San Sebastián’s history is quite different from that of many neighboring cities in Spain’s northeast, giving the city a distinct character. Formed by combining three Basque fishing and whaling towns along the bay into one mega-port city, San Sebastián (pop. 180,000) thrived and became a major seaport but was burned to the ground in 1813 by Anglo-Portuguese forces. And so, instead of a casco antiguo filled with medieval buildings, San Sebastián’s historic center is the parte vieja, whose older constructions come from the French Beaux-Arts and Art Nouveau styles, popular at the end of the 19th century when the city was rebuilt. Even the cathedral is new (relatively speaking—it’s from the 1890s), and the narrow streets of the old quarter are basically on a grid. This newly built city attracted tourists from all over Europe with its sunny beaches (made popular by Queen Isabel II), helping it to become the resort town that it is today. There are still neighborhoods (particularly on the east side of the river) where one can escape the occasionally overwhelming feel of turn-of-the-century opulence, but the beaches are free, so even those traveling on a budget can bask in the sunny luxury of San Sebastián.