Martinet, France to San Sebastian – Donostia, Spain – June 2019
Catching up on some older Travels. Yes, I’m just too busy travelling to write about it 😭. This is our second visit to San Sebastian, Spain – also known as Donostia in the Basque province of Gipuzkoa. We certainly struggled with the names of things here.
Anyway, we left our caravan in the Algarve, Portugal to travel back to the UK in April 2019. The trip was to get our car MOT. A safety requirement for UK registered cars. We did two house sits on the way back to Portugal 🇵🇹 .
The first was The old Coach House in Shropshire England 🏴and the second in Martinet, France 🇫🇷 This trip was planned to take us through San Sebastian and Porto before arriving back at the Algarve.
It’s always worth mentioning the cost of using French Motorways. The tolls can be expensive so I always research the costs. Best way to do this and also check the best route is with Michelin Viamichelin.com
So why do we use them? Two reasons. We like to shorten the drive as much as possible so we can spend more time in the cities we visit. The second is the great Aire rest stops on the French motorways. Very pleasant for rest and refresh stops. And the third is sometimes we are in too much of a hurry. Oops … I meant three.
Trusted Housesitters – Review
We are members of a great team at Trusted Housesitters and would like to just review a couple of last years sits. We love to look after our beautiful furry friends and we have been blessed to care for some unbelievable characters this year Harry, Gus and Lucy in Colares, Portugal. Willow in Pulverbatch, England, Saffy in Bais, France and Lucy and Milo in Burgau, Portugal
House sit, Lisbon, Portugal with Harry, Gus and lucy 
House Sit in Pulverbatch Shropshire UK with Willow 
House sit Bais France with staffy 
Burgau Portugal – Fabian with Lucy and Milo
San Sebastian
We loved San Sebastian. Our last visit was just heading into spring and windy and cold and wet. Not this time. We walked all the way along the promenade on a busy Sunday afternoon. You can see the view overlooking the wineglass bay which protects the beach area, and how calm and clear the water is. A great place to swim and relax. It was early June when we visited and a beautiful summers day.
SB Yacht Club 
SB Main Beach 
Magnificat Beach 
Not a Great Selfie 
Main Promenade
San Sebastian is recognized right down to the antipodes (yeah… I looked that up. It is the old way of saying the southern hemisphere, particularly Australia and New Zealand) for its gastronomic excellence. Did you know that San Sebastian has 11 Restaurants in the Michelin Guide? 18 stars within 25 km equaling cities like London, New York, Toyko and Paris. Unfortunately, restaurants with stars were out of reach for these two nomads so it was off to the Tapa bars for us.
The Tapa Bars in the Old Town
After three or four hours walking around the city and a little pink with the heat we headed into the old town. An icy cold beer fixed that. Then we were looking for somewhere to graze. The place was so busy it was hard to find a seat. There are literally hundreds of these little and some not so little tapas to eat. And they weren’t expensive. Most of these delicacies were around 2-3 euros each. Washed down with plenty of great Spanish wines.
Tapa Bar San Sebastian 
Glass of Wine Time 
Another Tapa Bar
When we had our fill of great tapas and wine we headed back to our hotel. We are not big spenders so our hotel was budget but quaint and located in the old town. Parking in places like this is a bit of a problem but the hotel advised us and we located their recommendation about ten or maybe fifteen minutes walk away across the river. So no big deal. Next morning we were up early, coffee and pastries and a marching band and hit the road for our next spot, Porto, Portugal.
I received a Message Today
It was that we tend to put our trust in things outside ourselves, it could be in relation to financial materialistic issues, it could be religion, politics, family or friends. In most case’s the outcome may not be what we want, may not meet our expectations. Who do we trust? why should we put our trust, faith and hope in anything external? Our core beliefs should be in expanding our awareness, to be fully conscious of who we are. I trust in my core belief, of who I am and peace is the result, is my greatest strength. Amen
