and wide, with mountains and hills and rivers winding through it. I was on the wrong side of the train to take photos, but I assure you, it was gorgeous. Eventually, I arrived at the station in San Sebastián, and I walked along the river until I got to my airbnb.

It wasn't a bad walk.

So I got to the apartment and met my host, Pilar. She was in her 50s or 60s and very nice. While my airbnb in Salamanca had been like having a roommate, Pilar's was like staying at a bed and breakfast. It was really nice, and the view out my window was spectacular.

One of the lovely things about this trip so far, and all my weekend trips too. Is that I have wound up exactly where I need to be. Even if I've changed my plans 4 times, and shifted everything, I get to a city, and it's just the perfect place for that time. And whether that is fate or luck or the power of a positive attitude, I don't know, but it's great. And San Sebastián was no exception. It took probably half a dozen different shifts in plans to put me there then, but it was the perfect place to spend my last few days in Spain, and I'm incredibly grateful I wound up there.

Because really,

look at this.

Right, so once I got settled in, I headed across the river to go have some Asian food, which was really good. And I read my book, and ate lemongrass chicken, and relaxed after a long travel day.

And then I came back to the apartment, ready to write blogs and do things, and promptly fell asleep, because I was exhausted. Whoops. But it meant that I was able to awaken at a reasonable hour the next day, and get started on my adventure.

So, Pilar suggested to me that I "dar un paseo" one day while I was in San Sebastián, and she furthermore suggested that I do it Friday, because it was a really beautiful day. And so, Friday, I followed Pilar's advice, and took a walk. For like 10 hours. It was awesome.

Fair warning, there are a lot of pictures from Friday, and most of them involve me smiling in front of pretty skies and prettier water. It was an awesome day.

So, first I walked over to the tourist information office, which is looked over by this giant statue of Jesus on top of a hill. Apparently people like to put giant statues of Jesus on top of hills. It's a thing.

I then walked on, and somehow shifted my phone into what I like to call "pretentious mode"

So I took artful pictures of various buildings in the town.

See? It looks pretty even without color.

Pretentious Jesus.

Pretentious Katie with Jesus.

There we are. Normal Katie with Jesus. So, after I got my tourist information, I headed down to the port, which I think what the statue of Jesus is actually supposed to be watching over. Not that tourist information isn't important.

Look how tiny he is up there. Don't worry. I'm going to get MUUUUUUUUCCCCHHHH closer before this day is up.

Look, the bay. I'm gonna feet much closer to that too.

And there's an island, which is kind of hard to make out, but there's another shore. I'm gonna get closer to all of that too.

Seriously, guys, I walked around this place for 10 hours. What do you think I did?

Well, for starters, I walked up there.

starting by climbing up this walkway to get from the port to the paths at the base of the mountain.

Selfie with the port.

Oh, how the road stretches out ahead of me....

Ok, but doesn't that shot there look sort of Austrian? With the mountains and the pointed towers?

Though the mountain may be the goal, there are a lot of other cool buildings around.

Look, progress! Also, somebody took a picture for me! You can see my arms!! I know, I know, I take a lot of selfies. And I realized today, that I get really into these selfies. Like, you can't see, but I put my whole body into those things. I jump and stand on my toes and use my free arm, and I recognize the ultimate futility of it, but our sun is gonna blow up one day, so really, everything's futile.

That's a staircase by the way. I never said it was an EASY climb.

Anyway, who cares about the sun blowing up when you've got this view?

I still am not very good at panoramas, but, you get the gist.

It was really pretty.

That's the town over there.

And there's an island in that picture, but it looks like part of the opposite shore.

Oh look, a random cannon. I think this used to be used for defense. And I can see why, it's easy to defend.

See, it's a selfie with pretty water and pretty sky. This one featuring a cannon.

THERE! That's the island. I told you it existed.

Oh, look how un-sunburned I was.

I also found a library up there. It was cute. And, ya know, I support literacy on top of random mountains.

It was a good day.

