Bilbao and San Sebastian – day 7

San Sebastian (Donosti) – day 7

Weather even nicer today with full sunshine. Whilst we considered going out to visit some of the nearby towns we instead opted to stay in the city and enjoy the good weather.

After a leisurely breakfast we headed back to Mount Urgul and walked the coastal path round its base. We the headed over the bridge to the suburb of Gros and followed the path around the beach and and as far as we could go along the coast. The path ends just beyond the Dove of Peace sculpture. The beach in Gros is know for surfing and there were already a lot of surfers out in the waves.

Dove of Peace

Walking back we cut down from the beach to check out the shops and see what Gros had to offer. It also has a number of pinxtos bars as well as a few more cafes, however we decided to head back into the old town for lunch. Dropped our bags in the room and headed out to find a number of pintxos bars that had previously been closed were now open – that at this time of year some are friday/weekends only.

Lunch part 1, Borda Berria – pork ‘kebab’ (actually a very delicious pork rib dish), entrecote and cider. Cider was very nice, our first time trying it on the trip. It comes in wine bottle style bottles and is a flat cider that wouldn’t be out of place in the West Country back home.

Lunch part 2, Bar Sport – tempted back for another fois ,this time also trying the crab served in shell accompanied by white wine.

We then took a look in various shops in the old town, treating ourselves to sweets from the turrones shop to bring back home. Finally indulged in an ice cream from the shop across the street from our room, which we ate overlooking the harbour.

After a coffee stop back in our room we headed over to the Aquarium which is one of the oldest in Europe. Before you reach the fish there is a museum with exhibits on the history of fishing in the region and scientific specimens. Aquarium section itself was interesting with the main tank showing off local sealife including sharks!

Took a longer route back to enjoy the sunshine before resting ahead of dinner.

We had booked to eat in the Bodegon Alejandro restaurant which offers both a tasting menu and a la carte. We went a la carte and had a fish and shelfish soup and a poached egg with cheese sauce dish for starters. For mains we both went for different cod dishes, I had cod with pil pil crab whilst my partner had cod cheeks with cockles. For dessert we had the caramelised French toast and in hindsight we should have shared one as they were large. Bottle of Albarino to accompany it all.

Bilbao and San Sebastian- day 6

San Sebastian (Donosti) – day 6

Wanted a lighter breakfast so ended up at Cafe Antonio for juice, coffee and pain au chocolate before coming back to our room to pick up our bags for the day.

Weather meant to be nicer today, getting warmer with patches of sunshine. However, as we walked towards Mount Igueldo it was drizzling which then turned into heavier rain as we passed the Miramar Palace, so we sheltered in the pedestrian tunnel there until it eased off. By the time we reached the funicular it had stopped.

Took the funicular up to the top of Mount Igueldo, here  you get impressive views over the city. It also unfortunately has a very ugly concrete block of a hotel and a small theme park that manages to be tacky enough that it has some charm to it. The rides weren’t open as it’s not yet high season, but some of the food stalls were so we enjoyed some churros whilst looking at the view. 

View from Mount Igueldo

Having come back down, we walked round the headland to the Wind Combs sculptures by Chillida, which sit on the rocks beyond the end of the beach.

Wind Comb

From here, we headed back towards town via the Miramar Palace, the gardens of which are open to the public and feature signs about its history. From here we walked back into the main town and started looking for lunch spots, however there aren’t as many in the centre of town as you’d expect and the ones we did find didn’t appeal to us. As a result, we came back to the old town, and as we were very hungry by this point we gave into one of the larger, slightly more touristy spots on Constitution Plaza. Food was fine but not exceptional, but it was what we needed, a large plate of mixed croquettes, chips and a couple of meatballs.

After lunch we ventured back into the new town to visit the cathedral. Whilst not as ornate as the churches in the old town due to it being newer it does have lovely stained glass windows which were casting rainbow effects across the walls and floor.

Stained glass and reflections in Cathedral

Having done a lot of walking we came back to our room to rest before dinner.

Dinner was at Amelia, a 2 star Michelin restaurant that does a set tasting menu. Only the second time we have eaten at a 2 star and the experience is worth it. The Amelia dining room has a comic/gaming theme to it with Star Wars, Lego, and Mario imagery dotted around. To enter you have to be met by a waiter, who will take you down as you need to be let into the restaurant through the Ghostbusters themed door. It also means whenever you want to go to the bathroom you need to let the staff know so they can give you a key card to get back in, and also check if you can as the dishes are very precisely timed – essentially ask as soon as you finish one course and you should be fine.

