The ride from Itxaspe to San Sebastian was mainly on the N634 main road. It wasn’t too busy, but is not the best road to ride on.
As I approached the outskirts of the town, the Garmin got seriously lost. There is a lot of road work going on. Clearly the Garmin maps have not been updated.
Local Cyclist shows the Way
As I was riding along, a bloke on the bike came up beside me. He asked me where I was headed. I told him the I was heading to the beach. He told me to follow him.
It wasn’t long before I arrived at the main beach. It was a bit familiar. I was last there in 1977.
Surfing Extea Hostel
I had booked into the ‘Surfing Extea Hostel’. It has a very high rating on the booking site. It is located in a residential building two streets back from the surf beach.
One the reasons that I had selected this place was that its web site said that it had “bicycle parking”.
I pressed the bell button on the wall next to the door. A voice said “push the door”. I entered. There was a lift in front of me. A couple came out of the lift. I said to them “where is the hostel”. They told me that it was on the second floor. I left the bike at took the lift to the second floor.
A young girl came out of a door and asked me if I “was looking for the hostel”. It seemed a bit odd.
She took me through the door into a kitchen. It was the hostel, but it looked more like a large apartment.
Anyway, I checked in and I was taken to my room.
I asked where my bike would be stored. The girl told that “owner would show me a place”. She made a phone call.
Within 5 minutes a bloke in his thirties arrived. He told me that he would show me where the bike would be stored. As it turned out, the storage place was a basement in building in the next street. It was full of surfboards.
Over the next couple of days. I found out a bit more about the hostel. It was an apartment that is owned by the parents of the “owner”. He told me that he had “wanted to start a hotel, but it was not possible to get a property in San Sebastian”. The next option was to open a hostel. He had spent nearly two years getting planning permission to be able to convert the apartment into a hostel. It is now finally operating.
He said that he also taken a lease on shop at street level. This was being converted into an office and a bar with a restricted licence.
It all seems to be working out. It is a very expensive hostel. However, accommodation in San Sebastian is tight. It seems that you can charge a lot and still have full occupancy.
Guests for Everywhere
Most of the other guests were a lot younger than me. They were from all over the place – Norway, Germany, Argentina, Australia, Switzerland, France, Holland the USA and the UK. Most were in San Sebastian for the surf.
Great Old Town
San Sebastian has a great ‘Old Town’. There are lots of bars and restaurants selling many types of pintxos.
It is great to wander from bar to bar, sampling one or two pintxos from each place.
Henry Moore Sculptures
One of the surprises was to see some Henry Moore sculptures on the beach. Moore is famous for his large bronze works – in particular, ‘reclining’ figures.
The sculptures look great in this location. The colours of the pieces change through the day. Check out the Flickr photos.
Before I left England at the end of June, I met an artisan who forges bronze for sculptors. He told me that Moore asked him to work for him”. He refused.
Up the hill
A must do is to take the funicular that takes you onto the hill that overlooks the town and the bay.
Tennis Club
I came across a tennis club with the ‘Wimbledon Pub’. I guess that is an appropriate name for a drinking hole in a tennis club.
Moving to Campsite
I decided to stay a couple of more days in San Sebastian. The hostel was full. I had to move to a camp site about 4 kilometres west of the town.
As it turned out, it rained for the next two days.
It was really wet the day that I left.
Flick Links
Moore Sculptures
San Sebastian Other
Garmin Link
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/1261701378
Wikipedia Link on San Sebastian
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Sebasti%C3%A1n
Henry Moore Link
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Moore
billrider2013 
Hi,
Glad to meet you at hotel du midi in Saint palais on August 2nd.
We finally reached our final destination for this year : Saint jean pied de port. I send you a picture to your email address as I didn’t find a way to post into this blog.
Hopefully next year, we will resume our ride to compostelle from this place ( we need to practice a little to get prepared to climb the Pyrenees on the way to cross the border to Spain ).
Wonderful evening in Saint palais, foie gras, gesiers and local red wine were all perfect.
Wish you all the best for trip throughout Europe .
Alex & Chantal .