We left Bilbao with great excitement as we were headed to San Sebastian, Spain. This seaside town in the Basque country is famed for its marvelous and creative appetizers called pintxos. Mr. Large's son-in-law, Papi, has filled our heads with the glories of this wonderful place, and the pintxos, for years. Papi was a world traveler prior to marrying "the artist", Miss S., and having the delightful grandbabies Bronze and Sage. (All identities changed to protect the innocent).
The hour-long bus ride took us through the lush greenery and steep hills of what we assumed to be the foothills of the Pyrenees. It reminded me of how green it is in our new home town of Sapphire, Our stop was close to the seashore and the tourist district, and we have begun a familiar routine of using google maps combined with asking for directions by asking," do you speak English?" Oy. It's not a perfect system, but so far so good. High school Spanish was a looong time ago.
We wheeled our luggage, getting heavier by the minute, along the riverbank that led to the sea and found our hotel in about 15 minutes. Not bad! The Pension Albemar is in a lovely old building and is one floor with about 10 rooms and a VERY SMALL common area. I noticed with great joy a Lavazza coffee machine, For you readers who are coffee lovers you can understand my joy in having coffee, tea, cappucino and hot chocolate at my fingertips any time of day or night. Along with a lovely little snack of pre-wrapped cookies. I am asking Mr. Large for this as a Christmas gift. Friends - keep shooting reminders to him about how important this is.
On my caffeine high, we decided to explore the old town and maybe, just maybe, DIVE IN TO THE PINTXOS! First, let me tell you how beautiful this town is. The buildings are very ornate and architecturally lavish, as you will see in the photos. Ok, enough of that. Let's move on to the pintxos section.
In Bilbao, most of the pintxos were almost like open-faced sandwiches. A piece of bread with some ham and cheese, or a fish and mayo salad piled high. Tasty, but kind of bready. And the wine is always good. In San Sebastian we discovered a whole new pintxos game. Many served with out bread! A glorious chunk of fresh tuna with olive oil, chopped celery, pimiento and onion; grilled prawns; a skewer of pickled peppers, pimientos, white anchovies and an olive. And so much more.
Oh yes, this town is beautiful! Check it out:
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