The Dog Days of Summer aka August

 

August began by celebrating our friend Angela’s birthday. Her apartment is the perfect place to watch the sunset, an activity that is always better with friends and wine. She hosted a fabulous evening, and we had a beautiful sunset (which is not always guaranteed).

Angela is our stand-up paddleboard buddy and we’ve enjoyed some good times on boards this summer. Being out on the bay is always a perfect summer moment and a great way to beat the heat.

We had our second repeat visitor last week, our nephew David. His visit coincided with Semana Grande, a terrific time to be here. With the nightly fireworks, concerts, and other options, it was a fun visit.

We liked watching the volleyball tournament a lot. As usual, the fireworks were a highlight. One night, David and I went to watch them from the beach. That helped confirm that watching them from our apartment is optimal. While you may miss some of the beach level fireworks, you avoid the overwhelming crowds. You can decide – the photo on the left is the view from the beach, the one on the right is from our balcony:

We planned a day in San Jean de Luz, but David woke up not feeling well. We went and enjoyed the day, including a bit of shopping at the local food market, while he slept. We get local, kilometer zero produce here, yet somehow the produce in France is always superior. While walking along the boardwalk, we noticed this quintessential French beach picnic – note the fresh baguettes protected by the umbrella:

Thankfully David recovered quickly, and we continued with the fun, including a sunset and lots of card games:

What we enjoyed most was David’s company and his perspective on the world and politics, especially since he had spent the prior week in Italy at the Revolutionary Communist International World Congress. We also tried some different restaurants because David is vegan, which was easy enough to accommodate but took us off the beaten path.

Oddly, we didn’t post about David’s first visit in September of 2021. Upon reviewing our late summer/early fall posts from 2021, we think it’s because his visit was sandwiched between our epic August trip to Ireland, the film festival, and a trip to the US in September. So, he’s finally getting his due now.  

One final note: in our last post we featured the Bilbao bullfight artwork. San Sebastian’s was creative, but not as good. Here they are side by side:

I learned that supposedly the bullfights during Semana Grande in the Basque Country do not end with the bull’s death, rather they are more of a celebration of the art of bullfighting. But this does not make us any more likely to go see a bullfight as it is still a bloody affair.

We are now in prep mode for an upcoming trip to the US and then the Galapagos. Perhaps during our US visit we’ll remember to take a few photos – something we are often remiss in doing. You can be sure there will be plenty of photos from the islands!

Stay cool,

Shana & Jeff

A Tale of Two Music Festivals

This year, San Sebastian's Jazzaldia and the Bilbao Blues Festival partially overlapped. Fortunately, we were able to see music here during the week, before heading to Bilbao for the weekend.

For Jazzaldia, we had tickets to see The Beach Boys' Sound of Summer Tour. The concert was very fun as they played many of their hits (who knew they wrote that many songs about surfing?), along with covers of other songs mostly from the 60's. I wouldn't say they sounded great as Mike Love and Bruce Johnson are in their 80's, but it was definitely worth seeing. John Stamos appeared with the band, which was a bonus as he is a lively performer and a super fan of the group. The videos they showed demonstrated how central The Beach Boys have been to US culture for over 60 years. They also included a lovely tribute to the recently passed Brian Wilson.

Right after The Beach Boys, we went and saw Jaime Cullum perform a free concert on the beach, which was fabulous. There were lots of people on the sand, but we sat on the wall at the side of the beach where we could hear very well without having to deal with the crowd.

Finally, on Friday evening, we went to a free concert by a band from Romania (of all places) called JazzyBIT. There was a fairly large crowd, and for a band we had never heard of before, we really enjoyed their music.

On Saturday morning, we took the bus to Bilbao and headed out to watch Spanish Rockabilly star Al Dual. He was very good, and we were not surprised to learn that he is a member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame in Nashville (although we were a bit surprised to learn that there is a Rockabilly Hall of Fame).

Afterwards, we went to lunch at a fantastic Asian fusion restaurant, Kimtxu. And, while we usually don't include photos of food, the duck and mushroom cannelloni was as impressive aesthetically, as it was to eat.

Saturday night, we saw Jimmie Vaughan, the brother of Stevie Ray Vaughan, perform. Unfortunately, we were less than impressed with his set, and left early, but it was a beautiful night, so it was great to just be outside.

Sunday morning, before the concerts, we went to the Guggenheim Museum to see exhibitions by two American artists: Barbara Kruger and Helen Frankenthaler. Kruger's work is very political and based on words. I am not sure how much I "like" the art, but the messages definitely resonated.

