The beginning of our vacation from our vacation
Also where we continued to stuff our face with food
We got into San Sebastián quite early on the overnight train. We walked to our hostel and left our bags to get our brunch meal at the famed Atari Gastropub. Delicious.
We walked around the town and explored all the nooks and crannies. We took siestas and drank vino. We had pinchos galore.
A little about San Sebastián. It’s a beautiful town on the northern coast of Spain, miles from the French border. It’s known for its exquisite food and gastronomy. There are bars up and down the blocks with platters of bite size food out. You decide which one you would like to eat, you take it off the platter and on to your plate, and your pay for your items by the number of skewers (1 skewer /pincho). Typically, pinchos are ~1-2€, and go up in price if it’s fancier. It’s a step away from sit down restaurants and more a vibrant bar culture.
We had dinner at Zeruko which was an absolute mess. There were maybe 30 people trying to pay for their food and only 2 waiters. Needless to say it took ~15 min to pay for the items you picked up. But let me say this. The food at this restaurant was some of the best food I’ve ever had.
We ended the night at a bar called TasTas, where we ran into a large tour group of 18-28 year olds that were on a 33 day trip across Europe and mostly from New Zealand. It was the third day of their trip, and as I learned from a girl while waiting for the bathroom, drama was already happenining. Needless to say, Boyfriend and I spent the rest of the evening people watching and dancing, but mostly people watching.
Our second day in San Sebastián was relaxation continued. We spent the day relaxing on the beach and going swimming. We had a fabolous lunch at Iratxo, which had massive zucchini boats of deliciousness. Boyfriend ran while I napped. And we did some slow exploring. We ending our evening and our stay in San Sebastián with a little upscale dinner at Gandari, another pincho bar.
San Sebastián is just one of the most relaxing places I’ve ever visited. The city has a calm feeling to it with a small town vibe (granted, it is small). I highly recommend everyone who visits Spain to spend some time in San Sebastián. It may be completely out of the way, but it is 200% worth visiting
Restaurants to visit in San Sebastián
- Atari Gastropub
- Zeruko
- Iratxo
- Gandari
Alisha Explores 