Donostia/San Sebastian

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Our last stop in Spain before turning back towards home via Paris and London. Is Donostia/San Sebastian. The US traveler would only know it as San Sebastian, the playground of the rich and famous. However, here it is referred to as Donostia/San Sebastian both Basque and Spanish.

The Trip to Bilbao was the last journey on the Spanish Renfe, we are now using the Euskatren, a Basque Country commuter line. We were initially thinking it would be like NJ Transit, turns out it is very modern and fairly comfortable with bathrooms on the train.

Yesterday, Jerry had mapped out our route from the Hotel to the Metro to the train station that the E1 leaves from. It was very easy. We walked about two blocks to the metro stop, took an elevator to the platform and there we were. We waited about four minutes for the next metro and one stop later we were at the train station. The metro is clean and very safe feeling. We only had about seven minutes to make our connection, but with the assistance of one of the staff we were able to buy the tickets and get to the platform with time to spare.

The man that assisted us, spoke no English but yet he walked us through the process and even saved us money by telling us to get the Euskatren card, it cut the fair in half. The entire train trip is about three hours, mainly because it does stop a lot since it is a commuter train. The trip is very scenic, and I tried to take some pictures, but they did not turn out that great as you can see. The journey was pleasant, then we came to a station and the train shut off, lights went out. It wasn’t going any further. We had no idea what was going on, but another very friendly Basque woman tried to explain what was going on, someone that spoke some English said we needed to transfer to a bus for the rest of the journey, as there was track work. The Basque woman was so helpful, just grabbed some luggage and hurried us along. My first thought was, no New Yorker would be able to deal with a complete stranger taking their luggage and rushing off to the bus. She was not robbing us but being extremely helpful. She was so helpful when we did get to San Sebastian, she called us a cab to get to our hotel. (Turns out we could have walked it was about 10 blocks and flat)

The reason we are stopping here at all is that the initial plan was to drive around Spain and this is where we could drop of the car and get to the TGV station 30 minutes away. When we changed to training around Spain, we kept it on the itinerary because it was the easiest way to get back to Paris from the northern part of Spain. From a sightseeing point of few, this isn’t really that type of city. If you want to relax and enjoy the beach, water and Pintxos, this is a great place to relax.

Our only plan for the rest of the day was to walk around the old town a bit and go to a Pintxo bar. San Sebastian is well know for their Pintxo bars. This is another very bike friendly Spanish City, dedicated bike paths everywhere and pretty flat. After checking in and unpacking we headed for the old town, a very short walk for our hotel. Like I said, not much for sightseeing, but the old town is quaint pedestrian, only walkways and a real since of not being in the 21^st century. We were headed to Bar Martinez, recommended in our travel book (we typically rely on Fodor’s, they do occasionally make some very bad suggestions, or simply get information entirely wrong, that was not the case today. We arrived at about 3:15, they closed at 4. We had plenty of time for a bottle of wine and several Pintxos. We sat at the counter so we could just look at the various Pintxos and point at what we wanted. This is actually how I first experienced Tapas in Barcelona. The easiest way to go through what we had is to just list them, then you can match it to the picture

· Fried Stuffed Artichokes (stuffed with jamon and queso)

· Four different croquettes (Jamon, cod, queso, mushroom) hard to tell them a part by look but definitely could by taste.

· Stuffed red pepper (stuffed with tuan, tuna tartar sauce, and a sherry vinaigrette)

· Russian Salad Crevette (potato salad with tuna, prawn on the top)

· Zucchini stuffed with Spider crab (my least favorite)

· A vegetable item, I don’t even know what the vegetables were

· Fried Queso

The first two and the last were hot, the rest were good. We were there until a few minutes after closing.

After our snack it was back to the hotel. On our way we got caught in a downpour without our umbrellas (it was sunny when we left the hotel.) We managed to find something to stand under and waited for it to pass. Then we continued on to the hotel and to find a store for our last bottle of wine in Spain.

Other than dinner, that was the day. We spent some time enjoying the view of the bay from our room, had some wine and Jerry repacked for the rest of the trip.

Before I discuss dinner, a bit by the room. It was fairly decent sized, had a great view and the bathroom was science fiction. There was a remote by the toilet, it was not to flush it with, but it was in fact one of those all-in-one toilets with a built-in bidet. The remote was so you could adjust the angle of the spray, the pressure and the temperature. It even had a fan so you could dry off your derriere after the spritz. I was afraid of it, so it was not used.

Dinner was in the hotel, just made it easier since we were only here for one night. The Basque are evidently not like the rest of the Spaniards when it comes to time. They are prompt. If they open at eight, they open not a second early. This was the third reservation in a row that we were a bit early, and they were not about to seat us. Here we just had some Cava at the bar before being seated.

The dining room also functioned as the breakfast room, which we would not be able to avail ourselves of because of the time of our train in the morning. Some tables have bay views, we had a nice table street side with a full view of the goings on in the restaurant. Yes, this meant I could people watch all of the other tables. Three Brits next to us, a couple with the quietest baby on earth the other side, have no idea what they were speaking but we did have to help them order patatas fritas. The rest of the room was filled with Spaniards.

Dinner was good, not the high note you typically like to leave a country on, but it was good. Jerry had is final bowl of Salmorejo, (not even close to the two that made back-to-back dishes of the day) but good. I had a Lobster Salad, nicely plated and very tasty, in fact I think the first time a salad gets the honor of Dish of the Day. Jerry’s main was slow roasted Iberian cheeks with whipped potatoes and crunchy ham. This is the first time we have ever really had crispy Iberian Jamon, that was good, the pork needed a bit more sauce and some depth. My main was a slow roasted lamb, very good, certainly not the level of the first lamb dish of the trip at Le Tren Bleu or the fantastic suckling lamb shoulder in Santiago de Compostela. We had a very nice Grand Reserva from Ribera del Duro. We had desserts, but I failed to write it down, and as I type this, I don’t remember what they were.

This brings the main part of our trip to an end. Tomorrow we are back to Paris for one last night in France. This will be out last trip to Europe for at least a year. Next year it is off to new continents yet explored.

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Photos

Lobster Salad
Dish of the Day

Comments

[Sharon Hughson]

Scared?
I laughed out loud at your description of the science fiction bidet controls. Then I saw your salad dish of the day, and I thought I was more scared of that. I've had the whole lobster once, but I don't really care for food that looks back at me. Even if it is through dead eyes. This looks like a lovely, scenic place. I wanted to relax on the beach. I'm glad you've had a good trip. How long do you think it will take to recover once you're home again?