Libby, Jerome, and I spent Monday on a day trip to San Sebastian, some 63 miles to the east of Bilbao and about 13 miles from the border with France. We rode the bus on a cloudy day that was a bit damp but still comfortable, via a winding freeway through coastal mountains, reminiscent of highways along the northern California coast.
San Sebastian is known locally as Donostia, its Basque name. The two names actually both mean "Saint Sebastian", dono being Basque for saint and stia being a shortened form of Sebastian. The small city is located on a beautiful bay with lovely beaches, which we could only partially appreciate on such a gray day. There was one solitary fellow on the beach, warmly dressed and drawing large pictures in the sand. SS is a famous tourism center, and one of its principal annual events is an international film festival, which as it happens is taking place this week (the reason we didn't actually stay in San Sebastian on this trip). We walked along the edge of the "red carpet" in front of the main venue but saw no celebrities at 1 in the afternoon.
Our "lunch" turned into a three-hour meal, since we chose to share the six-course "tasting menu":
- Cold-marinated anchovy lasagne and vegetable rataouille with gazpacho cream
- Creamy rice with baby cuttlefish and slices of Idiazábal cheese
- Grilled hake on potatoes with virgin olive oil and citrus vinaigrette
- Braised beef with hazelnuts
- French toast (2" thick), caramelized and served with a creamy cream cheese sauce
- Fresh strawberries with mascarpone sauce and biscuit crumbs
Wow. The flavor and texture contrasts were outstanding, and portions were modest so that we could enjoy every last bite. The photos, which I shall send along soon, may give some impression of the visual beauty of the servings, though I suspect that they do not do them justice.
Photos are at https://plus.google.com/u/0/