In many ways, Frankenthaler, whose exhibition is called "Painting Without Rules," is the opposite of Kruger -- abstract painting with no obvious political intent. The painting below is titled "Tutti Fruti," which was quite a contrast to Kruger's above piece about war.

While we were at the museum, we also got a couple of photos of art that we have previously seen. Clas Oldenberg and his wife Coosje van Bruggen's oversized soft shuttlecock (which we've now shown from multiple angles), and Jeff Koons' Puppy, probably the most popular permanent exhibit at the museum.

After the museum, we saw Delanie Pickering, a young American blues artist from the northeast. She was amazing! Definitely someone to watch. We also enjoyed Martin Burguez and His Rhythm Combo before heading to a Morrocan restaurant for lunch, which had a terrific menu and confirmed our desire to travel there in 2026.

As usual, we had a great time listening to the many variations of blue music performed (all for free), and enjoyed eating at the more diverse offerings of Bilbao. Shana also really appreciated the advertisments for the bull fights that will take place in Bilbao during their Semana Grande later this month, featuring a very creative use of the Bilbao metro's Norman Foster designed entrances.

 

More about our continuing summer adventures soon.

Jeff and Shana

Eight Years, and Counting

Today, July 25, marks 8 years since we arrived in San Sebastian. And counting, because in two more years we can seek Spanish citizenship. Doing so is not something we planned to do when we arrived, but now that it’s not that long to go, we would say that it is fairly certain that we will do it. We have never regretted our decision to move here, not even for a minute. So, why wouldn’t we seek the advantages of being dual nationals?

We continue to be enthralled by the Basque region, culture and people. Just last weekend I went to see a mini concert of the city’s Txistulari band, made up primarily of txistu players.  The txistu is a vertical recorder, typical of the Basque Country, with three holes that are played with the left hand. This band plays every Sunday morning on the street below where we live and also at various city events. We think it sounds a bit like a fife and drum band from the American revolution.

Note that some of the musicians play two instruments at a time – the txistu with the left hand, and a drum or tambourine with the right. While the crowd was small, the enthusiasm was genuine. It was delightful to watch young children dancing with their parents and grandparents.

Living in such a small city with most everything within walking distance makes it easy to take advantage of everything on offer, if we choose to do so. On Tuesday, the last day of good weather we had – yes, it’s been raining a lot this week, which we don’t mind – I decided to inflate my inner tube and head to the beach for a float. It was a great decision. One I hope to repeat often during August. This afternoon, we’ll catch one of the free jazz concerts that are part of Jazzaldia. Tomorrow, we head to Bilbao for the Blues Festival there – an annual favorite.

More on the musical summer we’re enjoying soon.

Hasta pronto,

Shana & Jeff

More Satisfied Visitors

After bidding farewell to Bruce Springstein and our Springstein-loving friends, our next visitors arrived just a few days later. Andrew and Karen, with whom we stayed on our trip to Washington, D.C. last year, came for a few days before heading to see the Rioja region and other parts of the Basque country on their own. Then, Andrew returned alone to further explore with us. Note that all of the photos except one are Andrew's, as he is an excellent photographer, and this gave Shana a welcome break from having to play that role.

As always, we were happy to show off San Sebastian, and especially its amazing food options. A pintxos crawl gave us a chance to not only show off the food, but also our ability to correctly pour Basque cider and Txaikoli, the local white wine.

Given how much we love hiking from Zarautz to Getaria for lunch, we repeated that day, which worked out great because we got to try a fish that we had never even heard of before. Although it was very hot, the hike over, part of which runs along the Camino de Santiago, was still beautiful.

Our table had a great view of the beach, which was very crowded given that we were there on a Sunday. In fact, we had never seen Getaria so busy.

Andrew's return allowed us to show off some of the "secondary" sights that we don't get to show to people who come for a shorter visit. First, we went to San Jean de Luz in France for a bit of French culture, history, and food. It was a beautiful day, and we sipped wine while we watched an orchestra perform on the main square (ironically performing two songs by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, a classic US 80's band) before walking around the city and having lunch overlooking the beach in the neighboring town of Ciboure.

Of course, given the extra time, we had to take Andrew to our favorite place in San Sebastian, the Chilida sculpture El Peine del Viento (The Comb of the Wind). The day we visited was a bit overcast and stormy, but in some ways that improves the spot because it is fun to watch the waves crashing among the rocks and the sculpture.

On Andrew's last day, we did another of our favorite things, a boat tour from Zumaia to see/learn about Flysch. It was a beautiful day although the sea was pretty rough making for a fun ride along the cliffs.

After the boat, we had time before lunch to walk down to the main beach, and through a bit of the Geopark to get a closer view of the flysch.

