Apparently, our destiny is to explore the Basque Country bit by bit as two years after our first trip to the French and a tiiiiny slice of Spanish Basque Country we are back to another beautiful spot of this mysterious area – San Sebastian.

Why mysterious? Because that’s what people normally use in connection to the Basque Country. :)

Our day in San Sebastian was lazy and directed on exercising of one of the seven deadly sins: Gluttony. Indeed, San Sebastian is famous for its delicious pintxos, but even such experienced sinners as ourselves didn’t expect such abundance.

A good point to clarify straight away. Google says that it’s the Basque version of Tapas, in the word “pintxos” is hiding “to pierce” – so basically it’s a snack “pierced” with a stick. The only way to avoid the constant temptation is to bind one’s eyes and just get out of the delicious city-center.

Or rather what we have done. First we arrived by a rented car from Biarritz to San Sebastian, where we left it in an underground parking for the whole day.

Lazily we went to the harbor to enjoy the summer on the way (it was in the beginning of May).

The colors are gorgeous and the harbor as authentic as we could ever expect.

I wish I could be that dog uhm, what about forever?

Slowly and lazily we climbed on the Monte Urgull to see the old fortress, but first of all – this view.

By the way, San Sebastian has a beautiful cycling track, but if you ever want to go out of the city, prepare to the altitudes that we are not yet ready to tackle.

Time to eat and God knows that in San Sebastian it’s not an issue. The moment you get to the old city center, all you have to do is to pick a pintxos bar with the coldest sangria possible.

Honestly, it was so delicious we could hardly talk. Beware, as the pintxos are as horrible as the sushi-go-round – it’s difficult to stop grabbing again and again, but the bill in the end will not be what you expect it to be.

Seafood, ham, olives, fresh bread, tiny octopuses, cheese and on the top of it all – cold sangria. That’s a good start for a perfect happiness formula.

Lazily we strolled in the old streets of the town, where the spirit of the Basque Country is so strong.

Beach time was inevitable. Even in the middle of May, the water was fantastic (we were surprised to see so many topless girls!!)

Then comes an ice-cream and a sunny and exhausted way back to Biarritz.

Our stay was short, but so sunny and warm, so the summer seemed to come a month earlier.

 1 day car rental: 40€

 Whole day parking: 14€

A feast of pintxos in Bar Eibartarra: 45€

 An amazing ice cream: 6€