The first time I went to San Sebastian was 43 years ago, when I took a group tour to Spain and other European countries. I remembered the beautiful bay. It was time to go back, this time with my wife, who also had been there in her youth, a trip with the nuns of her school. This is summer and Malaga is a bit warm for me, so it was time to head for the coast of northern Spain, San Sebastian in particular, where it would be cooler.

A Little History of San Sebastian

The city of San Sebastian was founded by King Sancho the Wise of Navarra in 1180, because he wanted a port by the sea. The closeness of France and the Road to Santiago made the city grow. In 1794 the French took the city until 1813, during the Napoleonic wars. The English and Portuguese forces took the city, after setting it on fire. Most of the city burned down and only a few buildings were left standing. The city was slowly rebuilt. Then Queen Isabela II went there in 1845 because her doctors told her to take a bath in the sea for her skin problems. The aristocrats accompanied her to San Sebastian and the city grew.

At the start of the 20th century, Queen Maria Cristina built her Miramar Palace and the city reached its Belle Époque glory. Many luxury hotels, casinos, and theaters were built. During the First World War, the rich Europeans took refuge in the city. They brought the French architecture to the city. The city since then has become the refuge of the rich and famous.

Today the main economic activity in the city is tourism and commerce. There are tourists the whole year. Many are passing through, doing the Camino de Santiago, the pilgrimage going to Santiago de Compostela. During summer, the rich migrate to the city. San Sebastian is said to be the most expensive city in Spain today, with some of the highest real estate prices in the country.

The only problem with the city is that it rains a lot in the city. There is the “chirimiri”, which is the constant drizzle and light rain that falls on the city most of the year. That is why everything is green and the flowers bloom all year long. A taxi driver told us that the best months to visit are July and September.

Our Arrival

We flew to San Sebastian from Malaga, with a stop at Madrid, arriving at San Sebastian in the late afternoon. We took a taxi to our hotel in the city. When we were in the taxi, we saw the countryside of hills and mountains, and everything was green. Many of the signs were in Euskara, the mysterious Basque language, which reports say that only a fourth of the inhabitants of the Basque region speak. I had the sensation that I was in a different country. The architecture was foreign, something like what you would find in Germany and Austria. Donostia is the name of San Sebastian in Euskara.

We arrived at our hotel, the NH Aranzazu Hotel, a big and modern hotel in the minimalist style. The desk people were friendly and we were assigned a big room, which was sound proof from the street when you closed the windows. There was a big bathroom and closet, and we had a minibar, which was comfortable. The beds were big and comfortable, with good linens. The location was in the Ondarreta area, 5 minutes from the Ondarreta Beach and 30 minutes from downtown walking. There was a nearby bus stop where you could take the bus to downtown and reach it in 10 minutes. Our area was definitely upscale, with many beautiful apartment buildings around it. Later we would find out that each apartment there costs about a million euros!

I was impressed with the large amounts of trees that lined the streets. There were also bicycle paths between the sidewalk and the street.

The next morning we went for the breakfast buffet in the hotel and found out it was one of the best in Spain! They had all sorts of food, including Iberian ham, which is a mark of a good hotel in Spain. We were very pleased with the breakfast!

We took a walk to the Ondarreta Beach and passed many beautiful houses, which probably cost a very pretty figure. Many houses seemed to have German architecture. Beside the beach there is a walkway that goes all the way to downtown, and it is called the Paseo de la Concha. The beach downtown is the Playa de la Concha. “Concha” means seashell. In the bay there is an island called Isla Santa Clara, which has only a few buildings. At the end of downtown there is a very high hill called Monte Urgull, with a giant statue of Christ of the Sacred Heart. This hill and its statue dominate the landscape of the bay. On one side of the Ondarreta Beach is another high hill, called Monte Igeldo, whose top can be reached with a funicular railway.

The Paseo de la Concha is situated several meters above the beach, and there is a beautiful white railing made of wrought iron, made of a beautiful design. This railing is now a symbol of the city.

Closer to downtown, there is a hill with many beautiful old and modern buildings, with apartments that have beautiful views of the bay. Probably million euro apartments! It takes half an hour to get to downtown on this walkway.

