Tag: pintxos

San Sebastian 2025 – post 4

by ginnyinshanghai

Our last day in the city and we made the most of it. We found a little market and bought cheese (for Eric) and bread (for myself) which I used for toast the next several days – yummy.

The beach along the bay had different activity this morning – sports.

Our goal today was the San Sebastian Cathedral as it is commonly referred to or the full name is Cathedral of the Good Shepherd of San Sebastian.

Its construction took place in the last years of the 19th century in a Neo-Gothic style. One of the most astonishing features of this cathedral is the bell tower, standing at 75 meters and is one of the tallest points in San Sebastian.

Once inside, it is imposing.

One of the first chapels on the right held this clock. I haven’t seen one of those spaces dedicated in this way.

naturally there a multitude of stained glass windows.

I discovered another set of windows with this anchor, undoubtedly closely linked to the people of San Sebastian.

One of the highly ornamented chapels:

Lately I’ve started noticing the columns of these churches and all of the extra ornamentation. Always someone watchng the congregation – be it person or beast.

As we were leaving the building and area, the bells started ringing.

One thing I discovered on the internet about the Cathedral I found interesting. They have a subterranean pumping machine in their basement to prevent flooding in San Sebastian. The presence of this underground infrastructure demonstrates the historical significance of the cathedral in the city and its ability to adapt to the community’s needs. They are intertwined amongst crucial moments of Spanish history. During the Spanish Civil War, the cathedral as a field hospital.

A number of hours had passed since our food tour the previous night and it was time for mourishment. Eric wanted a repeat from an earlier foray – pig ear.

He was happy with his selection, and I ate another braised beef cheek – such a hardship, not!

We revisted the place with the ‘potato salad’ and saw another pintxos being prepared – we wanted one. Tomatoes with tuna – delicious!

Another stop at the Oyster place, which I discovered I never got a photo of the outside. We were there so much, the guy recognized us – by us, I mean Eric and Adrienne.

Believe it or not, we were trying to hold back. We had dinner reservations at a seafood restaurant tonight and wanted to go with a (semi) empty stomach.

It was a good restaurant. I wouldn’t call it fantastic, but with so much food and michelin stars around, what is ‘good’ is relative. There were a few reasons Eric wanted to eat here. First were the barnacles. It would be a first for Eric and truthfully, there’s not many new things he hasn’t tasted.

Okay, interesting. We asked the best way to get to the meat and a manager came over to show us. Don’t think I mentioned, we were the only ones in the restaurant. Our reservation was when it opened – which is way too early for locals to eat. Actually, they did seat us and let us order wine before they opened and we could order.

Back to the barnacles. Did I eat them? Yes, and here’s proof.

The had a special item on their menu that we got for sharing. Crab was the main component. It was okay. Truth be told, I would have rather eaten more of the barnacles.

Here is the second reason Eric wanted to eat here……………………Turbot. First, they brought out the uncooked fish, sharing its weight and cost. Yes, they wanted it. I say ‘they’ as this is a dish for two. Adrienne was all in and wanted to be part of the ‘two’.

It was served table-side.

What did I eat? Shrimp and frites. Both were good.

This was to be our last night in San Sebastian.

We packed and cleaned up the apartment, basically pulling together our recyclables and items to throw away. In the morning, drinking our coffee, we heard clapping. Looked outside our window and saw this.

A few minutes later, groups of runners arrived.

The photos were taken from our apartment – a great locaiton by the way for eating and walking. We hope to be back to San Sebastian for more food adventures.

Ginny

San Sebastian 2025 – post 3

by ginnyinshanghai

After visiting the church, we explored the city and nearby harbor. It was a gorgeous sunny day.

We could see a kayak slicing through the water, and waaaaaay in the distance was a swimmer. OMG – the water was cold.

There was a staircase, leading down into the water. Naturally it needed investigation. Hmmm, what was Adrienne taking a photo of? Oysters and barnacles on the framework, of course.

Then these two gentleman walked past us – definitely looking like they were heading into the water. Yep, that was where they were going. Unfortunately, the gentleman with the black swim shorts changed while standing and it took me a second to see that he was naked and putting on his swimming attire. That second – I saw way too much. Really? Really! Eric said the look on my face was priceless.

City Hall was along the waterfront………….

……….along with a small park for kids to play in and others to set on benches to people-watch. I wandered over to these trees and noticed some were using screws to keep them from splitting apart. Interesting. Looks like they need some maintenance as one of the screws wasn’t doing much good.

Continuing our walk along the promenade, we came across these sand designs when looking over the railing.

But then we saw a sand artist at work.

The finished design:

And just in case one wanted to contribute to his cause……….Adrienne dropped a coin, but missed the sheet. Wop wop. You could also see the tools he utilized for his masterpiece – three rakes.

All this walking called for a bit of lunch. Instead of ordering some tapas and standing around table tops, we were looking more for a restaurant – and found Bardulia.

Iberian ham, roasted peppers, frites and veal cheeks. Enough to make us through until tonight’s adventure – a highly-rated food tour.

Walking through the town, they had some spring flowers in full bloom. We never see tulips in Florida and several beds were planted with them. Pansies were mixed in the same bed.

Also found this candy-stripe tulip.

Always drawn to purple flowers.

But let’s talk about one of the absolute highlights of our time in San Sebastian – a food tour. Not just any food tour, but one that has a 5-star rating after 574 reviews – that is nothing short of amazing……..and so was our tour.

