San Sebastian and Rioja, Spain

The second to last destination on our list that we compiled almost four years ago has finally been conquered; or perhaps has conquered us???...

San sebastian is not the easiest place to get to, which was also the case for us, taking an early flight to France, accepting a ride to the train station from a nice Parisian man (saved us 3 hours as the trains aren't frequent) hopping a train from Biarritz, changing at the border to a narrow gauge carriage and chugging along to San Sebastian. But let me say once you get to the beautiful crescent shaped beach (and get to your hotel:), all frustration dissolves into the blue green waters of the hot-lantic.

Monique and Kelly are with us for the adventure, not only their first time to San Sebastian (like us), but their first time to Spain (and France)! I think it would be fair to say we made the right decision in choosing our destination. San Sebastian is amazing collection of beautiful landscape, amazing beaches and chilled out weather, combined with perhaps the best foodie scene in the world, where you can eat your way through as many Pintxos as your can handle.

After laying on the beach for a handful of hours and walking along the pleasantly un-touristy boardwalk, we made our first foray into the San Seb old town, which must have over 100 Pintxos (Basque term for tapas) bars, all in business with the objective to provide locals and foodies the some of the best food in the world (they'd be run out of business if they didn't).

We eased into the scene on our first night, going to Bodegon Alijahandro on Fermin Calbeton. It was the perfect way to ease into the Pintxos scene, with a 5 course set menu paired with wine, left little decision making up to the consumers, which was fine with us as it was amazing. The squid risotto in its own ink was delicious! The price is right too at EUR35 for the menu, and another EUR12 for the 5 glasses of vino.

Walking back from the old town to the hotel each night was a great way to digest before going home; beautiful views too as things quiet down quite a bit at night (aside of the beach club about 50 metres down from our hotel (Niza - which was great by the way - see the view from our balcony in the first pic!!).

The following morning we get a decently early start (10am) and ascended the Monte Igeldo Mendia on an old rickety funicular; the first for the elder generation and only third or forth for us. Always an entertaining ride!

Once you get to the top, you realise why they built the funicular in the first place. AMAZING VIEWS! This is where you see all the tourist ad pics of the city.

On the top of the "mountain" is a cute antique amusement part that has a roller coaster, bumper boats, a mini train, haunted house, and of course, a mini flume ride, if only you got to go down the mountain on it! We opted for the flume ride which sends you hanging on the side of the mountain almost spilling out to sea.

The beach below is beautiful, you can rent these cute little cabanas for EUR15 a day. Keeps you protected from the scorching heat that we had for the first 36 hours.  

The following night was our first tapas crawl. We went to 4-5 places and had some great food and icy cold beer! We went to Dakara, La Vina, Cepa and finally, Zuruko, which was the most impressive of the 10-15 Pinxos spots we hit up in 2 nights!

The baby eels at Zuruko, a first for Erin and I!!!

I was able to conquer my fears and finally got retribution on the Sea Urchins after my sting in Thailand!!

After the first round of Pintxos, we caught the beautiful sunset in the harbor, which is about as good as they get! I found a bottle of wine that Erin, Jenna, Jamie and I had last summer at Brindisa in London, so naturally, we shared it on the beach after all the food before a good night sleep!

The next morning we busted out of town with our rental car and headed down some great coastal towns, stopping first at Getaria where we were a little too early to eat an an amazing looking fish spot, but not too late for the independence (Basque) parade in Zumaia, which featured amazing character with all its locals, young and old, dressed up in traditional outfits, and the men of the parade dressed in some funky bells! We grabbed some lunch from the street vendors, washed down by some local sour cider.

After Zumaia, it was further down the coast, and further away from tourists (I don't think there were any in Zumaia - but for good measure we went on) to Mutriku, which is a colorful, 3-dimensional fishing village that we wandered around for 30 minutes before returning to San Sebastian for another night of amazing Pintxos.

We went to some more great spots that night, which included La Cucharia, Txepetxa, Goiz Argi, and one that is just off Plaza de la Constitucion on Inigo. I can't remember the name but it was fabulous. You choose what you want raw, then they send it to the back where the cooks turn it to perfection! Oh yeah, go to La Vina for cheesecake...without question the best any of us ever had.

Our fun in San Sebastian came to an end the following morning. What an amazing city! But what is a trip to the Basque country without tasting the wines of the Rioja first!!??!!