Today, Annie, Sue and I planned to go to the markets in Hendaye. After having had my breakfast in the van, and sat down with the ladies for a while and checked the map, Sue decided that she really wasn't up to the journey, and so she stayed behind to rest. Annie and I set off probably around 10am.
We drove into the town, and found where we needed to go. The problem was there was nowhere at all to park. We went round a few times, before Annie dropped me off while she found a spot. I had a quick meander past a few stalls, and a more earnest search for a cash machine (unsuccessful), and then saw her coming up the hill, having parked miles away.
It was a very interesting mix of stalls - clothing, jewellery, accessories, spirits, all kinds of food. The food, of course, was the most amazing. Annie bought some cherries, and lent me €50 because I had no cash. I bought three types of saucisson, and some strawberries. We were given a few things to try, and I wanted to buy some ham, but decided that we'd had some from Barcelona, and it was pretty expensive.
Annie treated us to a coffee in a cafe on the street, and we chatted. It was another lovely warm day. We headed back, stopping at the Saint-Vincent church at the end of the square. It was beautiful inside, but we found the three galleries up high, made of dark wood, very curious. They were almost like a Shakespearean theatre or something.
We headed back outside and did the long march downhill to the car. Annie gave me the choice of going to the port with her, or being dropped at the train station. After some deliberation, I chose the station, as I didn't want to get back too late. So she dropped me off, and headed back out into the traffic.
At the station, I went inside the SNCF section, realised I was in the wrong place, and set about finding the Euskotren platform and station. It wasn't too hard. Upon walking out of the SNCF, it was a small building off to the right. There was just a shelter really, with ticket machines and gates. I bought my ticket (€2.35 each way), and waited in the shade for the train to arrive. It was fairly busy.
The train went over the bridge into Spain immediately, then through a procession of interesting looking towns. There were quite a lot of high-rise apartments, and it all started looking a bit more like Spain, though very unpretentious. We arrived in San Sebastian after about 35 minutes, and I got off. The station entrance was in a lovely square, surrounded by grand old buildings.
My first priority was food, and so I wandered in a direction I thought might result in food. Nothing looked tempted, so I ended up going into a shopping centre to get the makings of lunch from a supermarket. It was an exciting supermarket. I got some crisps, a sandwich, some pineapple juice, and some chocolate and headed back outside. I worked out which way the sea was and made my way in that direction. I passed a lovely (and enormous) cathedral, but it wasn't open at that time of day. The sea was essentially in a straight line from the cathedral.
I munched my crisps, and took the world in as it went by. It was a huge, proud, grand old city, with wide avenues. A lot like Barcelona. At the beach, there were palm tress, benches under trees, and nice flowers. There was also a large hill with a religious statue on top of it, which had an obvious walking path up to it. I had a look at the beach, and walked around the bay to the aquarium, finding a seat there to eat my lunch on. The sandwich was distinctly unimpressive.
I had no particular plan, so decided to walk up the large hill. I found out that the part of the bay that I'd walked around didn't actually link up to the aquarium, so I retraced my steps back to the buildings, and walked up the slow incline towards the hill, past some very interesting looking cobbled lanes.
And then the climbing started in earnest. It started with some pretty steep steps, and then continued on zigzagging, steep paths. It was hot, and hard work. There were quite a few people around, and a few things to look at on the way. I was particularly interested by the stair railings, which were concrete carved to look like wood. There was a 'Bateria de Napoleon', where Napoleon and Wellington had a big showdown in 1813.
I finally got to the big fort where the statue is, and made my way up this. There was a museum there, and so I went in. It was large and well organised, though there were no signs in English. There was a video room, which is where I spent most of my time. I sat down during one film and watched what was on the screen for a while, without realising that you could choose what to watch. When the room thinned out, I chose a few videos, which were narrated in English by young Spanish people. They were interesting, and well made, but their accents made it hard to understand. The gist was that the whole town was besieged, and burnt to the ground apart from some key buildings. The powers that be had difficulty deciding how to rebuild the town, and so after much discussion, a plan was made and the town rebuilt. San Sebastian also has a proud sporting tradition, with a surprisingly wide range of sports being played there. What I didn't realise at the time was that the French had taken the city in 1794, and the 1813 skirmish was the English and Portuguese taking it back.
I headed out of the museum, in search of toilets (and failing), and took some shots of the view, and up to the statue of Christ as well. I started to head down, which was much quicker and easier than the way up. Back at the beach, I found toilets, and had a wander on the now crowded sand. There were swimming pontoons out in the bay. It had a nice feel.
I had seen probably all I was going to see in one day, so started making my way back to the station. On the way I found an accessories shop that had good sunglasses in it, so I bought some for €10.
I had a short wait for the next train, and had a comfortable journey back to Hendaye. I texted Christian, so he was waiting for me at the station. We headed back to the van. With his new 'slips de bain', we went for a quick dip in the pool. It was nice enough. Very well kept and clean.
Annie had agreed to cook for us again - a chicken casserole that she'd been brewing from the night before (she'd asked me to taste it and suggest additional flavours). It was utterly delicious, and felt very French. The divers all compared photos and videos, and talked about the day's diving. Again, we had cheese to accompany it. The wine that Christian had bought was professed to be bad, though I drank some. It was agreed that because Sue wasn't feeling up to readying the house for guests that we'd stay with Annie and Dave on the way home rather than Paul and Sue. We headed to bed at about normal time.