This was another chef’s table experience as the seating options are only 3 tables or along the large chef’s table bar. Gave us great views into the kitchen.

The dinner started with a presentation on that nights ingredients, a lovely array of seafood and vegetables. There was also the option to swap in waygu beef for the pigeon, but we stuck with the original menu. As part of the experience, when it comes to the starter courses that require chopsticks you are presented with a box from which you get to pick your set.

Menu featured dishes such as caviar and salmon tart, oyster with white asparagus in champagne sauce, pigeon with green asparagus.

Selection of courses from Amelia

We also went with the paired wines which were excellent and also featured a random beer which they are producing with a local brewery that is very light and fruity and even as a non beer drinker I was able to enjoy it.

Fruity beer served in glasses chilled at the table using liquid nitrogen

The only part which for me wasn’t to my tastes were the desserts. I don’t like banana, rhubarb or goats cheese and all 3 appeared in the 2 dessert courses, but we’d had so much good food that wasn’t a problem.

We even briefly got to meet the chef Paulo Aurudo who popped in to check that each table was enjoying the meal. We chatted about his time working in England.

Bilbao and San Sebastian- day 5

Day 5 – San Sebastian (Donosti)

Breakfast not included in our rooms so walked over to Maiatza, one of the few breakfast spots in the old town and as a result can get very busy. Back to our room after to pick up camera bags and go out exploring.

Fish Market

Started at the market as we wanted to take a look whilst the fish stalls were open then onto San Bizente Eliza church, free entry but has a long siesta period in the middle of the day, so if visiting you need to keep an eye on the time. Extraordinarily richly decorated and there is a machine you can pay a euro into to light up the altar piece.

Next we visited the San Telmo Museum, which is partly in an old church and partly in a new extension. This covers some of the region’s history and trades, and the church contains the Sert Convases, large paintings depicting aspects of the Basque people such as legends and saints. Much more in it than we expected, so it was time for lunch by the time we’re were done. Dropped our backpacks back at the room to make it easier to go out and eat.

Altar piece, San Bizente Eliza Church

Ate at La Cepa and lunch consisted of white asparagus, ham croquettes, a portion of octopus and a cod tortilla. All very delicious.

After lunch picked up our backpacks again and headed out to Mount Urgull to walk around the coastal path and climb up to the castle. Weather was nicer than expected for the most part, but it did try and drizzle whilst we were up near the castle. Thankfully, there is a small cafe with umbrella covered tables so we got ourselves a drink and enjoyed the view whilst it passed.

Coming back into town we fancied an ice cream so went to one of the Loco Polo branches. This ice cream shop does artisanal pre done ice cream on sticks (think posh magnums).

After this we rested in our rooms and had the odd sight of a protest going down the road that appeared to be shouting about moule mariniere. We still aren’t sure if that was the chant or not.

Dinner turned out to be more of a challenge than expected as a number of pintxos bars we wanted to go to were shut, but despite this we still managed to eat well.

Dinner part 1, Gandarias. Duck skewer and fois on toast with 2 glasses of Priorat.

Dinner part 2, Mejillonera. This is the local equivalent of a fish and chip shop and it does 3 things very well, mussels, calamari and patatas braves. We had 2 types of mussels and a large plate of patatas braves plus wine.

Selection of the day’s food.

Dinner part 3, La Cepa, white asparagus (it had been so good earlier we had to have it again), steak skewer and white wine.

Dinner part 4, La Vina, cheesecake.

Bilbao and San Sebastian – day 4

Day 4 – Bilbao to San Sebastian (Donosti)

Slow morning as we’d booked the 11.30 bus to San Sebastian. Thankfully the bus station was only a 15 minute walk from our hotel as it was properly raining.

The bus takes around 1.30h from Bilbao to San Sebastian, taling the main motorway which winds through a series of tunnels and valleys. The underground bus station in San Sebastian is on the river bank just inside the new city, so we crossed a bridge and walked up to the old town and our accommodation. Our host provided us with a local map and a pre prepared set of food recommendations which promptly went into my handbag alongside the print out of recommendations I had already from a friend.