The Alderdi-Eder Park

We went to the Alderdi-Eder Park, which is located by the beach. On the other side of the park are apartment buildings which are the third most expensive real estate in Spain, after Calle Serrano in Madrid and the Paseo de Gracia in Barcelona. As I said before, the rich live in San Sebastian. You do see many older people well dressed, who have money on the streets of the city. Also many of the taxis are comfortable white Mercedes Benz cars.

This particular park is one of the most beautiful parks in Spain. There are many tamarind trees, which have leaves that resemble asparagus ferns. These trees are unlike other tamarind trees in Spain. There are many small sculptures in the park and beautiful plantings of flowers. One of the sculptures was of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. There were also sculptures of lions and angels. There are palm trees that are ringed by flowers at the base. There were also small fountains in the park. There were many park benches painted in white. I was really impressed by the beauty of this park.

At the end of the park is the City Hall, one of the most beautiful buildings in Spain. It was originally designed as a casino, probably during the Belle Epoque.

Two Historic Hotels and Two Queens

The Maria Cristina Hotel was completed in 1912 and inaugurated with the presence of Queen Maria Cristina. The hotel is located beside the River Urumea. There are many French inspired buildings by this river and it seems like one is in Paris. Beside the hotel is a small park with a monument to Antonio de Oquendo, a famous Spanish admiral from the early 17th century. He was called the Great Admiral.

The other historic hotel is the Hotel Londres, built in 1865 as the home of Queen Isabela II, before it became a hotel. So she was the first celebrity to go to San Sebastian. In my opinion, this hotel is better situated than the Maria Cristina Hotel, since it is beside the Playa de la Concha.

The Kursaal

Beside the River Urumea, at the confluence of the river and the sea, there is a big modern building that is lighted at night. This building is the Kursaal, the auditorium of the city and site of the international film festival, which is held every year in San Sebastian. It was designed by Rafael Moneo, a famous Spanish architect and winner of the Pritzker Prize of Architecture.

San Vicente Church

There is a church that is at the foot of Monte Urgull, and it is one of the few buildings that survived the 1813 fire during the Napoleonic War. San Vicente Church is a Gothic church built in 1507 and is now the oldest building in San Sebastian. At that time, the French forces held the city and the English set the city on fire to drive out the French. The operation was successful, but the whole city burned down except a few buildings, which luckily included this church. The church is impressive and beautiful, with the retables done in gold leaf. There is an impressive statue of a dead Christ in a glass casket that is tilted 45 degrees so that the viewer has an easier time looking at it.

The Cathedral of the Good Shepherd (Buen Pastor)

This Cathedral was built in the neo-Gothic style in 1880 and is located in the heart of downtown San Sebastian. There are many stained glass windows in the church that allow a lot of light into the building. Above the altar there is a sculpture of Christ as the Good Shepherd. The Cathedral has several side altars done in gold leaf which are beautiful.

The Bridge of Maria Cristina

One of the bridges over the Urumea River is the Bridge of Maria Cristina. This bridge is beautiful because there are four bridge ornaments that are very impressive. These are entrances over the pedestrian walkways that are done in white and have very impressive sculptures. The bridge leads to the Renfe station, that was designed by Eiffel. Close to this bridge is the Plaza de Bilbao, which has a very impressive round fountain that is surrounded by beautiful flowers.

The Ondarreta Beach

The walkway beside the Ondarreta Beach has a little park that contains a monument to the Queen Maria Cristina. This little park is beautifully planted with decorative trees and flowers. The walkway continues to the base of Monte Igeldo and turns into the Paseo de Eduardo Chillida. He was a famous abstract sculptor who was a native son of San Sebastian. He was born in 1924 and died in 2002, and is considered one of the world's greatest abstract sculptors. At the end of the walkway he has three big abstract sculptures, called Peine del Viento (the Wind Comb). When the sea is rough and the wind strong, the waves crash against the base of these sculptures.

