Day 32
An early start was required to
enable us to train hop our way to San Sebastian in northern Spain, leaving the
big city life of Madrid behind us. On the recommendation of every Australian
who has been to Spain (or at least it seems that way) San Sebastian was a must
see destination. Upon arrival it was clear to see why, a smallish beach side
town with both a sheltered barely breaking main beach and an exposed surfing
beach, all within a stone’s throw of the centre of the old town. The
similarities with Newcastle weren’t lost on us and whilst wandering through the
streets you could easily imagine Newcastle being like this if Columbus had of
missed the Americas and sailed right across the pacific to Australia. We’d also
all be able to speak Spanish which would have helped us no end!
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| Ok a small difference with Newy, a giant statue of Jesus overlooks the beach! |
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| Newy beach...? |
Not having any plans for the
afternoon we checked in to our hotel and went exploring the city. Apart from
the beaches (more of a summer time attraction) San Sebastian is also the self
proclaimed ‘gastronomical’ capital of Spain. Up there tapas are known as
Pintxos and are a source of healthy rivalry between the local chefs. We avoided
them for lunch and I reacquainted myself with my Spanish favourite sandwich
lomo with peppers and cheese. We wandered past the beach in the arvo and saw a
guy surfing along the backwash of the break wall on a mal, both the surf and
the surfer were rubbish and he almost ended his day prematurely bailing very
close to the wall at one point. An evening spent Pintxos hopping resulted in
some interesting morsels and a taste of the local sangria. (and probably
another kilo for the scales!)
Day 33
Having promised ourselves a bike
ride in Barcelona and then leaving it until too late we managed to secure a day
bike pass for the local bike stations in San Sebastian and set out for the day
after a quick coffee and croissant. After checking out the surf beach, decent
swell but pretty messy, although some ok rides sheltered in against the break
wall, pretty packed for the temperature, it was off to the headland which is
equipped with a Funicular to reach the top. A spectacular view from the top
although the sun was still trying its hardest to burn off the cloud. In summer
(and on weekends in winter, which it was not) it is host to a fun fair, but at
this time of year is deserted save for the Mecure hotel perched on top. Very
creepy, I’m sure I’ve seen a movie where the serial killer hides in the abandoned
fun fair, maybe a clown mask or two…
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| Katrina showing off her new wheels! |
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| The locals shredding! |
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| The view from the creepy carnival |
Walking back down to safety, our
good day of exercising and was undone by a 3 course ‘menu of the day’ at a
restaurant back from the beach. Back on the bikes and I led us the wrong way to
the wrong side of the tracks in an attempt to make it to the home ground of
Real Sociedad, the local La Liga team. Once Katrina got us back on track we
found the stadium, and the supporter store of course! Securing the bikes at the
station it was an afternoon of shopping, like we hadn’t done enough already,
but this time it was me doing the buying! More Pintxos hopping ensured this was
just a warm up for our cooking class the following day!
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| My wheels and the river |
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| Real Sociedad stadium and me with my shopping |
Day 34
Katrina had booked us a cooking
class/experience with a local tour operator San Sebastian Food and it was off
to their office to start the day. There we found out we were to be the only participants
for the day and what ensured was a very personal cooking class after a small
boat ride across the port to the restaurant Ziaboga
(a small rowboat which they race in the area). There with our translator we
were treated to lessons in fish preparation, cooking and eating (like we need
any help with that one)!
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| Master (Alex) and kitchen hand... |
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| The layered monk fish and stuff... |
Our chef for the day was Alex and
his Irish assistant ??? helped us prepare a combination of Hake and Monk Fish
very simply but very tastefully. Salsa de Verde was a common theme with Hake
fillets and Hake chins (a delicacy in San Sebastian) throughout but we also
cooked artichokes 3 ways and a layered Monk fish/potato/crab meat thing. A
great day was had including help from our translator as our chef is strictly
Spanish only. We were then able to enjoy what we’d helped prepared with a few
extra additions from Alex, over a bottle of wine and finished with some local
spirits. An amazing day that can be highly recommended by both of us, and for
someone who doesn’t really like fish the meals were most enjoyable! Alex also
introduced us to Txakoli (pronounced chuck or lee) an almost cider like white
wine which is ridiculously easy to drink and refreshing!
