Full day in San Sebastian

walkwayI have wanted to come here for years.  What a great city.  Just such a nice vibe.  The food scene is amazing but there is a sophistication to this city that makes it very special.  We started off our day by walking to a more residential area of town.  There are these beautiful trails in front of the buildings lining up the water.

aptbuildingHere is one of the old apartment buildings.  Old architecture at its best.

bakeryPastelería Geltoki is the pastry shop.

bfastWe split a few things and of course had coffee.

ovenbakeryI loved their ovens.  I noticed as we kept seeing more bakeries that they all have these ovens.  Very compact.

carouselWe strolled back down to the beach.  There is this carousel from the early 1900’s.

viewsfrom the topAs we made our way around the square and up the small hill I took this photo of the stretch of San Sebastian.  Just beautiful here.

churchThis church, all European towns have one, is from the 1800’s.  Quite large inside but is tucked in between all the stores in the town.

otehrwiseWe walked to the other side of town and here are the views of the water from over there.  These huge slabs of concrete are there for to stop erosion.

goodmarketChecked out their market called Mercado de la Bretxa.  Nothing like the one in Barcelona but really nice shops.

puktasurfstoreThere are few stores worth checking out.  This one is called Pukas.  It is a brand and surf shop started in San Sebastian.  It has grown way past the original shop of boards and bathing suits.  The other store is Noventa Grados which is their version of Barneys.

albokaAlboka is on all the lists as a place to pick up local goods from artisans.  Not.  It is more like local shlock.

contempsquare - bullfightingThe square Alboka sits on is called Constitucion Square.  A very cool square with lots of history.  Above the square are apartments. One after the other that go around 3/4 of the square.  Each of them have a number on them that you can see from below.  Makes them look like cabanas at the beach.  What they were at one point were boxes for people to view the bull fights or anything else that went on in the square.  They kept the numbers there to preserve history.

tshirtstoreWe stopped in another local store, Loreak Mendian, which started here as a t-shirt store.  Now it has expanded way past that.

ibaiOur lunch was at Ibai.  A tiny restaurant located in the basement.  There is a bar upstairs.  Only about 30 seats tops.  Lunch and cash only.  Certainly a locals spot as we noticed as our meal progressed.  The food is simple and delicious.  Highly recommend this place.

chorizoThey start you off with these small bites of chorizo.  Perfect.

lobsterWe started with a lobster salad.  Pieces of poached lobster with just a smattering of roe sitting in a liquid broth loaded with butter.

squidWe also had the grilled calamari.  Simple.  In all honesty they don’t speak English and we do not speak Spanish so it wasn’t easy to communicate.  Taking a look around what other people were eating was interesting.  All simply prepared but obviously brilliant.

soleWe split a whole sole for two.  The fish literally came off the bone.  I believe they baked it in olive oil and butter and then put it back into that for a sauce.  Kind of can’t go wrong with that.

We stopped in a few other places on the way back for our room for a major siesta.  We eventually got up and wandered into old town where small bars line the street.  Each one has an abundance of tapas.  Amateur night here is Monday night many of the best ones are closed.  We decided we would just try a few that were open that we wanted to go to and come back to the ones we wanted to try for lunch tomorrow.

foiegras

We did stop in Atari Gastroteka and have the foie gras.

jambonOur other stop was Le Cepa where we had a plate of jambon.  A total wow.

boqueronesWe returned to Goiz Argi and had boquerones on a piece of bread.   It was open and we enjoyed the shrimp the day before.  What a town.

Comments (Archived):

  1. William Mougayar

    You’re definitely eating your way into Southern Europe 🙂

    1. awaldstein

      I’ve been cleansing for the last three days and honestly, these posts have been a tough challenge.Tonight I break it, watch The Chef (new Jon Favreau movie) and celebrate some restraint.

  2. awaldstein

    Never been.Really must some time.

    1. Gotham Gal

      you must go.

  3. meredithcollinz

    I’m having such a good time on your vacation! ;~) Looks fantastic!

  4. daryn

    Love that city so much! Glad you made it there.

    1. Gotham Gal

      A definite return to

  5. JimHirshfield

    I remember sitting at the far end of the plaza in Constitucion Square as pictured above. Great memories of our visit to San Sebastian about 13 years ago. Enjoy!

  6. mwilkotz

    Just got to reading this as I clean out my inbox! So glad you went to Pukas – we are huge fans and have all taken surf classes with them in Barcelona. Awesome family business and the nicest people around. You wpuld love their story. They just ended a sponsorship deal with Gabriel Medina who rode one of their boards to his first world championship.