San Sebastian is mostly a summer resort town where people flock to the wide long white beaches to swim in the Bay of Biscay and savor some of the best food in Spain and perhaps the world. It borders France and the Pyrenees mountains within 15 miles. A small fishing village contains rows of hole in the wall restaurants where you can taste the fresh catch of the day and seaman who have not shaved or bathed in decades. High rise ornate buildings (perhaps condos) which appear to have been built in the late 19th century overlook the beaches. Old stone cabanas have been turned into little swanky eateries. The town immediately strikes a resemblance to Monaco sans the celebrity snobbery and pretension. A statue of Jesus sits high upon a mountain top facing the horseshoe shaped beach town as if to keep watch. On Sunday, the cathedral church bells rang all day. Sometimes for 5 minutes at a time. It's quite a remarkable place.
One of the downsides of staying in a hostel or pension rather then a hotel is that there's no room service. No one to bring you breakfast or coffee to nurse the hangover or the exhaustion from being out till the wee hours. Make sure there is Advil handy at all times along with bottles of water and chips. Pray you remembered to take your cholesterol pill, take a quick bird bath, grab your boot straps and drag yourself out for recovery. And that's exactly what we did Sunday morning.
It's been raining for 2 days straight - Sunday close to biblical rain. Blowing, broken umbrellas in trash cans, and people wearing full length plastic suits. Should have brought my Harley rain gear for this weather. We've been on the move so much we decided to just get some food and chill in the room. AKA nap and nurse so we can get our act together for a nice sit down dinner for our last night in San Sebastian. Although Jud talked me into Disco Burger #3 in the afternoon in between naps.
Restaurants don't open till 8 pm and many are closed on Sunday and Monday. We were on the hunt for a quite place where we could sit down, have a bottle of wine, some local beef and the infamous regional tomato salad. We came upon a place called Atari Gastromix which offered all that and more. The menu was not in English it was in Basque - and it was not a large menu. Maybe 4 or 5 items under each category of cheese, starters, beef, fish and dessert. The photo drawing of a giant cow caught my eye which also helped us choose this place. Our server did an amazing job of explaining each dish as best she could almost using pictionary style explanations. We ordered a nice bottle of Rioja, tomato salad with spring onions and olive oil and a chuleta steak to share. Have no idea what cut of meat a chulata is - looked to be the strip side of the bone. We were blown away. One of THE best meals so far on this trip.
It stopped raining long enough for us to take a stroll along the promenade. The wind picked up, my umbrella officially turned completely inside out and in the trash it went.
It's now Monday and we are on a train to Barcelona which is the final leg of our journey. The sun is shining, Jud is attempting to find some food on this moving bullet, no more hostels or pensions - blew the budget and booked a suite at the Neri Hotel (down in the dark Barrie Gothic section) for our last 3 nights.
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