Out of all the cities on our itinerary, we were the most excited for the 4 days we were to spend in San Sebastian. It didn't really matter to us that San Sebastian was an otherwise lazy and quiet town - all we cared about was the best tapas in the world, the #3, #8 and #50 Best Restaurants in the World (according to San Pellegrino) and Michelin-starred restaurants were seemingly everywhere you turned. This was the most indulgent part of our trip but totally worth every penny and every empty space of our tummies. From the tapas to the tasting menus, we could definitely see and taste why Spain is so highly regarded in the culinary and foodie world.
Highlights
Donostia-San Sebastian Aquarium
The weather was pretty dismal during our short stay in San Sebastian - raining two days straight with very little relief from the open skies. In an attempt to be out but under shelter, we found our way to the Aquarium. It was located across town, on a cliff overlooking the beach. It was lovely to see all the different fishing boats docked in and around the port.
The Aquarium was relatively small and, on this day, filled with young students on a field trip. There were some pretty interesting exhibits (including the giant tank with a couple of sharks and sea turtles) and a great way to spend a couple of hours out of the rain.
Monte Igueldo
Our last day in San Sebastian was blessed with blue skies and a bright, vibrant sun. We headed up to Monte Igueldo, one of the key attractions in the city with great views of Playa de Concha.
At the top of the mountain was a small amusement park/carnival complete with bumper cars and game stalls. Half the places were closed when we were arrived after lunch, with many people just strolling around and enjoying the panoramic view of San Sebastian.
Not many places can beat views like this.
Trip details
Airfare: Vueling Airlines (the airline from hell) from Lisbon, Portugal to Bilbao, Spain (with a 5-hour layover in Barcelona from 1 AM in the morning to 6 AM). Yes, we slept at the Barcelona airport overnight. We had one other option for a flight: to spend the 5-hour layover during the next day, right smack in the middle of the day. In an effort to maximize our time, we opted to sleep at the airport in order to catch the flight from Barcelona to Bilbao at 7 AM. Keep in mind, this flight schedule no way resembles the original flight I booked. I had my flights cancelled twice before they automatically assigned me to this 5-hour layover option. To make matters worse, the lady at the check-in desk made us check in our luggage, even though it was the right size. She swore that the flight was full and that everyone would be checking in their bags. Later on, when we got to the gate and noticed that NO ONE checked in their luggage, including some individuals hualing bags much larger than ours! I hate this airline - we will never take it again.
Hotel:
Astoria7
Sagrada Familia 1
20010 San Sebastián (Guipúzcoa) http://www.astoria7hotel.com/en/index.php
We stayed at Hotel Astoria7, at the recommendation of some Chowhound.com message boards. Astoria7 was built in the old Astoria Cinema space and each of the 102 rooms is individually dedicated to personalities, actors, actresses or directors, who have attended the San Sebastian International Film Festival since 1953. We stayed in the Dennis Hopper room.
There was free wifi - which was great for us, considering the weather was so bad that we spent a good amount of time in our room, surfing the Internet and reading Game of Thrones. The hotel was very cute and boutique. Our only qualm is that it is relatively far away from Parte Vieja and other major city attractions. While we would normally welcome all the walking (~25 minutes to Parte Vieja where all the tapas bars were) on a nice day, making the trek two times a day in the pouring rain was not really our idea of fun. If we were to come back to San Sebastian again, we would definitely look into hotels closer to all the good food.
Transportation:
We decided to rent a car in Bilbao in order to make our way to San Sebastian, which is approximately an hour drive from the airport. We ended up driving to all the nicer restaurants even though Arzak was close enough that a taxi wouldn't have been too expensive. Akelare and Mugartiz were definitely a bit further away from Astoria7 so having the car wasn't a bad idea. The Bilbao airport has lots of rental car options and no internal driver license was required.
Food:
Churros con Chocolate - The breakfast of champions. Yes, breakfast. How the Spanish managed to convince the world that deep-fried dough dipped in hot chocolate should be eaten for breakfast is beyond us. But we didn't argue...we just dipped away.
Upon further research, we were surprised to learn that churros were derived from the Chinese you tiao or Chinese donut. Per Wiki, the Portuguese sailed for the Orient and upon return, came back to Portugal with new cooking techniques, including this concept of the you tiao. Maybe that's why churros con chocolate is a breakfast dish, since the Chinese donuts are also eaten for breakfast, with congee or hot soy/rice/peanut milk.
Pintxos/Tapas - A pintxo is the Basque name for certain snacks typically eaten in bars, especially popular in Northern Spain. Pintxos are related to tapas, with a key difference being that pintxos are usually skewered or toothpicked together, often to a slice of bread. The food is arranged on the bar counter and you just grab whatever strikes your fancy. There is also a made-to-order menu for hot snacks.
Thanks to http://www.todoaspintxos.com/, I was able to map our tapas/pintxos crawl routes prior to the trip. We opted for places on both the "Parte Vieja route" and the "Newest of Parte Vieja route". I was really sad that we only had a chance to try four places: Astelena (yummy, yummy and more yummy), La Cepa, Bar Gandarias and A Fuego Negro. Some other places we wanted to try but did not make it to: Borda Berri, Zeruko, Goiz-Argi, Txepetxa and La Chuchara de Telmo.