Having dropped our bags in the room we went out for lunch. Most of the recommended pintxos bars were rammed at lunch so ended up at Bardulia which was perfectly decent but not special. Shared a couple of ham on bread, a meatball and egg dish, squid and a shrimp skewer that was not what we intended to pick, but my boyfriend likes shrimp so we went with it.

After lunch, we toured the old town to get our bearings and hunt out La Vina, which we were promised has the best basque cheesecake. We were not disappointed, it was creamy, delicious and surprisingly light given  the portion sizes.

Basque cheesecake at La Vina

Next, we visited the Koruko Andre Mariaren Basilica. It is worth paying the 3 euros entry as it is a beautiful building and has a small but very interesting religious art collection, which includes an El Greco. It would be very easy to miss this if you just looked from the entry way as many tourists were doing to avoid paying.

Inside the Basilica, San Sebastian – Donosti

After a bit more walking we retired to our room to rest before dinner. Having felt like we now understood how to pintxos and with our many recommendations to hand we set out to bar hop for dinner.

Dinner part 1, Bar Sport: fois plancha, crab crepe, 2x ham croquettes with white wine. Delicious, possibly some of the best fois we have ever had. Made mental note to come back at a lunch to try other dishes.

Dinner part 2, Gandarias, started with sirloin on bread and squid. Tempted into topping up with a t-bone skewer and vegetables with egg, that turned out to be artichoke hearts and very tasty green beans. More white wine.

Dinner part 3, Mendaur Berria, just a truffle and mushroom risotto and pigs cheeks to finish plus wine.

Selection of Pinxtos plates.

Bilbao and San Sebastian – day 3

Day 3 – Bilbao

Had a delayed start to our morning as the hotel cleaners tried to come to our room at 9.25 when we were just getting ready to go to breakfast. After breakfast when we got back to our room they weren’t finished, so we went to the lobby to wait for 10 minutes at which point I realised my jumper had a hole in it. When we were able to get into our room I dug out a sewing kit I’d kept from some previous holiday to do a quick repair. We also used the time to book on onward bus for the next day and do online check-in for our next hotel.

By the time we were ready to go out it was around 11. Weather had changed and dropped to around 16-17C with light drizzle. We headed up to the old town, on the way seeing a number of demonstrations but it was unclear what they were protesting about. However, one group were particularly keen on playing the Enrico Moricone Western music, which seems rather bizarre. Tried to visit the tourist information on the way to the old town, but they have gone fully digital, so there was very little information to pick up from it which was odd.

Stained glass windows in Cathedral.

Headed to the cathedral, 6 euros each and you get an audio guide. Very interesting building, though the guide was variable from point to point as to how much detail it gave on each area. The cathedral has a very modern central altar section surrounded by a number of more historic chapels. You also could easily miss the vestry and the cloister if you didn’t have the audio guide.

Central chapel and altar in Bilbao Cathedral.

Walked on to the market, which was partially open as the fish merchants don’t open on a Monday. Had coffee in the food court and, whilst we pondered eating lunch there, we decided we’d go try one of the pinxtos bars in the old town. After a bit of wandering, we ate at Berton, where we ordered a couple of iberico ham on bread slices, a portion of moules, and a couple of potato tortillas.

After lunch it had dried up slightly, so we walked around the old town. We had hoped to go to the archaeological museum which our guide book said was open on a Monday, but it isn’t actually.

The ticket for the Cathedral also gets you into the church of St. Anton’s next to the market, which opened for the afternoon at 3 so we headed there. There is also an audio guide available here, which this time was very detailed on the history of the church.

St. Anton’s Church, Bilbao

Leisurely walk back to the hotel, this time exploring some of the smaller streets than run parallel to the Gran Via. Back at the hotel, we relaxed and had time to use the spa facilities to enjoy a relaxing hammam. Also had the amusement of another protest going by, which was using Bon Jovi as its musical choice and had a street sweeper following it to straight away clean up the leaflets strewn by the protest.

For dinner we headed to Bilbao Berrio, which was recommended to us by a friend at work. The restaurant doesn’t open till 8.30, though the bar was serving pinxtos earlier than that, we got there around 8, were able to reserve a table and had drink at the bar whilst we waited. Food was fantastic, we ordered white asparagus with egg (very meltingly tender), carpaccio with smoked cheese both to share. Individual mains of duck cannelloni and stewed pork cheeks before sharing a dessert which undersold itself on the menu as ‘whipped cream pie with dulcet de leche ice cream’, it was in fact more of a set key lime pie with ice cream and a good size to share. The wine list ranged from very reasonable to very expensive and we enjoyed a bottle of Monastrell to go with dinner.

