August is here and in Spain, that means one thing, very high temperatures. This month is the holiday month when most companies are closed for business and everyone goes on holiday. This being said, almost everything is closed, and the whole country goes into hibernation. Construction companies, many small shops and services, contractors, bakeries, confectioners, restaurants… Nobody is taking orders for August and it’s difficult to find anyone to help with the most urgent repairs or issues.
The first years were really quite strange for us as Central Europeans. However, the longer we live in Spain, the more it seems like a reasonable way to survive the heat.
And what do Spaniards do in August? Many of them run far away from the heat, popular destination is Basque Country, famous for its cuisine, beautiful countryside and cooler climate compared to the rest of Spain. We couldn’t skip this must-do summer destination either, so we know exactly what to eat, drink and visit.
As I said, August is the holiday month and that goes for the Basque Country too. So it can very easily happen that some restaurants will be closed due to the holidays. So you must check and see if the restaurant you want to go to is open. For Michelin star restaurants, it is better to make reservations in advance. We didn’t check out Michelin restaurants this time, but as we walked through the city, I noticed that the well known ones were closed during our visit last August just because of the holiday.
To say exactly what the Basque Country is famous for… its Pinxos, a slice of bread topped with all sorts of ingredients. Its name comes from the Spanish word ‘pincho’, which means skewer. It is the skewer that makes pintxos easily recognisable.
In Basque Country, you’ll find a lot of bars that have all these pintxos on display, let your eyes decide. The better bars make them with homemade ingredients, in smaller batches to keep them fresh and only make new ones when the previous ones are sold out. Since they’re really small bites, they’re usually eaten in multiples; I personally eat five at most, but it’s quite common for people to order eight or ten per person. Or also just one, because they are ‘pintxo hopping’ or going out for dinner later – this is a specific way to eat pintxos for Spaniards. It’s hard to resist them and not order everything that’s on display at the bar. Because there are a lot of people coming and going, there is a brilliant Pinxo system. That’s what the skewers are perfect for. Each bar has a set price per skewer. You’ll find pintxos that have one skewer stuck in them, or two, occasionally more. When you’re done, they just count the skewers left on your plate and you pay for it.
The Basque Country is also very famous for its seafood. Lobsters, oysters, prawns, scallops and much more. Around Bilbao and San Sebastian, there are amazing fishing villages, which we will also visit together.
Bilbao city
It is the largest city in the Basque Country. With its famous Guggenheim Museum of Modern Art, it is one of the most visited cities in Spain. It is an industrial city, oriented toward the shipping industry. It is easy to see that this is a wealthy area, the public spaces and houses are perfectly manicured, and the city is very modern. We chose Bilbao as the place to enjoy pintxos. Most of the best bars are either directly or near Plaza Nueva, so it’s the perfect starting point for the tour de pintxos we took. It has to be said that most pintxo bars don’t take reservations, so if you go in August and eat at lunch or dinner rush hour, you may have to stand in line. We waited about 40 minutes one day and only 10 the next.
Sorgínzulo
Pl. Nueva, 12, 48005 Bilbao
www.sorginzulo.com
We went to this place twice. We liked it so much and since we didn’t get a chance to taste everything we wanted the first time, we had to go in for round two!
It is a classic pintxos bar, there are only a few seats inside with high stools, and the tables are wine barrels. The place has a generous terrace located on the square, but we sat inside to enjoy the atmosphere of the place.
They offer classic combinations as well as their own recipes. I would like to mention two pintxos specifically… the foie gras pintxos on sheep’s milk brioche, at €4 we ordered this again and the pintxo with slow-cooked Iberian pork cheeks with mustard emulsion and truffle potato puree. We complemented all this with more than one glass of local txakoli wine, but I’ll go into more detail about this wine later.
Restaurante Toma y Daka
Pl. Nueva, 1, 48005 Bilbao
www.restaurantetomaydaka.es
Another place we also ended up visiting twice was Toma y Daka. This very modern restaurant with a designer interior, is divided into two sections. The ground floor consists of a bar specializing in modern pintxos, with a variety of seafood on offer and 10 mainly local beers on tap, along with many other bottled specials. In the basement, there’s a la carte restaurant with the best that Basque cuisine has to offer. The bar area is hectic, as pintxos bars tend to be. However, we really enjoyed the local seafood offerings mentioned above, there are never enough sea urchins and scallops. By contrast, the restaurant area is very quiet, with a really nice design and perfect for dinner after a hectic day, it was the perfect place for a quiet dinner… after a day’s drive from Valencia to Bilbao, with plenty of stops anywhere that smelled tantalizingly. Since we’d eaten quite a bit throughout the day and also wanted to try as much dishes as possible, we shared a few smaller plates. Everything was delicious, but what deserves special mention is their rib-eye beef carpaccio served with local 12-month-aged cheese.
