San Sebastián Beach Day

Day 4: San Sebastián Beach Day

It was a beautiful day and the forecast was super hot temperatures so we scrapped our initial plans to head to Pamplona and opted to enjoy the beach.

After breakfast in our apartment, we took a long walk along La Concha and Ondarreta Beaches to Peine del Viento (or Comb of the Wind), a beautiful Basque sculpture installation.

A local took pictures of us, and upon talking to him, we learned he was a Basque policeman and had just come from playing paddle tennis. We were surprised to learn it was the same type of paddle that my dad played. Some things know no cultural bounds.

Wandering back from the sculpture, we stopped at Ondarreta Beach for some sodas. A family sat down next to us, and since we saw them struggling to find a place for their stroller, mom moved a chair from our table and offered them the chance to put their baby there. The dad did so and then joked, “Do you want to look after it too?”

We chatted with them for a while about where they were from - Canberra, the capital of Australia (a fact they were shocked to discover I knew), where I had been in Australia, which was better between Sydney and Melbourne (sorry, Sydney, I think you know who wins this one), and where their travels were taking them.

Eventually, getting a bit peckish, mom and I caught the bus back to our Airbnb, and stopped in the supermarket for some ham and bread (which was quite the task due to our minimal spanish). After lunch, we spent most of the day at the beach, enjoying the sun, sand and sea, and occasionally conversing with our fellow tourists.

We ended the day with another attempt at a pintxos crawl. We started at Bodega Donostiarra which I had heard specialized in pig snout. But much to my chagrin, when I got there and ordered ensalada de Morris (grated pig snout on a salad), they were out of it. Instead we got some wine, a potato tortillita (basically a fancy but pretty delicious potato pancake, albeit absent of the applesauce) and octopus (which was beautiful on a plate, but the same can’t be said for the taste).  Right before we asked for the check, I gestured to the man next to me asking what he was eating. He didn’t speak English but kept pointing to his mouth area. He finally showed it to me on the menu and google told me it was “roasted nose”.

Finally I had found my pig snout!!! It actually wasn’t too bad, despite being a little gooey. I thought it tasted kind of like normal meat but mom thought it was too gushy, so I took her to the next pintxos bar Ganderias for steak as a reward for putting up with my antics.

I personally didn’t care for Ganderias’ food but since it was so packed we ended up sharing a table with some Americans and later some Spaniards who were completing the Camino de Santiago and had a good time talking to them, both in English, and in really terrible Spanish.  Finally, we headed back to the Airbnb, stopping for some delicious chocolates on the way, and rested up for the next day’s adventures.