Easter in San Sebastian

Hi all

31 March marked the end of our UK working lives and Easter provided the opportunity for us to slip in a quick trip to the north of Spain before we had to face the packing and cleaning associated with leaving our UK flat.

San Sebastian is a beautiful old town which sits in a bay by the ocean. It has a huge sandy beach, although while we were there it wasn't yet quite warm enough for swimming. We did however enjoy a walk around the coast and watching unsuspecting tourists get sprayed by the occassional huge swell hitting the rocks on the headland.

Swells drenching tourists

As you may expect, Easter is a pretty big deal in Spain, however while it was busy, we didn't see too much in the way of special ceremonies or celebrations of the religious festival which was a bit of a shame. So what did we get up to? Pretty much eating and exploring the wine country villages, San Sebastian and the Guggenheim in Bilbao.

Eating

San Sebastian/Bilbao and the surrounding regions are well known foodie hotspots. In fact, there are more Michelin starred eateries in this region than in any other in Europe (and therefore presumably the world!).

The streets of San Sebastian are lined with Pintxos bars. Pintxos are essentially tapas, however typically they are laid out along the bar and as you have a drink you can help yourself to any which interest you. They can be pretty elaborate and this form of cuisine has become a real art from locally. If you want to know a bit more about Pintxos, have a look at this website (http://www.todopintxos.com/home/home.php?lang=en).

We also enjoyed a fantastic meal at this restaurant: http://www.bodegonalejandro.com/. The menu was packed with seafood options and everything we ate was incredible. This place was not Michelin starred itself, but is the family restaurant of a local culinary celebrity! Great value too!

Wine country scene

They are also pretty good at coffee and while here I circumed to their smooth, milky espresso shots - 'cortardo' - which was bit like a macchiato.

Wine country

La Rioja

The Rioja wine region is about an hour and half drive from San Sebastian. We had a great day driving round and exploring the region

Highlights here included the drive in, through tunnels and mountains until we reached the immense plateau which forms the Rioja region and exploring Laguardia (a beautiful hilltop fortified village).

In terms of wine, we didn't go overboard, but did enjoy a stop at Dinastia Vivanco (close to another hilltop village, Briones). Here they have what is reputedly the best wine museum in the world. It is impressive indeed - who would have thought you could dedicate 5 floors to wine - but they have all the bases covered and even boast a mighty corkscrew collection!

The winery also offers a wine tour which seemed to be very informative. I say 'seemed to be' as unfortunately the tour was only offered in Spanish the day we visited so we didn't really understand a word! It was however a very impressive winery and our dedication in following along was rewarded with a great tasting in the cellar at the end!

Cos I earned it

If you are ever planning a trip to Rioja (or San Sebastian/Bilbao for that matter) I would recommend the following site - it is free and has loads of detail on places to stay, eat, visit etc. http://www.maribelsguides.com/

Storm clouds in Rioja

The Guggenheim

Bibao is home to one of the Guggenheim modern art museums and en-route to the airport for our flight back we stopped in for a quick visit. The building itself is a work of art and collection inside is fantastic (although not all to our liking!).  They were showing an exhibition by Anish Kapoor, who works with paint and sculpts. His works were incredible and were a real highlight for us. 

(Left: Dog made out of live flowers!)