I mean, it had mountains and a beach. It was fantastic.

I told you we'd get closer to Jesus.

There were also some really cool rest places and outlooks and overhangs on the way. I wasn't exactly rushing this hike.

I stopped here, and read for a bit, because I just wanted to look up and see that.

And out to see, as well.

JESUS! Oh yeah, there's also a castle.

A castle I'm going to.

Chillin' with a cannon.

I love exploring castles. The US just doesn't have enough castles.

Ya know, interestingly enough, this mountain kind of reminded me of the mountains of North Carolina. Plus, ya know, a sea. Because it's got that cool, mountainous, green thing going for it. But then, beach.

Even closer!

Yeah, so like North Carolina. But not.

This is what this all looks like, by the way. The port is at the bottom, and the castle is at the top of the hill.

The city of San Sebastián.

See? Doesn't that look kind of NC-y?

That... not so much.

But still pretty.

Hi, everyone, so at this point I just want to explain something. I had finished commenting on all these pictures and talking about my time in San Sebastián, and then I went to publish this blog, and it all disappeared on me after this point. Which was annoying. So, this part may not be quite as quality, because I'm re-doing it, and I can't guarantee anything. Also, that's why this has taken so long. It was going to be up earlier. Sorry bout that.

Right, so I came down from the mountain, and walked along the beach for a while.

It was a little chilly to get in the water, but walking along the edge was great.

The water was a good temperature, and it was just stunningly beautiful.

Of course.

So one of my favorite things about the pictures I took last Friday, other than the fact that San Sebastián was gorgeous, is that I look so happy in all the pictures. Like, there are just some days where I look back on the pictures I took and you can just see that I am having the time of my life. And even if the picture itself isn't great, I love looking at pictures where I am that obviously happy. Because that's good to remember.

See, I even look happy in pictures I don't mean to take.

And it's easy to see why.

A series entitled "The Wind And My Hair"

the attempt

the moment of victory

giving up

That's the old part of the city.

and that's the bay.

Jesus Mountain.

Though there weren't a ton of people swimming in the morning, a lot of them had the same idea as I did,

and I even managed to take a non-pretentious foot picture.

This mountain does actually have a name that isn't "Jesus Mountain" but the name is in Basque, which I can pronounce absolutely none of. Because Basque is literally this island of a language that nobody knows where it came from sandwiched in between all these Romance languages. Like, this is a region between Spanish, French, Gallego, and Catalán, all of which are of Latin descent, and Basque is related to NONE of them. Like, the word for "Basque" in basque is Euskara. Most romance languages don't even use the letter "k" which is part of the reason why "Katie" is difficult for people to pronounce in Spanish. Though it is easier for the French, I'm finding.

So I walked along the beautiful beach

And I ate a nice burger on a patio out over the beach, which was lovely.

And almost certainly contributed to my sunburn.

Still worth it.

So after lunch I continued to walk over the beach, heading for the mountain on the other side of the bay

that one on the left.

and it was a nice walk.

A decently long one, but well worth it.

I don't know, my walk was uneventful, but beautiful.

I really love this town, it was incredibly relaxing, and I just got to spend a day running around doing whatever.

And this is very north Spain, so it wasn't quite as warm as Valencia,

but that was OK, because it was a beautiful day nonetheless.

And I mean, look at that water.

So there was this strip of rock that divided the beach in two, and I crossed over it on may way to the mountain.

But seriously, it looks like Austria up there.

Though I don't remember seeing water this color in any pictures of Austria. 

So it's a good thing I went here,

and I'm going to Austria later.

Best of both worlds.

I don't really have much to say.

It's just gorgeous.

I even like the weird way the sand stays visible underneath the water before it just changes to blue.

Right. So I'm headed to that mountain.

Up off the beach,

and up the hill. There was a funicular (do we use that word in English?) that took people up the mountain, but I decided not to use that, because it cost money, and I like walking.

I think it was a good decision.

I mean, the views going up the mountain were spectacular.

