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Museum of Fine Art


We went to the Museum of Fine Art today which was only about 3 minutes from our hotel.

The museum is housed in an old mansion, and was free to enter which was a bonus and we were almost the only people there.


Vitoria - amazing little people on the outside of a church building


San Sebastian conference center


There is a very strange building which we think is the conference center - it basically has no windows but it lights up at night.

This was taken from outside the hotel but we got a similar view from our room.

Last dinner in San Sebastian


For our last dinner we did a search on TripAdvisor to look for somewhere recommended and not too expensive.

We found on the list at #24 of 655 places place called La Cuchara de San Telmo 

It was a tiny little place with only standing room either at the bar or a little counter on the other side of the room although there was a few tables outside. 

Standing room only

Suckling Pig

Pulpo or Octopus

Foie Gras with an apple sauceBeef Cheek


The food was all yummy - well recommended - All up with a couple of wines it was 21 euro.

A few views over the bay of Concha


This is a view from down at the waterfront on the edge of the old town.

This is from the same location as the first image but about 90 degrees to the right.

This was from my walk to the top of the hill (Pam went shopping - not keen on steps)

This is taken from Castillo de La Mota - sansebastianturismo.com

This is taken a bit further around over looking the little island of Santa Clara

Overlooking the river and our hotel


Olite - Parador


The view from the main entrance to the Parador Olite and the view looking back at the main entrance.


The view from our room in the Parador OliteWe had nice room overlooking a vineyard and part of the castle.

Dinner at Sirimiri


I had put a post on TripAadvisor about what we should pay for Pintxos wile in San Sebastian and got a few replies along with recommendations on where we should eat.

So we went on the hunt for the places and found that 2 of them were closed - one until tomorrow but the other for 3 nights by which time we will have moved on and that one looked good and cheapish for the quality of the food.

Pam had done her own research and we ended up at  place call Sirmiri - http://sirimirigastroleku.com/

This was a small little place that was quite busy and had some Pintxos on the bar along with a menu of things we could buy. We decided to not grab anything from the bar but order from the menu - good choice in the end.

I guess they want you to enjoy the place and not waste your time on the phone   

We ordered 2 dishes and a couple of drinks. The first dish above was scallop and pork neck and was lovely.

The second dish was Octopus with a green sauce and was also delicious and very tender. The octopus was very easy to eat and not rubbery as is often the case.

The last dish was a lamb dish which we ordered later as the previous two were so great. The lamb was so tender and lovely it made us want to reproduce this dish at home. It was also very cute delivered in a little fry-pan.

All up 3 dishes + 2 drinks was about 20 euro.

We would recommend this restaurant to anyone, top notch.

Leaving Olite for San Sebastion


We had to leave Olite today after only 2 nights to go to San Sebastion. We had booked tickets from Oilite to Castejón which meant we were going backwards as we could not catch a train directly from Olite to San Sebastion.

The train arrived at 8:22 exactly as time, this was a regional train in tourist class which meant no seat allocation. The train was not too busy so no problem there.

We had to go back the way we had come a few days earlier and get out at Castejón - this was a rather quiet place that we had to spend 90 odd minutes waiting for our next train.

There was only 5 people there - Pam & I, a security guard, the guy selling the tickets, and another guy who seemed to just get some newspapers from one train and deliver them to the next train.

We tried to ask which platform our train would leave from but they did not speak English but we thought they said platform #1 which turned out to be correct.

So this train left Castejón at 10:30 and by 11:00 we just went past Olite on the way to San Sebastion 3 hours are arriving at the Olite station.

There was lots of tunnels and little towns nestled in the valley floors along the way.

We got out in San Sebastion and caught a taxi to our Hotel which was only about 5-8 minutes from the station for just under 6 euro.

Barcelona to Olite


We left Barcelona quite early with plenty of time to get to the train station - Barcelona Sants

It cost about 11 Euro for the taxi and the station was clean and tidy. It is the first train station that scans your luggage as you enter. You do not get scanned just the luggage.

We then waited for the gate to open (like an airport) so we had a coffee - it was horrible.

About 20 minutes prior to departure (like an airport) we were allowed to board (like an airport) the train.

We found our coach quite easily and took up our seats ready for the 3 hour journey to Tafalla.

Time passed quite quickly as parts of the trip were very fast and some not so fast.

We arrived in Tafalla about 12:50pm right on time - it was pretty quiet with no Taxis outside the train station. We knew where the taxi rank was so we headed off in the direction to find it.

No taxis there - but there was a man selling magazines & papers right next door so we asked him about the taxis. He came and showed us the telephone numbers for the taxis and he went back to his little shop.

So we were about the dial on of the taxis and he came back and said that there are no taxis and we should catch the bus which was in an hour.

I knew about the bus and tried to book it on a web site called Bus Bud but I could not book it. We asked the man about buying a ticket on the bus and he said yes so that was good. We had almost an hour to wait so we went and got a beer. There was a few tables filled with families having lunch so I went into the bar and asked for 2 beers - the man was not very friendly. His pouring of beers was rather piss pour as well with one beer filled up and the other about 75% and a lot of froth.

So we sat and had the beer and Pam bought two Pintxos for us to nibble. I said get the Squid or the Octopus, she came back with an anchovy and a potato croquet.

Since the place did not seems very good we decided to go and sit as the bus stop across the road. While sitting there i thought this is the wrong side of the road as the traffic was going into town and not out of town. Pam went and dbl checked with the friendly man from the paper shop and we crossed the road to the correct side. We were there only a few minutes when a bus showed up and I went inside and asked if it went to Olite and he said yes. So the 12:58 bus tuned up at about 12:40pm. Lucky we were waiting as the next was not until after 5pm and no taxis.

The journey from Tafalla to Olite is only  5km, it took about 7 minutes. We got off when others did as Olite was the first stop. We first thought maybe we go the wrong stop as it was 500 meters from the hotel. But no this was the correct stop - a long way from the old town with your bags.


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