Euskari Land

Part 2: Last Weekend in Pais Vasco

Pais Vasco (Basque Country)

Last weekend, Elisa and I traveled northwards to Bilbao, the capitol of the region, and San Sebastian, the beachside gem of the region. First, if you didn't recall, Basque country is where ETA is from and where they speak Basque, a language that has nothing to do with Spanish or any other Romance language. However, at no point did I feel unsafe and I would definitely recommend a visit. Second, the best food in the country is purported to be from this region. And on that front, I can state that I wholeheartedly agree. Instead of tapas, the Basques prepare pintxos (which is actually Basque for tapa), but they are smaller than tapas.  While smaller in size, they make up for it with the complexity and mixing of distinct flavors and sauces.  This region is also awash with fresh seafood and the indoor market in Bilbao actually had a whole floor, probably the size of 2 football fields, dedicated to the sale of fresh fish.

Listed here are some of the best pintxos I ate, in no particular order:

• Duck combined with a peanut sauce covered by two slices of fried apple. (Delicious and definitely my favorite!)
• A skewer of fresh shrimp
• A crabcake
• Another crab pintxo combined with small pieces of bacon, green pepper and some delicious sauce

Of course, you may all know Bilbao for its incredible Guggenheim Museum and its spanking new metro (not my words, the words of my guidebook).

Its even more incredible than any photo can portray. Situated right on the river, it is truly stunning.  I also hear the art inside is great, but we didn't make it in. We were exhausted by the time we got there and I have heard the most amazing piece of art at the Guggenheim is the building itself, while the art inside pales in comparison.  We also took a funicular (a tramcar that goes up a hill) to a spot overlooking all of bilbao where we made sandwiches from delicious local meats and cheeses we had bought at the largest indoor market in Europe, or so they claim.

After Bilbao, we took the bus to San Sebastian, where the royal family used to take their vacations.  It is situated on the sea overlooking a beautiful bay with a small rugged island in the middle.  It is stunning and the landscape around San Sebastian and throughout the region is equally stunning. The picture on the left is of the main beach, playa de la concha, and the picture on the right is goofy-faced me overlooking the bay from above (Mount Urgul where the affamed Jesus statue is).

So as you can tell, it's beautiful and the pintxos and seafood were equally amazing. Here is a platter of a few just so you can picture what they are like. One was a red pepper filled with who knows what, but delicious. The one in the middle was another weird seafood mix and the one on the left was green peppers, some ham and some cheese. All delicious.

One final really special thing we did on this trip, which I cannot leave out, as it was the highlight, was our visit to a sidrería.  The area around San Sebastian, principally the towns of Hernica and Astigarraga are known for their production of cider. As such, these two towns are full of cider houses, aka sidrería.  We visited a particularly special one which was way off the beaten path. It was called Sarasola and to anyone who visits the region, don't miss this experience. We took a bus, then walked about a kilometer or two up a small road where we passed a few farms with goats and sheep before coming to this cider house.  It appeared quite empty at first glance. But we walked in the door, walked past many huge metal tanks holding cider until we reached a room after about 100 meters full of people and life. And in that room, we had the most delicious meal, definitely one of the top 5 meals of my life. Not only did we have 5 courses, but we had unlimited cider, straight from the barrel. I can't explain it well enough, but with the picture below. 

That's right, they had a special employee whose sole job it was to turn the tap so that the sidra could fly out and into our glasses. Apparently, the aeration is a fundamental step to drinking sidra as even in the bars when they pour sidra, they lift the bottle and pour from several feet above the glass. On the right, is the hallway where we first entered.  

So not only did we drink unlimited cider, but we were served a delicious meal. The meal began with grilled chorizo and morcilla (which is blood sausage and not very good). However, the chorizo was delicious. We were also served an entire fresh loaf of bread. Our second course entailed a fish omelette, I believe with cod, which was fantastic, big too.  For our third course, we received a piece of grilled cod seasoned very simply with just sea salt and covered in grilled green peppers. Delicious! Our next course was the best part, a huge slab of steak.  I would imagine it was a 2 pound t-bone steak. It was thick and cooked briefly over a hot hot wood fire.  It was rare and absolutely delicious. Possibly the best steak I have ever had.  After all that food, or feast may be more appropriate, we were served chestnuts, local cheese and membrilla, a local fruit.  We stayed for a little while after the meal to drink some more sidra and were even given a free bottle of sidra to take home.  Absolutely amazing experience, not touristy at all. The place was full of locals and apparently heading to a cider house is a popular local thing to do.