We met our tour guide, Eski, a few blocks from our apartment and after some introductions, food likes/dislikes we were on our way. One thing extra special………we were the only ones on her tour that evening. That’s what happens when you visit a place in the off-season – which was perfect for us. 🙂

Our first stop was:

We learned the proper way to pour cider, which gives it some body and carbonation. This cider is not sweet at all. Eski provided the demonstration.

Then we all got to try it.

Since we are good with tasting and sharing food, every place we stopped, we got to try different things based upon our likes. We got scallops, braised beef and didn’t get a photo of the third item. 😦

Next stop:

I had a potato dish, similar to potato salad that was f.a.n.t.a.s.t.i.c. Throughout the remainder of our trip in Spain, when possible, we ordered it again. We’ve looked up the recipe so we’re expecting Eric to recreate it once we get home. The other two items were fried shrimp and a fried sardine.

We could also choose our drink at each of the stops. This time we all had local white wine.

Eski was quick to pivot on our tour to either expand our culinary options or find better choices. This next stop was a favorite of Eric’s.

It was all about the foie gras for those two while I had the grilled oyster mushrooms.

We were not done yet, we still had two more stops.

As we walked into this establishment, we were greeted like family and brought back to a table in the back. We either got a hug, or a kiss on our hand by the owner? Father of the owner? Didn’t matter, he was a real charmer. Our guide is well-known and has a fabulous reputation. She holds every place we stopped to a high standard. Here we had croquettes, octopus and Iberian ham.

By this time, I was done eating. It was way too much food for me. Add to the fact the tour was an evening tour and all that food would be sitting on my stomach. I had already switched to drinking water at this point.

Eric and Adrienne had been at our last stop the previous day and was underwhelmed by their pintxos.

She ordered two of the same ones and because the owners know her, they make her pintxos fresh. Oh, what a difference in taste – according to Eric and Adrienne. What were they? Truth be told, I don’t know. I was ready for bed and fading. Stuffed pepper? Salmon?

Looking back on our experience………..it was a great tour. Here is the review that Eric left and I couldn’t agree more.

She had a chance to respond:

We do hope to be back. We enjoyed San Sebastian and all the food it offered.

Ginny

Oops, had to add one more photo – our group from the tour.

San Sebastian 2025 – Post 1

by ginnyinshanghai

I mentioned in the previous post, we were going to hit a few other cities. Our next stop is going to be San Sebastian. But first, we rented a car so it was back to the airport. There was a little mix-up with our rental car reservation, but after some time on the phone with the original agent…….we were able to get a car.

It’s approximately four hours to drive to San Sebastian, not including a stop for lunch. We got a bit hungry and pulled off for a restaurant that the internet showed was open for lunch. No such luck. Actually, we walked most of the town and all of the (few) places to eat were shuttered closed, not opening until 4pm. We poked our heads into an open butcher/charcutier place and the owner said he could make us some ham sandwiches, in ten minutes. Sold! We picked up a bag of ruffles chips, some sodas and our hunger was satisfied. Actually, they were pretty darn good sandwiches.

And before you know it……………….

But why San Sebastian? It is in Basque country, and lies on the coast of Bay of Biscay, twelve miles from the Spain/France border.

The first evidence of stationary human presence dates to 22,000 BC. There were Roman settlements around 200 AD. No written records are known until 1014, a monastery. The area has been conquered, destroyed, rebuilt, burnt to the ground with periods of instability and war.

San Sebastian was one of the earliest towns hit by the 1918 Influenza epidemic. Poverty, famine, repression and smuggling all had a part here. This town didn’t seem to have a chance, but yet it is thriving now.

So again, why visit? San Sebastian is renowned for its Basque cuisine. The city and the surrounding area is home to a high concentration of restaurants with Michelin stars.

The city is also known for its pintxos (small plate dishes similar to tapas) which are found along the streets of the Old Town. That is why we are here!

We are staying in the ‘old town’ of San Sebastian. We are one block down from #8, Basilica de Santa Maria del Coro. Definitely in the center of the old town.

It is a pedestrian zone so after parking underground, we walked to #13. Adrienne was pointing to her bedroom.

A short tour of our apartment for the next several days:

Did a quick unpacking them headed out for some pintoxs. Eric had done his homework and had downloaded a map. First stop – patatas bravas, basically cubed potatoes. What makes this establishment’s dish special is the three sauces on top. I love me some sauces. Add in some sangria and we were good to go.

Next up, Atari for braised beef cheeks and seared foie gras. Loved the mashed potatoes under the beef cheek. They said the foie gras was the best they had eaten (and they have tasted a lot).

Two more stops before I called it a night. Right after we got in, they got inundated with locals, so we only tried the risotto.

Next door was a place specializing in seafood, but what caught Eric’s eye was the oysters.

A few skewers of food were ordered with the octopus on the right my choice. The other two skewers were ‘The Original Basque Pintxo – Spanish Gildas’.

What makes the skewers (anchovy, peppers and olive) on the left special? It can be categorized as the first ever Basque pintxo. Its strong, salty and pickled flavor bursts in your mouth like no other. The trick is to eat it all at once. They accepted and mastered the challenge.

Next up? Bedtime for me. After escorting me back to our place, they went back out for me food and drink. I’m not really sure who was watching out for each other. Ha!

Ginny