Monday 10.25.2010


Life’s a Beach

Life in San Sebastian is all about the beach during the warm months and perhaps a little even today. After our first real Pintxos night last night we have a leisurely start this morning with no real plans except to explore the city. There are early sprinkles but the sun is coming out by the time we appear a little after ten.

We begin with a stroll around the new town and a stop at a small pastry shop for a croissant and coffee. The Cathedral is a massive gothic structure a couple blocks from our hotel and in the middle of the main shopping area, sort of like St. Patrick’s in New York. We do a walk around the inside and it is, of course, spectacular but like visuals in Hawaii, sooner or later they start to look similar. The city is in full swing this morning so the Spanish lifestyle of late nights, early mornings and afternoon siestas seems to agree with them more than us.

We go to the morning market in a square on the edge of the old city checking out the busy produce stands and then taking an escalator down to an underground fish, meat and cheese market. The meat products here look much more like the cuts we are used to seeing at home. The big deal in all of Spain is the ham. In our picture from the Pintxo bar yesterday, those are hams hanging over the bar to age and dry and huge hams at bar level are really the tap handles for the beer kegs. The best hams come from pigs that are fed acorns and serenaded with flamenco music while laying in the shade (some of that is true). And they’re pricey—we saw prices as high as 89 euros a kilo or about $50 a pound.

Next to the fresh market is an underground supermercado that we stick our heads into. We are amazed at the price of alcohol--six-packs of beer for 1.5 euros, a bottle of wine for less than a euro. No wonder the glasses of wine last night were only 2 euros. A lady comes rushing up to John holding out a sweatshirt and being quite insistent in Spanish about something. After finally communicating that we have no idea what she is talking about, we work out in sign language that the sweatshirt is a gift for someone John's size and she needs to hold it up to see if it will fit. She and Mary then go through the process of spinning John around in circles holding up the sweatshirt at various angles until she is satisfied one way or the other. We never did find out.

There is a promenade that circles the old town and the hill that has protected it from invasion from the sea for centuries. (It didn’t work well when the French torched the whole town in 1813). It is a cool, breezy but sunny stroll all the way around that leads back into the marina which then curls back out into the beach. It couldn't be more that 60-degrees today but there are a few intrepid souls marching into the water, which is probably warmer that the air. The beach is magnificent. It stretches for more than a mile in a concave crescent shape around a protected bay, is probably fifty yards deep and is pure sand all the way. It is nearing time for the lunch break (2:00 PM) so folks are out jogging on the sand, strolling along the wide walkway or stopping for their mid-day meal.

Mama hostess at the hotel has recommended lunch at La Reole on the beach (we understood every word), but when we stop there they are packed inside and not open on their terrace. We move next door for a seat on the terrace right over the beach. We both order the Menu de Dia which is three courses and a glass of wine for E13.50. John has a plate of grilled vegetables with ham, an egg dish with tuna and peppers and a sort of melted ice cream dish with cinnamon and nutmeg. Mary has a soup of potatoes and chorizo and the same main course and dessert as John. For our glass of wine, the server just brings a bottle and leaves it. Now that we know it only costs a euro or two we aren't as impressed, but it is still nice to sip wine in the sunshine listening to the waves.

We walk the streets of the main shopping area until late afternoon and move back to the hotel for our siesta. We are warned when we go out again that the local futbal team is playing tonight (first division Monday night football) so the bars may be crowded with shouting fans. Being Monday, we again have trouble finding places open for business and after a couple false starts we go back to the bar where we finished last night. Our bartender, Maria, is on duty again and seems pleased to see us. (That is Maria's face coming out of the side of Mary's head like a Greek mask in yesterday's picture.) We stay there the rest of the night, have some pintxos from the bar and extend our reach by ordering some "caliente pintxos" right from the kitchen. We have a pepper stuffed with pork and grilled and a skewer of mushrooms sort of wrapped with bacon. Mui bueno! Mary moves to a Cidre (cider) to drink and John has moved on to canas (beer) and the home team wins three-nil.

We time our walk home tonight (16 minutes) and get to bed by 10:30 for an early wake up and our longest driving day of the trip tomorrow.

Today’s weather: Sunny and cool. Low 48, high 62.