Paris by the sea

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Donastìa (Basque) or San Sebastián (Spanish) is a beautiful coastal town with grand 19th promenades and wedding cake buildings, almost Parisian in style. I suppose the French can take credit for the architecture in a perverse way because it was rebuilt in the 19th Century after being devastated during the Napoleonic wars. Today it is a beach playground for Europeans and we joined the throngs to walk the beachfront promenade and soak up the sun. San Sebastián is famous for pintxos, the Basque word for tapas, and there are dozens of pintos bars in the old town many of them specialising in particular delicacies. The portions are all hors d'oeuvre size so you can easily eat a few but given the range the toughest thing about a holiday here is deciding which pinxtos to eat! So I did my research and took the advice of various online experts and we had two magnificent pixtos meals. Last night we began at an anchovy bar where Danny enjoyed strong salted anchovy toasts and anchovies with olives and peppers while I liked a lighter boqueron white anchovy served with cooked apple. We also tasted a typical Basque croquette, a mushroom-stuffed fried pepper. The place was packed (I guess other people listen to online experts too) and there was a great atmosphere as the guys behind the bar juggled the orders, yelling to the kitchen and then across the room to announce someone's order. Everything tasted fabulous with very intense carefully-balanced flavours. Next we went to a place which specialises in experimental "molecular cuisine". I was in heaven with a creative construction that looked like a money bag and was actually a ball of cheese lightly fried in a paper-thin pastry and served with tomato jam but Danny preferred our next stop: a more traditional place for a couple of classics - tender veal cheek and a very flavoursome creamy mushroom risotto. All washed down with beer and sangria.Then today after a long walk on the beach to build up our appetites we hit the pixtos trail again and had what we agreed was the piece de resistance: a platter of various grilled mushrooms that was just perfect. danny also had a meat pintxo and I had a goat's cheese stuffed with marinated vegetables. then we wrapped up the foodie tour with gelati.Sun, beach, great food...I wish we had planned to stay here longer!

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