San Sebastian - Day 1

San Sebastian, aka Donostia.  The alternative name is due to the Basque language (Euskara) spoken in the region.  It explains why when you're in the Basque region, instead of seeing the 'normal' Spanish language signs, you see signs with a lot of x, k, z and t.  I have to admit, I'd never heard of San Sebastian until Spuey was recommended to go there on part of his Great Europe Trip.  He said it was a really cool town and got into the groove of having siestas.  Since then, it's been on my hit-list.

Anyway, San Sebastian is an awesome place y'all.  Relaxed to the max with cheap (and more importantly decent) food galore.  Smee and I were impressed with yesterday's food in Bilbao but in San Sebastian they take it to another level.  This is a city which can proudly claim the title of having the most Michelin-starred restaurants per capita.  Even 'crap' food is done well.

Our journey to San Sebbie today started with a bus ride from the Termibus depot in Bilbao.   This is the most efficient way to travel between the two cities with services running about every 30-60 minutes depending on the time of day.  Don't bother taking the train, it's not actually any faster.  Some guy wrote up a useful PDF with all the details and you can check the Pesa timetable here. 

Buy your tickets at the Pesa booths and don't believe any guides that say you can buy your ticket from driver.  He'll refuse you! 

We stayed at the Amara Plaza which was conveniently located right outside where our Pesa bus made it's final stop :D  The location itself was a bit weird - giant roundabout  and then bam!  Let's stick hotel here.  It was still quite convenient to the Old Town - a 20 minute walk or you could take several different bus routes in.  

We arrived shortly after lunch and needed to hunt down food.  

The Mercado de la Bretxa.  Surprisingly modern and not rustic market-y at all.  It really was a place for the locals to stock up goods and not full of eateries.  More food exploration needed! 

We delved further into the Parte Vieja (Old Town) and saw that it was littered with pintxos bars :D :D :D  On the recommendation from friends, we were told that you didn't have to go to a Michelin star restaurant to eat well - you could eat very well for very reasonable prices at many of the pintxos bars.  

First stop - Bar Txalupa.  We just walked into the first one we saw. 

So happy to eat.  Chicken wings.  Smee loved them!  Escargot, basque-style.  All up, I can't recall, about €12.  

Next was Munto.  Just two doors down I think. 

They were actually shutting up shop for the siesta, so we just quickly scarfed down a jamon spread pintxo and a octopus one.  Small but packed full of flavour.

One of the many alley ways in the Parte Vieja.

St Mary's church.  A famous San Sebastian landmark. 

Very close to the entrance of the St Mary's was Bar Porteletas.  Unlike a lot of the other pintxos bars, it was open and Smee and I were still on food forage.  

Blanched octopus with paprika skewers.  Smee took advantage of the hot pintxos on offer and got some fried calamari.  I hadn't taken advantage of the cheap foie gras while in Bilbao so here was my first chance.  I ordered the "Foie a la Plancha con Compota de manzana y Bálsamo de Módena", although all I understood was 'foie-something-something for less than €3!!!'  

I had expected some tightass sliver of foie gras but much to my surprise, I got two decent chunks!!!  I had no idea what sauce they had topped it with but it was sooo, soooo delicious and complimented the foie gras perfectly.  Googling the details afterwards, I found out that I had eaten 'grilled foie with apple compote and Modena balsamic'.  Yum, yum, yum!  After taking my first bite, I actually shook my head and said to Smee, 'Don't eat it, it's really bad' to which his face turned to shock horror.  Tee hee, little did he know I was actually trying to keep it all to myself!  

Next I thought, I wanna eat some cake.  

A San Marcos cake.  I thought I would like it - chantilly cream, chiffon cake and a custard topping.  It ticks my boxes but it wasn't very nice.  I was kinda stale.  Maybe I just got a bad version of it. 

Walking back to our hotel, we stopped by the New Town area and went to the San Martin 'market'.  It's really just an underground supermarket.  The main high street shops also line the pedestrianised roads in the area.  

This is how the Basque folk buy their frozen veggies and seafood - self-serve scoops!

Can't go anywhere in Spain without bumping into a jamon shop.  

After carting back some essentials (ie. Spanish snacks) back to the hotel, dinner time rolled around again :D  The Spaniards eat quite late which suit Smee and I fine.

The was some big soccer match tonight of Barcelona vs. Man U (I think) and La Cepa was packed out.  We wriggled through and managed to order some food though.

Yay, an English menu.  Our hotel pintxos mussels.  I think they were both mussels, I can't remember. 

A jamon shaped  beer tap.  Serving jamon-flavoured beer maybe?  I'd try that.

The pintxos bar which we really wanted to try was La Cuchara de San Telmo.  I had read so many rave reviews, I wasn't gonna leave this town dammit until I ate here.  

The spoon sign outside.  

Ignore any reviews which tell you the address of this easily-missed bar is Calle 31 de Agosto 28.  It is NOT on that street.  It actually on Plaza Valle Lersundi, which is a tiny courtyard off Calle 31 de Agosto.  Smee and I walked up and down Agosto about three times before finding it.

Smee thought this place was tops.  The crowd inside the tiny bar says it all.  Even this golden retriever wanted to place an order! 

Our very stressed out bar/waiter making our kalimotxos.  Stressed out but still very patient to help us non-Spanish/Basque speaking folk.  I was impressed at how he managed to remember which order belonged where because there was only minimal order/note-taking made.  It's organised enough to work and that's what matters.  

The best thing about La Cuchara and what draws people to the bar is that all their pintxos are made to order.  None of that sitting on the bench stuff.  All tasty too!!  La Cuchara is considered expensive in the pintxos bar stakes - you know, charging €3-€5 instead of €1.50-€3.  *rolls eyes*  

Hmmm... I don't understand you Mr. Blackboard Menu. 

Oh, but I understand you, Mr. English Menu!  Ignore these prices, they don't apply.  The prices from the blackboard apply.  

Smee and I had the veal cheek in Rioja wine, ribs of Iberico pork glazed with modena vinegar and honey and of course, foie gras with apple compote.  Yum, yum, yum!  We also asked for the slow roasted suckling pig but they had run out :(

These dishes, seriously, are fit for a fancy degustation menu and deserve to served at inflated prices, not the €3-5 per plate we were paying.  The most expensive part of dinner were the kalimotxos!  Even still, they were pretty reasonable at about €4-6 each.

In the madness of it all, Smee got chatting to some locals.  The San Sebastian peeps sure are nice folk.  Despite it being very crowded in the bar, there was no sense of push-shove-omg-I-better-get-to-the-front-or-else-they'll-run-out-of-food urgency.  Everyone got their dishes eventually and people in the bar are very polite about it.  Shouting orders at the bar waiter from behind people is normal custom too.  A real jovial atmosphere.  

Today's introduction to San Sebastian totally cements their status as an eating Mecca.  If we had enough money, Smee and I would buy a holiday home here!