Today we make our way to San Sebastian, Spain! Check out front in Seignosse after cleaning the apartment but it’s no good. Storm is coming and everything is choppy and stormy. Flew down the toll road and checked Lafitenia along the way. Beautiful backdrop in the French Basque countryside and a nice mushy right point break. Definitely has potential and I can imagine it’s good inder the right circumstances but right now its too stormy. Go a little north to check Parlementia and it’s definitely a big wave breaking really far out. There are some guys chasing it but again, it looks pretty heavy, stormy.
Made our way to the apartment in San Sebastian, Gros, small but beautiful overlooking Playa Zurriola watching crazy big waves come into the bay and break powerfully. We chat for a while with our hosts as they show us everything and give us recommendations, waves go underneath us looking real juicy. They were super nice and it was great busting out the Spanish and finally being able to properly communicate with the people here. It’s Saturday afternoon so the atmosphere is amazing. People out and about in cafes and bars sitting at tables outside enjoying the afternoon and sunset. This is such a huge change from our Seignosse experience in a ghost town. Here our airbnb is directly above bustling cafes.
We go out for our first pintxo crawl! The plan here in St. Sebastian is to go eat amazing pintxos around town and hopefully get a couple waves in between. We have many recommendations for which bar to hit and what their specialty pintxos are. Strike up a conversation with Gabri, a journalist from Madrid who came up for the weekend to watch a soccer game. The team here is Real Sociedad and we see a lot of those jerseys. Downing pintxos and chakoli, a Basque white wine, this ends up turning into a party night and we get home super late. A total departure from Hossegor’s sleep, surf, eat, rest schedule.
Oct 9
Today we wake up with a slight hangover and have to return the rental car to Biarritz. It’s a beautiful sunny day and the beach is packed. Nothing would be better than just chilling on the sand napping away the hangover amongst the fun beach times but we have a mission to complete. Returning the car is painless and the bus ride from Biarritz to San Sebastian is super easy. Now we are without a car in the town of pintxos and chakoli, on foot we will be fine.
After returning from our mission, we grab the surfboards and hustle to find a spot in the hot sand to soak in as much of this beautiful day as we can. It’s like 80 degrees on the beach, the surf is large and powerful, kinda shore-breaky, children play ball and jump in the water, and women are topless. Take a wave or two and then my leash snaps. Must have really whittled down in Hossegor. Don’t really mind it too much as I’m nursing a hangover and getting thrown around in the shorebreak isn’t that great right now. Take a nice nap in the sun.
After resting a bit it was on for a massive meal at La Txuleteria, Basque steak, a huge cut of 1.3kg of tomahawk. They bring it out raw and let you examine it on the table before approving and then taking it back to cook. It comes out sizzling on a cast iron, sliced in thin strips. Our server starts moving slices on top of the bone so that it doesn’t keep cooking on the hot cast iron. Obviously, if you want you can move it back on to keep cooking but why would when they bring out a thinly sliced, medium rare beauty with salt flakes that melt in your mouth. It was literally a piece of meat that took one or two chews and then it was gone. It’s such a nice steak, you watch the ribbons of fat kind of turn yellow as it oxidizes. We ordered some green peppers and some tomatoes in olive oil and salt to go with it. Such a nice big meal with literally 5 ingredients: beef, salt, tomato, peppers, olive oil. Of course a beer.
Left in search of this famous cheesecake in Old Town, La Viña. Had the most delicious slice of creamy, warm, local cheesecake, similar but totally different to the NY cheesecake we know. This place would become a mandatory stop at the end of our pintxo crawls every night from here on out.
Oct 10
Today the waves were quite fun, peelers off sandbars all along the outside of Zurriola with some pretty good shape and glassy. We’re realizing this place has two faces: clean lines at low tide that break nicely until they fizzle out in a deep water section, or high tide powerful shorebreak slammers that you watch come in from far away, travel through the bay, and then unload close to the sand. Low tide longboarding (shortboarding if there’s some size) and then high tide boogyboarding/shortboarding in the shorebreak.
We walked along the river and then back through Gros, the neighborhood out airbnb's at, at a nice slow pace. In two nights we’ve kinda already seen most of downtown and the old town where all the famous pintxo bars are. Now with today, we’ve gone through all of Gros. This is a small town for sure and perhaps a full week here is a bit too much. We stop at a sweet cafe under our crib and a violent downpour catches us under a big umbrella sipping a coffee. This is the storm that’d bring us waves for the next couple of days and we don’t really know how this beach break holds size.
After the rain dies a bit, we cruise for some pintxos around Gros and eat some delicious food at Bergara. Trying to mix up our touristy pintxo spots with some places more filled with locals, we stop at some random place and get the most revolting tapa ever. It’s a piece of fried bread with jamon, anchovies, half a deviled egg with a shrimp hanging on top with some chives. The dude said it was popular so we ordered it but when it came out I immediately knew this was a whiff. Typically when you ask the bartender for the most popular thing at the bar they hit you with some fire. This was a rare miss. We somehow managed to get it down with our chakoli and scurried out of there to get our mandatory cheesecake closer. This cheesecake saved us. Rain or shine, amazing or gross pintxo experience, the cheesecake had our back.
Today the waves were large and breaking super far out on the low tide. Turns out as long as it’s low tide, Zurriola can hold size. Thank God for us no-car fools, this was our only surf option. It was probably 6-8-10 ft breaking way out the back but if you timed it right the paddle out wasn’t too bad. Make it out and catch the big mushy waves on the blue dolphin and make the most of it. Had some fun out there and then came in to hit our lunch spot.
