San Sebastian

Leah is the guide here. In Seattle, she cooked at Txori, a small-bites restaurant established by a man from San Sebastian who was nostalgic for the delicious and varied bar cuisine of his home city. Between a list of "don't miss" places passed along by a former colleague, and some tips from Rick Steves' guidebook, we are eating an amazing variety of pintxos (Basque for tapas.)

Pintxos can be seafood, mixed meats, vegetable and meat or fish, hot, cold, fried or grilled. Most are traditionally served on small slices of toasted bread. Tonight we ate bacalao (cod) with a parsley cream topping; a small grilled shrimp and serrano ham kabob served with piperade sauce, and a pintxo that consisted of grilled fresh anchovy & green pepper.

Among other things.

There are things to do here other than eat, of course. The city itself is set on one of Europe's only sand beaches, a long crescent that would be crowded in summer, but is almost free of people on a chilly May weekend. Crags formed from layers of sediment laid down millions of years ago, then torqued and upthrust into small mountains, bracket the main part of the city, and foothills of the Pyrenees roll back from the ocean. San Sebastian was a fashionable resort from the mid-1800's on, and many of the older buildings are in exuberant Art Nouveau style.

Today we rode the bus out of town a few miles to the Chillida-Leku Museum, dedicated to the work of Eduardo Chillida (1924 - 2002) a Basque sculptor who worked in materials from felt to clay to cor-ten steel, to make objects that range from delicate drawings to massive sculptures.

The museum is on the property that was once his home and studio. The studio, now the gallery for indoor pieces, began life as a 16th-century stone farmhouse. Pictures show the massive remodeling and rebuilding necessary to turn it into a functioning 20th century building.

Metal sculptures of all sizes and shapes are installed throughout the extensive property, and simply become part of the landscape. Wandering from one to another is a wonderfully low-stress experience, so different from a typical museum visit.