I went to San Sebastian, Spain last weekend for my birthday. My next door neighbor Hector Perez, was kind enough to invite me to stay at his parent’s house in San Sebastian to celebrate my birthday, his mother’s and my friend Rosemary Flannery’s, which all fall within 3 days of each other.
We took the five and a half-hour TGV train from Paris on Thursday and arrived at about 2PM. Pili, Hector’s mother, had a delicious lunch of local air-cured ham, salad, and ham & cheese croquettes waiting for us. The five-day foodathon had begun. The family lives in a modern but warm house perched on a mountain with the most breathtaking views of the Atlantic Ocean and the city. San Sebastian, located near the border of western France near Biarritz, is a perfect combination of beach and an old-world European city.
After lunch we explored the city with Hector as our guide. Easygoing and passionate, he explained the history and customs of his home city as we walked along the promenade on the beach. It was a cloudy, blustery day and dramatic gray clouds loomed over the Basque mountains and the ocean. We walked to the old part of the city with narrow streets and 19th century buildings with intricate ironwork on the doors and window boxes.
At about 6PM we visited our first pintxos bar (pintxos is tapas in Basque). Hector explained the pintxos ritual: each bar has a specialty, and you have one pintxo with a half glass of wine, then move onto the next one for their specialty, and so on, till you are stuffed and a little drunk. On the counter of the small, genial bar was a dazzling array of pintxos. As the waiter kept on putting out the appetizing platters, my eyes, which are rarely bigger than my stomach, were overwhelmed. Of course, I ignored the ritual by pigging out on 4 different pintxos- a croquette, fresh garlic shrimp on a skewer, sautéed foie gras and roasted green peppers. The red wine was a robust but smooth Rioja. Wine and pintxos were a mere 22 euros for four of us.
Pintxos
Pili made dinner that evening, inviting some lively friends over and we sat in their dining room with 3-story windows facing the ocean. I am semi-fluent in Spanish, so it was fun speaking a combination of Spanish, French & English. Dinner was croquettes (yes, again. These babies are fattening and by dinner I think I hit the 7-figure calorie barrier), fresh grilled anchovies and potato tortilla.
Friday was Rosemary’s birthday and we went to the Guggenheim Bilbao, which is an hour and ten minutes by bus. I will do a separate posting about the museum on Wednesday.
Saturday was my big day and I was told there was going to be a surprise that night. It was a sunny, clear day in the low 60’s and we walked along the cliffs on the beach soaking up the rays. At the end of the beach were some striking rusted sculptures by Chillida-Leku, embedded into the rocks and the waves crashed on them with a cleansing mist covering my face.
More photos are on the right sidebar under San Sebastian
The big surprise was Hector reserved a private men’s social club, where he would cook the family and me my birthday dinner. The club had a long standing policy of allowing only men, who would cook for each other, then drink and play cards afterwards, and finally a few years ago did it start letting women in. The large, recreation-style social room had long picnic –style tables with wooden benches, fluorescent lights and colorful banners running across the ceiling. Hector decided to be different from the other men in the room making Spanish food, and cooked Thai. The menu started with a traditional soup of lemongrass, ginger, coconut milk, limejuice, & chicken called Tom Kha Gai. Thai shrimp spring rolls and stir-fried Udon noodles with Teriyaki Sauce followed. I’ve never had homemade Thai food before and this was some of the best I ever tasted. Dessert was the Spanish version of the Kings cake, a round Challah bread ring with whipped cream in the middle. To die for! After dinner drinks were super-size me gin & tonics, mixed by Inigo who used to be a bartender. We laughed, caroused, toasted, ate, and drank till 2AM.This was one of the best and most unusual birthdays I’ve ever had.
Master chef Hector
Birthday trio-Rosemary,Pili, Moi
Recuperating from Saturday night, we had a late lunch on Sunday. San Sebastian has some of the top chefs in Europe with 2 three- star Michelin restaurants in the area. Pili & Luis chose Kokotxa, an elegant,modern restaurant with one star, The young chef, Daniel Lopez, creates some of the most imaginatice,exquistive and refined food I’ve had in quite a while. A starter of foie gras cream and poached egg decorated with a purple potato crystal and dessert of crispy bread with roasted pineapple and Catalan foam were the highlights. Service was impeccable, and the price of 65 euros for a four- course meal with wine was a bargain for the outstanding caliber of food.
Kokotxa
Our last full day was Monday, and we spent the morning at Museo Chillida-Leku, a serene sculpture garden and museum located just outside the city in the Basque hills. Chillida-Leku, whose work we saw on the beach a few days before, was one of the most prolific, and celebrated sculptors of Spain, He dedicated 13 hectares of land to showcase his arresting sculptures.
Completely spoiled by Hector, Pili, and Luis, and swept away by the beauty and charm of San Sebastian, it was hard to give it up, but we had to leave. This will be a treasured weekend I will always remember.
More photos are on the right sidebar under San Sebastian
I am pleased as punch to announce the launch of Eye Prefer Paris Tours, which are 3-hour walking tours I will personally be leading. The Eye Prefer Paris Tour
includes many of the places I have written about such as small museums & galleries, restaurants, cafes & food markets, secret addresses, fashion & home boutiques, parks, and much more.
I look forward to meeting you on my tours and it will be my pleasure and delight to show you my insiders Paris.
Check it out at www.eyepreferparistours.com
beautiful photos richard. spain is probably one of my favorite places in the world. the people, landscape, food--it is all fantastic. looks like you had a wonderful birthday. yeah!
Posted by: Kim | February 04, 2008 at 01:36 PM
I'm in the process of planning a 5-day getaway to San Sebastian with a group of friends in celebration of my 30th birthday. Any tips would be greatly appreciated!
Posted by: miss liz | March 24, 2009 at 02:55 PM
Fantastic! San Sebastian seems like a wonderful place to visit. A feast for the eyes. Of course it really helped that you knew someone from there. Your photos were wonderful, thanks!
Posted by: Greeting Card Printing | May 01, 2009 at 06:20 AM