La Zurri had been recommended to us by Miguel, our host. It’s a sit down place where they serve an entree, a main dish, a dessert, and a bottle of wine for 14 euros a person. It’s not gourmet but it is packed with locals in a big room of tables with big portions. Lasagna as appetizer, pork chops with pimentos for main dish, a nice tomato salad with goat cheese, Evan has liver with french fries, dessert tiramisu where the cheese layer on top was a literal cheesecake on top of the espresso cake.
Easy call after surfing, we leave La Zurri stuffed and fueled for our hike up Urgull. This is the old castle and defensive fort overlooking Old Town from the top of the peninsula. It’s a mellow hike to get to the top of it but some parts are pretty steep. Beautiful views from up top of Gros, Old Town, and the other section of downtown. There’s old cannons set up in their spots along the walls and a bunch of cool nooks and crannies to explore. I always imagine battles between knights or Lord of the Rings in these settings, they always take place in these beautiful places with a view. It was great to move around and climb after such a fat meal and rebuild our appetite for pintxos this evening.
We stumble into Sirimiri and order a delicious pork belly bao that just melts in your mouth and slow cooked egg. The slow cooked egg, this is what it’s called on the menu, is a mushroomy, truffle, egg yolk stew with a couple crunchy guys on top. What a great find! These two pintxos were incredible and we just went in and asked what’s popular, this place wasn’t recommended to us. We’ve had great recs but it's very exciting to discover your own bar/dish and for it to hit, especially on the heels of yesterday's revolting thing. Of course we have some beers in the plaza, playing cards, and end it all with mandatory cheesecake from Viña. There’s food literally everywhere and we indulged today.
Oct 12
Woke up late today, but it’s okay because low tide is at noon so we wouldn’t surf til then anyways. The waves are still quite large and we get in some fun ones, again blue dolphin, out the back. Pretty much the same surf session as yesterday, get mushy lefts and try to milk them til they stand up. On our last wave, Evan and I shared the ride all the way in, that was fun.
Today’s pintxo highlights were a beef cheek and a rib from Borda Berri. The beef cheek was super tender and disintegrated and the rib laid on top of a sweet kind of oniony sauce and some kind of savory foam, along with its juices. We also ordered a bed of mushrooms cooked up nicely with an egg yolk sitting on top in the middle, you pop it and it oozes all over the plate to be mopped up by the mushroom slices. Yum. Mandatory cheesecake nightcap.
Oct 13
Today we picked up the car in a mall in the modern downtown. Psyched to have a car to be able to get out and check out other spots. Donostia is kind of small and after a few days we are feeling like we’ve kind of seen it and eaten well. So we have the car and rush to France to go check out Lafitenia, near Guethary. We were back in France because it was time for Evan to return the board Bianca had lent him in Biarritz, it was a welcome change of scene. The surf is flat in Lafitenia but the sun’s out and the little rocky cove there is gorgeous. We stick around and make a rock sculpture towering upwards. We picked up big heavy slabby rocks as the base, sweating in the sun, setting the tone for a serious project. We built it up as tall as us with little bridges and cool little mini towers on the various platforms. Fun to get involved in something.
Race up to Biarrtiz to return the board and then back down to St Jean de Luz for a bite. It’s a cute touristy little town but it was kind of empty and we had a hard time finding something to eat. We figured we should go back to pintxo land anyways and hit a couple more of the recommended spots. It’s great how easily you can move from Spain/France, just a toll booth, a fee, and your back revisiting your French spots.
Back in Donostia we hit casa Urola for a scallop with a mooshroomy sauce and toasted almonds. This was so good I couldn't believe it, it was light and elegant, a little tangy with some crunch. Probably the best thing I had in our pintxo existence. Sadly the cheesecake place was closed.
Oct 14
Today we take the car to go check out some Basque towns close by and surf in Zarautz. First stop is Getaria, tiny and by the sea. By the beach is a highway along the cliffside that is supported by columns and arches reminiscent of Roman architecture. It’s beautiful to see the arches along the coast with the waves below. Drive another 10 minutes to Zumaia, another small town with a cool beach break at the end of town. There are dramatic slabby cliffs bordering the sand and some of the rocks going out to sea perpendicular with the shoreline look like the protruding spine of a buried stegosaurus. All around these Basque towns are rolling green hills and farm country off the cliffs. It kind of reminds me of the northern/central california coastline but with Basque architecture instead. The classic little white buildings with red or green trimmed windows. It’s beautiful.
In Zarautz we park the car, post up at a cafe on the boardwalk, and watch the waves for a while hoping for a nice evening surf. Sure enough, it glasses off, the surf looks playful, and we surf a fun time with a bunch of others chatting and heckling each other. Very happy to surf after a cool little day exploring small towns. Have a burger on the boardwalk at sunset, fueled up for our last night in Donostia.
Make it back to Donostia and are kinda too full from the burger for pintxos. To be honest we are pintxo’d out. We ate insane pintxos everyday for 6 nights in a row and now we didn’t have to again. It’s pretty funny to think that it’s our last night at one of the gastronomic hubs of the world and we were pumped to eat an American ass burger. Of course we hit the cheesecake, now the guy knows us, “you want a job here? You work here more than I do!”
Have a couple beers in the plaza, meet some boneheaded Canadians, take a tequila shot, and our last night in San Sebastian turns into a late one. What a great town. I highly recommend it! I love the culture of the pintxo crawl in the evening like a bar crawl, except instead of drinks, you’re ordering small gourmet or casual dishes. Of course you can get drinks here as well. The chakoli is delicious and you can’t go wrong with a refreshing pilsner either. Can’t believe our luck with the waves we did get and our airbnb’s location.
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