Bilbao and San Sebastian – days 1 & 2

Day 1 – Bilbao

Flight from Gatwick had no issues, and being at the front of the plane allowed us to clear passport control quickly. Made the 12.40 bus, a steal at just 3 euros each, meant we were in town and dropping our bags of at the hotel by 1.30.

Temperatures much warmer than home, around 26C but feeling warmer. We headed to the old town to find lunch and after a bit of wandering ended up in Plaza Nueva which is full of pintxos bars. After almost doing a complete circuit we found a table at La Olla where we shared a cured meats selection, ham and cheese croquettes, black pudding with apple and pepper and cod in garlic sauce, accompanied by a glass of local white wine each. Very tasty and very filling.

After lunch wandered back to our hotel to check in and relax.

Dinner at Zarate staring at 9, which is when they open. We had managed to book the chefs table which is a small table in front of the pass, inside the wine storage area so we had great views of all the dishes being prepared. At 118 euros per person, the tasting menu is a steal for a one Michellin star restaurant compared to prices at home. The wine menu also had a large reasonable priced selection.

Selection of dishes from Zarate.

Dinner was excellent with dishes including an octopus macaron amuse bouche, barnacle and seaweed ice cream (no, that is not a typo), veal snout and cods cheeks. I am allergic to monkfish so there were a couple of substitutions in my menu as there was one monkfish dish and some dishes using monkfish stock. However the turbot I had in place of the monkfish was excellent. Dinner ended with a trio of chocolates with caviar and seaweed. Overall an extremely enjoyable meal that took around 2.5 hours. We took a more leisurely route back to the hotel and sat up for a while to digest before going to bed.

Day 2 – Bilbao

Lazy morning and light breakfast as we were still quite full from the night before. Headed out around 11.30, picking up the river near the Maritime Museum and following it round to the Guggenheim Museum.

Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao

The Guggenheim exhibits across 3 floors cover an interesting combination of pop art, modern art, sculpture, installations, and digital art. Took a couple of hours to go round it all by which time we were ready for lunch.

Exhibits at Guggenheim Museum

Ate at the cafe bar in the Guggenheim. There are a couple of restaurants on site too, but the bar offers small Pintxos plates and snacks, which were reasonably priced. Managed to have lunch for 22 euros for the two of us, including a glass of wine each.

After lunch we walked back to the Maritime Museum. This covers the local Basque maritime history, including an exhibit on Basque sailors whaling in Canada, up to the more modern port activities. Worth exploring, though inconsistent in translations with some areas having everything translated and other only the main text on the walls but not the exhibits.

We fancied an ice cream on our way back to the hotel, so stopped in the Iturrizar Park. A chill wind was starting to get up, though still warm in more sheltered spots in the sun.

Finished our ice cream in the park and headed back to our hotel for a rest and late afternoon coffee.

Used our free vouchers for a cava in the hotel bar before heading out for dinner. As fewer places are open on a Sunday we had booked Toma y Daka in Plaza Nueva which was next door to where we’d had lunch yesterday. We enjoyed sharing plates of razor clams and scallops followed by black pudding and their beef meatballs as a main. Had space for pudding so shared a chocolate dessert, all accompanied by a lovely bottle of Mencia.

South Africa – day 12 & 13

Day 12

Last full day. Walked over to waterfront to pick up the blue line hop on hop off bus to the botanical gardens. Huge site, filled with a great variety of South African plants. Lots of wildlife, mainly birds but we also spotted two mice climbing in one of the trees. Many sunbirds, but few staying still long enough to get good photos.

Cape sugarbird

When trying to follow one sunbird, I looked up and realised there was an Eagle owl in a tree, which seemed quite active considering it was mid morning.

Spotted eagle owl

Ate at the tea rooms onsite, before picking the bus back up again around 2. We got off to connect onto the purple route which is a short loop in the Constantia wine region. Most of the wineries require pre-booking but you can visit Groot Constantia, the oldest winery in the region, without a booking. You can also do a tasting without a tour, simply pay for the tasting level you want, collect your glasses and go and sit in one of the tasting areas. We enjoyed our tasting and picked up 2 bottles to bring home with us.

