We went to the Chinese restaurant right at 8PM and it was a delightful experience. The man and woman who owned the restaurant spoke English, and she talked to us while we waited for our food. She also gave us Time magazines in English to read while we waited, but we never got a chance to look at them. She said she special orders them by mail. The owners are from Hong Kong and have been in San Sebastian for 4 years, and the woman asked us all about about travels and thought it was great that we had been to Hong Kong. It was so nice to talk to her for about 20 minutes, and it is the small, speical experiences that make traveling interesting.
10/27: We had a nice day today walking around and doing errands. First we went for brreakfast at one of the restaurants in the old city area. I got a delicious piece of a sort of egg, potato and pepper pie (sort of like quiche but the texture was different) and coffee. The coffee is good and strong, and much better tasting than the instant coffee I make for myself when we have a kitchen. After breakfast we spent quite awhile checking out bookstores to see if we could find any that sold second hand books (no luck) and then we went to the post office. We also checked out a place (it turned out to be a place that sold outdoor clothing and gear) to get information on hiking, but the woman didn't speak English and they didn't have any literature in English.
We went back to the room about 1PM, made sandwiches and left to do a walk along the beach and then up to the top of Monte Igueldo to get a panoramic view of San Sebastian and the surrounding area with the Cantabrian Sea on one side and the mountains on the other. There is a small amusement park at the top of Monte Igueldo (closed this time of year) and there is a funicular (opened in 1912), which runs from the beach area up to the top. The funicular was also closed this time of year, and we wanted to walk up there for the exercise anyhow.
We got back to the room about 6PM and just read and slept a bit until it was time to go back out about 8PM. We went to check out information at a hiking club located neear our pension, which is staffed starting at 8PM in the evening, but there was a sign oper the doorbell listing a differnt address further away. We decided to skip it this evening and went to get some dinner. I had some pretty decent cheese tortellini, and we were going to walk some more after dinner, but it started raining so we just went back to the room.
10/28: Today we set off early to find out about a place we want to visit to do some hiking. We got the 8AM bus to Aia which stopped at Orio (another place with hiking) along the way. We got there just after 9AM and had no idea where tourtist information was, and it is a very small town where few people speak English. We walked up a hill towards what we thought was the center, and asked a man who had been on the bus if he spoke English. He didn't, but he tried to help us by directing us to a pension (a place to stay in the area). Then we went in a store and asked if anyone spoke English, and no one did but the owner directed to us to a tourist information place, and we met Itziar, a woman who spoke some English.
We stayed for about 20 minutes talking with her (she had been to Boston twice) and we got some maps for hiking in the area. She also told us about a few places we could check out to stay in. We decided we would come back to Aia on Thursday, so we made plans with Itziar to meet up with her again (maybe for cooffee after work on Thursday). I think she liked practicing her English on us, and we liked trying to talk with her in Spanish.
We left the tourist office to ask about staying for 4 nights at one of the places Itziar recommended. It was a country house about 300 meters outside of the center of town. There was an older woman in the yard, so we asked "pension?" and she said "si." We asked if we could stay 4 nights starting on Thursday and she said no problem with Thursday and Friday but we couldn't stay Saturday and Sunday. She was so nice, and she called her daughter to help us. Unfortunately, the daughter didn't speak English either, but between the 4 of us we managed to have a conversation. The daughter ended up phoning another house just down the road and told us how we could get there, and they have a room for the 4 nights we wanted. We walked to the next place, Orortegi, and we made reservations for Thursday through Sunday. The owner spoke a few English words and with our limited Spanish, we all understood each other, and told him we would be back around 10AM on Thursday. All the houses have names, like Orortegi, just like the hotels have names, and they are shown on the maps by their names.
We left Orortegi and went to find the Iturraran Visitors Center to get information on the Pagoeta Naure Reserve, where we want to do some hiking. It is a protected reserve covering 1,335 acres with museums, natural areas and nature walks.
We headed down the road and realized we would basically would have to walk through the yard of another house, Argin, to get to the trail to the Visitor Center. An older woman (and her 4 cats) were out in the yard, so we asked her if it was okay to go through to the trail, and if it was the right way to the Visitor Center. Well, she didn't speak English either, but she chatted away to us and she got her walking stick and started walking down the trail with us.
It was a steep, muddy trail past her cows and their shed, but she seemed to enjoy being with us, and she led us all the way down to Agorregi Forge, which was built in 1754. There was a hydraulic system which carried river water to the forge by means of a canal system, and then a water wheel activiated various parts of the forge - the bellow and mallet, and grinding wheels. The forge is only opened on weekends this time of year so we will come back on Saturday or Sunday.
From the Forge, Shari and I walked up to the Visitor Center and we lucked out again. The place wasn't even supposed to be open to visitors but there was a young woman there who said she would help us, and she gave us some information about guided tours on the weekend, and on a 29 kilometer hike from Aia to Ernio that we may do on Friday.
We are both really looking forward to spending some time in Aia. We can do a lot of hiking in the nature reserve and to the other towns (Zarautz and Getaria) around there. The place we are staying is very roomy. Our room is big and has its own bathroom, a living room area and a big kitchen/eating area so we can cook all our own meals. The only other people we saw staying there today ware a young couple with a young son (maybe two years old).
After we left the Visitor Center, we had to walk back down the path and then up the other side of the hill to get back to Aia. We quickly stopped back at the Tourist Information Center to tell Itziar where we would be staying, and then we got the 1PM bus back to San Sebastian.
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