Finally, we almost never see the sunset in San Sebastian during the summer because it does not occur until almost 10:00 pm (thanks Franco!) and we are rarely out that late. But we did see one or two while Andrew and Karen were here, and Andrew went out alone to get photos of others. Here are just two of the best.

Note the difference in the number of people on the beach. On a clear, weekend night, the beach is still crowded at 10 pm, while on a more blustery, weeknight it is virtually empty.

More to come from summer in San Sebastian soon.

Jeff and Shana

Springsteen in the House!

When I learned last October that Bruce Springsteen would be performing in San Sebastian on my birthday, it felt like a sign. We had never seen him perform, had heard for decades how amazing he is, and since he is 75 years old, we knew that if we wanted to see him, 2025 would be the time. I immediately messaged my dear friend Debbie – a true Springsteen fanatic since age 16 – to invite her to come from CA, and she didn’t hesitate in responding, “YES!”

Buying tickets was a stressful process. We managed to secure two tickets on the floor for Debbie and Rebekah, her law school buddy/fellow Springsteen fanatic, and two seats for Jeff and me. Rebekah also secured two seats for the second show that was added as tickets for the first were selling out. The excitement in San Sebastian was palpable. These wouldn’t be the Boss’s first shows here, but they would be the only shows in Spain during this tour.

Debbie & Rebekah arrived on Wednesday evening (June 18) and immediately went to the “roll call” location where they were assigned numbers 163 and 164, which gave them the opportunity to be “on the rail,” or as close to it as possible. The process required them to check in three times per day (10 am/3 pm/7 pm) until the day of the show, when they would have to arrive at 3 pm for the 9 pm concert. Failure to appear meant you lost your place.

Learning this, we were beyond thrilled to have seats and no obligation to do anything but show up. The idea of spending so much time and effort was unimaginable to us. Ultimately there were more than 600 fans with numbers who queued for the opportunity to get in before anyone else. Bruce fans form a serious  community, and Debbie and Rebekah made many new friends and saw others they had met in Cork, Ireland last year.

Fans took over the city; you couldn’t miss seeing them in their concert T-shirts and other regalia. Many of them stalked Bruce and the members of the E Street Band, inside and outside the Hotel Maria Christina – Debbie and Rebekah included. Here they are with Charlie Giordano and Curtis King:

Each day the local paper reported on the Bruce sightings. Overall, he kept a low profile because of the response when he appeared, always with a bodyguard:

In between their checking in, we enjoyed everything San Sebastian has to offer, especially the food:

On the night of the concert, we sent Debbie & Rebekah with a picnic to the stadium, where they spent 3 hours waiting outside with their new besties, then another 3 hours inside in front of the stage. We waltzed in about 20 minutes before showtime. Based on their views of Bruce as he visited “the pit,” one might argue it was worth it:

In contrast, here was our view from the last row of the stadium:

We were perfectly happy where we were, with seats, unobstructed sight lines, a view of how the entire crowd was reacting, and our own space. The show was impressive; they played for just under 3 hours. We would not consider ourselves converts to Team Bruce, but we are pleased that we had the experience, especially since it is possible this could be the last European tour.

The second concert was 3 days later (June 24) – Bruce is smart to rest up between shows. This time Debbie & Rebekah had seats and therefore no further “roll call” obligations. This allowed us to enjoy more outings, including a hike, and more restaurants and shopping.

We went to see the Noche de San Juan celebrations on the 23rd, which marks the beginning of the summer with bonfires. We saw the main celebration in Constitution Plaza, where there was traditional Basque dance around a tree that was later lit on fire, which was then extinguished, and then pieces of the bark were cut and distributed to the crowd. The pieces of wood are considered good luck for the year if you hold on to it.

I had never witnessed this ceremony before, which included the mayor among the dancers. I was happy Debbie and Rebekah got to see it – and get some wood (a unique souvenir).

The second concert was momentous. First, (Little) Stevie Van Zandt did not perform as he was in the hospital recovering from having his appendix removed not long after the first show. Second, they stopped the show, in the middle of a song, due to a thunderstorm. After a 30-minute break, Bruce and the band returned and played the longest set to date. They were more spontaneous and performed several songs that were not previously heard during the tour. Debbie and Rebekah were relieved to have seats, where they were protected from the heat and rain, and could rest their very tired legs and feet during the break.

The energy the Bruce fans brought to the city was eclectic and exciting. Still, I think everyone who lives here was glad to have the city back to “normal” once the Bruce circus moved on.

It was a fabulous visit and a memorable way to celebrate my birthday, shared with old and new friends.

Hasta pronto,

Shana & Jeff