It's a beautiful place even off the beach.

But the beach view is the best part.

I seriously don't know how boats make it through, especially at low tide.

Jesus.

So my phone did periodically switch back to black and white

Which is cool sometimes,

but I prefer to see color,

because there are so many lovely colors to see

Like the orange of my sunglasses.

But on my way up, somebody was coming down, and he was kind enough to take a picture for me, so you get to see more than my face. Even in black and white. 

I know the houses up here are horribly inconvenient and probably really expensive too, but they're so pretty, and have such a nice view.

Like, wouldn't you love to look out your window

ad see this every day?

Though it is pretty high up by this point.

Still worth it.

*starts to sing the goat song from the Sound of Music*

Even that could be vaguely Austrian,

right?

Well, maybe not.

But it's still pretty.

And you guys know that when I do go to Austria, I'm going to have the Sound of Music SO STUCK IN MY HEAD. So you may have to suffer through some songs.

Looking out to sea was also really cool.

I found a lighthouse.

It was just so pretty.

And the walk was really nice.

So I turned the corner, and then I saw this, 

and these pictures don't even do it justice, because there are mountains off in the distance, and it was just stunning.

And so unexpected.

I actually just sat here and read for a little bit,

because it was so pretty that I didn't want to leave.

Honestly, this may have been one of my favorite places I've been so far.

And, despite the fact that I speak not one word of Basque,

one of the places I would move to in a heartbeat.

For the past few years I've talked about wanting to live in a place of great beauty

and despite the fact that I'm a dwarf at heart,

and love the mountains and darkness and all

I also love San Sebastián and its brightness and its beaches.

It's almost like the Caribbean, but European.

So at the top of the mountain there was an amusement park thing, that had a few rides and such,

which I kind of ignored

because the view was the best part.

It's supposed to have the best view of San Sebastián.

Admittedly,

it was a very nice view.

and well worth the climb up there.

And see, my inner dwarf even got mountains.

It's got a bit of everything.

And it's all beautiful.

and I was very happy.

*James Earl Jones voice* Simba, one day, everything the light touches will be yours. 

*baby lion voice* But dad, what about that shadow over there?

*James Earl Jones voice* Simba, those are cliffs, and you could fall and die.

Man, I don't quote the Lion King often enough.

It was also very windy on top of a mountain right by the sea.

Who knew?

So, the only thing I really did at the amusement park was climb this tower,

mostly because I thought the views would be even nicer.

They were.

And I got to sit on top of a tower and read and chill and take pictures.

so that was nice.

I even got to take pictures out of the arrow slits in the tower.

Which is one of my favorite things to do.

So, yeah,

That's pretty much what I did on top of the mountain.

It was a good decision.

And I had a lot of fun.

I climbed down a little bit quicker than I had gone up, because I wanted to catch the 6:30 boat out to the island.

because that sounded fun.

but I still and time to take pictures,

of course.

And the walk down was just as nice as the walk up.

And it was nice back by the beach.

But it was a big mountain.

So, before I headed to the port to catch the boat,

I went the other direction, out towards the "Wind Comb"

which is out at the base of the mountain I just climbed down

and a the very entrance to the bay.

And it is a giant sculpture that looks like this

And there are 3 of them at the entrance to the bay

and they are supposed to comb the wind as it comes into the bay

much like I need to comb my hair.

But they looked really cool.

There were also these holes that you could stand over, and when the waves came up, they pushed air up the holes and

if you were standing over them it felt really strange. And it was really shocking, but also a lot of fun.

So then I walked back by the beach

which was much more crowded than before

because it had heated up as I had been climbing the mountain.

It made me want to go swimming, to be honest.

So, I was planning on walking most of the way back along the beach, only to discover

that the beach was gone.

That's what high tide will do to you, folks.

Yup, I walked there on the way here.

but not on the way back.

So I took the road instead.

Which was still very pretty.

And probably faster.

But I did eventually find some beach to walk along.

And it was lovely.

