DAY TWELVE 27 OCTOBER SAN SEBASTIAN SUNDAY

Jesus guarding the San Seb harbour

We had gained an extra hour of sleep with the clocks changing last night. For a while there was total confusion because both my watch and phone updated automatically! Good grief, that never happens, but we turned on the TV to be absolutely sure!

The temperature is projected to be 27 degrees, which is 82 for the uninitiated, my goodness ,we are becoming very European, and Paul opted to go in shorts today. Personally, I think he is nuts but I will wear a short sleeved T-shirt!

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Modern Toilet with NightLite and wall control above TP.

great shower under the HUGE rain shower head in the completely mirrored bathroom, which is a little disconcerting to say the least as you see ever decreasing sizes of yourself in the mirror! It also has a very modern toilet with built-in night lite and it doubles as a bidet with a bum washer and fan similar to the modern toilets seen in Tokoyo.( though we have never been there, just assuming!)

We opted for breakfast in the bar area (coffee and croissant) versus a full English breakfast in the dining room for 31 euros a person. It is not actually the bar area but a very nice lounge area overlooking the Boulevard and beach. 

There was great activity on the boulevard with lots of women and girls passing by in pink T-shirts. We decided to follow the crowd and came upon a Breast Cancer awareness 5K run. Paul sat on a bench and I went forward to cheer on the ladies at the finish line. I was quite emotional for some reason, brought things back from last year and I was thrilled to see the support for Breast Cancer sufferers. Grandmas, Grandads, small children, mother and daughters, husbands and wives. I got the feeling they were all running for someone they knew. Muy emocianante! I just had to show a little support so I bought a pink T-shirt!

We drove to Orio , and to kill time before lunch at 2:30, we continued our drive to Getaria and Zarauz to watch the surfers in wet suits. It is another beautiful day and the Bay of Biscay is uncharacteristically calm, so there was not a lot of “hanging ten” but a lot of hopeful surfers floating on their boards! We headed back to Orio to look for parking, the parking fairies were with us. As we walked to towards the restaurant Paul looked at his watch….approaching 1330. Paul had looked at the car’s radio display time and forgot that the car had not been updated for last night’s savings time roll back. And so we stopped at the nearest corner bar for refreshment and to kill time. The BEST olives ever at this place. This obviously a local watering hole as people came in, had a very small beer and then left! It is interesting how closely they look at you in a local bar, but when you leave with a cheerful “agur” they all cheerfully “agur” back at you!

Now for food. At the restaurant we talked with our waiter, the same from last year and the same when the kids came to Orio in 2013.  Iñacki who speaks some very good English having been in Australia and will go to New York for Xmas 2019, he has worked there for 10 years. Antonio the owner, seated us himself, and casually asked me where I was from and was very surprised when I said I was Scottish! “ I thought you were from here!” he said. You know, I think that is the most flattering thing a person can say to a stranger. I just felt all warm inside! He nodded his head when I explained I had learned Castellano in Navarra. That’s why, he said.

Rape Fish

The fish they serve here is super fresh, practically just off the boat. This restaurant started in 1957, I think,  when a family of fishermen decided it would be a good idea if they cooked and served the fish they caught. Back then it was sardines and they cooked them on a simple grill, like one we use at home. I don’t know if they are still fishermen or own a boat but I know they did in the 70s.

 Besugo ( Sea Bream) is their big seller but at 78 Euros is very expensive. We ordered Merluza (Hake) but none was available( that is only 48 Euros!) instead we opted for Rape (Monk) fish (49 euros). A simple salad, and wine + water. Now that monk fish is one ugly sucker but boy does it taste good! The cook ( son of the owner) had said that the squirt bottle had canola oil with a splash of vinegar. Garlic infused olive oil and rock salt are applied after the fish has been barbecued and split open with backbone removed.

We chatted with Antonio as we were leaving and told him the story about David sending a photo of his older brother, who was lost at sea, to their Mother as she had said she had no pictures of her son. We were pretty choked up with that story way back when it happened and Antonio was very intent and anxious to know if that photo could be recovered! His Mother had died 4 years ago but they did not find the photo in her things. He was only about 14 when his brother died. We have set David on the task to seeing if he still has it! It was back in the day when slides were king and David has said he will try. Antonio pressed drinks and a bottle of Patcharan on us and we left having made a new best friend.

Gran Balneario Puente Viesgo Room 316 with a View!!!

After Orio Paul drove to San Sebastian on the AP-8 because he did not want to duplicate Saturday’s trip over Mont Igueldo!, Sunday he wanted a smooth steady ride into the big city.

I’m writing this on Tuesday and I cannot remember the sequence of events on Sunday after lunch I know we finished lunch very late, as is normal over here, and we probably left the car to be parked and went to relax for a while. It was probably the after-lunch drinks. I know we didn’t go out to eat so we probably had a snack in the hotel, we were not up to walking into the parte vieja. It had been a long day and us older ones need our rest!