Winter Festivities

The holiday season finally came to a close in San Sebastian. First there was Tres Reyes (January 6), aka Three Kings Day or the Epiphany, which celebrates the end of the 12 days of Christmas when the three kings arrived with gifts for baby Jesus. This is when Spanish children get most of their presents. But here in San Sebastian the festivities don’t end until January 20 with La Tamborrada, the city’s saint day and annual 24-hour drumming festival.

It is our first winter in San Sebastian in three years, after traveling the past two, so we have been readjusting to wintertime. Thankfully, the weather has been relatively mild so far. One of our favorite things to do is walk on the shoreline at low tide and see all the dogs enjoying the beach, as they aren’t allowed during the summer season. We’ve enjoyed several stellar walks, including one in mid-December with warm, beautiful conditions.

For Jeff’s birthday last week, we visited another favorite place, the Villa Antilla Hotel in Orio. Not only did we enjoy the spa’s water circuit, but the stay gave us the opportunity to be away the night of January 19, when the drumming starts at midnight and keeps going until midnight on the 20th. The weather on the 19th in Orio was stunning and we enjoyed a lovely walk near the beach.

We returned to San Sebastian on the 20th to enjoy the musical spectacle. Our friend Angela, who is American, had joined a newly formed Tamborrada group that had the perfect route and time to march – midday along the La Concha pathway. Many Tamborradas are a fraught affair, with cold, rainy, windy weather, but this year’s weather was perfect. Our apartment sits directly above a popular pedestrian street where a group played about every 30 minutes, validating our decision to spend the night away.

We stopped in at Constitution Plaza, the most prestigious place to play during the festival, to see my yoga teacher’s group perform.

This year’s event set new records for participation, both by children and adults. (The kids’ groups have a parade at midday.) This local tradition is in no danger of going away.

The music stopped around 10:30 pm where we live, which was helpful, other than the one random person that continued banging away on their own for a bit longer. We were able to sleep eventually.

This weekend we were out and about, and although the weather was less than ideal for us, we still enjoyed walking along the coastal path, while surfers took advantage of the waves in the La Concha Bay below, which is not normally a surf spot.

Winter’s pleasures will mostly be enjoyed locally. The cider season has opened and we’re looking forward to some adventures close to home, while planning out next trips.

Hasta pronto,

Shana & Jeff

Paris: City of (Christmas) Lights

Based on our last post, you might think that we spent all our time in Paris in museums, but that was not the case. Unlike the visit where we did 5 museums in 5 days, this time we only did four, which still left us plenty of time to enjoy the city’s holiday vibe, good food and wine, and visit some Christmas markets, as well as the newly reopened Notre Dame.

Of course, Notre Dame was the hottest “ticket” in town. Recognizing the high demand the reopening would create, a timed entry system was put in place. Slots disappeared quickly, so we enlisted help to get an entry time as new opportunities became available at midnight here when we’re asleep. We were grateful for the west coast assistance! Ironically, when we showed up for our 9 am entry, we waltzed right in without having to show our passes! We did see that the entry plaza became a mob scene in the afternoon though.

The renovation is worth seeing. Recalling that Notre Dame seemed quite dark inside, especially at the back, the revelation is how light and colorful it is now.

While Notre Dame is impressive, in the end, the people and techniques behind the renovations are most fascinating.

The Christmas markets can be fun, and we ventured out to La Defense – Paris’s modern “downtown,” which hosts one of the bigger markets. It was so crowded that we didn’t stick around long. The same was true at the Tuileries Garden market. This was not unexpected as it was only a few days before Christmas.

Having read that the Jardin des Plantes has a fantastic light show, which this year was Jurassic themed, we thought it would be fun. While it is certainly festive, and we enjoyed being outside despite the chill, it was underwhelming.

Oh well, as we say, they can’t all be winners.

Paris has become a favorite destination. There are still plenty of places we have yet to see – including more museums. We’ll see what or who brings us to Paris in 2025.

Happy New Year,

Shana & Jeff