San Sebastian, May 7 - 8

Pension Easo, room 6


We checked into this pension after the train ride from hell, and it was like entering heaven. The room was quite new, with minimal furnishing, crisp white bed linen and a comfy bed. The owner is helpful and there's a resident cat who shows his face occasionally, if you're lucky. The only detraction was that our room looked out onto an internal courtyard, so there wasn't a lot of fresh air. Oh, and there was a fire exit sign in the room that was too bright at night. However, for the price, this represents great value in expensive San Sebastian.

View: Covered internal courtyard
Bathroom: Shared, but spotless.
Cost: 35 euros
Recommended: Definitely

Porto to San Sebastian, May 6

Sud-Express train seat (8 berth compartment), Coach 21, seats 24 and 2


This was a reasonably expensive train journey (via Coimbra) that we needed to make to get to San Sebastian. (Some websites will tell you that there is a bus that makes this journey direct from Porto, however the Porto tourist office telephoned the local bus companies and were told that no such route existed as at May 6 2008 - as this route is mentioned on other websites, we suspect that it has been discontinued, or operates only part of the year.)
We went for seats instead of a sleeper because of the price, and a rash assumption that the seats would recline. They did not. We shared an 8 berth compartment with 2 others, who we dubbed Literary Spaniard and Swarthy Spaniard.
View: Variable
Cost per night: 59 euros each
Notable smells: feet
Recommended? No, only if you're desperate to get to San Sebastian overnight on a budget