Finally in Spain – and we are really surprised how fast the temperatures rise. Just around 10°C to a maximum of 15°C in southern France in December, the temperatures felt consistently 5°C warmer now, although we drove only a few kilometers further south. But maybe it was just the general weather situation during our visit. In San Sebastián there are directly at the sea in front of the peninsula of the old town several parking lots which are also unofficially used by campers as a secondary parking lot. We also park there, because it is really nice to be able to walk from the parking lot to the old town in only 10 minutes and the view directly to the open sea is fabulous.

Basilica of Santa María del Coro

The church of Santa Maria del Coro nestles seamlessly into the old town of San Sebastian. Like many churches, this one was rebuilt a few times and expanded in different styles. For example, a Romanesque church was expanded in the Gothic style, and after its partial destruction, it was rebuilt in the Baroque style. However, the mixture of styles only emphasizes the immense size of this impressive building. It’s huge especially in comparison to the small and winding old town.

Old Town of San Sebastián

The narrow streets with the old buildings make the old town of San Sebastián a sight for itself. The many small restaurants and stores invite you to stroll and wander. Unfortunately, rain starts soon, so that we first sit in a café to wait out the heaviest rainfall. Unfortunately, it remains a drizzle, so that our city walk turns out just a little wetter than expected.

South of the old town we meet the town hall of San Sebastián. It is a real eye-catcher. Originally, the building was opened as a casino and since the middle of the 20th century it has been used as the town hall. Accordingly, the building and the park around it are designed to be ostentatious and inviting.

The old town of San Sebastián is closed at the northeastern end by the Urumea River. At Christmas time, there is a small Christmas market along the banks of the Urumea River. To round off our visit to San Sebastián, we don’t miss it and take the Christmas impressions with us on the way back to our van.

New town

The new town we explore mainly on the passage from our Ben. That has to do on the one hand with the fact that we got lost during our arrival in San Sebastian for felt ten times, since everything is one-way streets and on the other hand that it rains also on our second day in San Sebastian rather violently and we have little desire to explore the city like that further.

Buen Pastor Cathedral

We, or much more Mimi, however, do not miss the opportunity to visit the Buen Pastor Cathedral.
The cathedral is built in neo-Gothic style and catches the eye with its 75m high steeple. The tower can be seen from all over San Sebastián. It is also interesting to note that a more or less straight line of smaller and larger streets leads from the Basilica of Santa María del Coro in the old town to the Buen Pastor Cathedral in the new town. If you stand at the right angle, you can see from one church to the other even though they area approximately one kilometer and countless blocks apart.

Although it rained quite a lot and heavily during our visit to San Sebastian, we like the city very much. We can well imagine another time to come back.
Maybe as a city trip on a long weekend.
San Sebastian is known as a culinary Mecca, in hardly any other city in the world there are so many Michelin star restaurants as here. This side of San Sebastian we have criminally neglected and we will certainly savor more on another visit.