This weekend, everybody scattered and went different places. One group went to Sevilla and Granada, one group went to London, one group went to San Sebastian, and another took off to Barcelona. Since the trip to Portugal last weekend ended up using half my budget for this weekend, I found myself looking at a quiet weekend in Salamanca, along with a handful of other people who also stayed behind. We tried to arrange a day trip to a winery, but they were all way too expensive. We tried to go on a day trip to Santender with the travel agency, but it was a 6 hour bus ride that left at 5 am. Finally, on Friday, a girl named Neena and I decided to see if there were any trains to San Sebastian.
After class we made the 3 mile trek to the train station and sure enough, there was an overnight train leaving at 12:30 that night, with a return trip at 10:30 the next night. We booked the tickets at around 4:30, did some shopping for last-minute travel supplies, then headed home to prepare for our spontaneous trip. I met up with Neena at 11:00 and we shared a cab to the train station. The train was interesting from the start. We boarded our car with a large group of very drunk Eastern European college students who kept singing in what sounded like German, and a few stumbling drunk men, whom the train bartender was instructed to give nothing but water. We finally settled in for the 6 hour ride in what was supposed to be a “sleeper car”, but it was impossible to get more than an hour or two of sleep. To make matters worse, the train made multiple stops, and there was no announcement or sign or anything to let you know what stop it was. Finally, after about 5 ½ hours, Neena asked the bartender and he said San Sebastian was the next stop. So the next time the train stopped we disembarked, hoping that we really were in San Sebastian and not some other random Spanish town- there really was no way to tell from the train.
Thankfully, we were indeed in San Sebastian. We went to the bathroom to freshen up but it was quite disgusting. As we were standing at the sinks washing our faces a large male janitor with a cigarette ambled in and grunted at us- apparently they keep the supply closet in an out-of-order stall in the women’s bathroom. Strange. The one attendant in the train station didn’t have a map and couldn’t tell us how to get anywhere, so we finally asked a group of American students who were waiting for their train, and they pointed us in the direction of the city center. We stumbled out into the misty, cloudy, city lit by only a few brave rays of sun that broke through the gloom.
We headed in the direction that the students had told us, but we soon encountered two young, shady looking Spanish men standing outside of a closed bar. They called out to us in Spanish, saying something to the effect of “Hey beautiful girls, what are you doing out here? Don’t you want to come with us?” We didn’t make eye contact and changed our route so we wouldn’t pass them, but they changed directions and began to follow us. We quickened our pace and made it to a bike path that was slightly more populated (with only maybe 2 bike riders, but better than nothing), but they still followed us. None of the places we passed were open, but finally we came to a coffee place that was just opening its doors. We ducked in there, got some coffee, and took refuge from the cold mist and the scary Spanish guys. They lingered outside the door for a while, looking in the windows at us, but thankfully the coffee shop owner was a rather large guy and they left after a few minutes.
By the time we finished our coffee and freshened up a little, the drizzly mist had stopped and other stores were opening, so we decided it was safe to venture back out. We made it to the main city and found a newspaper stand vendor who sold us a great map and pointed us in the direction of the coast and other major landmarks. Finally things were looking up! We wandered around for a while, taking pictures of the city and the coast in the dreary morning light. Along the way, we stopped in pastelerias for pastries and tapas bars for little snacks. Once stores opened around 11:00, we did a little window shopping.
Around noon, we headed back into the historical center of the city to search for a museum marked on our map. We never could find the museum, but along the way we saw a path leading up a hill to an old church and fort, so we decided to follow it and see if there were any good views of the city and coast. When we got up to the fort, there were more and more stairs and trails, so we decided to follow them and see where they went. After about an hour hike with beautiful views, we arrived at the top of the mountain with the huge Jesus statue we had seen from the shore earlier. Who knew? It turned out there was a little museum at the top, and the best views of the town and coast you could get from anywhere in the city. I am convinced that San Sebastian is the most perfect place on earth- beautiful old buildings, ancient churches, shopping, hiking, and gorgeous beaches all in one place.
After admiring the view and taking plenty of photos, we headed back down the mountain. We found a little gypsy market by the marina with lots of cute jewelry and handmade crafts, but one gypsy named Marcello kept asking me if I had a husband in America and saying if I wanted to stay in Spain he would “keep me like a pretty little flower”, so we made up excuses to leave and got out of there fast. We got some helado and booked a boat tour of the coast, which had some more great views. By that time the sun had come out, so after the boat tour we went back to the shore and stuck our toes in the water, which was surprisingly warm.
After that we got some dinner at McDonalds so we could use their free wifi to contact the guys from Auburn who were also in San Sebastian for the weekend. We arranged to meet them in a few hours, then headed to Jazz Fest.
There just happened to be a Jazz festival called Jazzaldia in San Sebastian this weekend. Apparently it is the oldest continuous annual jazz festival in Europe. B.B. King had given a free performance there a few nights earlier. I wish we had known, I would have gladly missed class to see that! As it was, we got to see a few good bands play before we met up with the guys for a second dinner at a Greek place. It started raining again after that, so Neena and I killed time in another little café until our train left. Luckily, the guys were on our same train back to Salamanca and it was a lot quieter this time around, so we got a few hours of sleep in before arriving back in Salamanca at 4 am (at least we hoped it was Salamanca- once again there was no way to know where we were). We caught a cab back to the dorm where Neena lives, and I just slept there rather than trying to get back to my apartment by myself.
I slept most of the next day (Sunday), and gave my poor feet a chance to recuperate from the massive amounts of walking and hiking.
Monday (today) was a holiday and there were no classes, so I met up with some of the other people who had stayed in Salamanca for the weekend and we went down to the river bank to study for exams. I can't believe it is exam time already! This month has flown by. I will be back among the English-speakers before I know it!