Tasting Menus - We planned tapas crawls in between our tasting menu meals. However, because we had only 4 days in San Sebastian, we were only able to eat so much. We managed to fit in Arzak, Akelare, Mugaritz and Asador Etxebarri. There were definitely some highs and lows which will be detailed in upcoming posts. There was one other place we wish we had a chance to try, Bodegon Alejandro, as there were great reviews on the blogs and boards. Hopefully, next time!
All in all, San Sebastian, while not our most favorite Spanish city, was definitely the most yummy. Can't say that we will be coming back here anytime soon but when we do, you can be sure we will be hitting up all the remaining tapas and restaurants.
At the top of the mountain was a small amusement park/carnival complete with bumper cars and game stalls. Half the places were closed when we were arrived after lunch, with many people just strolling around and enjoying the panoramic view of San Sebastian.
Not many places can beat views like this.
Trip details
Airfare: Vueling Airlines (the airline from hell) from Lisbon, Portugal to Bilbao, Spain (with a 5-hour layover in Barcelona from 1 AM in the morning to 6 AM). Yes, we slept at the Barcelona airport overnight. We had one other option for a flight: to spend the 5-hour layover during the next day, right smack in the middle of the day. In an effort to maximize our time, we opted to sleep at the airport in order to catch the flight from Barcelona to Bilbao at 7 AM. Keep in mind, this flight schedule no way resembles the original flight I booked. I had my flights cancelled twice before they automatically assigned me to this 5-hour layover option. To make matters worse, the lady at the check-in desk made us check in our luggage, even though it was the right size. She swore that the flight was full and that everyone would be checking in their bags. Later on, when we got to the gate and noticed that NO ONE checked in their luggage, including some individuals hualing bags much larger than ours! I hate this airline - we will never take it again.
Hotel:
Astoria7
Sagrada Familia 1
20010 San Sebastián (Guipúzcoa) http://www.astoria7hotel.com/en/index.php
We stayed at Hotel Astoria7, at the recommendation of some Chowhound.com message boards. Astoria7 was built in the old Astoria Cinema space and each of the 102 rooms is individually dedicated to personalities, actors, actresses or directors, who have attended the San Sebastian International Film Festival since 1953. We stayed in the Dennis Hopper room.
There was free wifi - which was great for us, considering the weather was so bad that we spent a good amount of time in our room, surfing the Internet and reading Game of Thrones. The hotel was very cute and boutique. Our only qualm is that it is relatively far away from Parte Vieja and other major city attractions. While we would normally welcome all the walking (~25 minutes to Parte Vieja where all the tapas bars were) on a nice day, making the trek two times a day in the pouring rain was not really our idea of fun. If we were to come back to San Sebastian again, we would definitely look into hotels closer to all the good food.
Transportation:
We decided to rent a car in Bilbao in order to make our way to San Sebastian, which is approximately an hour drive from the airport. We ended up driving to all the nicer restaurants even though Arzak was close enough that a taxi wouldn't have been too expensive. Akelare and Mugartiz were definitely a bit further away from Astoria7 so having the car wasn't a bad idea. The Bilbao airport has lots of rental car options and no internal driver license was required.
Food:
Churros con Chocolate - The breakfast of champions. Yes, breakfast. How the Spanish managed to convince the world that deep-fried dough dipped in hot chocolate should be eaten for breakfast is beyond us. But we didn't argue...we just dipped away.
Upon further research, we were surprised to learn that churros were derived from the Chinese you tiao or Chinese donut. Per Wiki, the Portuguese sailed for the Orient and upon return, came back to Portugal with new cooking techniques, including this concept of the you tiao. Maybe that's why churros con chocolate is a breakfast dish, since the Chinese donuts are also eaten for breakfast, with congee or hot soy/rice/peanut milk.
Pintxos/Tapas - A pintxo is the Basque name for certain snacks typically eaten in bars, especially popular in Northern Spain. Pintxos are related to tapas, with a key difference being that pintxos are usually skewered or toothpicked together, often to a slice of bread. The food is arranged on the bar counter and you just grab whatever strikes your fancy. There is also a made-to-order menu for hot snacks.
Thanks to http://www.todoaspintxos.com/, I was able to map our tapas/pintxos crawl routes prior to the trip. We opted for places on both the "Parte Vieja route" and the "Newest of Parte Vieja route". I was really sad that we only had a chance to try four places: Astelena (yummy, yummy and more yummy), La Cepa, Bar Gandarias and A Fuego Negro. Some other places we wanted to try but did not make it to: Borda Berri, Zeruko, Goiz-Argi, Txepetxa and La Chuchara de Telmo.
Tasting Menus - We planned tapas crawls in between our tasting menu meals. However, because we had only 4 days in San Sebastian, we were only able to eat so much. We managed to fit in Arzak, Akelare, Mugaritz and Asador Etxebarri. There were definitely some highs and lows which will be detailed in upcoming posts. There was one other place we wish we had a chance to try, Bodegon Alejandro, as there were great reviews on the blogs and boards. Hopefully, next time!
All in all, San Sebastian, while not our most favorite Spanish city, was definitely the most yummy. Can't say that we will be coming back here anytime soon but when we do, you can be sure we will be hitting up all the remaining tapas and restaurants.
I am visiting Barcelona, San Sebastian and Madrid. Glad I found your blog! Any tips you could additionally share with me would be greatly appreciated as I finalize our itinerary. Could I email you directly?
ReplyDeleteSure thing! Iheartyummy@gmail.com
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