As soon as class was over on Friday, we all hopped in Manny's van and headed up to San Sebastian in the Basque Country part of Spain. It took a little over 4 hours to get there, but it was a beautiful drive up.
We dropped our bags off and then headed into town. We walked around just a little bit; it was pretty cold outside. We stopped at a traditional Basque restaurant for dinner. I had one of the best steaks I've ever enjoyed. For dessert, I tried a regional speciality. I wish I knew what it was called! It reminded me of a creme brulee but was even better. Such a delicious meal.
As we checked into the Mercure Monte Igueldo which was beautiful. This welcome sign inside our room made us laugh. Apparently, we are demanding guests.
The view of the city from our room at night was stunning!
Sunrise the next morning was just as amazing! It was so cool to watch the fog roll over the city and into the sea.
Most of Saturday was spent in a marriage conference that was led by Ron and Randy. We enjoyed learning from them, and Ryan helped with their technology. Over lunch, Manny took several people to lunch, but we opted instead to walk around the city and see more of it. This city is gorgeous! In this picture, that's our hotel up on top of the hill.
We found our way to jamon bocadillos and enjoyed them in a little park. We sat near this pavilion which gave off major Mary Poppins vibes.
We discovered a nearby farmers market and treated ourselves to churro donuts. Because, why not? We also found an adorable and colorful candy shop. They have a great little shopping district here.
After eating and exploring for awhile, it was time to make our way back to the conference for the afternoon session. We stumbled upon a high school football game, so we enjoyed watching it for a little while until it was just about time for the conference to begin. What a fun way to spend the afternoon.
After the conference was over, we ended up going back to the same restaurant as the previous night. Not a problem at all as we all just ordered different dishes (with the same dessert though!). We enjoyed walking around for a little bit afterwards, and then we headed on back to the hotel. Unfortunately, it was time for Ryan and me to pack up. Early the next morning, we headed to the train station. It took about three hours, but we made it back to Madrid. We dropped our bags off and went back to downtown. We were so surprised at how many more people were in the squares; it was packed! We assumed it was because it was the weekend instead of the weekday. We were honestly a little tired at this point, so we bought another round of Napolitana de Chocolate to have as our dinner for the night, and then we bought two jamon bocadillos to have for breakfast the next morning. We had to take quite a bit of time to repack all our bags as we had been gone for 2.5 weeks at this point! We got everything settled though and headed to bed for the night. The next morning came early, but an Uber took us the airport for the ride home. We had a layover in NYC at JFK airport and then headed to Atlanta. It was so wonderful to be home and be with our girls again!
This was the trip of a lifetime for us. What a fantastic way to celebrate our 20th anniversary and then serve a ministry in another part of the world. We are so grateful we had this opportunity!
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