Our trip to the Basque Country in Spain was almost completely focused on eating, drinking and indulging completely in one of the culinary capitals of the world.
The Basque Country spans the area of northern Spain and into France that is home to the Basque Autonomous Community.
Of the three provinces on the Spanish side - Alava, Biscay and Gipuzkoa; we travelled to the latter two that are home to the capital cities of Bilbao and Donostia-San Sebastian.
We headed to Bilbao via Stansted Airport flying Easyjet after a 3am wake-up call and 4am pick-up. The flight time was just over an hour and both of us slept the entire journey. We used a direct bus to transport us from Bilbao airport to Donostia-San Sebastian main bus station. This cost 16.50 Euro per ticket one-way.
Hotel Parma
When we arrived in San Sebastian we underestimated the distance from the bus station to our hotel and ended up lugging a 20kg suitcase (for Olie's onward trip to the US for work related training) over some bumpy cobblestones but it held together well.
On check-in at the Hotel Parma, we noticed that the hotel was next door to the surf beach and many residents were surfers. The receptionist told us briefly about the famous beaches that were part of the surf circuit further along the coast. This tempted Olie to want to get into the water, but with a more persuasive argument for good food and wine; he was lured to the lane-ways in the opposite end of town - Parte Vieja (Old Part).
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| Overlooking the surf beach, view from our hotel |
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| The church at the edge of the Old Town |
Eating with Friends
The theme of this trip focused on gastronomy, with many of our fellow travellers telling wonderful tales about the seafood, pintxos and Michelin Star restaurants that are found in this region. Pintxos (meaning thorn or spike in Spanish) is a type of snack that is eaten in bars with friends. On this trip, we ate many pintxos and we were accompanied by friends from London - Meei-Lin, Rob, Gav and Nara.
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| Grilled frogs anyone? |
Bar Zeruko
Our first food stop was Bar Zeruko, where an amazing spread of options was laid out on the bar. We ordered a glass of white wine to wash down about half a dozen small dishes including a prawn skewer, a tomato fish dish inside a tin and grilled sea urchin with a creamy cheese like topping.
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| We think this was fish in a tomato sauce |
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| Various pintxos |
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| Grilled sea urchin |
Casa Tiburcio
Our second stop - Casa Tiburcio was a bit further down the lane-way. Mei had eyes for a regional delicacy - goose barnacles (percebes) that had first been spotted in Barcelona but were available here for 12 Euro for 100g. A YouTube video had provided some guidance into eating this type of shell-fish, however it was a messy affair with juice squirting out in all directions once a bit of pressure was made to the stem. The taste was like a very sweet clam but our hands stank of the sea for hours later.
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| Goose barnacles |
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| Having a go at eating them |
Txakoli Wine
The traditional drink partnering the pintxos is txakoli - a wine that is poured from height (in a similar action to the pouring of mint tea in Morocco) and helped to wash down some very strong vinegar soaked anchovies.
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| Pouring the wine the traditional way |
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| Pickled seafood |
La Cuchara De San Telmo
As we walked further on, we ran into Gav and Nara who had already surveyed and sampled their way through most of the town. They had many recommendations for the novices like us. We were soon joined by Meei-Lin and Rob; and after a quick snack of crunchy tempura like prawns we headed up a small hill to La Cuchara De San Telmo where we ate veal cheeks, scallop, pork belly and grilled foie gras.
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| Veal cheeks with salsa verde |
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| Scallops with salsa verde |
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| Pork belly |
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| Grilled foie gras with salsa verde |
Beers by the Port
After all the eating, we were keen to take a short walk to burn off the calories. We walked towards the port area where we ended up seated in a row on the sea wall drinking cans of beer and discussing recent travel destinations or future travel plans. And as the Saturday night coincided with the Champions League final (sadly the lack of a Spanish team meant that the atmosphere in San Sebastian was bordering on apathetic), we made plans to meet up later that night to eat before the game kicked off.
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| The port area |
Borda Berri
After a couple of hours we reconvened at Borda Berri where we ate the mushroom risotto, a stuffed pepper with veal, duck breast, sweetbread ravioli and grilled pig's ear (our favourite dish). This eating experience was so dangerously amazing that we missed the kick-off time. Luckily we had researched locations before-hand and headed for a pub nearby where the we settled down to drink beer and eat cold bacalhau (salted cod) that we had first tried in Lisbon and had fallen in love with.
