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The status of European Cultural Capital was created by the EU as a way of encouraging closer links and understanding between European towns and cities, a status for which Donostia-San Sebastian is now competing.

Edorta Azpiazu, Director of Donostia 2016 (the organising committee hoping to clinch cultural capital status) speaks enthusiastically of the candidacy as "... an opportunity to be part of a preparing an extraordinary cultural project... and also to reflect on what we can improve, what we can do differently... "

With this challenge in mind, Donostia-San Sebastian hopes to strengthen and improve its image before the rest of Europe, not only of the city itself but also of the Basque region since the candidacy covers the area from Bilbao to Bayonne.

The city will be competing with fifteen other major Spanish cities for the title, so organisers hope to build on the defining characteristics of the city, such as its linguistic diversity. The final decision, however, will rest with the European Union.

"We''ll be taking the opportunity to talk about our complex linguistic culture," explains Edorta Azpiazu, "but we also view this as a chance to work towards a ''euro-region'' that spans an area from Bayonne to Bilbao, and also to create links with the rest of Europe, with the other side of the Atlantic... questions we will need to tackle in a variety of ways as regards each of the cities."

The task ahead may be long and hard, but organisers here in Donostia-San Sebastian are confident there exists a very real chance that the Cultural Capital dream could become a reality.