San Vicente de la Barquera

We tore ourselves away from San Sebastian, again, and headed west, initially on the inland toll roads, later, well into Cantabria, along the coast. We stopped at Santillana de la Mer for me to go into the Alta Mira gift shoppe and buy a fridge magnet I had missed in 2009. We were not so happy there in 2009, cold, and worried about our ability to drive (legally) in Spain and also about where we could purchase LPG. Those matters got resolved, and our memories are pleasant, now even more pleasant. (Funny how memory works, dimming the bad, highighting the good). We continued on west, looking for an aire or a lay-by, preferably right on the beach. As one might expect, in August, the place was crawling with RVs, everyone doing just exactly what we were doing. At length, we found an aire of sorts, at the Playa de Gerra, near the beautiful town of San Vicente de la Barquera. The aire was actually a farmer's field, just across the highway from an evidently popular beach. We stayed there two nights, touring the Picos de Europa by day. The beaches along here--miles of them--are the best I have seen: fine sands, a hundreds-of-feet-deep beach area, surf just rough enough for beginner surfing.

Playa de Gerra, looking east

Looking west toward San Vicente

Beach volleyball, of course

A bit of the aire

Here we began seeing rather more of the pelerins, pilgrims
on the Santiago trail

Some 200,000 do the trail annually; twice that number in
special feast (whatever) years; only 20,000 do the much
shorter but infinitely more scenic Tour du Mont Blanc;
 I just don't understand...

Interesting beach rocks along the way

Surfing at the Playa de Gerra

Sunset

Donostia Fireworks

Each of our three nights in Donostia, after tapas, cultural performances, etc., we attended the harbor fireworks. Apparently, they do a week of fireworks here in August, inviting pyrotechnic companies from all over Spain as well as other countries. The setting and quality of the fireworks were great and the crowd appreciative. One has to assume Donostians know their fireworks. The first night we were inadvertently in the front rank of the crowd, as close to the launch site as you could get. (Later, we moved on down the beach as we learned where to catch the special event bus back to the aire). You could feel the concussion of every explosion, making it a visceral as well as visual experience. Here are several pix, plus a YouTube video at http://youtu.be/G0WjXWWpYhk

The week's schedule: we saw the groups from Italy,
Granada, and Valencia

The crowd gathers

And gathers, the Jesus statue presiding over it all

Play ball!

Great color

Most of the action was up high, some down low

The Granada group was into shapes...I missed the smiley
face

And cascades

Donostia Basque Culture

Every night we were in Donostia we went to the Basque cultural performances at the Constitucion Plaza. Of course we understood little of what was going on, in Spanish and/or Basque, but enjoyed the singing, dancing, and costumery. Often, the audience would join in singing the song that was going on on-stage, and there were more than a few symbols and statements of Basque solidarity and nationalism. Constitucion Plaza is where the bull-fights took place in the good old days. Interestingly, the balconies were rented separately from the apartments they adjoined.

Donostia Tapas

So we went tapas* in Donostia every night we were there, sampling a variety of bars and other establishments (purveyors of gelatos, churros, etc.). Initially we followed the guidebooks, then we just followed the crowds, boldly venturing into those places that seemed most popular. ("Nobody goes to the Silver Slipper anymore; it's too crowded"). We settled finally on Baztan and were regulars there for three nights. Nothing was particularly remarkable, IMHO, but the gazpacho, served in little cocktail glasses, which was exceptional. I think the tapas thing is more about the experience, socially, than the food. Costco has better tapas, and they're free. Nonetheless...

Our favorite street

Our favorite place

A typical plate for us

Typical fare; Spain probably cuts down as many trees for
toothpicks as China does for chopsticks; well, maybe not
that many

Ditto

The octopus is doubtlessly worried about when they will
start in with the toothpicks

One of the more dubious offerings; reminded me of the
french-friend potatoes-topped pizza we saw in Rome

Pouring the cidre; we did the cider, and beer, and wine, and
then finally settled on the sangria

At the churreria afterwards; note to self: one order of
churros will amply feed two; or four, or six

For a an extended video of Baztan and the street outside, go to http://youtu.be/cJ0KVv808gw

*family joke

Donostia Scenes

We got to Donostia/San Sebastian early the next morning and, much to our surprise, found a spot at the small municipal aire out by the university, perhaps a kilometer from the beach. The aire holds about 40 rigs, but there were perhaps a hundred more parked in all the surrounding campus parking lots, paying a daily parking fee. We spent a couple nights at the Unibersitatea aire, enjoying San Sebastian even more than we had in 2009, then moved on to St. Vincent de la Barquera and the Picos and then Comillas and Bilbao before returning to Donostia for yet another night and two days. There's nothing of surpassing interest in San Sebastian, no world-class museums, no battles nor coronations nor other great historic events—it's just likely the most beautiful small city in Europe, possibly the world, has great climate this time of year, and is Spain's gastronomic center. Plus it was Basque Culture Week, and the harbor area and old town were filled every night with residents and tourists taking in the various performances and then watching what has to be the world's largest week-long pyrotechnic display. Much more of that in due course. In any case, I'll restrain myself and do just four posts from Donostia/San Sebastian: city scenes, tapas bars, culture week, and the fireworks.

Donostia has the most street performers, per capita, of all
the places we've been; well, except Edinburgh, during the
Festival there

Best one-person band ever, so far

Best Sebastian, too, nearly in ecstasy

The place was more than usually mobbed

Ditto

Then things really picked up with the arrival of the old
geezers' band

And then we noticed that everyone was drifting toward the
beach...at 9:30 at night

Sunset over the harbor, half an hour before the fireworks
began (the subject of another post)

Next morning

I am out at the beach, checking out the locals' reading habits

Next night, more mobs, more culture, more tapas, more
fireworks; there would be another night too

Double-decker merry-go-round; one sees these in cities all
over Europe

Another late night out; here we are returning to the aire
after midnight, noticing the scores of RVs parked on the
streets all around

Real-Time Update

We are back in Menlo Park, having parked the camper with Jane and Gordon and flown from Toulouse to Paris and Paris to San Francisco on August 24^th. It is good to be back “home,” to be with Penelope and her parents, and to look forward to somewhat more settled living in the next several months. Moving back in takes time, however, and we didn't get wifi at home until Tuesday, but more posts from our summer trip will continue.

Grandma's favorite reading companion