I walked past the edge of the old part of the city

and got a ticket for the boat around the bay, and got on.

and we left the port.

It was so cool.

I'm perfectly willing to admit that I spent the majority of this boat ride being a total tourist.

looking back at the port

Wow, with the sun that almost looks black and white.

But yeah, basically I spend this boat ride running around and being a dork.

I took tons of pictures

from all angles

and every side of the boat

and the city

and the boat itself

and the flags

I liked the flags.

And I selfied,

of course.

But as dorky and obnoxious as I certainly was.

I had a good time,

and I got some good pictures.

So who cares!

But yeah, the boat sort of went around the bay following the shore first.

So I got some good shots of Jesus mountain

Which totally sounds like the name of a ride at Disney World.

Like, a bible-themed ride.

Oh, and we passed some paddle-boarders

who I was both jealous of and impressed by.

because they were a ways out.

That white building is where I had lunch

And I just like that angle.

I don't actually know how they get boats through that gap either.

Except for maybe little sailboats like that one.

So in my lost draft of this blog, I made up a theme song for Jesus Mountain

like, that they would play on the ride at Disney World.

It was to the tune of the Spongebob Squarepants theme song.

And that's what I do with my time.

Other than selfie.

But, I mean, I'm on a train. And other than looking out the windows, what better do I have to do?

Also, I know you can't see much of my face in that picture, but I just look so happy.

And I was.

I had such a great time on that boat trip

Hair in my eyes and everything.

Because it was beautiful

and it was an adventure

and it was a great day

and why not?

I always believe in having fun when you have the opportunity.

Unironic enthusiasm

*sings from Chicago* and all that jazz.

And San Sebastián was a good place to practice unironic enthusiasm.

There was a lot to be enthusiastic about.

The road at the bottom of Jesus Mountain was closed, so this is the only bit of it I really got to see.

Sailboat!

Flags!

It was really windy.

Because, ya know

Sea

and stuff.

So we went across the bay, and

out a little into the sea

where I selfied with the sailboat.

and took more pictures of Jesus Mountain

and the island.

and then we left the sailboat in our wake, and headed back to the bay.

past the lovely cliffs at the base of the mountain with the wind comb

it was very impressive.

It feels like such an adventure.

I suppose that's because it is an adventure.

And I loved every minute of it.

So we headed out past the wind comb back into the bay

and the sun was doing overdramatic things.

and Jesus Mountain was off there in the background

Oh! You can see the beginnings of my sunburn

I can still feel that sunburn on my neck.

It's gone now, but it peeled and I can still feel the new skin.

*shudders*

Always wear sunscreen, kids.

And the sailboat in the distance.

We were quite far from the shore at this point

but we had mostly completed our circuit of the bay

and were headed to the island DUN DUN DUN

Not really, you can't really "DUN DUN DUN"

on a day that looks like this.

Seriously

It's like, "Oh no!" The water is too clear blue!"

"The sky is too pretty!"

"The temperature is too perfect!"

Like, I got a sunburn.

That's about the worst thing to happen.

And ya know what,

I got over the sunburn.

Wow, look at the water

And the thing is, it was actually this pretty.

Like, what do you even say about that?

There are only so many ways to say "gorgeous"

So after we circled back towards the town, we headed out the the island for real.

Leaving the town behind us again

in all it's Austrian beauty.

and the mountains on all sides.

That's the mountain I climbed second, by the way. you can see the tower at the top.

I could do a whole album of photos entitled "the wind and my hair"

It's a contentious relationship.

Oh! The sunburn!

I still love the flags fluttering in the breeze

Just like my hair did.

We're gettin' there!

And the old section of town, so far away.

As the cliffs of the island draw near.

Also, the cliffs right around the wind comb

because we passed those too.

You can kind of see the sculptures in that one.

and you can see the crowd of people in that one.

and there in the center is one of the sculptures as well.

and that's the open ocean.

and a cliff.

but the island is calling.

oooOOOOooooOOOooOOOOo

because I always feel like islands should be accompanied by mysterious singing

except for like, Australia.

