Spain 2024-Day 4-San Sebastián

The bus ride was smooth and easy. The new apartment an easy 10 minute walk.

Jon's sister (and dog) were waiting to let us in. We quickly settled in then headed out to explore.

San Sebastian has the feel of a beach resort town, similar to Levanto, Italy, where we had Gem-fest two years ago. The walk along the river is gorgeous and at the beginning of our walk there were many people out strolling, ice cream cups and cones in hand.

We found a bar to grab pintxos and drinks.

More walking, then some gelato.

Then more exploring.

We found one of our first "typical" Spanish plazas from this trip. Bilbao didn't have them that we found, either.

The history of this plaza was intriguing. They held bull fights here!

After reading the history, then we understood the numbers above each dwelling.

We'd been wandering for awhile so decided to find another pintxos spot to wrap up our night.

The weather had turned cold, cloudy, and blustery so we turned toward home, making time to stop in one open church we passed.

Earlier in the day I had asked Buds if he remembered a painting from an Italian church in our pre-child travels that showed a young Jesus helping his carpenter father Joseph.

The art I was thinking of was this one from the Basilica di San Lorenzo in Florence:

I was thrilled to walk into this church here in San Sebastian to find a similar theme:

I find so much of the power of Jesus' life from thinking of him in human form, understanding the fear and hopes of frail, faulty humans. Child Jesus is so very human.

This was a relatively small church, yet it held powerful art and a huge organ.

And this was the first time we'd seen a "tap to donate" option.

The trek home through the darkening clouds to have a visit with Amanda, our Australian housemate, then a good video chat with the kids while they drove home from campus.

Another great day.