Sidra, txoili, pinxtos, and Oviedo? Almost, but not quite.

Posted by Nicki

We are now in the far north of Spain, and it´s beautiful. Our time in Barcelona finished up wonderfully. It was very relaxing, involved a few steins, yes munich size steins of sangria, and lots more wonderful architechture. We departed Barcelona for one of my favorite towns in España, San Sebastion.

San Sebastion is a town located in the Basque region of north eastern spain. It´s pretty small in comparison to Barcelona, making it a nice change from the big cities weve been in. Although their separatist campaigns havent been as successful as those in Catalunya, there was still a good presence of the Basque language to be seen, lots of K´s and X´s, as well as the normal graffiti declaring to the tourist, “You are not in France, you are not in Spain, you are in Pais Vasco” (The Basque Country). The first day we got in was beautiful, lots of sun and warm enough for Alex to declare it shirtless weather on the beach. We wandered throughout the city and walked along the small but lovely cresent beach. The beach on either side is surrounded by huge green hills that look out into the ocean, really pretty sight. Luckily this time, unlike the last time I was here, there no was tar from previous oil spills.

After a nap, we decided we were going to partake in the Basque tapas (or pinxtos as it is in Basque) scene, which I didnt get to do last time I visited. It was a blast. Basically all the little bars are set up like tapas buffets. You get a plate and then wander along and pick any tapa you think looks appetizing. Pile them up, then go back for another bite or two or three if you like. Lots of little sandwiches and breads with spreads or fish. Yum. Chase everything down with swigs of txoili, the local fizzy white wine…which literally is poured into a big glass just enough for a swallow or two. We finished up stuffed to the brim and very happy.

The next day was unfortunately rainy and overcast, so our beach bumming plans were abandoned. Instead we hiked up the hills surrounding the beach and enjoyed the gorgeous views of the surrounding countryside.

Then it was off to what Alex described as a sleepy little town in the mountains…or so he thought. Turned out Alex´s memory was slightly off. Sleepy little town turned into city of 200,000…no mountains except for way in the distance. Opps. Apparently it wasn´t oviedo he had been to previously. But we enjoyed ourselves anyhow, finding a great restaurant that served huge plates of food for cheap, and even had cider sangria, which is about some of the best stuff ever.

Sidra! Our time in northern Spain would not be complete without it. It goes for about 2 euro a bottle and is fantastic. It doesnt quite taste like cider in the states, a little more bitter, maybe a bit more like wine. But its the show of pouring that makes it. The waiters uncork the bottles and then pour it from high over their heads into the glasses, enough for one big swallow. Quite a bit ending up on the floor or in the giant pouring buckets in the process. Great fun to watch. We have tried to do this ourselves, however, failing miserably…one sweet waitress gave us a sort of spout, that we have referred to as our training wheels, so we can pour it properly.