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| Duck breast (with salsa verde) |
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| Grilled pigs ear |
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| Sweetbread ravioli with salsa verde of course! |
Bob Limon, Bar Zeruko
When the game finished, we decided that it was time for dessert. Nara suggested we head back to Bar Zeruko to eat Bob Limon - a dish that resembled a fried egg but tasted anything but that and a pollenated flower that had the effect of numbing our tongues.
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| The Bob Limon masterpiece |
La Concha Beach
The next day we woke up early to take photos of the La Concha Beach in the early morning sunshine. On this walk we passed by the naval museum that had two British cannons recovered from the Bay that were last used during the fight against Napoleon when the city was set on fire. We also stumbled upon a bakery that served local pastry treats made of shortbread, walnut and custard.
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| Cannons used in the destruction of San Sebastian in 1813 |
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| Local pastries |
Market in Constitution Square
At the end of our walk we found ourselves at a small market that had been set up in Constitution Square as part of a local festival. The market stalls sold various Spanish foods, with us trying the chorizo, boiled ham and an addictive pile of boiled octopus that was washed down with a specialty wine.
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| Boiled jamon |
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| Octopus and Olie |
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| Her job is to boil and cut the octopus |
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| Yum - chorizo and jamon |
Bar Bergara
And although we felt we had eaten enough to tick off breakfast, we met up once again with our friends and headed to the nearby Bar Bergara where we ate ceviche and ravioli before finding another nearby sports bar to watch the Monaco Grand Prix.
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| There is a ravioli underneath this sauce |
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| Ceviche |
Bus to Bilbao
By the time the race ended, it was time to catch the bus back to Bilbao. The one key point for future travelers, is that the tickets for the return bus ride need to be purchased from the shops on the side street rather than from the driver.
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| In Casco Viejo, Bilbao |
Hotel Petit Palace
When we arrived back to Bilbao that evening, we located our hotel (Petit Palace) in the old Town (Casco Viejo). For dinner we attempted to locate a paella place but sadly both locations were closed. Disappointed, we headed back towards the hotel and found a small restaurant that had a set menu (that contained a selection of translated English words) that served prawns and paella, accompanied by steak and fries, finished off with creme caramel and an ice-cream dessert that resembled the classic 80's childhood treat, Viennetta.
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| Found paella at last |
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| Simple meal - steak and chips |
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| Creme caramel |
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| Viennetta time |
Goodbye Olie
At the time of booking our flights (some several months earlier) we had opted for the earliest flight into Bilbao and the latest flight back on the Monday Bank Holiday to maximise our 'eating' time. However, about a month before departure Olie changed jobs and had to travel to San Francisco for training. This meant that he had to depart early (on Sunday) from Bilbao and Mei had to wing it solo in a city where the best known attraction - Guggenheim Museum was closed on Mondays. So much for careful planning.
Mei walking around
When Monday arrived and Olie had to say goodbye for a fortnight; Mei was left to wander around the city centre. Solo travel is always more comfortable with a full stomach. The first stop involved eating a small selection of tapas in Plaza Nueva and finding a jamon vending machine. Passing time productively became quite challenging as all the well known museums were closed.
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| Bilbao pintxos with blue cheese |
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| The jamon vending machine |
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| The Guggenheim Museum |
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| The floral dog outside the museum |
Swiss Chard for lunch
After pacing the streets, it soon became a challenge to find a 'good meal' where the waiter spoke English. Eventually Mei found a small restaurant in the south-part of the town that had English in the menu displayed in the foyer. However, this was not an indication that the staff also spoke the language and after some hand gestures and just guesswork, Mei ended up eating stuffed swiss chard with cheese and jamon. Dessert (via a quick search of Google Translate) was also included in the set menu price and pointing to what the lady in the next table was eating was sufficient to communicate this selection to the waiter.
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| Fried swiss chard stuffed with jamon and cheese |
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| Dessert was strawberries in orange juice |
Gure Toki
An early dinner followed at Gure Toki, the number one rated restaurant in TripAdvisor. However, compared to San Sebastian, this place didn't rate and eating a strange combination of cocktail sausage in a berry jam was interesting but not something that would be repeated. Then, as the afternoon waned, it was soon apparent that there was little else to do in Bilbao.
Santurtzi
Making use of the Metro, she took a short trip to the port-town of Santurtzi but the duration of the stay was less than half an hour before the return journey was made to the city centre where time was passed using the free wi-fi in the hotel and camping out at the airport three hours before departure.
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