San Sebastián is beautiful. I wasn't expecting much coming here today. For when I got to the bus station it was still drizzling rain, and it seemed my iPhone weather app was destined to failed me again. The rain didn't stop when it arrived. In fact, it intensified. Which gave me all the more excuse to hunt for food right from the get go.
In fact, hunting for food is pretty much the thing to do here. San Sebastián is actually known as a foodie's paradise. From what I've read, it has the highest number of Michelin stars per square meter in the world, and a total of 17 stars to boot. Two of its restaurants are listened in the top 50 in the world in such a little coastal town, and I think one within the top 10. The old town has probably the highest concentration of Pintxos parlours anywhere, with seemingly one dig trying to out-do another, but each focusing on the one thing they seem best at. Googling for suggestions, I pretty much spent the first part of the rainy afternoon eating my way across town, trying two to three pieces from each places (or five...), and of course washing it down with either a mini serving of beer or Cava. Ganbara, the first bar I went to which had many favorable reviews, was pretty much good at every type of Pintxos that I've seen before. The next one, Bar Txepetxa (I have no idea how to say this either), loves their anchovies, and features it prominently on all their selections, together with fancy stuff like uni (sea urchin) or trout roe or black caviar... The third location, Zeruko, went somewhat insane, and took their art to the next level in esthetics. In fact their tapas look more like carefully crafted dim sum from high end restaurants back home, and often I had no idea what type of food I was selecting until I bite into them and found myself pleasantly surprised. They also grill everything, so once you order what you thought was an amazing looking piece already, they take that, stick in in the boiler, then proceeded to further plate their dish with drizzles of flavoured syrups or basil oil. Theirs were most expensive of course (3 Euros each compared to the other two at 2 Euros), but I couldn't resist and had five when I was already full other places. I wanted more, but I did exercise some self restrain.
In the afternoon, the sun came out. Which means of course everybody had ice cream. And I do mean everyone. I didn't even quite wanted one, but decided I shouldn't be so against the masses that I ordered myself two scoops on a cone (Mango and Tiramisu; I know it was a poor combination). But all the food talk shouldn't take away from how beautiful San Sebastián really is, especially when the weather is great. The buildings are amazingly rich with aging textures and details, and the streets tidy but festive. Of course, the highlight of the area is the popular La Concha beach, regarded by some as one of the most beautiful urban beaches in the world. Flank between the two overlooking hills, it is in essence of lovely little cove, allowing the harsh Atlantic waves from the Bay of Biscay to mellow out and gently roll in onto the wide patches of fine Atlantic sand. On the other side of the old town, without the protection of the natural cove, the large waves makes it also a big surfing destination for the locals. And every so often, you see fit looking men and women decked in wet suits zip around town, balancing their surf boards on their bicycles, trying to avoid the dense flocks of camera dangling tourists. After all that sight seeing, it was time to feed my tummy again, as I settled onto a sunny patio chair at one of the more popular dessert shops in town, trying to decide which one of the mini pastries I should dive into first to go with my cafe con leche. I have about two more hours to spend in this lovely town before my bus is to go back. I'll have to find some dinner. Which, I'm sure, wouldn't be much of a challenge. If you are ever in the Basque region of Spain, I suggest you come here to take a little peak of this lovely place. One day, maybe two, or a few more if you plan to surf. It'll probably rank as one of the prettier places I've ever seen in my travels.
(Coming here from Bilbao is a simple 1.5 hour bus journey away. The route is served by two carriers. ALSA seems to be the more common cheaper option (about 6 Euros each way but watch out for a few more expensive time slots. Because I chose to go on a National Holiday (Labour Day), there were less buses to choose from, and in order to get a few more hours sleep I went with the other company, PESA, at 12 Euros a piece. Buses were comfortable, modern, and at parts quite scenic. You could also take a slow train there (not part of the Renfe network), but it somehow takes longer and I think about 2.5 hours each way).
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