Toma y Daka has a wide range of local ingredients, so if you want to eat km 0, this is the place for you. Beware though, the restaurant offers reservations on their website, but these are only for the restaurant section. Reservations are not accepted in the bar area.
Mercado de la Ribera
Erribera Kalea, s/n, 48005 Bilbo
bilbaozerbitzuak.bilbao.eus/inicio/mercado-de-la-ribera/
The Mercado de la Ribera is located right on the Nervión River, which gives it an absolutely stunning view from the outside terrace, not only of the river but also of the houses opposite and the local architecture that had us captivated. The majority of the historical buildings here have apartments with two balconies, one covered, made in wood and glass and the other open with variously decorated wrought-iron railings. Given the unpredictable weather, I thought this was a great idea. Similar houses can be seen all over Spain, but nowhere in such abundance. So enjoy the view, it’s worth it.
But let’s go back to Mercado. It’s divided into two sections, the shopping one opens in the morning and closes around two o’clock, however, as is the way of Spanish markets, the stalls start packing up and closing around twelve o’clock. In the case of fresh ingredients, they are already sold out and there are not many customers after 12 o’clock, so for sellers, it is not worth staying longer.
The second part, the dining area, consisting mainly of pintxos bars, is open all day. But be warned, the vast majority of stalls operate on a morning/lunch/dinner system anyway, which means you’ll find them mostly closed during siesta time (4pm-7pm). The reason is practically the same as in the sales area. The number of visitors during this in-between period is so low that it is not worthwhile to stay open.
Cokooncafé
Iparraguirre Kalea, 5, 48009 Bilbo
www.cokooncafe.com
The only real speciality coffee in Bilbao at the time.
Although not one of the typical tourist stops, it belongs on my list of places to visit without a doubt. We had a delicious breakfast here before we left Bilbao and it couldn’t have been better. A selection of perfectly prepared coffees (yes, I took another one to go) and an absolutely divine breakfast.
We were delighted by their pastrami. We were just sorry that we hadn’t gone there the day before for dessert because it all looked just perfect.
Donostia-San Sebastian city
Although the city is known worldwide as San Sebastian, in Basque it’s Donostia, don’t be fooled, it’s the same city. San Sebastian is about as different from Bilbao as the day is from the night. It’s a picturesque seaside town on the Bay of Biscay that is one of the most luxurious destinations in all of Spain.
A hike up Mount Urgull, just a short walk from the famous de la Concha beach, is worth doing, offering breathtaking views not only of the whole of San Sebastian but also of the previously mentioned beach and the island of Santa Clara.
And if Bilbao equals pintxos, then San Sebastian = oysters and other seafood. So it would be a mistake to end up here in one of the hundreds of pintxos bars and not enjoy the best of the Atlantic Ocean that this coastal city has to offer.
KATA4
Santa Catalina Plazatxoa, 4, 20004 Donostia
www.kata4.com
The best place for oyster tasting in San Sebastian is definitely this restaurant. They have the best from the shores of the Atlantic from both Spain and France. And, in a nice informal setting, the final bill won’t make you faint. Which you can’t quite say about other restaurants in the area.
We ordered the oyster tasting menu and it couldn’t have been better. If you’re an oyster lover, this way you can discover not only different shapes but also different flavours of oysters on one plate, so you can easily compare them. Of course, they have Gillardeas, Utah Beach, Arcachon and many more. The restaurant and kitchen are open in the morning and throughout the day, so you can pop in anytime. However, at lunch or dinner time, I recommend making a reservation, especially if you want to sit on the terrace.
Casa Cámara
Donibane Kalea, 79, 20110 Pasai Donibane, Gipuzkoa
www.casacamara.com/es/
This restaurant is not located directly in San Sebastian but over the hill, you can drive there or you can hike from San Sebastian, one way is about 6 km and in an hour and a half you are there. The Casa Camara restaurant is located in Pasajes, originally a fishing village that has retained its charm to this day, although today it also includes a bustling harbour. This doesn’t change its atmosphere, and wandering around the town makes you feel like you’ve stepped back at least a hundred years. It remains an important fishing centre to this day and you can feel it from all sides.
