San Sebastian, beach and pintxos

Madrid to San Sebastian

La Concha Beach

Some sort of festival involving Sardines and Crabs

Cool Basque puppets

and a wierd tradition of whacking people

a street in Parte Vieja full of pintxo restaurants

Meal in the apartment from market produce

In the city center

We eat standing up

Grab a plate and take what looks good

After seeing the Woodberry boys off, we took a train to San Sebastian and settled in to our apartment where we will spend a full week.  The city is as beautiful as everyone says with nice architecture combined with incredible geography.  San Sebastian seems to be a cove with one of Europe's best city beaches one block from downtown.  As we got in to town at night, we quickly set off for some pintxos, basically mini-dishes served fresh and creatively.  There are literally hundreds of pintxos restaurants in a small area, each with their own creations.  The next day, Robbie and I went to the market to stock our cupboards.  It will be a daily routine as we will only buy what we need to that day's lunch.  After lunch, we hit the beach and then the old town, La Parte Vieja, for our next round of pintxos.  I'll let the photos do the talking.

Madrid yesterday, Avila and Segovia today

Yesterday we toured Real Madrid's stadium, Retiro Park, ate chocolate and churros at the famous San Gines, and had a great dinner at Bardemcilla, o hot spot in Madrid, owned by Javier Bardem and family.  Today we had a trip to Avila, a beautiful walled in city.  We had their famous chuleton and some delicious homemade desserts.  We then headed to Segovia where we toured the cathedral and alcazar.  We also had cochinillo at the famous Meson de Candido.

Madrid

We took Tonibus to Madrid this morning.  The boys walked through the Plaza Mayor to the Palace and Cathedral.  We then had the very famous steak at Casa Paco, where Woodberry in Spain had a very long tradition.

Calpe

We had a beach trip to Calpe which included a hike up an impressive monolith.

L'Estimat

After classes we headed to the beach to eat at paella.  To mix it up, we had arroz negro and Fideua, a noodle paella.