Author: thefoodiewinoyogisblog

6 Things You MUST do in San Sebastian

6 Things You MUST do in San Sebastian

thefoodiewinoyogisblog

We had heard a lot of great things about San Sebastian in all of our research for northern Spain. We saved it for the end of our trip and made sure we gave ourselves several days to wander the city and take it all in. We would highly recommend staying at least 3 days in San Sebastian as a part of any northern Spain trip but you could easily stay longer. There are plenty of great spots along the Basque coast to explore as well if you are basing yourself in the city and planning on day trips out further. Here are our recommendations for what to see and do while you are in the city. There is definitely more to see and do that what we are listing here. For us we spend a lot of time on the beaches, eating some amazing food and just wandering the streets soaking up our last days in Spain. 

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Take a food Tour- Food is a big deal in San Sebastian. It is known for amazing pintxos and a significant number of Michelin star restaurants to choose from. We booked a food tour the first evening we were in the city and we were so glad we did! We booked through air B and B and ended up with a small group of 9 plus our guide. We got some general information about the city as we walked from place to place and the most important part, we had some truly amazing food! Food tours are a bit pricy but all your food and drinks are included. We are typically do it ourselves kind of travelers so we were a bit nervous we wouldn’t get our money’s worth. We were pleasantly surprised by the experience! We learned a lot and had several dishes we would not have even known to order if it weren’t for our guide. For more information on ordering pintxos and specific pintxo bars to eat at check out our blog post here: Ordering Pintxos in Basque Country

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Walk around old town (Parte Vieja)– This is where you will find the best pintxo bars! The streets are lined with places to stop in for a pintxo. We recommend wandering around and finding the places that are crowded as those are the places that will have the best food. Old town is a beautiful part of the city with cobblestone streets and old churches. We would recommend staying in or near old town so that you will be close to everything you want to see and do in the city.

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 La Concha Beach- This beach is the closest to old town. It is the iconic beach you see in pictures everywhere. La Isla de Santa Clara is in the center and you can see Mont Urgull and Mont Igueldo on either side. There are plenty of boats mooring out in the bay as well. It’s a beautiful beach to spend the afternoon.

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Zurriola Beach- This is the surfing beach in the city. On good wave days there will be surfers of all levels out all day. We actually enjoyed this beach more than la concha since it is a bit further from the main part of the city and the beach is bigger. When you sit on this beach you don’t feel as much like you’re in the city. The surfing offers endless entertainment whether your out in the waves or just watching. There are several shops around the area to rent surfboards if you want to give it a try. It is good to know that if the red flags are flying at the beach the surf shops are not supposed to rent you a board. You can surf on those days if you have your own board.

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Hike up Mont Urgull – There are multiple paths you can follow that wind up the hill. There are multiple small park areas, a small café and lots of places to stop and get a view of the city and the sea as you walk up. At the very top there is a free museum with artifacts from the city’s history. Most of the museum is in Basque and Spanish only. As you walk through the museum you can get right up to the Sagrado Corazon (sacred heart) statue (also known as the Cristo de la Mota) at the top of the hill and get some great views of the city. You can also wander through parts of the Castillo de la Mota fortress that was built in the 12th century and was used to defend the city.

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Funicular up Mont Igueldo– This is where you will get the amazing view of the city and they bay, the one you have probably seen on every blog post or travel site for San Sebastian. It is a must do while you are in the city! There is a restaurant at the top of the hill with outdoor seating so you enjoy the view while you have a drink or a snack (reasonably priced considering the monopoly). The funicular leaves every 15 minutes.

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Free Parking – One good thing to know if you are driving (which we were as we did this as part of a larger road trip) is that parking in the city is pretty pricy. The last night we were there we parked in a parking garage in old town, close to our air b and b so that we could more quickly and easily get to the airport. We paid 24 euro for overnight parking. The first several nights we stayed in the city we parked in a free lot in Loiola. This was about 20-25 minutes walking to old town. There is also a bus stop nearby so you could park and take the bus into the city. The buses were running on schedule and were easy to navigate. Below is a map of the free parking lot!

We absolutely loved it in San Sebastian! It’s a wonderful sit to eat, relax and just soak it all in! It was a great way for us to end our trip through northern Spain and we would love to go back again!

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-TFWYs

 

How to Order Pintxos Like a Local in Basque Country

How to Order Pintxos Like a Local in Basque Country

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The food culture in the Basque region of Spain is truly amazing! San Sebastian is quickly becoming one of the top foodie destinations and for good reason. At the center of the Basque food culture are pintxos. These are small bites, similar to a tapa which people are probably more familiar with. In general pintxos are larger and more complex than most tapas offered in Spain. You can easily create an entire meal on pintxos, trust us we did this very often while we were in Bilbao and in San Sebastian. 

