The Spain Wandering - Day 4: San Sebastian

During our first breakfast at Rural Farmhouse Eketxe, the B&B where we're staying while near Hondarribia, we had us a visitor.

We then drove over to the nearby town of San Sebastian primarily to find a bookstore that sold paper maps for trip planning.  Having secured one, we wandered over to a nearby church: San Vicente.

The pics of the outside that we took just didn't turn out.  We were way too close to the church, hemmed in by buildings on all sides.  Instead, here a model of the church that Martha found inside:

After the church we went walking the seaside boardwalk:

We then checked out the STM:  San Telmo Museum

It's a museum Basque History and Culture.  The concrete shell encloses an old church which houses the exhibits.  We found this museum to be excellent, by the way, worth the visit if you're ever in San Sebastian.

The main altar area displays of artwork were of a style new to both of us and quite impressive:

Basque history displays resulted in today's moto content.  Sorry, not sure what the significance was of these items, but apparently they were signs of the industrialization and modernization of the region.

     

1957 Velosolex Orbea manufactured under license.

Warfare in terms of weapons and art work:

The King Taken Prisoner

The King Liberated

1596-1599

Battle of Belate

Augusta Peace

The requisite gothic stone work in the ceilings of the inner hallways surrounding a central grassy plaza

Lots of paintings and some statues, these are the paintings that caught my eye:

Fiesta de la Cofraida de Azada

Accidente Ferroviaro 

Padre y Hijo

Patio de un Parador

Paisaje Arqueologico

 Lucha de Perros y Lobos

Carniceria

Vista de Segovia

A little more wandering after the museum, following Martha around as she did a little shopping.

Spotted this UPS delivery vehicle which must work pretty well for the narrow streets of old Spanish town centers:

By this time, close to 3Pm, the weather had become heavily overcast with light rain sprinkles.

We returned to the car and drove back to Hondarribia for a light dinner.

Returning to the B&B, we had a chance to meet a remarkable young man by the name of Jakes (Basque version of James I am told).  He was born blind but despite this and some other issues he's become a tri-linguist (Spanish, English and Basque), plays the piano to compete and win national contests, and swims distances such as 40 laps on a 25 meter pool.

He rides a horse without someone holding the reins; instead relying on the sound of bells from the lead horse and voice directions from his grandfather to the rear on his own horse.

He's 16 years old and despite his disabilities, doesn't let anything stop him from trying new things according to the caretakers that had brought him for a visit to the B&B owners.  The owners have known the boy's family and him for a couple of generations apparently.  

Such a great attitude towards life, Martha and I were awed.  We were fortunate to have been guests and to have the opportunity to meet Jakes.

So ends day 4 of the wandering.  Stay tuned to see where we go tomorrow.