We drove into the town, and found where we needed to go. The problem was there was nowhere at all to park. We went round a few times, before Annie dropped me off while she found a spot. I had a quick meander past a few stalls, and a more earnest search for a cash machine (unsuccessful), and then saw her coming up the hill, having parked miles away.
It was a very interesting mix of stalls - clothing, jewellery, accessories, spirits, all kinds of food. The food, of course, was the most amazing. Annie bought some cherries, and lent me €50 because I had no cash. I bought three types of saucisson, and some strawberries. We were given a few things to try, and I wanted to buy some ham, but decided that we'd had some from Barcelona, and it was pretty expensive.
Annie treated us to a coffee in a cafe on the street, and we chatted. It was another lovely warm day. We headed back, stopping at the Saint-Vincent church at the end of the square. It was beautiful inside, but we found the three galleries up high, made of dark wood, very curious. They were almost like a Shakespearean theatre or something.
We headed back outside and did the long march downhill to the car. Annie gave me the choice of going to the port with her, or being dropped at the train station. After some deliberation, I chose the station, as I didn't want to get back too late. So she dropped me off, and headed back out into the traffic.
At the station, I went inside the SNCF section, realised I was in the wrong place, and set about finding the Euskotren platform and station. It wasn't too hard. Upon walking out of the SNCF, it was a small building off to the right. There was just a shelter really, with ticket machines and gates. I bought my ticket (€2.35 each way), and waited in the shade for the train to arrive. It was fairly busy.
The train went over the bridge into Spain immediately, then through a procession of interesting looking towns. There were quite a lot of high-rise apartments, and it all started looking a bit more like Spain, though very unpretentious. We arrived in San Sebastian after about 35 minutes, and I got off. The station entrance was in a lovely square, surrounded by grand old buildings.
My first priority was food, and so I wandered in a direction I thought might result in food. Nothing looked tempted, so I ended up going into a shopping centre to get the makings of lunch from a supermarket. It was an exciting supermarket. I got some crisps, a sandwich, some pineapple juice, and some chocolate and headed back outside. I worked out which way the sea was and made my way in that direction. I passed a lovely (and enormous) cathedral, but it wasn't open at that time of day. The sea was essentially in a straight line from the cathedral.
I munched my crisps, and took the world in as it went by. It was a huge, proud, grand old city, with wide avenues. A lot like Barcelona. At the beach, there were palm tress, benches under trees, and nice flowers. There was also a large hill with a religious statue on top of it, which had an obvious walking path up to it. I had a look at the beach, and walked around the bay to the aquarium, finding a seat there to eat my lunch on. The sandwich was distinctly unimpressive.
I had no particular plan, so decided to walk up the large hill. I found out that the part of the bay that I'd walked around didn't actually link up to the aquarium, so I retraced my steps back to the buildings, and walked up the slow incline towards the hill, past some very interesting looking cobbled lanes.
And then the climbing started in earnest. It started with some pretty steep steps, and then continued on zigzagging, steep paths. It was hot, and hard work. There were quite a few people around, and a few things to look at on the way. I was particularly interested by the stair railings, which were concrete carved to look like wood. There was a 'Bateria de Napoleon', where Napoleon and Wellington had a big showdown in 1813.
I finally got to the big fort where the statue is, and made my way up this. There was a museum there, and so I went in. It was large and well organised, though there were no signs in English. There was a video room, which is where I spent most of my time. I sat down during one film and watched what was on the screen for a while, without realising that you could choose what to watch. When the room thinned out, I chose a few videos, which were narrated in English by young Spanish people. They were interesting, and well made, but their accents made it hard to understand. The gist was that the whole town was besieged, and burnt to the ground apart from some key buildings. The powers that be had difficulty deciding how to rebuild the town, and so after much discussion, a plan was made and the town rebuilt. San Sebastian also has a proud sporting tradition, with a surprisingly wide range of sports being played there. What I didn't realise at the time was that the French had taken the city in 1794, and the 1813 skirmish was the English and Portuguese taking it back.
I headed out of the museum, in search of toilets (and failing), and took some shots of the view, and up to the statue of Christ as well. I started to head down, which was much quicker and easier than the way up. Back at the beach, I found toilets, and had a wander on the now crowded sand. There were swimming pontoons out in the bay. It had a nice feel.
I had seen probably all I was going to see in one day, so started making my way back to the station. On the way I found an accessories shop that had good sunglasses in it, so I bought some for €10.
I had a short wait for the next train, and had a comfortable journey back to Hendaye. I texted Christian, so he was waiting for me at the station. We headed back to the van. With his new 'slips de bain', we went for a quick dip in the pool. It was nice enough. Very well kept and clean.
Annie had agreed to cook for us again - a chicken casserole that she'd been brewing from the night before (she'd asked me to taste it and suggest additional flavours). It was utterly delicious, and felt very French. The divers all compared photos and videos, and talked about the day's diving. Again, we had cheese to accompany it. The wine that Christian had bought was professed to be bad, though I drank some. It was agreed that because Sue wasn't feeling up to readying the house for guests that we'd stay with Annie and Dave on the way home rather than Paul and Sue. We headed to bed at about normal time.
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