Visiting San Sebastian: Spain’s Conch-Shelled Beach Town by
Savvy Mom Ruth Paget
On
another vacation day in the French Basque country, my husband Laurent and I
headed out for the town of San Sebastian in the Spanish Basque country, which
is famous for its conch shell-shaped beach on the Atlantic.
On
the way to the Spanish border, we passed Hendaye, which is the water sports
capital of Southwestern France. There
are tons of surfboards with sails, water scooters, and water skiers out on the
water there. Of course, everyone is tan
and very, very thin.
The
border was non-existant; we just drove into Spain with a glance at our license
plates by border control.
Once
inside the town of San Sebastian, Laurent and I parked at the garage shared by
the Maria Christina Hotel and Victoria Eugénie Theatre.
The
ocean comes directly into town in channels with ornately carved bridges over
them. San Sebastian is like Venice, but
with less polluted water and air to breathe.
We
visited the town’s churches and admired the conch-shelled beach and the Spanish
well-to-do in their lace-accented clothing.
(Versace was big in the 1990s.)
San
Sebastian is a favorite vacation destination for Spanish royalty, aristocrats,
and bureaucrats, who would-be aristocrats from Madrid. The aristocratic babies were decked out in
lovely, lace outfits that were perfectly ironed.
Florence
had drawers full of these kinds of clothes at home in Paris, but I was becoming
fed up with ironing and dressed Florence in shorts and T-shirts or blue jean
overalls with a T-shirt to play in.
Florence
looked cute in her American jeans and waved and smiled at everyone just like a
movie star.
We
went back to France to eat. We had
steaks, steamed potatoes with butter and parsley, and green beans at the
Buffalo Grill that also played loud Rolling Stones music. I always got extra Sauce Béarnaise there and
a strawberry sundae for dessert.
After
lunch, we visited the monastery’s museum when that opened after the siesta.
Then,
we drove through the mountains to St.-Jean-Pied-de-Port, the spot where all the
Camino de Santiago de Compostela routes converged before going into Spain.
At
the top of the mountain, we arrived at Roncevalles and ate lunch at a
monastery. Roncevalles is famous as
being the spot where the French knight Roland was killed. His story is recorded in the French national
epic entitled The Song of Roland.
The
Basque houses in the mountains had orange, asymmetrical roofs to aid in letting
rainwater fall far away from the house quickly, shutters on windows on these
white-washed homes could be orange, brown, blue, or green. Flowers were in bloom everywhere.
I
still love driving through the countryside analyzing homes to see what
materials they are built with and what cultural group they belong to.
By
Ruth Paget, Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
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