Plaza de la Constitucion

Look up at the balconies around this square. Every single one has a number painted on it. Most visitors assume they are apartment numbers. They are not. They are box seat numbers from when this entire plaza was a bullring. Let that sink in for a second -- people watched bulls being fought from their living room balconies, and each balcony was a rentable VIP box. The numbers were never removed.

The square you are standing in was designed by architect Ugartemendia and built in eighteen seventeen, which makes it one of the first things rebuilt after the catastrophic fire of eighteen thirteen. On August thirty-first of that year, Anglo-Portuguese troops who had just driven out Napoleon's forces decided to loot and burn the entire city to the ground. Virtually everything was destroyed. When San Sebastian rebuilt itself from the ashes, this plaza became the civic heart of the new city.

For decades after it was built, the square doubled as the city's main arena. Bullfights happened right here on the cobblestones, with spectators packed onto every balcony, leaning out windows, watching from the rooftops. The tradition only ended when the larger Plaza de Toros de Illumba was constructed, giving the city a purpose-built ring. But the numbered balconies stayed, a quiet reminder of a very different era.

Today the plaza is one of the liveliest spots in the Parte Vieja. Cafes spill out across the stones, kids kick footballs around, and during the Tamborrada festival in January the whole square fills with drummers in period costume. It is the kind of place where layers of history sit right on the surface if you know where to look. And now you do -- next time someone asks about the numbers, you can tell them.