San Sebastian-Donostia, Spain. Located off the Bay of Biscay and just 25 minutes from the border of France. The Basque Country is a proud culture with a language older than all other romance languages used today. See
this map to find out just where I was for 5 days along with 3 friends of mine who also reside in Aviano IT.
After being asked to tag along with a friend and fellow foodie-traveler like myself, I looked into what SS (San Sebastian) was all about. It did not take long at all to see that this city was a European Mecca of food, history and water sports. With 5 museums, 3 beaches, 3 mountains and a whopping 18 Michelin stars within a 25km radius of the city center. 11 dining establishments have 3 stars (highest possible score). I was sold on getting my rear to this amazing place I had never heard of before to see it for myself. Over 200 bars pepper the city which ranks as one of the most per capita in the world. How can one not have a good time here right? Let me take you on an epic journey of culinary and cultural amazement that I got first hand.
Caution, images contained within this blog will induce strong feelings of hunger, cravings, yearning and urges to lick your screen. Resist these urges at all costs. Content contains 100% raw "food porn" that may be unsuitable for those without willpower and discipline to remain calm and controlled. Drooling is a likely side effect for most viewers as well.
To avoid allowing this blog from going directly to novel length expose on SS food and tourism I will focus on a few specific areas I want you the reader to gain insights to that I feel will help anyone else get the full effect of what I experienced and what you can look forward to if you travel here in the near future yourself.
Outdoors: We did not get nearly the opportunity to get outside and in the water, as we had wished for as mother nature did not have the same plans we did it seemed. It drizzled most the day all 4 days we had in SS. Mornings were cloudy and cool and by lunch we had rain pay us an unwelcome visit. This shifted our plans to more indoor activity...
Museums: The shift in plans took us to four major historical sites. San Telmo Museum (my favorite of them all), The Naval Museum, The Aquarium and the Monte Urgull summit History House. All were good picks. The Naval Museum I must note was small and more for those into clothing fashions of the local area's history, this is more for you. The bottom floor was cool with nothing but facts and figures about the whaling industry of SS and how it became a world leader in the industry. The aquarium was solid! I spent 2 full fours taking stock of ships, whaling, mining, the 1890 regatta/crew origins of SS, seeing new and exotic fish, coming face to face with great white sharks, yeah, just go! STM was wack! You will learn tons about SS culture, society, history, war, people, you name it. A must go for tourist not familiar with SS. The featured exhibit on death and dying was particularly fascinating. It made you think and see a sensitive Taboo topic in a new light for sure. Mount Urgull History House was small and short but free. Worth a look since you go through it to get to the top of the castle and see the monument of Jesus Christ perched on top. Its all in Spanish or Basque so English only speakers/readers are left with just the pictures throughout the 2 floors.
The Food!:
This is where it's at people! We came to find great food, amazing food, spectacular food, and we did over and over again. Great wine as well I shall note.
Roja is the major Spanish red wine and
Txakoli is the local Basque specific white wine. I found that I enjoyed both very much and had them both at nearly every meal. I gotta
blend in right!?
Pinxots (pronounced peen-chos) is what SS is world famous for so that is what I had to try out as priority #1. With hundreds to pick from at EACH bar, I wanted to know the best ones to scout for. I looked up the top pintxos and found a select few must-try items. Here they are:
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| Jamon Iberico Ham |
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| Gernika Peppers (Similar to Shishito Peppers) |
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| Despite its less than appealing look, this baked spider crab is divine! |
The T-Bone coal fire grilled steak, cod omelet and pil-pil style code shown down below were also top menu items I fell in love with.
And of course, I had to score the best local, traditional, Basque-style baked goods as well for the sweet fix. Here they are:
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| Pantxineta |
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| Goxua |
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| Pastel Vasco |
Some other steller scores I had from various bars in SS are found below.....yeah, I know!
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| Acai Bowl |
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| House Salad Caravanseria |
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| Sauteed Market Veggie Plate Caravanseria |
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| Two whole meal toast types from Old Town Coffee |
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| Avocado and egg whole meal toast Old Town Coffee |
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| House Iberico Ham Salad at Cafe de La Concha |
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| Jumbo Grilled Prawns |
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| Another market salad with tuna |
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| Seafood Paella at Portaletas |
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| Squid entree from Cafe de La Concha |
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| Grilled Octopus from Cafe de La Concha |
And here is a small sample of the pintxos plates I had explored through and OMG were they all amazing! Fresh, flavorful, local, delicious produce and seafood in endless supply and forms.
We also made plans to find one of the popular daily tasting menus the city is known for having M-F at many of its bars and restaurants. 4-6 courses with endless wine and coffee (cider in this case) offering key plates of the venues best foods and true culinary roots of Basque cuisine. Prices range from 20-250 Euro we found. We picked a Cider House in Old Town (the heart of SS) of which are truly unique only to SS with a handful of original venues still in business serving up their
traditional cider as they have for centuries. Take a look at what we got for 35 euro each:
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| Fresh baked farm bread and sausage |
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| Cod and egg omelet, super good! |
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| Pli Pli style cod |
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| Garlic and olive oil baked hake and pepper |
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| T Bone Steak rare. To die for! |
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| Yea round house cider, 6.6% |
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| Apple Tart |
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| Self pour cider vats. One dry, one sweet, both good! |
Here is a snapshot of the places I found these amazing sips and bites at. I would go back to any of them in a heartbeat. Try and plan to hit as many of these as you can if you're planning a trip to SS and what some seriously good eats and drinks.
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| All your beer needs found here. |
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| Cider, daily tasting menu, pintxos |
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| Breakfast drinks, pastries, macro bowls and acai bowls |
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| International fare, big menu, good, big, market salads |
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| Large pinxot bar with tons of options |
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| Good coffee, amazing toast items of many kinds |
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| Amazing beach view, great seafood, good salads. Good wines. |
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| Cool vibe, busy, decent pintxo bar, great paella and solid market salads |
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| Great salads, good wines, huge pinxtos bar. Busy! |
OK folks. This is going into novel territory already so let's wrap this bad boy up. I'm sure you're close to starving now yourself so best let you go fix that. The bar has been set quite high for my next travel destination after having gotten the royal culinary offerings of SS. Being a somewhat picky eater it was soooo nice being able to see most all the food you might want before you order it. Plus you pretty well have the food just seconds after you plate it yourself so minimal waiting time. Even hot pintxo plates you order take just minutes to come out as well. Most are served cold on the bar tops as you walk in. The walls list or the menus list the hot plates and larger ration sized plates. You just show your plate to the bar staff and they count your pintxo type and amount and you pay right then or when you leave. I spent about 25-35 euro per place we went to and that's for a Josh sized plate of 8-10 pintxos mind you. Often with a salad on the side plus wine.
This city is an Instagram foodies top calling if I ever saw one. Deciding what pictures to post here which would not make the cut was the hardest part of this blog post. Safe to say you got a darn good "taste" of what went down on the trip.
Adios mi amigos!
