San Sebastián Girls Trip!
I was fortunate to be invited by Linda Rosen to San Sebastián to stay in her suite at the famous Marie Christina Hotel. WooHoo!
Linda’s husband had to leave their three week trip to for a four-day work event in New York. After getting Linda’s text, I jumped at the opportunity for a girls trip. I arrived in San Sebastián from Bruge after a taxi, two trains, two planes and another taxi – not as easy as I thought.
This week in San Sebastián was the big festival including amazing competing firework shows from major Spanish cities. The city was busting at the seams with festival goers.
Our first activity was a scenic hike to the the top of Monte Ursula to capture a truly panoramic view of the city. Super great except for the “Death Metal Hell Band” playing at one of the stages below.
After hiking it was time to indulge in drinks and sumptuous tasting plates at the pintxo bars. We pushed our way to front – totally heroic – through 4 to 5 rows of hungry visitors all competing to order. After walking the city and watching the tremendous fireworks show, we found our way to sleep around 2am.
Next day we woke early for a great ebike tour and cruised around the whole city.
After working up an apetite, we enjoyed a three hour lunch with a bottle of Rose at the incredible Bar Restaurante Munro in their underground stone bistro.
The last day we rented a car, and with Linda at the wheel we ventured out to see some of the towns across the border in France. The first town, Saint Jean De Luz, was a quaint village overlooking a beautiful beach with little winding streets, great boutiques and restaurants, and a picturesque harbor.
In great girl-trip fashion, we found a local bistro and then hit the boutiques till our lucky parking spot meter ran out.
Then we navigated perfectly – or maybe we just got really lucky – to Biarritz. Biarritz is another beautiful town on the coast, however much larger. It was the busiest day in Biarritz due to another festival and we bravely whirled through the crowds on a Segway tour. Just in case someone missed our dorky spectacle, the tour company adorned us with fluorescent green helmets!
All in all, Segways are a great way to see the town, but you have to park your ego at the curb. After exploring Biarritz we drove back to the tiny, historic old town of Hondarribia, Spain to cap the night at my favorite gourmet tapas bar.
Gastrotekadanontzat – yes that’s what it’s called – has a large inventive menu created with truly incredible French delicacies; the organically fig-fed Foie Gras is not to be missed. We walked around the whole quaint town, which took about ten minutes, then drove back to the hotel.
We ended this fun girls trip chatting, laughing, and looking at photos till 4am. Thanks for fantastic trip Linda!