We’ve just started our “Basque Country Adventure.” I noted last time that we didn’t actually plan to have any serious adventures per se, but our arrival at San Sebastián airport turned out to be more adventuresome than expected.
Dinner in Barajas
We arrived in Madrid yesterday and stayed one night in the small town of Barajas, next door to Madrid International airport. Hotel shuttles run between Barajas and the airport 24-7. If you fly into Madrid and have a one-night layover, spending an evening in Barajas is a nice option.
After having snacks and drinks at a tapas bar, we moved on to find someplace to have dinner. We had walked passed a restaurant called La General that looked good, so we went back to check it out.
La General, (located on Avenida General), is a casual restaurant with an eclectic menu. Dinner options range from salmon poke to mango curry chicken. And – they make their own bread. Who would have thought there’d be a place like this in the little pueblo of Barajas? Dinner was excellent.
On to San Sebastián!
The next morning, rested up and ready to go, we made a fresh start. The plan for the day was to fly to San Sebastián, rent a car at the airport, then drive to St. Jean de Luz.
We took a hotel shuttle to the airport, then made the hour-and-ten-minute flight to San Sebastián. Another nice flight. Iberia is two for two.
The airport at San Sebastián is tiny. San Sebastián isn’t a small city, but its airport seems to be in the middle of nowhere. Our plane was the only arrival at the time, and the only people in the airport were passengers who were on it.
I had reserved a car to pick up at the airport, so after collecting our bags we walked towards where the rental car offices were located. We found an office for every rental car company except for the one I had reserved with.
I was sure I’d reserved a car to be picked up at the airport. I’m usually careful about that detail. Oh well.
At that point I would have used another rental car company, but they were all closed. The rental car area was deserted, and now so was the rest of the airport.
We’ll Just Take a Taxi
Taxi drivers know flight arrival times. They’d been lined up, waiting to pick up arriving passengers. We were the last ones to go outside where people were being picked up.
There had been only so many taxis. When the last taxi loaded up and pulled out, four of us – two couples – were left to wait to see if any more taxis were going to show up. We waited for what seemed to be quite a while. (Although it probably wasn’t that long).
Finally one lone taxi showed up. The other couple had been there first, so it was theirs. Who knows how long it would be before another one showed up?
The taxi was small, but I decided to ask if we could ride with them anyway. We’d pay the fare. It didn’t matter where they were going. It had to be closer to civilization than out here at this remote little airport.
They didn’t hesitate to say, “Sure! Come with us.” Phew.
We tried to explain to the driver that we were going to separate destinations. It was tough going. The language barrier was impenetrable.
Tough Negotiations
Finally, he got it. He pulled out a notepad and had us write down our destinations. It didn’t help that my destination wasn’t a specific address, just a rental car office wherever.
The other couple was nice. We had a good conversation along the way. When we arrived at their hotel, we all got out to settle up. The other couple wanted to pay half of the fare, and the driver saw it that way too, I think. But the numbers weren’t adding up.
The other passenger and I looked at each other. Was this guy trying to charge us double?
Out came the notepad again. Lots of scribbling ensued. A bit of math. The driver was getting upset. Finally, we got it settled. Turns out that we were all saying the same thing the whole time. It should have been simple, but it was rough going.
A rental car office was close by. The driver let us out and told us we’d find a rental car office in a big nondescript building across the street. He said we’d already paid and didn’t owe him anything. (That part, I understood without difficulty!)
I gave him a decent tip. He smiled for the first time, then took off. We hoped there really was a rental car company in that building somewhere.
To be continued…
Photo of a taxi in Madrid. This wasn’t our taxi, but ours looked just like this one. Credit: TkKurikawa/istockphoto
