Donostia

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<tr><td align="center" colspan="2">Image:Panorama Donostia Kontxako.jpg</td></tr> <tr><td align="center" colspan="2" style="background:#ffffff;">Image:Donostia (San Sebastian), Spain location.png
Location of Donostia-San Sebastian in Spain </td></tr>

Donostia

Image:San Sebastian bandera.JPG	Image:San Sebastian Escudo.jpg
Flag	Coat of Arms

Location

Coordinates : 43º 19' 17 n. 1º 59' 8 w.
Time Zone : CET (GMT +1)
- summer: CEST (GMT +2)

General information

Native name

Donostia (Basque)

Spanish name

San Sebastian

<tr><td>Nickname</td><td>La bella Easo</td></tr><tr><td>Founded</td><td>1180</td></tr><tr><td>Postal code</td><td>200XX</td></tr><tr><td>Area code</td><td>34 (Spain) + 943 (San Sebastian)</td></tr><tr><td>Website</td><td>http://www.donostia.org/</td></tr>

Administration

Country

Spain

Autonomous Community

Basque Country

Province

Guipuscoa

<tr><td>Comarca</td><td>San Sebastian</td></tr>

Mayor

Odón Elorza (PSOE)

Geography

Land Area

60,89 km²

Altitude

6 m AMSL

Population

Population

182,930 (2005)

Density

3,004 hab./km² ()

Image:CIMG0123.JPG

Image:San Sebastian Maria Cristina.JPG

See also San Sebastian (disambiguation)

Donostia-San Sebastian (Basque: Donostia, Spanish: San Sebastián, known officially as Donostia-San Sebastián), is the capital city of the province of Guipuscoa, in the Spanish autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its population is 182,930 (2005 estimate).

1 History
2 Recreation
3 Culture
4 Twin Cities
5 External links

The city is located in the northeast of Spain, on the southern coast of the Bay of Biscay, close to the French border. San Sebastian's picturesque coastline makes it a popular beach resort.

[edit] History

1014 The monastery of St. Sebastian, in the term of Ernani is donated to the Abbey of Leire by Sancho III of Pamplona.
1150 The city is chartered (given fuero) by king Sancho VI of Pamplona, having jurisdiction over all the territory between the rivers Oria and Bidasoa.
1200 The city is conquered by Castile, whose king Alfonso VIII, confirms its fuero.
1656 The city is used as the royal headquarters during the marriage of the Infanta to Louis XIV at Hendaye nearby.
1728 The foundation of the "Real Compañía Guipuzcoana de Caracas" boosts commerce with the Americas.
1808 Napoleonic forces capture San Sebastian in the Peninsular War.
1813 On 31st August, British and Portuguese troops besieging San Sebastian defeat French occupying troops. The relieving troops lost all self-control and burnt down the city, in spite of the fact that the inhabitants were anti-French. Only the street at the foot of the hill (now called 31st August Street) remains.
1813 The city is rebuilt in the same spot but with a slightly altered layout, but architecturally in much the same style.
1833 British volunteers under Sir George de Lacy Evans defend the city against Carlist attack. Their fallen are buried at the "English Cemetery" on Monte Urgull.
1863 The city walls are demolished (their remains are visible in the underground carpark at the Boulevarde) and an expansion of the city begins.
1936 The military coup is defeated by a CNT counter uprising, who, together with other labor unions, take control of it.
1937 The province falls to Falangist forces in the Spanish Civil War, who now take reprisals against the UGT.
1953 The St. Sebastian International Film Festival begins.

[edit] Recreation

Donostia-San Sebastian is the home city of the Primera División football (soccer) club Real Sociedad. The city's Anoeta Stadium also hosts rugby union matches featuring Biarritz Olympique

[edit] Culture

Every year on 20 January (the feast of Saint Sebastian) the people of San Sebastian celebrate a festival known as the "Tamborrada". At midnight in the Konstituzioa plaza in the "Alde Zaharra/Parte Vieja" (old city), the mayor raises the flag of San Sebastián, and during 24 hours the entire city is awash with the sound of drums. The adults dress as cooks and soldiers and march around the city. They march all night with their cook hats and white aprons with the March of San Sebastián. The origin of this custom is said to be that Spanish tradesmen, including cooks, mocked the occupying French army during the Napoleonic wars, by aping their daily procession from Monte Urgull to the water-pump at San Telmo. Later, the procession was developed when Vicente "Txiki" Buenechea donated barrels to be used as drums for the procession. Adults usually have dinner in "Sociedades", which provide elements of the procession, and which traditionally were only admitted for males. Nowadays even the strictest ones allow women on the "Noche de la Tamborrada". They eat very sophisticated meals cooked by themselves, mostly composed of seafood (traditionally elver, now no longer served due to its exorbitant price) and drink the best wines. For "Donostiarras" this is the most celebrated festival of the year. After hearing drums all night children wake up with a version of the Tamborrada for kids. Children dress traditionally as soldiers and march around the city. Children from all the schools of San Sebastián march that day. They have their specific costumes which usually represent a particular country (England, Germany, Romania, etc.)

A festival called Semana Grande in Spanish and Aste Nagusia in Basque ("Big/Main Week") is held every year in August. There is a fireworks competition in which every night there is a fireworks presentation over the bay, and at the end, a winner is declared.

San Sebastian is known for its Basque cuisine and pintxos (tapas) and restaurant district near the port.

The most important Spanish international film festival is held in this city, the Donostia-San Sebastian International Film Festival