Europe’s best city beach?

Leaving Bilbao

My tummy felt unwell around 0400.  With the interruption to my sleep, I had an extra lie in till around 0730 today.  I attribute my tummy troubles to the pinchos yesterday evening.  Bar snacks like that sitting in the cabinet for many hours on a warm day isn’t the safest food.  Especially the super-creamy croquettes with fish.

The idea of going out early to explore Bilbao while it was still cool went out the window.  I think I got a good enough feel for the place yesterday evening.

The hostel came with a good hostel-style continental breakfast, starting at 0830.  Things start quite late in Spain and don’t close till late at night, with siesta in the afternoon.

I made my way to Bilbao Intermodal Station next door in good time for my 1100 bus to San Sebastian.  I waited but my bus service didn’t show up on the monitor.  Upon asking, I learnt that my bus was bound for Irun, with San Seb being a stopover.  I hadn’t noticed the stopover being shown in smaller print.

Boarding the bus was kinda honesty-based.  Tickets weren’t scanned but the driver ticks your seat number off his list.  As long as there’s no duplicate seat allocation, all is well.  Basically the station is unstaffed by the bus companies; only a few security offices are present.

We departed slightly late from the underground station, with the bus doing very tight turns with the front corner clearing the walls by centimetres each time.  The ride to San Seb took about 1h20 and we arrived around 1230.

Exploring San Seb

I found Niza Hotel on the waterfront, and left my bag with them before going for an initial exploration.  The weather was perfect and the beach right in front of the hotel looked awesome.  Apart from Spanish, most visitors here spoke French, as we are quite close to the border.  There appeared to be few Brits, perhaps preferring the southern coast of the country.

I wandered to the old town where there were many bars.  San Seb is a great place for eating but being on my own and after yesterday’s brush with dodgy pinchos, food didn’t interest me that much.  I wandered to the east side where I caught a glimpse of the surf beach which is rougher before continuing to the newer part of the city to kill time before I could get to my room after 1430.

Settling into my room, I had to deal with yet another schedule change from VivaAerobus, a Mexican airline that was flying us from Colombia to Las Vegas.  The recent change made their flight unworkable and I got a refund from them and will fly on Avianca to Los Angeles instead.

It was nearly 1700 when I was ready for a swim.  The skies had clouded over but it was still warm.  Low tide had just past but the sea was still awesome.  I concluded that this beach is good at low tide an awesome at high tide.  I read that the sea is almost always calm and safe on the beach. For that reason, some rate it as the best beach or best city beach in Europe.

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After a simple kebab dinner, I walked west to catch the funicular to Monte Iguelda.  The funicular was an old wooden one and ran nearly constantly to keep up with the demand.  Up at the peak, the view was excellent.  If only the sun was out to illuminate the sea like when I arrived.  It appears the place is set up more as a children’s theme park with fun rides.

I concluded my short stay in San Seb around 2000 back at the hotel.  It’s a place I fell in love with immediately and would love to be back.