Donostia-San Sebastián

As a foodie, I had heard about San Sebastián for a long time and wanted to visit it. The Camino de Santiago also goes through it, if one is walking the route Camino Norte.

After my Camino De Santiago walk by the Camino Frances route, which I finished 9 days faster than planned, I took the opportunity to visit San Sebastián. It is about a five-hour drive from Madrid.

As I neared the town, I came across the iconic city gates which are two on each side on the river Urumea. They commemorate the favorite Spanish queen Maria Cristina who moved the summer palace to San Sebastián from Madrid.

The city is on the Cantabrian Sea which is part of the North Atlantic. It has a very chill vibe to it and there are many tourists walking about. The beach is very accessible and there are two big mountains on each side. The buildings are Gothic, Baroque, Belle Epoque as well as contemporary. The Ondaretta beach is well renowned.

The sun was out and the views were vibrant. People were enjoying the beautiful weekend day.

Equipped with the app named GuideMichelin , I selected the first restaurant that I was going to visit and it was called El Kbzón.

At El Kbzón, I had several pinxos, small tapas. After enjoying Asparagus, Anchovies with homemade hummus, Hake fish roasted with couliflower puree and refried garlic, Ravioli, and their Rice tapas, the server convinced me to try the Iberian pork ear. It was pressed and crispy, stuffed in bed of beans. I was happy with the attentive service and the food quality.

I got talking to two ladies who sat next to me. They were from Berkeley, California. Both were retired, in their 70s, and were on a trip of Spain. We exchanged notes on the various tapas we were trying. As I was about to order a dessert, they suggested that I go to the world famous cheesecake place named La Viña.

The restaurant has a good view of the Cantabrian sea and when I was walking back, the sky had sunset colors eclipsed by dark rain clouds.

I walked to the old town area where the La Viña was located. After having eaten many tapas, the half hour walk to old town was really necessary.

Even at 10 PM, there was a big crowd of people outside the cheesecake place. Some were eating their cheesecake and some waiting in line. I went inside and found that there was no room to stand. Somehow I attracted the attention of the server who was very polite and friendly. I got my cheesecake and it was fantastically delicious.

Soon, I scored a corner table and a group of people who had participated in a pinxos tour, which has a stop at La Viña, came by and sat next to me. They were from North Carolina and Ohio. It was good to compare notes about their travel as well.

Across La Viña, I saw the interesting bronze statue of the lady with basket. Later, I discovered that this city has literally hundreds of very meaningful sculptures around the whole city. I found a website dedicated to the sculptures. This is a sculpture commemorating the reconstruction of the city after the fire of 1813 showing women carried bricks on their heads in a basket to aid the efforts.

Next morning, I started walking around to discover the town. There are so many places to eat that I had multiple feedings. I would sit at a place, work for an hour or two, eat different pintos, then go on to find another appealing place to repeat the process at.

Lunch was at Beti-Jai Berria from the GuideMichelin app. It did not disappoint. I limited the plate count to five knowing I would eat a few more times today before dinner.

Some streets were quiet on the outside while the tapas bars were full of people.

The squares with outside seating were brimming with people.

The squares with outside seating were brimming with people.

The older Santa Maria basilica was on one end of the Kalea Nagusia.

The detail on it was breathtaking.

One mile away on the other end is the Good Shepherd basilica in the gothic style.

I walked towards the other basilica and passed areas of cafés which had many patrons.

The old city walls are now remembered by these flower beds that have a colorful springtime display.

Artists were performing music on the path, and this acrobat was so skillful, he gave me a fist bump with his free hand.

All around, the city was looking sparklingly beautiful.

Mount Urgull and the steps leading to the Jesus statue up top beckoned me. In fifteen minutes, I was at the top taking in the panoramic city views.

The popular and ornate Maria Cristina hotel was close by and I went in to admire it. Across from

It is the Father Donostia sculpture.

