Got a good nights sleep and left the hotel a bit late at around 10:30, but we have 2 days here so no rush. Weather was a bit grim, cloudy and a bit of drizzle and about 11c.
Found the nearest Starbucks on the map, a 30 minute walk but towards the main sights.
The area we walked along at first was a bit depressing, 1960s and 70s buildings and flats, but we headed towards a pinxtos place that had good reviews. It was a small bar with all the dishes laid out on the counter so we picked a few out. 7 in all; tuna, prawn, crab, calamari on bread, fish. Really nice. Cost 24 Euro (about $41). That was first breakfast.
Carried on walking towards the main area, found a market inside with fruit, vegetable, meat and fish stands. Then left to go to Starbucks for my weak, tasteless coffee. As we were there a protest went past, and carried on for a good 15 minutes, there were thousands of people, some blowing whistles and others chanting. We hoped they weren’t protesting about tourists, we asked someone who said it was about teacher shortages. Not sure why they need taller teachers, but there you go.
We walked across the road to the beach, took some photos but it was still very grey and cold, although there were some people swimming. Then crossed the road to the old town, this was more like it – narrow alleyways, old brick buildings and lots of shops.
We were heading to another tapas place that I’d seen featured on a UK show called Travel Man – they looked really good. Found it, and it was larger than the first with more tables, a bar, and the tapas on the counter. They were larger servings than the first place, we picked out 5; salmon, cod, tuna, anchovies and black pudding. The waitress scorched them with a blowtorch before serving, then I cut them in half. They were really good (I only had a mouthful of the black pudding). I also had a beer. This was a bit of a bucket list item for me – eating tapas in San Sebastian. This was second breakfast.
Finished up and saw a couple of places across the road also doing tapas, and they looked even better. Damn. So many choices. Song decided that was going to be dinner.
Went back to the hotel, the sun came out for a bit and it warmed up. Stayed in the room watching TV downloads until time to head out for more food.
Luckily didn’t need any bags, we were just going out to eat. The weather had cleared up a bit and there were blue skies and a bit of sun, but it was dusk when we left at about 19:00. The hotel was about a 30 minute walk from the main part of town, so a bit of a hike. We had to walk through some apartment blocks, then across a bridge, then through a park, down some steps then along the river bank and cross another bridge. There were lots of people out and about, with a lot of them walking dogs.
We found the tapas place we’d seen earlier in the day, and picked 11 dishes. There was octopus, whitebait, veal cheeks, prawns in ham, chillies, anchovies, a quiche, ham, and a beer. Well, I did say we were here for the food.
I think we ate too much. We decided tomorrow we’d take it a bit easier and not go mad. But there are so many places offering these fabulous dishes it’s hard to pick just a couple. Most of the places were fairly busy, this was a Thursday night, so tomorrow might be even busier.
Walked back along the river in the dark, still quite a few people about. We had to walk through the park which I was a bit wary of, but there was a young woman walking ahead of us and 2 cops on bikes passed us, plus 2 old ladies were coming in as we were leaving, so it was safe. Got back to the hotel and collapsed, vowing to exercise more restraint tomorrow.