San Sebastián is that city that when you meet for the first time you fall in love and when you have a space you always want to return. The old town (although there are no buildings that are too old due to successive fires) is beautiful, without a doubt one of the best places to do active tourism.
Major Street is the only one that still preserves previous buildings, where the essence of historic San Sebastián is contained. At the end of the street is the Church of Santa María, from the 18th century, where the Virgin of Loreto, patron saint of the city, rests. Very close to here we come across the Church of San Vicente (16th century), one of the oldest in San Sebastián and built under the auspices of the austere Gothic of those years. On its façade, it seems that fortified elements are preserved, which recalls the character of a military plaza that the place had in the Middle Ages.
The bad thing about this trip was the weather, which played tricks on us and we were not able to see the entire heritage of Donosti. Of course, we did not miss the San Telmo Museum, located right in front of San Vicente and the foot of Mount Urgull. Its Cloister (yes, yes, cloister, since the museum is built on an old Dominican monastery), of Renaissance character, leaves no one indifferent.
By the way, if you feel like eating, you are in one of the most suitable places, not in vain Basque cuisine has a more than deserved fame. For example, I like to stop by the Urganin restaurant, but San Sebastián is full of fantastic restaurants, you just have to find them, because, in addition, you can accompany the gastronomy with a good wine tourism route.
We headed to Mount Urgull, where for the first time I discovered the Cantabrian Sea in all its fullness. The Santa Cruz de la Mota Castle, a fortification that dates back to the 11th century, and today a municipal park, left my friend and me stunned. The entire mountain is adapted as a pedestrian area, and there are several walks that cross it. We go down Paseo Nuevo, a crossing that serves as a border between sea and land. The wind there is whipping hard, and for a moment I thought I would fly away! But just for the spectacle of the waves breaking on the rock, it is worth the walk, I assure you.
And, what can I say about the beach of La Concha that hasn't already been said? One of the The reasons why we didn't see more of San Sebastián city is because we spent hours on its beach: walking, chatting, in the sun listening to the sound of water... A unique beach for a unique city.
The last hour of the afternoon was spent walking along El Boulevard, which we can consider as the differentiating axis between the Old Town and the Ensanche. In this area, it is worth noting the Town Hall, a former casino that, according to what we were told, was a meeting point for European gamblers during the First World War, when the French casinos were closed. Politicians, kings, artists came to this casino... And even the legendary spy Mata-Hari spent her last moments in San Sebastian, before leaving for France where the death penalty for treason awaited her.
The morning of the second day we woke up wanting to walk and few places are more appropriate for this than San Sebastián. We chose the Ensanches area to start, we had a long day left... In these streets the majority styles of the time prevail, Neoclassicism in the first section of the Ensanche and Eclecticism in Amara.
In the Ensanche de Cortazar, delimited by Avenida de la Libertad, Paseo de la Concha and Paseo de la República Argentina, it is worth highlighting Plaza Guipúzcoa, very similar to Plaza de la Constitución. Although yes, what left me most impressed was the Victoria Eugenia Theater and the María Cristina Hotel, exceptional settings. Both buildings were born from a common idea in 1909 by the French architect Charles Meurres, sponsored by the then influential "Society of Commerce", which financed much of the remodeling of the city at the beginning of the 20th century. If its walls could talk, the Hotel and the Theater would tell us about the adventures of spies, lovers and endless political entanglements... that took place within its walls.
In the afternoon we decided to eat on the beach, there is no better place to spend a Sunday afternoon. Now I understand Queen María Cristina in her decision to choose San Sebastián as a vacation spot for the Court... The queen ordered the Miramar Palace to be built, precisely for those days of free time that she I enjoyed this land. The palace is not bad at all: following the English model, it has a park, gardens, several independent buildings... It sits on the old church of San Sebastián (about the 11th century) and was a resting place for pilgrims in the Way to Santiago.
On the beach again, it was time for us to leave, do you now understand the reason for my continued back to San Sebastian? And yet I still have to visit the "cubes" of Moneo, the sculpture group of the Peine del Viento of Chillida, Monte Igeldo, the Island of Santa Clara, the Gros neighborhood... Anyway, enjoy the urban hiking and until the next route.
