San Sebastian City Hall with Urquil Park on the Hill

Our trip to Spain to visit our friends almost did not happen as it coincided with a European Rugby Final between Munster of Ireland and Racing 51 of France at the Bilbao Stadium. Consequently, most of the AirBnBs and hotels were either full or charging exhorbitant rates. Fortunately, we finally managed to find a flat in San Sebastian, which was about 50 minutes from where our friends were staying. While it was not ideal in terms of proximity to our friends, we were very pleased with our choice of location, as it a very nice city.

San Sebastian, also known as Donostia in Basque, is a coastal city on the Bay of Biscay facing the Atlantic Ocean in the Basque Autonomous Region of Spain and about 12 miles from the border with France. It is roughly the same size in terms of population in both the city and surrounding metropoltan area compared to Tours, but so much more beautiful. There are three large beaches, Zurriola beach is exposed directly to the sea, which is popular with surfers as the waves are huge!Kontxa is a bay and protected from the surf making it ideal for swimming and sun tanning in the Summer.

The city has an old town, which is set out as a rectangular grid of narrow streets, famous for pintxos (tapas) bars, while the newer parts have been blessed with attractive turn of the century neo-classical houses, with great detailing.

Situated close to the border of France, the city has been subject to battles, wars and changes of government. During the Peninsula Wars, it was one of the last places to be liberated after a seige by the British, Portuguese, and Free Spanish forces before the French Napoleonic forces were driven out of Spain in 1813.  Unfortunately, however, once the fighting was over, the French and Portuguese soldiers discovered copious amounts of wine and brandy, got drunk, after which the officers lost control. The soldiers started pillaging the town and then killing, injuring and raping the population. Finally, during the night fires were started, which totally destroyed the city apart from one street, which is called 31st August, commemorating the day of the carnage and the death of around 1000 inhabitants. Thus began the reconstuction of the very beautiful and laid out city that it is today. 

In 1833, British forces were back as volunteers to defend the City in support of the regency of Maria Cristina against Carlist forces. The dead were burried in a small British Cemetery in the Urquil Park. So small, we could not find it. Interestingly, the Maria Cristina name appears quite a bit around the city including a grand hotel and a bridge. She was the widow of King Ferdinand VII, who was also her uncle by marriage and birth....

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