San Sebastian is a well-heeled resort town. Queen Isabella had her summer home here which helped solidify the cities reputation. No cheesy tshirt shops here, just beautiful beaches and beautiful architecture.
We can`t overstate how nice this place is. The weather was nice and we strolled along the old town and beachfront and dug into our first Pinxtos, Basque tapas.
Little sandwiches with peppers, some gorgonzola, salmon and a seafood ball which was quite a fine discovery. It tasted like a deep fried ball of shrimp etoufee. It was outstanding.
Every place seems to work differently and ordering food can be a little intimidating at first. We asked for a plate and pretty much picked whatever we wanted to eat, then just stood up and ate it. You have to remember what you ate and tell them when you are ready to pay. Some places you only get one plate, others a plate for each of us and still others where you just eat with your hands from the plates on the bar, plateless. We went to a few different places for lunch, having a bite or two and a drink in each place. This is the true art of pinxto eating and was a lot of fun. This really is a good way to eat.
We got some much needed sleep and decided to celebrate my birthday on the 11th so we could sleep in the next day and wouldn`t have to travel after going out. We started early and hit damn near every pinxtos bar in the city. Some highlights were skewers of grilled fish and meat, a pimento stuffed with a creamy cod (way better than it sounds), a goat cheese pimento and salmon pinxtos and a rabbit leg.
We ate the little fried seafood ball at every place we could find it. We drank a crisp white wine which is a staple of the region and goes well with seafood. Now, what we didn`t like was the heavy use of mayo. They seem to put it on everything. No thanks. We tried our share of anchoives and herring, but we just don`t have the taste for them. Well at least we tried.
We had a great time hitting all the bars and absorbing the night life. We had a conversation with the bartender at one restaurant about San Sebastian and Basque food.
She spoke easy to understand Spanish, and when I have a few drinks in me I can somehow speak better. It is like playing pool, a couple drinks help relax you and prevent you from thinking too much, but a few too many and you are knocking balls out the window.
The next day our heads were a little heavy and since it was my actual birthday Brooke said we could do anything I wanted, except for ride bikes. So naturally we rode bikes. After the initial headache wore off we got into the groove.
We rode up a hill to a watchtower which provided beautiful views over the city and the countryside.
Of course it was cloudy, which seems to be a reoccuring theme anytime we manage to hike, bike or climb our way to the top of something. Oh well, it was fun anyway and there was an amusment park from the 1960s on the top of the hill. There weren`t too many people around and a half empty amusement park in the windy overcast weather can be a little spooky. Unfortunately the `Casa del Terror` (hee hee, casa del terror) was closed.
But there was a mini roller coaster that we rode. It was way more fun than expected. It was old and rickety and ran around the edge of the cliff and was run by an old Spanish carney. It was 2 euro, but hell it was my birthday and a roller coaster ride was in order.
We rode down and had a little mini-pinxtos session and got some rest, sorry to leave this picture perfect little resort.
1 comment:
What better way to spend your birthday!
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