Which should be accompanied by signs warning you against going there

because everything is trying to kill you. 

But yeah, we went around the cliffs of this island

which was not trying to kill us

so it gets the music.

OOOoooOOOooooOOO

So, we didn't actually have music at the time, but we circled around the island and docked at the side facing the town.

Oh, and those paddleboarders who we saw out in the middle of the bay?

they made it to the island.

I was so impressed.

Also, the red cross was doing lifeguard training or something, and there were a bunch of guys actually swimming

So they let us off the boat, and up we climbed.

Goodbye boat,

hello, brave paddleboarders.

The mountains

The cliffs

and more of a climb.

I'm putting these in my "the wind and my hair" collection.

This one less so.

Oh yeah, those Red Cross people, were swimming all the way to shore. I was so impressed.

It just looks so cool!

It was the perfect way to end the day.

I mean, I basically just ran around and explored the island for the hour until the boat came back.

And it was awesome.

Despite my sunburn.

Ouch.

But still, look at that.

I mean,

there aren't words.

Look at that blue!

I was having so much fun.

And doesn't this tunnel look like something out of a creepy scene from a fantasy movie?

Isn't that a great place to selfie?

I can see the Nazgul coming already.

But fortunately, no Nazgul appeared in San Sebastián.

Probably because I'd left my One Ring at home

I feel like the captions on these pictures have the potential to be really hilarious.

Like, what are these seagulls saying?

Oh! Look! Dangerous looking rocks!

Let's climb down them!

Ha, you thought I was joking about that.

I wasn't.

But, since I'm writing this blog

I obviously survived going both up and down this staircase. And yes, that is a staircase.

It's not like I climbed down that.

But I did climb down there

and it was cool.

Good life decisions.

Actually, I'm really glad I did it.

Because it was pretty

And exciting

And I did make it out alive.

So...

Worth it!

So then I found another perilous-looking set of stairs

and I went down those too!

Which was also cool, because it went on this cliff walk

which also conveniently led back to the boat

and- OH! Look at the sunburn!

What I was going to say, was that the cliff walls leaned, and it was cool

Maybe it's the cliffs that give it that OOOooooOOOOoooo

And I'm not entirely sure that I got on a boat belonging to the right company or whatever,

but, I did get on a  boat,

and it took me off the island

through the bay

Where I selfied in spite of my dying phone

away from the cliffs of the island

and back towards Mount Jesus

and the port.

The town may not have been quite as impressive as the ocean, but there were still some nice buildings.

So, that evening I went and got some Chinese for dinner, and headed back to the apartment to inspect my damage.

It was a very painful evening.

Everywhere.

But I did go to sleep, and relatively early. 

When Pilar saw my sunburn the next morning at breakfast, she was very nice, and provided me with some aloe gel, which helped so much. It was wonderful. And then the rest of the day was honestly quite uneventful. I planned, I sent emails, I checked on things, and got my stuff together to mail it to the US. Then at like 12:45 Pilar comes by my room and asks me why I haven't gone to the post office and sent it off yet, because apparently on Saturdays the post office isn't open all day, and so I grab all my stuff and all but run to the post office. Which closed at 1. And I got there at 1:20. Alas. 

But while I was out I did stop by the train station and find out that I had to go to a DIFFERENT train station to catch the train into France. But I'm glad that I did that, because my Sunday morning might not have gone very well otherwise. But yeah, then I went back and did more responsibility, and packed up all the stuff I had planned to send to the US into a separate bag, because I'd already re-packed my suitcase, and I wasn't doing that AGAIN. And then again when I finally sent the stuff home. And then, after much responsibility, I decided I was done, and applied copious amounts of sunscreen, and went down to the beach right outside Pilar's apartment. I read for a while on the sand, then went and walked in the water and climbed over some rocks, and generally enjoyed the afternoon. I went to an early dinner of Italian pizza, and hit the hay early. 

After all, Sunday was a big day.