Pintxos and Vino

July 27-August 3, 2012

Old town street inviting us in from the ocean

When people speak of San Sebastian, they do so with giant smiles ear-to-ear. This city seduces unassuming tourists into a love affair with its dramatically green beachside landscape, surf waves, world-renound food and welcoming ambiance. San Sabastian is a city worth returning to many times in a lifetime.

Arriving in the early afternoon, we manage to fit in 3 different pintxo (tapas) restaurants and head out to local old town pub. We meet some nice Spanish bartenders at El Fuego Negro and promise to return the next day. Irish bar follows for a flash mob dance party sparked by the cheers for the broadcast of the Olympic opening ceremonies on a flat screen floating above.

Just a couple hours after bedtime, my alarm rings to wake me for my dives. Today, the sun fails to show its face and winds sweep through the dreary bays. This yields turbulent conditions for our boat. 22 meters deep, the crashing waves above steady to a slow and subtle back and forth. The hardest dive I've ever done. We see a large octopus and a really cool giant fish of a reddish color sporting a giant mowhawk. I struggle with my weight belt, which comes loose more than twice and I am forced to re-visit my inner diving voice that says "serenity now!" when something goes wrong and panic begs to enter my thoughts. I quickly find my buoyancy and avoid crashing into rocks or ascending dangerously quickly. All is well.

Fitness Day!

Afterwards, it's time to play, the sun has come out and beach time is a must. We head out again tonight for pintxos galore and a night out with some new Basque friends. The next couple days in San Sabastian consist of more of the same. We rent bikes, go on a hike and complete a "fitness day" with push ups on the surf beach.
On day four, we meet our next, and most gorgeous travel companion: Paloma, the cherry red Volkswagen Polo. A change in car means a steep learning curve for the first few blocks. After repeatedly and loudly stalling at each roundabout, a friendly motorbike cop pulls up beside us. I fumble to justify why my driving is so poor. He points out a couple key features of the car, like where 1st gear is and we are on our way. I had been starting in 3rd.
Once smoothly on the road, we make one last stop in San Sabastian to SUP around the adorable little cove on La Concha Beach. The sun reflects off the deep blue ripples suggested by my paddle, boats skim by. Pure bliss before the long drive.

This afternoon, we set off into the barren landscapes of La Rioja region in search of wine. Arriving in the town of LoGroño is a shock. The large city is desolate and unwelcoming. All the wineries need advance reservations, and they are all kilometers away from one another. This is quite opposite of our visions of cute little wine owners tucked into corners of the old barrios. We decide an early check out is unavoidable, so we escape the following morning and detour to Laguradia to tour this famous wine town and the bodega called Carlos San Pedro. We enter an underground winos dream. Set atop a large plateau, this small village lives underground for the hot parts of the year. They've come up with a adequate system of colder dwellings and wineries with skylights and air vents lining the damp dirt ceilings. We are led around the cave to find vats of wine still perfecting themselves towards the final product. Our guide, the owner, suctions off the top layer and allows us to taste the flavorful aromas that compete to be noticed in each sip. We witness the creepy Cuckoo clock and hustle our way out to get to the beach before sundown.

Ragged, rocky edge of Tossa De Mar, castle in the distance

As Paloma whisks us off to Tossa, we skim past Barca, I can taste the sea, I feel the culture which we will return to in 3 days time. But now, a getaway, on the beaches of Tossa de Mar, a town snuggled up to the base of the large castle. I enjoy arroz negro (rice with squid ink), another incredible cave dive at Illas de Medes, and some much needed R&R before my long-anticipated reunion with my beautiful Bali family in Barcelona.