san sebastián

Ahhh, San Sebastián.  Foodies and surfers Mecca.  My first trip to the northeast coastal city in Spain was a girls trip a few years ago - here.  It is one of our very favorite cities.

My sister Juliana and her boyfriend José were visiting us from the states.  It was nice to have two fluent Spanish speakers with us so Marco and I didn't have to get by with our so-so skills.

It wasn't warm enough to spend the days lounging on the beach - but that just meant more time in the pintxos bars.

We checked into our Airbnb, hung out over a bottle of wine, and then headed to one of my very favorite restaurants, La Cuchara de San Telmo.  Affordable, upscale small plates in a causal atmosphere.  A teeny tiny place where you're elbowing the stranger next to you while cutting into your grilled foie gras, saying "Oh my god." after each bite.  One of those eating experiences we'll never forget.  We ordered plated after plate and we sipped Txakoli - a slightly bubbly very dry white wine produced in the Basque Country province.

We spent the trip wandering the city, ducking into the posh children's clothing shops (well, I did), and took breaks at bars for tapas, pintxos, and a quick drink.

We spent the afternoons strolling the beach watching the surfers, then lounging back at the apartment researching our pintxos bars plan of attack for that night.

On our last full day of the trip, we had a break in the weather - a warmer day with sun on our faces. We hiked up to Monte Urgull to the 12m high statue of Jesus Christ to see the vista views of the city and beaches below.

Juliana and José continued on to Madrid and Marco, Simone, and I headed home to England.  Jewels and José - guys, thank you so much for coming for a visit and tolerating a 4 month old baby slowing our roll ... but we still ate and drank like Kings for a small price.