The Funicular to the Top of Monte Igeldo

There is a funicular railway that takes you to the top of Monte Igeldo and runs every 15 minutes after 10 a.m. The cost is minimal. It takes only a few minutes to reach the top of the hill, where one can get a panoramic view of the city. Unfortunately we went too early in the morning and there was chirimiri, so many of my pictures came out too dark. I will have to go back in the future to take better pictures.

The Aquarium

One morning we woke up to light rain and chirimiri, so we decided to go and see the aquarium, which is located at the end of the pier, at the base of Monte Urgull. The aquarium was quite entertaining. There is a very big tank faced with glass, where you can see all types of fish and sharks swimming around. There is a glass tunnel where you can walk through and see these fish swimming over you.

I saw the most beautiful fish in the tank that contained tropical fish. This fish was about a foot long and had the color of turquoise. There were rings of gold chain superimposed over the turquoise color, which made the fish look like it was designed by a famous dress designer! I do not know what name this fish has, but it certainly impressed me.

The Miramar Palace

There is a small hill between the Ondarreta Beach and the La Concha Beach, and it contains the Miramar Palace. It was built for Queen Maria Cristina in the form of an English "cottage". Today the city owns it and they have official city receptions there. The palace is surrounded by beautiful gardens with impressive flower plantings and you can get the best views of the city from this hill. The gardens have many hortensias (hydrangeas), which seem to thrive in the humid weather and are quite big.

The Gasteiz Restaurant

The Basques are famous cooks and there are many in San Sebastian with international reputations. Their restaurants are famous, but meals there cost a lot. However you do not have to go to these famous restaurants to eat well. Near our hotel we discovered the Gasteiz Restaurant (Calle Victoria-Gasteiz, 12), which serves home style cooking. The food was very good and very moderately priced.

Some Interesting Stores

The city has many stores that are upscale, since many people have money. We did find three very interesting stores. One of them is called Zitan, at 31 de Agosto, 13. It is a home decoration store that specializes in furniture and furnishings from China. They had beautiful Chinese cabinets and Chinese porcelain. I was surprised that the quality of the goods was very high. The only thing I did not like were the paintings, which were in the revolutionary style.

The second store is a perfume store called Perfumeria Benegas, at Garibay, 12. This is probably the most elegant perfume store in Spain, with the ceiling painted with beautiful designs and crystal chandeliers from Venice. The store has been open for the last hundred years.

The third store is a chocolate shop called Bomboneria Maitiana, at Avenida de la Libertad, 32. The shop is very elegant and they have the biggest assortment of boxes to hold chocolates, so you can personalize gifts of chocolates for friends.

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Impressions of San Sebastian

San Sebastian is one of the most beautiful cities of Spain. The view of the bay and the beaches is omnipresent all the time as one wanders around the city. It is very clean and there are few graffiti. One feels very safe here and one does not have to worry about petty street crime, such as pickpockets. The people of the city are affluent and very educated. Besides that they are very friendly to visitors. One woman we met at the bus stop explained to us where the bus was going to pass. We told her we wanted to get off at the Cathedral and she called us in the bus to tell us that our stop was coming. There were other people we stopped on the street for directions and they were very friendly and gave us very detailed instructions, wanting to help.

One thing we noticed is that the children of this city are very well behaved compared to children in other regions of Spain. Their parents are to be complimented. The children do not shout in the street and they know how to behave properly in public.

This is a garden city and the city is full of little parks filled with beautiful flowers. The trees and hedges are all properly trimmed. The streets are full of trees that are properly trimmed. The sculptures in the parks and the monuments are all beautiful, and nothing is out of place and time.

The French architecture calls attention and the very small balconies jutting out of the French doors and windows have beautiful wrought iron railings that have been preserved. In the center of the city they have beautiful doors in the buildings and the doors have brass decorations and trimmings. The city lamps are made of wrought iron and are painted white, which is very elegant. Also in the center of the city there are many pedestrian malls, where only pedestrians are allowed and cars are prohibited. It is a joy to walk in this city. This city really is an architectural marvel.

The only fly in the ointment is the climate. We were very lucky that out of the five days we were there, we had sunshine on four days. At other times there is the chirimiri. I asked our taxi driver if this constant drizzle ever caused the natives to get depressed. He said that they did not get depressed and that they would eat to feel better!