Corinne CrawfordThe next day I took the Ebike tour starting at 10:00am with Go Local San Sebastián . It was a small group-6 plus the guide- on an English speaking 2.5 hour tour. The Ebike was great, you still totally felt like you were riding a bike and needed the pedal power but it made it a lot easier to coast and get up the big hills.
If I had the money,I would definitely invest in an Ebike. It was a way to see more of the city than I would have on my own and it was a great way to spend a beautiful day. After the tour, I asked our guide for some suggestions of what pintxo bars to hit in the old town that night. He gave me a map with not only his suggestions on what bars, but also what to order at each one.
Pintxo is the Basque version of tapas. Small bites of gourmet type items that you order from either a menu or the displays on the bar along with a drink-it seemed beer, wine, and sangria were all pretty common accompaniments. Typically, you go from place to place ordering a bite and a drink while standing either at the bar or at a table outside. It was a week night so it was not very busy down in the old town and several of the places the guide had recommended here actually closed but I was able to hit a few. First up was Gandarias where I had a shrimp salad on a piece of bread type of thing and what they call Solomillo. This was a tender, beautifully medium rare cooked piece of meat on a bread with some other tasty stuff. I would order this all night but I had other things to try. At each place I ordered a wine by simply saying in Spanish that I would like a white wine, but dry not sweet. Seco no dulce. The local white wines here typically are too sweet for my taste so if I just ordered a white wine, I would end up with something too sugary or tart for my liking. The bartenders were pretty much all like -say no more-and I was never disappointed with what they had chosen for me. Then I went to Bar Sport– not a sports bar so I am not sure where the name comes from and had their famous Foie gras on toast and a wonderful mushroom kebab. I have never had foie gras before and I doubt I will want to try it again because of the ick factor but I figured it was good to try their specialty and say I had it. It actually was quite tasty and I am glad I at least tried it. Then I was on to Goiz Argi and had the prawns. Most everything is served on bread or toasted bread as it is all meant to be eaten with your hands from a small plate. After feeling that I had enough to count as dinner, I walked back to my apartment for the night.
