Students from the Spanish school in San Sebastian

Taking a course in the Instituto Hemingway is not only classes and books. This Saturday, 10th of June 2011, our students went to San Sebastian, to discover the beauty of this place and learn more about this region of Spain.

We all met at the Institute, took a bus and after 1h and 10 minutes we were there. The views from the bus were amazing as we began to enter the region. At the bus station our guide, Jon was waiting for us. He showed us the most important places and told us a bit about the history of the city.

Before sightseeing Jon talked to us about the region and the sociological establishment of the area. First of all, San Sebastian is a city of a very rich people. It is one of the most expensive and affluent places in the whole of Spain. San Sebastian was completely destroyed in the past and rebuilt by their rich residents. This fact sheds light on the modern architecture versus the more typical gothic architecture that Bilbao is littered with. In spite of a small size, San Sebastian is one of the main tourist destinations in Spain. The city is famous for its unique beach in the shape of a giant shell. Ina ddition to its scenic beauty it is an economic hub known from commerce.

After we given some general specifics about the city, Jon took us to the famous Cathedral located in the square of Buen Pastor. We were lucky to be allowed in because 15 min later a wedding started. The Cathedral is from the XIX century and has neo-gothic style.

After the cathedral Jon took us to the central street where we had the opportunity to tour the town hall. The town hall was surrounded by hundred of windows that reflected so much sunlight, it made taking photos very difficult. Jon explained to us that this place was used as a ´plaza de torros´ in the past. During the famous ´corrida´, owners rented rooms to the audience. The windows are numbered so the owners could sell each individual room as would be done seats at a theatre.

The city is small but a very worthwhile place to visit. We also visited the church of Santa Maria, who is the patron of the city. After several hours of touring we all got hungry and went to eat at the famous pintxos. We all had a lot of fun trying to guess the names in Spanish and also in Euskera. The food was delicious and once we managed to somewhat digest the enormous lunch we continued sightseeing. Unfortunately Jon had to leave us at this point but not before offering some hints and tips on where to go next.

Some of us decided to climb on mount Urgull, an old castle with a statue of Jesus Christ at the top. It took us about 30 minutes to climb but the view was definitely worth the effort. After that we divided into groups and went in search of different things. Some of us took a tour by boat, some walked along to the ´playa concha´ and the rest decided to stay in San Sebastian one day to further explore the city.

The weather was nice, the city was beautiful, the views were breathtaking and our group made sure to make the best out of everything. We all spent a great time there, took lots of pictures and had an opportunity to get to know each other better.


Anna Maciborska - Karolina Samborska