Caught the bus back and returned to Cape Town around 6.30. Quick rest and change before dinner.

Day 13

Weather taken turn for worse again. Left luggage at hotel and headed to the Aquarium. Had an enjoyable morning, doing one full loop before going back through and having a coffee by one of the larger tanks.

Penguin feeding for the African penguins at 11.30 was good fun. Shark feeding was at 12 however the sharks weren’t hungry, seems they snacked on too many fish from the tank that week.

Jellyfish

Had lunch at Karibu, on the outside of the V&A shopping centre. Great lunch featuring snoek pate, kudu stew and lamb bredie.

Shark

Back to hotel in time to collect bags and be picked up by our airport transfer.

South Africa – Day 11

Over breakfast we said goodbye to several members of the group and our guide as the tour officially ends today. However, ourselves and a number of others have all extended our stay by a few days.

Castle of Good Hope

Weather not great, can’t even see Table Mountain today. Exploring the city centre today, starting with walking over to the Castle of Good Hope. Bargain entry for only 50 rand (£2). The Castle now houses a number of small museums, including a Cape Malay Heritage Centre, ceramics exhibit, and an art collection. One of the newer additions is the Camissa Peoples Museum, which is still under development, showcasing the wide number of peoples descended from indigenous Africans and the complicated mixed heritages arising from centuries of immigration, both forced and voluntary, to the region.

Pottery exhibit, modern plates and original Castle lion from gate.

After visiting the castle, we made our way over to the Company Gardens, where we ate in the onsite cafe and shared an excellent platter of Cape Malay inspired dishes. The fish cakes and bobotie spring rolls were particularly good.

Following lunch, we walked up to the Bo-kaap area, stopping briefly to look in the Anglican church on the way. Bo-kaap is known for its colourful houses, shops, and mosques, originating from freed slaves living in the area in the colonial era. We started in the small Bo-kaap museum before exploring the area.

Bo-Kaap area

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped in the centre for coffee in the Methodist Church, which doubles as a small cafe. After a quick stop at the hotel to leave cameras and backpacks, we headed out to do a bit of shopping.

We’d booked dinner at The Waterside, a high end restaurant serving fine dining South African fusion. Had to make our way through the rain, but it was worth it as both the food and service were excellent.

South Africa – day 10

Up early-ish as we were booked onto the Robben Island Tour at 9, which means being on the boat by 8.30 at the latest. Turned out all the other boats for the day were cancelled due to expected bad weather.

Very interesting tour done in 2 parts. First part is a bus tour around the prison end of the island. We were allowed to get out at the far end of the island, sadly the penguin population on the island has been hard hit by bird flu so we didn’t see any. Rest of the bus tour we weren’t allowed to get out as past tourists have damaged the site.

Robben Island

The second part of the tour was through the prison buildings and was led by a former political prisoner who spoke about the conditions there.

We got back from the island around 1.30pm and grabbed a packed lunch in the hope of heading up Table Mountain. However, the weather had closed in and it was cold and cloudy again. Instead, we spent the afternoon around the V&A Waterside and visited Mocaa, a modern African Art Museum. Several of the exhibits were being changed over but the building itself is a converted grain silo and worth looking in.

Mocaa Art Gallery

Afterwards, we browsed the shops and watched the seals before resting ahead of dinner.

Seals

South Africa – day 9

Early start as we are driving down to the Cape of Good Hope which can get very busy, so trying to beat the crowds. Weather not great so our first photo stop was rather drizzly and not really worth it.

Eland, Cape of Good Hope

After a faff with our guide’s card not working properly at the Cape entrance we reached the Cape itself around 10. Not that far from the car park we got very lucky and sported a Caracal. At the gate itself there were gulls, terns, cormorants and seals. Did the obligatory group photo as as weather was still grotty our guide drove us yo to the lighthouse area rather than having us do the walk up. Good for me as was fending off the group cold and feeling very tired. Because of this I didn’t walk up to the lighthouse itself but got a coffee and stayed near the car park, which meant I got an excellent view of a herd of wild Eland down the hill.

We went onto Simon’s Town for lunch and then to visit the African Penguin Colony. Here a high number of penguins can be seen from raised boardwalks.

African Penguins

Got back to Cape Town and our hotel around 4.30. Dinner at the Life Grand Cafe, where we had ostrich and kudu steak accompanied by a nice pinot noir.