Category: Portugal/Spain, Fall 2018

We spent 5 days in San Sebastian, one of the most beautiful towns we have run across on this trip.  The first two days we were here it was very stormy with very high surf, which kind of made the surroundings pretty cool!

La Concha Bay from east to west.

A shot of La Concha Bay from the top of Mt. Urgull.

The Itsasadarra River splits San Sebastian in two, and is normally very calm.  The swells on the day we walked aruound the river were running directly into it, and the results were pretty impressive.  I was surprised nobody was trying to surf these, particularly with all of the stupid things we have seen people doing on this trip.  The waves were running up river at least 200 yards.

Here are the views from our Airbnb deck.  This place was truly gorgeous, and I would highly recommend it do anybody coming to San Sebastian in the future.  You can even see part of the bay from the deck and the living room.

The previously mentioned Mt. Urgull on a much sunnier day.  A very easy hike with great views.

La Concha Beach, in it’s normal calm state.

Crazy surfers in the very cold water.

There are all of these short, fat old people on La Concha Beach going swimming in the middle of the winter.  Very strange.

This jolly fellow (no relation to the short, fat old guy in the prior photo) is known as Olentzero.  According to Basque traditions, he comes to town late at night on Dec 24th and drops off presents for the kids.  Sounds suspiciously familiar….

This is the beach on the west side of San Sebastian.

This is a view from the entrance to the Queen’s summer palace.  Beautiful spot with gardens all around.  It was sold to the City by the Royal Family so it can be preserved and used for public purposes.  Unfortunately they only do tours once a week.

I have no idea what this display was about, but it’s the first Tesla we’ve seen in two weeks.

I presume this is Custer’s Last Jacket?  Not sure how the light sabers fit in.

It was pouring down rain on our last day in San Sebastian, so we decided to go to the Aquarium.  It was nicer than either of us expected, with a very cool fish tank that you can walk through.  I’ve seen that once before in Dallas.

The thick acrylic glass made it difficult to get a decent shot of the Tiger Shark.

Just like in Monterey Aquarium….very cool jellyfish tank.

I think these fish were singing “Baby it’s Cold Outside”.

I think they call this a Harvey Weinstein fish?  Looks evil enough, with a face only a mother could love.

Off to Plencia and Bilbao!

We arrived in San Sebastian two days ago, and it will get it’s own blog post, but today we visited Restaurante Arzak, a 3 Michelin Star restaurant that is listed in the Top 50 Restaurants in the world (currently #31).  Here is the view from the bus stop.  I love taking the public bus to a 3 star restaurant!

This is the 3rd 3 Michelin Star restaurant we have been to (the first two being Arpege in Paris (#8 in the world…truly amazing), and Auberge de I’l in Alsace).  We chose the tasting menu, and picked out a half bottle of white and a full bottle of red to pair with the menu.  The interior of this place is really gorgeous.

The company is really gorgeous as well!

Our waiter for the afternoon was Cesar, who was exceptional.  He laughed at all of my bad jokes, spoke really good English, and explained every course with exceptional detail. 

The meal starts with 5 Amuse Buches (all of them were truly exceptional).  First is the Citrus and Mussel Sphere.

Then the Urban Seafood “Talo” (I have no idea what the Talo means, it was good…that’s enough for me!)

Then the Fortunate Fish and Cured Yolk (not quite sure how fortunate that fish was to be honest….he can’t be too happy to be in that little morsel of yummyness).

Then the Maseca Corn….scrumptious little corn tortilla!

Finally the “Chasing Karramarros”.  Again, lost in translation (it was basically crab pate’ on a ginger cookie, but very tasty regardless)!  I love the little crab net it was served in.

Then we were on to the real courses.  First up was “Fish of the Day Marinated with Patxaran and Purple Corn”.  Good thing we had bread so we could get every last molecule off the plate!

Then the Scarlet Prawns with Krill (you can barley see the lovely prawns under the cover of the crunchy krill….but it was devine (and deveined!).  Seriously, we have seen a lot of shrimp/prawns in Portugal and Spain that are not deveined!  Ok, back to the amazing meal.

Then the egg with Corn and Tomato Candy (it actually tasted like candy!)

We then switched to red wine (Tinto).  This was an amazing Temparnillo….we have a new found respect for this varietal, and will be buying a lot of it in the near future.

Check out this stemware!  It’s like a damn fishbowl!  Love it!

The next course was Grouper (Kim) and Monkfish (Chris).  The Monkfish won this one hands down.  The skin from the Monkfish….meh.  Can’t win them all!

 

Then the “meat” course, Roasted Duck.  Each one of the little purple pieces was made of potato, and had it’s own meaning (they actually called it Symbolic Duck).  I honestly can’t remember the meanings, but waiter emeritus Cesar gave me his email address, so maybe I can find out.  The duck breast was cooked perfectly…..such a great match with the Temparnillo!

Then we are on to dessert…..Seasonal Frost (Guava Frost with Lemon Sorbet and Acai) for Kim, and Mezcal Sweet (Mezcal Frost and Snow with Almond Praline and fluffy Raspberries….fluffy??) for Chris.  I think Kim won this one.

Second desserts (everybody knows in Michelin Star restaurants you get multiple desserts) were Square Moon (Lunar chocolate cube (lunar?) with a fluid core of mint, neroli and kiwi….it also came with some raspberry sorbet?) for Kim and Cacao Debris (Smoked chocolate, vanilla ashes and cacao shavings) for Chris.  The fluid core of mint on the Square Moon was amazing.  They were both excellent regardless,but I could eat that mint for a few hours.

The 3rd dessert was some homemade chocolates that were all pretty damn good….but then we had already drunk 1.5 bottles of wine, so at this point cat food might have tasted good!  I kid, these were excellent finishes to the meal.

Before we walked out, Cesar rounded up the world famous Chef Jaun Mari Arzak and introduced us.  He had heard we were there from California, and I think we were the only Americans in the place, so he wanted to say hello.  Very gracious, and I STUPIDLY DIDN’T GET A PHOTO WITH HIM!!!  Regardless, it was very nice to meet him.  Thanks Cesar!!  You rock!