After sleeping off the sidra, I showered and went into the communal kitchen for the free breakfast. Everyone else had already started, and we gulped down stale coffee, various fruits and some cereal. The idea was to eat as much as possible to hold us off for the day. The plan was to hike up Monte Urgull, a small mountain north of the old city, and suck in the views. Afterwards, we would wrap around the Playa de la Concha—the world famous surf spot—and take the funicular (think of a small train that goes straight up a mountain side via pulleys) up Monte Igueldo. After that, we figured we’d play by ear.
First off, San Sebastian is a beautiful, beautiful city. For whatever reason the gods have taken bits and pieces of the best parts of other cities, and exquisitely crafted them to form San Sebastian. The city is made up of quaint streets that weave in and out of beautiful buildings and churches. Every nook and cranny is filled with great looking bars bursting with pinxtos. The city isn’t large, but despite its small size, San Sebastian leaves nothing to be desired. The beach is literally right next to the city, but it’s cozy enough to make you forget about the hustle and bustle. Even better, the whole thing is book-ended by beautiful green mountains. It is an amazing place.
After over-loading on free breakfast, we went north to start climbing Monte Urgull. The smaller of the several mountains, Monte Urgull provides a great way to see the city and a path around the wave-ridden coast makes for an unbelievable walk. Even better is a giant Jesus statue—Sagrado Corazón de Jesús—at the peak. There are rungs cemented in the back of Jesus all the way to his head, but we failed to find access to the concrete statue.
After reaching the summit is when people started pulling out their lunches. I was waiting until we reached the other mountain to pick up sandwich supplies, but my friend Joe happily took a small sandwich from his bag. He sat on a small wall, munching away at a hostel made bocadilla as I walked over to inquire what he was eating.
Me: What have you got there Joe?
Joe: My bocadilla—cookies and jam.
Wow. The lunch of champions…or the homeless. Either way, you do what you have to do when you don’t have much money and need to explore and enjoy an awesome place to its fullest. After Joe munched down the last of his gourmet delight we headed down the mountain towards the beach. Having to stop several times to admire the surf or point out topless old women we settled down at a strange little part of the port for more sandwiches. After delving into a giant loaf of bread, a beer and some membrillo—a quince paste that looks like a firm, orange jelly paste—I noticed that the inhabitants of our little sea front spot all looked a bit…straggly. The more we looked around the more we noticed we were resided on the official bum residence of San Sebastian. It shouldn’t have surprised me; we were right next to the port, sitting on a huge slab of concrete with a set of stairs that led to the ocean—definitely prime bum real estate. The more we hung around the more bums appeared. It was like Cheers for bums, as one more bearded, plastic bag laden man scampered up the walk, all of the others would immediately shout out his name and ask him what he’d been up to. It was a sight to remember. I happily sipped my second can of Amstel as Joe bit into sandwich number two—jelly and cornflakes.
After being pulled away from the bum beach, we reached the summit of Monte Igueldo and sucked in the views. We bummed around at the top, snapping pictures and making the occasional membrillo and cheese sandwich. After getting our fill we hiked around some more, finding these strange old ruins and throwing rocks into the sea. Destruction can be fun sometimes. It was like being a kid again, only being a kid in one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen. We hiked back to the hostel after sunset and had a few bottles of sidra before wondering around the beach at night, causing a ruckus and calling it a night.
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