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| Kitchen hands, apprentice and chef after cooking! |
After another hard week of
travelling (life’s tough I know!) we rewarded ourselves with an afternoon at La Perla which is a unique day spa which
pumps in sea water from the beach, filters and heats it into a series of
hydrotherapy pools which have all sorts of massage jets, submerged exercise
equipment in addition to an ice therapy pool, sauna and steam rooms! As it opens
out on to the beach I couldn’t help but be the tourist and go and body surf at
least one wave! The water was surprisingly warm, and I thought the guys we’d
seen in steamers (one of them with booties and a balaclava) were a bit soft!
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| Wasn't cold enough to warrant steamers hoods and booties... but it was pretty cold... |
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| Shredding the waves myself... |
The other benefit of our cooking
class was some tips from the translator and assistant as to the best Pintxos
bars and what to have. We were informed that we shouldn’t eat the stuff lined
up on the bars as we had been but instead order from the menu. With this in
mind we attacked a different set of pintxos bars, Txakoli in hand this time.
To say they were amazing would be an understatement with some highlights being
the Solomillo, a beef fillet and sauce on bread slice, and the veal cheek
although I also enjoyed the pigs ear (too fatty for Katrina) and a pork rip
later on the night.
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| Our Pinxtos server posing for the camera! |
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| A rare shot of the travelling couple! |
Day 35
A peculiarity of the European
train system is that whilst you can book Spanish trains from France, you cannot
book French trains from Spain. So whilst we knew what time our various trains
were we were unable to purchase tickets in advance, with a 20 minute
interchange the only window for us to purchase the tickets and secure our safe
passage to Albi, France. Luckily we managed to get through this ordeal,
including another 5 minute rush of an interchange and arrived safely in Albi
where Jack Shaw (The Shaw’s are friends of the Mansfield families and now
friends of us both) arrived with some of the League boys to pick us up at the
station.
Dinner was an amusing and
welcoming affair with a mixture of bad English, bad language and confusion
overshadowed by an amazing meal served up by Pierre and his wife. It included
an entrée of frog’s legs for us foreigners, but you couldn’t help be suspicious
when it was only the Aussies that were served it! Main was a lovely duck and
bean stew and we are very grateful to Pierre and his wife for taking us in.
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| From L to R: Jack, Adam, Club president, club 'foreigner' manager, back of my head |
Suitably (or maybe unsuitably)
lubricated it was off to hit the Albi town up, via an Irish pub (O’sullivan’s)
to trente Cinque (25) night club. The league boys had mixed success with the
ladies and the night ended with a bit of confusion around how the hell we were
going to get back to the house well outside of Albi. However no harm done and
we made it home to retire/pass out.
Day 36
A few sore heads and a late start
the Shaws took us for a quick but personalised tour of Albi including the
largest red brick cathedral in the world. Also downed some quality hang over
cure from a local patisserie. An afternoon coffee and enjoying the conversation
of some other English speaking people rather than ourselves had us ‘frothing’
as the boys would say…
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| Katrina with the boys in front of the largest red brick cathedral in the world! |
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| The beautiful old town of Albi |
Dinner was a simple but very good
meal at a little cafeteria that sponsors the club and it rammed home that Adam
and Jack (and the others) are kind of like rock stars in a small town which
loves its rugby league and it’s Aussies! The ‘slap and pound’ being the
favoured greeting of club members and affiliates alike greets the boys wherever
they go.
A big thank you to Jack and Adam (and
the others) for putting us up for 2 nights free of charge, although less of a
thank you for the hang over that resulted! Especially to Adam who gave up his
bed for us and dropped us at the station before work this morning. Which leads
us to…
Day 37
A TGV from Toulouse is currently
speeding us towards Paris where we intend to spend a few days doing a few
little things and catching up on some washing. We have kind of ended up with an
extra 3 or 4 days we don’t know what to do with so are investigating the
possibility of a weekend getaway to somewhere from London. But I suppose you’ll
hear about that in good time!
All our Love
M&K
