We forgot to mention that one of the small details we loved about Bilbao was that the tram tracks were planted with grass, making it more aesthetically pleasing as it appears to be just part of a park.
Loaded up the car, checked out and began our drive to San Sebastian. Halfway there, we stopped to enjoy lunch in the Basque mountains at a beautiful lookout.
Arrived in San Sebastian around 3:30pm and found our "pension" (a b&b without the breakfast). It's run by a young guy who gave us some great recommendations. The only minor hiccup we had is that we booked the room when we were in Portugal, hence the website was in Portuguese, and this is the result:
Yup! We booked a single room. The guy was very nice, offering to help us find another hotel (as his was booked), but we decided to stay and enjoy two nights of cozy sleeping.
Went out to explore the center of the city and the old town, which had a beautiful combination of French and Spanish architecture.
We enjoyed scouting out all the pintxos bars (Basque tapas) in the old area and doing some Christmas window-shopping. Around 7:30pm, we chose a pintxos bar that had a good crowd. We shared four pintxos: a tortilla Española, fried zucchini, mushroom topped with bacon in a piecrust and a slice on tomato on toast with broiled cheese.
This is just a third of the bar! You help yourself to pintxos and about every two minutes, the waitress would come out with a new tray filled with a different kind of pintxo. This area of the city is jammed with pintxos bars and most of them are pretty crowded.
We stayed there for awhile trying to kill time before El Classico (the Real Madrid and Barcelona soccer game) that started at 10pm. After, we decided to explore a recommended pintxos bar nearby called Zeruko. This place was an ultimate foodie experience. We had grilled artichoke with tofu and chopped nuts covered with sweet balsamic glaze and the leaves were dusted with what appeared to be gold paint. Next, we shared a toast with cheese and surprise ingredient we aren't sure of on top. Lastly, we ordered their signature, La Hoguera, which came on a tiny grill with one small piece of charcoal to cook a slice of cod that you then put on top of a cracker with a pesto lime sauce, and after you are supposed to take a test tube shot. (We think it was cucumber based, but not strong.)
After spending some more time here, we made our way to a sports bar to ensure a good viewing spot. We watched the game there and although Real lost, we rooted hard for them in a mostly Barcelona bar.
- Martin & Kate
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