The Urumea river snakes around the city before meeting the Cantabrian sea.

I walked around to the Good Shepherd basilica and was impressed with the beauty of its construction and interior.

For dinner, I had reservations at Gronx. The highlight for me was the squid in squid ink dish.

The next morning it rained and I took a chance to go to the free walking tour. I did not find anyone at the meeting spot so I retreated to a nearby cafe and worked while enjoying more pinxos. The neighboring table had David, a resident of Maine who has hiked Mt Katahdin, that I want to. We compared travel notes and decided to go to Ganbara for lunch, which was listed in GuideMichelin.

The dish with morel and other wild mushrooms was my favorite.

I had many more dishes including Gambia’s al ajillo.

My mandatory long walks interspersed the constant eating sessions to maintain a balance of energy acquisition and consumption.

The Ondarreta beach area was submerged in high tide while still having breathtaking views.

The funicular at Monte Igeldo was my next walking destination. I met a family from Santa Rosa which is near San Francisco and walked together uphill to the top of the funicular. Unfortunately, the path was blocked after about a half mile.

The views from the halfway point to Monte Igeldo were outstanding.

The funicular tracks were obviously quite steep.

I admired the drummer sculpture while awaiting the afternoon free walking tour to start.

The tour guide was very informative, friendly and knowledgeable.

The Basque culture is limited to three regions, Gipuzkoa province including San Sebastián, Biarritz and Navarra. Biarritz is across the international border, in France. Only about 1 million people speak the Basque language.

The memory of the civil war of 1936 between the rebels and republicans was still fresh in the form of the bullet holes on the buildings.

The queen Maria Cristina’s efforts to make San Sebastián a tourism destination had succeeded. The ancient weather station was quite interesting .

We went through many important buildings in town.

Over 2500 of these balustrades line the conch beach and one of them has the middle flower pointing to

the ocean instead of towards the city. I looked for it on the 3km walk but lacked concentration and missed it.

The rain had subsided in the afternoon and the sky looked pretty with the fluffy clouds.

The two hour tour was very informative and the participants’ questions made it more fun.

It was two hours without pinxos, an emergency situation, one that I rectified immediately.

With the pinxos, I had the wine suggested by the tour guide. Chakoli, also known as Txakoli, is a dry, slightly sparkling white wine. It's known for its high acidity and low alcohol content.

Walking for a mile, I enter The Loaf bakery, also suggested by the tour guide as an alternative cheesecake source.

A couple of hours of walking later, I came to Bergara, from the GuideMichelin, and continued my relentless eating. An Australian retired couple was sitting across me, and we talked about their travels. They were spendkgn3 months in Spain and had just crossed the border to Biarritz as they liked surfing.

After the dinner, it was an hour and a half walk to the hotel, thankfully assisting my body’s overworked digestive system.

The morning rain had resulted in a beautiful night sky.

The Loretopea tunnel was so beautifully painted inside. The Don Quijote and Sancho Panza sculpture was cute. The sculpture memorialing Franco regime’s execution of 400 San Sebastián natives was depressing and the Jose Oteiza’s ‘Empty Construction’ — a gate to the sea, was creative.

As I walked to the underground market, I noticed the actual truffles which I had never seen in whole shape in bulk.

After that I walked over to an artisanal cheese store where the lady owner, who researched cheese in Seattle before moving back to San Sebastián, carefully packed four cheeses for me for my private tasting event.

I walked to the far side of town for lunch, more than an hour away. The squid there was great.

The last meal in town was coming up during dinner and it was going to be a three hour long, multi course dinner starting at 8:30pm. This necessitated a nap.

The restaurant opened for dinner service at 8:30pm and I was probably the first customer. Soon enough, it filled up to capacity.

The wine, bread and multiple courses that kept coming made for a very delicious experience. Satisfied with the meal, I walked back an hour to reach the hotel. It was midnight and the new day meant, I had to say goodbye to San Sebastian and plan to visit again in a while.