I’d like to say that you simply won’t find anything better, both gastronomically and in terms of atmosphere, anywhere else. Casa Camara has been here since 1884 and it is still run by the founding family! – yes, they are not only the owners but also work here. The restaurant is located on the coast and has been preserved practically in its original form. It is actually an all-wooden shack that is lined with old wooden windows, allowing you to enjoy incredible views. What I liked most was that these windows open upwards, the whole restaurant is lined with a ceiling hanging system to hold the windows in place.
However, the best is yet to come. We made our reservation at the last minute, as we didn’t know until the last moment if we would even go to Pasajes. Curiosity won out in the end, and we wanted to get away from the touristy San Sebastian and experience something more authentic. Our wish was granted in the end. As I mentioned, the restaurant is located on the coast, or rather, part of it is built above the sea on a concrete pier. As we were about to find out, there is a reason for this. Since we had snagged the last table, we were seated in the middle of the restaurant, away from the beautiful windows and view. At first, we were a bit disappointed, but we didn’t know that we were in a much better place. In the middle of the hall, just next to our table, there was a wooden railing. At first we didn’t pay attention to it, but soon, thanks to the strong sounds and smell of the sea, we started to pay attention to our surroundings. What a surprise it was when we looked down beyond the railing. There was literally a hole and at the bottom of it, in the sea, were cages with lobsters and crawfish. At that moment, we realized why there was a pulley with a rope on top. Yes, as soon as you order a lobster here, they pull this cage out of the water, so not only do you get to choose the one you like best but there’s probably no place you’d eat it fresher out of the sea.
I’m not going to lie to you, this place is not cheap considering the produce and quality it offers. Actually, given the products, it is. The prices are not exorbitant, the approximate price for two people without a bottle of wine is around €100, in San Sebastian, a similar dinner would cost us at least twice as much.
Álava Province
Located northwest of Bilbao, you will find here, among others, Vitoria-Gasteiz, the capital of the Basque Country. Vitoria is a beautiful historic city that won the Global green city award in 2019. So it’s definitely worth a visit. We arrived in the middle of the Fiestas de la Virgen Blanca celebrations (which we didn’t know beforehand), the city was packed and so we had absolutely no chance to sit down and have something good to eat, all the restaurants were hopelessly full. So we used the time to explore the city, the central part of which is covered in huge graffiti.
What makes this province interesting and significant, however, is the number of wineries producing the famous Basque wine txakoli.
TXAKOLI BELDUI
Beldio, 01400 Laudio, Álava
www.beldui.com
The winery is located about half an hour’s drive from Bilbao. There are several renowned Txakoli wineries in this mountainous area, but we liked this one. It is an original property on top of a mountain with a beautiful view of the surrounding vineyards. The Álava area gets lots of rain which means that the whole area is green all year round. From the photos, you would hardly guess that this is Spain. It’s a good idea to plan your visit to this winery and reserve a spot at least a day in advance, it’s a really small winery, they don’t have a big visitor centre and it’s 100% authentic. You can sit here in the small original dining room or in the garden, both spaces have something to offer. But be warned, if you want to eat here, only a pre-set menu is offered and you also need to order in advance. This is not a restaurant where you can go and order on the spot. The most important thing, however, is the local wine. Txakoli made here is using the traditional method and the whole production process is handmade, from picking the grapes to bottling. The result is a great light wine, with slight acidity and pearliness. Txakoli is served by pouring from a height, similar to sherry (vino de Jerez).
Only a very small amount of Txakoli is left to ferment in a wooden barrel, and one of the few wineries to use this process is Beldui. We are big wine lovers and tasted many kinds of Txakoli during our trip through the Basque Country, but the one from Beldui was our clear favourite.
What else to say, the Basque Country is completely different to the rest of Spain, not only in its weather and scenery but also in its atmosphere. The nature here is truly breathtaking and it has to be said that in my opinion there are not many places in Europe that surpass the Basque Country in this respect. When you add to this the sea and the endless cliffs, the local gastronomy and architecture, this is a place that is really worth visiting.
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