What?
Holiday in the Basque Country.
After finishing my work at the ICR and before starting my new position at Isomorphic Labs, we booked a bit of time off with a 5-night break in San Sebastián. During our stay we enjoyed the food and wine the city is known for, as well as swimming and sunbathing in La Concha Bay, taking in the views from Monte Urgull and Igueldo, and exploring the vineyards of nearby Rioja.
On arriving Thursday afternoon, after unpacking and showering, we wandered along the famous La Concha Bay for the first time. As the sun was setting we continued along Paseo Nuevo, San Sebastián’s promenade which entirely surrounds Mount Urgull and ends in the Old Town. Just in time for some pintxos!
Pintxos is the backbone of Basque food culture. They are small dishes or snacks served at different bars, with many bars known for a particular pintxo. The done thing is to visit 4-6 different pintxos bars in one night. The most famous pintxos bars in San Sebastián can be found in the Old Town. At first the pintxos experience was chaotic! Lots of people ordering, standing and eating at the bar. We soon adapted and really enjoyed the whole experience!
Our first day in San Sebastián was spent walking up Mount Igueldo to take in the views, then strolling all the way along La Concha beach, with the sea lapping our bare feet as the waves rolled in and out. With Mount Igueldo at one end of La Concha bay and the Old Town at the other, we were back for some lunch time pintxos! This time we visited arguably the most famous pintxos bar, Bar Nestor.
Bar Nestor is famous for its steak and tomatoes. Not only was it unquestionably the most incredible steak we’d ever eaten but probably the best dining experience we’ve ever had! Stood at the bar, drinking more than a couple of glasses of red wine and eating the world’s best steak and tomatoes. We left feeling extremely full and happy!
It was drizzling the next morning so we went for a morning swim in the sea in the rain – a very exhilarating and liberating start to the day!
We spent the next couple of days and evenings mooching around town and La Concha bay, and having pintxos – very much the theme of our holiday.
Pintxos highlights included the sheep’s cheese risotto and prawn ravioli from Borda Berri, the Iberico ham from La Cepa de Bernardo, the seared wild mushrooms from Ganbarra, and the cheesecake from La Vina, which was worth queueing up for. La Vina was by far the busiest pintxos bar we visited, because of its reputation for the very best Basque baked cheesecake! Trying to edge my way forward to the busy bar at La Vina was like being back in nightclubs in my twenties, except instead of trying to order jäger bombs, trying to get cheesecake and a couple of glasses of Pedro Jiminez sherry!
The rain had stopped and the sun was out the following day so we ventured up Monte Urgull, which is known as San Sebastián’s green lung. It didn’t take long for the crowds to disappear and the hustle and bustle to be replaced by the calming smells and sounds of the pine forest and the sea. The views of San Sebastián from the Castillo de la Mota fortress at the top of Monte Urgull were pretty good too.
As the sun was shining we took the opportunity to have some ice cream, sunbathe on the beach, and then cool off with a sunny swim in the sea. Fooled by the rain earlier that morning, I’d not put suntan lotion on and so burned badly that day!
For our final day of our holiday we had booked a day trip to the Rioja wine country, visiting the vineyards, and tasting the wines of three different wineries. During our tour we visited Bodegas Puelles, Luis Canas, Ysios wineries and the Marques de Riscal ‘City of Wine’.
The was by far the largest and oldest we visited, founded in 1858. Here we learnt more about the wine making process, saw the sorting and pressing of the grapes and visited the winerie’s deep and vast cellars. Marques de Riscal also features a hotel designed by celebrated architect Frank Lloyd Wright, the amazing avant-garde design sits in stark contrast to the old traditional sandstone buildings of the winery.
Ysios winery, designed by renowned architect Santiago Calatrava, is the other famous architectural winery in Rioja. The waved roof and cedar wood cladding exterior was designed to mimic and integrate with the Sierra de Cantabria mountain landscape and clay limestone earth.
Bodegus Puelles winery was my favourite. A much smaller but traditional family run winery. The Puelles brothers Jesus and Felix, along with their spouses, children and Brandy the dog, run and manage the winery together. Irene Puelles, hosted our wine tasting and was very knowledgeable and passionate about her and her family’s work. It was Irene that told us about the unique classification system of Rioja wines, which categorises and labels them as Crianza, Reserva or Gran Reserva. A Crianza (red label) is aged for a minimum of one year in the barrel and then one year in the bottle before released. A Reserva (deep purple label) must have been aged for at least one year in the barrel and then two in the bottle. While a Gran Reserva (blue label) has to spend at least two years in oak and then three in the bottle. Crianza wines therefore tend to be more easy drinking and the Reservas and Gran Reservas more expensive wines for more special occasions.
We really loved visiting the Bodegus Puelles family winery and tasting their wines; we purchased two bottles of wine from them, a Crianza and a Gran Reserva. At only £3 for a bottle of really good Crianza, it was cheaper than a single small glass of wine in London!
As part of the Rioja wine country tour we visited the town of Laguardia for lunch. I’d never visited anywhere quite like Languardia before. It’s an amazing medieval town with narrow interconnecting streets lined with old houses complete with solid wood doors and wrought iron balconies. The town is also completely enclosed by its surrounding fort-like high stone walls. The only ways in and out of Languardia are through one of the three massive gated archways. An excellent place to set up camp if ever there was a zombie apocalypse.
Our trip to San Sebastián was exactly the lovely, relaxing holiday we wanted and needed and we would highly recommend it to anyone who loves food and wine!
