……….and headed towards San Sebastián in the north was the plan for the day. We took off around 9:30 because it was a 5-6 hour drive and the weather wasn’t looking great……….cloudy, rainy and a high of 12 degrees…….yuk! But no problem really as getting out of Madrid was easy and although we stayed off the super-duper highway the secondary highway was great. We had an apartment booked in San Sebastián through air bnb and Saint GPS brought us right to the doorway where we met Carol, from San Francisco, although she’s been here for 30 years. She was great and gave us all the info we needed and then offered to drive us into San Sebastián as we were sick of driving and needed to pick up a few things……..OK, it was beer and wine! Given that it was such a rainy, wet day we decided to pick up some quick stuff for supper and some wine, of course, and settle in for the night. It is worth mentioning here that one of the top ten restaurants in the world according to Michelin, called Arzak, is a five minute walk from our apartment.  Apparently you have to book way in advance for a meal and our host informed that on a Saturday night it would be  impossible to get in without a reservation.   She said she hasn’t been in years but that our guidebook would be accurate when it quotes between $210-240 per person.  To make matters worse it is closed on Sundays, thank God says Jim!  We googled Arzak, San Sebastián for more reviews through trip advisor because from the outside it looks like nothing but sounds like it’s fabulous in the kitchen.  Anyway we settled  in for the night and are  hoping that the rain stops and that the sun shines by morning. The plan is a hike to the beach, followed by a hike into San Sebastián and a walk around the city and by the end of the day find a great restaurant for a wonderful Spanish meal. When I told Carol, our host’s friend, that we were looking for some great Spanish food she said you mean ‘great Basque food’ and I just nodded my head. It’s important to know what you’re looking for and to understand the political climate. Stay tuned and touch base tomorrow.