Of San Sebastián, the late Anthony Bordain said “You could make the argument that there is no better place to eat in Europe than the city of San Sebastián”, so we made it our goal to munch our way around this gastronomic delight. There are apparently more Michelin hatted restaurants here than in any other place, but we avoided these and we avoided the “insta popular” places as well. We simply stopped when something fabulous caught our eye.
Currently we are staying just to the west of San Sebastián, in tiny Orio, which we are LOVING. So we caught the bus into the bustling city of San Sebastián for the day. The great thing about catching the wrong bus is that we got an accidental tour of the western coast line! Terminating at a train station at Zumaia, we caught the correct train into the city and began our day of strolling.
It was a hot day yesterday and the beach was packed! You get the sense that the locals were treating the weekend like their last burst of summer and boy did they come out to play! In the old city we could hear roar of crowds, that were in-fact not revved up locals, but locals simply congregating at bars and squares passionately discussing life. Life is loud in San Sebastián!
At one point we stopped in at the Basilica Nuestra Señora del Coro, which provided lovely relief from the heat, the noise and the bustle. It was lovely just to sit, reflect and decompress for a little while.
We stopped in at many pintxos bars (northern Spain’s equivalent to tapas) for a local wine (very minerally and poured from great height through a special cork) and a nibble of “something”….
There was much choice however, you would need a few days to try it all!
Around 5pm we were hot and bothered and had wandered the streets of the old city, eating, drinking and generally taking in the world of San Sebastián.
It was time to head home (on the right train this time!) and soak in the pool for a while. The camp site that we are staying at also has a bar/restaurant and it also does amazing food…. So we needed to finish the night with a few more nibbles and possibly too much wine🍷 while we planned our next steps with van transfer and exploration into western northern Spain.
Work Travel Save Repeat 