basque police officers make great tour guides

Did i mention we made friends with 3 san sebastian police officers? We did... Mickey, Joxean, and Aitor... (basque names)... they are so nice and have taken us all over the place.



Last week, they drove us up the coast to these itty bitty seaside basque towns. all the towns smelled like fish, had colorful little buildings along the water, and stretches of sand with nude locals.



one place we went had a ¨road¨ leading from the shore out to an island in the middle of the water.. when the tide is out, it is shallow enough to carefully walk across (as moss and sea urchins have grown all over it)... While making our way to the island, i remember feeling so surreal. It was beautiful... i felt like i was inside a painting of some wonderfully talented Creator. And then remembered, i was.



Later that day we went to another city that is famous for its own island....



There is a bridge that take you across to the island followed by 239 stairs that take you to the tippy top!!!



Sitting at the very top is a beautiful church from the 1300s.



my friends and i were practically the only people there.... we kept ringing the church bell, taking it all in, and exhausting our tour guides by handing them multiple cameras every 5 seconds. it was just before sunset... the view from there was stunning. It probably would have been my favorite stop if it weren't for my bias...

:::my favorite stop:::

on our way back to san sebastian, we made one final stop in a little seaside town called, Mundaka. This is where my grammy was born and raised before she moved to New York as a young teenager!! Today, this quiet little town boasts one of the longest waves in the world... making it extremely popular in the surfing world. Surfers aside, there's not many tourists. It's very small with generations of families occupying its little streets and old homes. i've never had a chance to do anything like that before -- that is, sought out my family roots like that, and im so glad i did! it was a very cool experience. (next stop, beirut, lebanon. time to explore my grampy´s family history.)

love you all mucho mas,
melodia de gozo