San Sebastián - Basque country (Spanish side)

Two weekends ago, we decided to spend the day in San Sebastián, 25 minutes from Hendaye by car.

All about pintxos and Txakoli

We couldn't see any customs officer at the frontier, good, Europe still works here. San Sebastián is built around a large beach. It feels older than on the French side, the buildings are tall and quite Bourgeois but somewhat weathered by time. We liked the look, it feels more 'lived in' and gives it character, a bit like Edinburgh compared to Cambridge. The buildings have individuality and style, both Cuong and I felt we could have a great time living here and eating out!

Constitution square in the old town, the numbers above each one of the windows in the houses facing it mark the bullring boxes that the houses formerly used to be and from which you could watch the bullfight

Posh city council or what?!

Pedestrian street in the Old town quarter and Basílica de Santa María at the back

The city, officially known as Donostia–San Sebastián, was much busier than cities on the French side in this month of December. Because there are pedestrian streets everywhere, strolling felt like being in a big village rather than a polluted city. This is probably one of the main reasons why this city is so pleasant. Well. Actually the main reason it is so pleasant is that there is a point for walking about: the old town quarter is FULL of pintxos bars, it seems that no matter the time of the day, a large number of people, young or old, are eating delicious pintxos.

how much chocolate can one fit in a cake? That was WoohoohoOOO chocolatey 😁

You can choose your Pintxos from the counter...

Pintxo (in basque language, prononced pinetcho or pincho in Spanish), originally means "spike" because they are usually small snacks with ingredients held in place on by a toothpick on a piece of bread. They are a bit different from tapas which are more like small versions of large meals. Each costs between 2.50 and 4 euros, and people like to drink a small glass of Txakoli (Tchakoli in Spanish) to accompany pintxos, a light dry white wine with a hint of fizz. They tend to serve small portion deserts too, such as the super chocolatey chocolate cake in the picture above.

Yeah, not such a good menu for vegans 😯

They were so YUMMY we ended up eating some at lunch and dinner. We tried not to eat meat, but had difficulties resisting non vegetarian options, it must be said.

We lucked out on the weather (aaaaagain) and enjoyed sunny walks on the beach full of dogs but surprisingly clean! Tiny downside, the beach is a closed bay and despite its large size, I found that it lacked horizons and big waves, but really, I'm splitting hairs...

Didi loves all beaches

Even pet shops have the X factor here!

All in all, a lovely day in a lovely city, we are not the only ones thinking this, as a result flat rentals are soooooo expensive, not sure it would make sense for us to live there. Oh well never mind, we'll find our perfect place! Off we go...

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