I’ve spent the last three nights in a small city called San Sebastian, on the northern coast of Spain. I came here on the advice of Helena, my short-term sister in Barcelona, who informed me that it would be a festival week. What good advice that was. This week is called Semana Grande (The Great Week) and the whole city goes completely nuts, exploding with food, music, and sangria flowing like a river.
They have a traditional way of eating here which is a food-lover’s dream. Every bar in town has its counter completely filled with various bite-sized snacks called Pinchos. Some examples of things I tried:
- Skewer of sauteed octopus tentacles
- Gazpacho in a shot glass with small square of quail egg cooked in a tortilla
- Bruschetta with goat cheese, spicy roasted pepper, and anchovies
You just eat what you want, right off of the counter, and wash it down with some beer or sangria. When you are done, you just tell the bartender what you ate, pay up, and move on to the next bar. It’s such a great idea for those of us who are constantly grazing; I wish it existed elsewhere.
The city itself is so beautiful. There are giant sweeping beaches, with tall hills on either side that offer amazing panoramic views of everything. I can’t post pictures from here, so you will have to use your imagination for now.
Last night, I wandered around the beach with my drum and a backpack full of beer. I ended up wandering into an open-air dance club right on the beach. After dancing a bit, I decided to pull out my drum and play along with the music. Someone from the club noticed, and instead of asking me to desist, he actually put a microphone on my drum, piping my tiny aluminum djembe’s beat into the giant sound system. Pretty soon, there was a conga line of drunken Spaniards snaking around me like some ritualistic Amazonian dance. My hands and fingers are quite bruised today, but it was certainly worth it.
I have four more days until I have to be in Bilbao to catch a connecting flight to London. Currently trying to decide how to spend that time… considering hopping on a random train to some small town in between.
