(written 15/3/2006 08:02 CET in Luso, Portugal)
We were on the lookout for the sign that denotes each European country, but almost missed it in the middle of the bridge due to the graffiti all over it - we remembered from last time just how much España isn't really one tightly-knit country at all. Several states, including the Basque country we were now entering, don't want to be part of the greater entity we know as Spain.
Our first target here was
San Sebastián (Donoista in Basque), famed for nightlife and tapas. As we approached the outskirts we were a little put off - all huge ugly highrises and jammed streets with cars going nowhere and everywhere.
Somehow we found our way to the water - the hardest task in these bigger cities is lining up our Europe-wide road map with the little maps in Lonely Planet of each city. Even harder in medium-size places where Lonely Planet doesn't have a city map at all! So stumbling across the sea made our task easier.
We parked there, wandered towards the luckily nearby recommended pensions (in España these places are typically in someone's house or above a bar and offer a cheap basic room for very little money), but ended up in another one in the same area. The helpful lady here spoke English - just what we wanted to ease our transition from French - and the price for the room she had on offer reminded us that we were in a cheaper country now. She even pointed us to free parking further around the sea, so we went out to move the car, grab our big pack of clothes and walk back in the rain and driving wind. Not quite the Spanish weather we were hoping for :(
Eventually though we pushed out looking for tapas (little tasty servings of food typically eaten before a main meal which depending on what source you ask may have originated in this city). The technique of serving here was certainly different to anywhere else we had seen, as all the bars near the pension (helpfully located in the best part of the city for this!) actually had the entire bar-tops given over to huge plates of food absolutely stacked with tasty looking morsels.
We had no idea how to order or pay, so we resorted to the tried and true method of ordering two beers, standing to the side and watching how everyone else did it. Turns out it is an honour system. When you pay, just tell them what you ate! Brilliant, we can do that. So we did, taking a couple of different things and munching them up just in time for our beers to be empty and us to "tappas-hop" to the next bar and try it again.
Turns out that after two bars we had had enough for the day (we'd had to wait until quite late to come out - Spaniards typically eat dinner about 9:30 - any earlier and you're only eating with tourists) so it was back through the rain to the pension.