So last time I wrote I had just arrived in San Sebastian, and I've since been to Bordeaux so I'll run you through those two.
SAN SEBASTIAN
Big call coming up. Favourite place? Maybe most livable place? I don't know, all I know is I really liked it. It is on the coast in Spain but very close to the French border, it's a very beautiful town with a smallish population, old style buildings with wide streets, and a proper beach with some sweet waves as you'll gather from the photos of me in a wetsuit. I though it was a good mix of Australia, France and Spain, and in my mind that's a good combo.
• Stayed in the Enjoy SS hostel which is the surfers hostel. Almost all the other hostellers were male surfers. No complaints it's all part of the fun.
• We did two nights of tapas bar-crawling, the first night with our Busabout guide as our leader, and the second we went solo. Tapas are called Pinxtos is San Sebastian, and as it is in the Basque region they also speak Basque instead of Spanish which added to the fun!
• We had the most tender, mouthwatering beef cheek, and I drank a fair share of Sangria, my new favourite drink.
• Due to my incompetent digestive system, and the fact all the Pinxtos are served on bread, one of the only other things I could eat was Patatas Bravas, which luckily are delicious. They're little potato wedges covered in hot tomatoey sauce and aioli. Heaven. I think my sister would like them too.
• Joni liked the Basque drink of red wine and coke: Kalimoxto. Caffeine plus antioxidants, they say it's the ultimate health drink.
• Our first day was spent on the beach, Joni and I tried our hand at surfing, you can hire boards and wetsuits on the beach. As I've only done it a handful of times I was a bit scared, the waves were decent and I kept getting in everyone's way, but I had fun anyway! Joni got some sweet waves though.
• There is a statue of Jesus on top off a large hill just next to the beach, and on our last day we hiked up there and the views were phenomenal. I had one of those moments of 'holy moly I'm very far from home', which was nice.
• On the morning we caught the bus out of San Seb, we got absolutely soaked, which was a reminder of the cold and rainy city we're moving to very soon.
BORDEAUX
Back to France! And I got to speak my second language again***. Bordeaux is another quiet, chilled out place, very French. It's alongside a long, wide river and in a famous wine region, although we didn't go to any vineyards as we only had 1 1/2 days there, but we soaked up the atmosphere and had a nice few days.
• I saw a man running with a long baguette in each hand which made me laugh.
• We stayed in a hotel due to lack of hostels in Bordeaux, so it was nice to not have a bunk bed and to have our own bathroom.
• Bordeaux has the longest shopping street in all of Europe, so we felt obliged to walk down it a couple of times.
• I accidentally paid a beggar inside a church 2 euros thinking she was collecting the entrance fee. Turns out the church was free, and I don't know how her plastic cup and unkempt appearance fooled me, but maybe I was feeling Christian.
• We lay in the Jardin Public (Mum you would have liked it) and read our books on a very sunny afternoon which was glorious! I read The Hunger Games in 3 days it was so good.
• While the other 2 went to the circus last night (!) I finished my Oktoberfest costume. Which you will all see in a week! On me! As I drink tankards of something other than beer due to the high gluten content.
So Paris right now. Tomorrow we will sleep in the tiny town of Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland before staying 2 nights in Lucerne. Also just letting everyone know, as I'll be on my own in London for my real birthday, the girls decided (and I agreed) that I should have an early birthday next the Friday 21st! A 21st on a 21st seems fitting, Joni will be performing a speech to Sophie and myself, and I hope I spend the day eating!
Here are some photos, as usual sorry for the jumble. Some of those photos are taken from Joni and Sophie's Facebook, so merci to them.
*** Hah!
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