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 It can be intimidating to walk into a pintxos bar when you aren’t fluent in Spanish and aren’t sure the protocol. Most pintxo bars are small places and the best ones are jam packed with people. But don’t worry, we have some tips for how to order and what to order. The first stop on our northern Spain trip was Bilbao. When we arrived we knew we had to eat pintxos but we weren’t exactly sure what to do. We walked into a pintxo bar and just watched for a few minutes so we could see what people were doing and get a lay of the land. We saw people pointing to the pintxos on the bar so that is what we did. Most pintxo bars have cold pintxos out on the bar or just behind the bar, on display. So if you don’t know any Spanish you can simply point to which ones you want. Most often pintoxs are enjoyed with a drink so knowing how to order a beer or wine is helpful. Una copa de vino tinto or vino blanco will get you a glass of red or white wine respectively. You can ask for a cerveza and that will get you a beer but most locals will order a cana, which is a small glass of beer. Pintxos are meant to be eaten standing up and most locals go from place to place so don’t expect to sit at a table and stay at the same bar all night long.

We spent the first two days of our trip eating only these pintxos we saw on display. We ate well and were not disappointed but we knew we weren’t getting the full pintxo experience. We learned more later on in our trip once we got to San Sebastian. Here we took a food tour our first night hoping we would learn more than what we had already picked up on based on our observations.

What we learned is that a lot of the pintxo bars have a hot pintxo (pintxos caliente) menu which is often listed on a board (often a chalk board) on display on the wall behind the bar. Some of the bars will also have a paper copy on this menu and that may be offered in English. Hot pintxos can typically be ordered as pintxo size (small, bite size portion), a half portion (media racion) or as full portion (racion) which is a larger portion similar to what you would expect if you ordered an entrée. Either way most locals still enjoy their food standing up at the bar or a small counter. 

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La cuchara de San Telmo – 1/2 racion of Scallops

Once we discovered how to get hot pintxos there was no going back to the ones on display on the bar. The pintxos we ordered in San Sebastian were some of the best things we have ever eaten. While there are many Michelin star restaurants in San Sebastian we decided to stick with pintoxs each night we were there. That way you can still get amazing food but at a much lower price and get a real feel for the city as you wander the streets. You can get hot pintoxs in Bilbao but as we were there before we really had it all figured out we don’t have as many specific recommendations for Bilbao as we do for San Sebastian. Here is our list of pintxo bars you must eat at while in each city.

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La cuchara de San Telmo – 1/2 racion of Suckling Pig

San Sebastian:

La Cuchara de San Telmo: We ate here three times! The first time our food tour guide brought us. We loved it so much that we went back the following two nights. Everything on their menu looked amazing. The guy behind the bar taking orders was also awesome! He remembered our name and took time to say thank you and have a great night before we left. This is even more incredible when you see just how crowded this place is. Everything we had here was excellent, but you must try the Morcilla (blood sausage)! We also had the suckling pig, scallops, and pigs ear – and everything we saw come out of the kitchen looked and smelled phenomenal. One thing to note is that they almost exclusively have ration/half ration order sizes (no pintxos and everything is made to order), but don’t worry – you will wish you had more.

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La cuchara de San Telmo –  1/2 racion of Morcilla

Atari Gastroleku: We ended up going here twice. Once with our guided tour and once later in the week on our own. They are known for their Galician Octopus, and we also had the braised beef cheeks which are a traditional dish to the region. They are also known for their Gin & Tonics, so if you mind skipping the wine for a stop – this is the place.

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Atari Gastroleku – Racion of Octopus (pulpo)

Ganbara: This place is known for their mushrooms, you will see a pile of different types and there are a few different dishes you can get made to order with mushrooms and they are all on the menu. We also went here with our guide, and he ordered tuna off menu (called bonito in northern Spain, this place had it when it was in season).

Bar Sport: It was recommended by our AirBnB Host who’s brother owns this place. Despite the bias, we agreed it was very good. We mostly had the cold pintxos, and the sea urchin soup was really good.

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Bilbao:

Mercado de la Ribera: This is the largest covered market in Europe. You can buy fresh seafood, meats, cheeses, vegetables and fruits here. There is also a large indoor sitting area surrounded by venders selling a wide variety of pintxos.

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El Sacachoros: This was the first pintxo bar we stepped into. We didn’t really know what to do, so we ended up ordering off the cold bar, then sitting down at a table. We had the octopus pintxo in the picture below, which was excellent. the Iberico ham one was good too though!

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There are plenty of other pintxo bars in both these city’s. Wander through old town in Bilbao or San Sebastian and go into any pintxo bar full of people. We promise you won’t be disappointed with the food!

-TFWYs

Cathedral Beach: Everything you need to know before you visit

Cathedral Beach: Everything you need to know before you visit

thefoodiewinoyogisblog
Somewhere along the way during our research into Northern Spain we saw a picture of Cathedral beach and decided we had to go! We added it to our list of places to see and left it at that. As our trip grew closer we happened to read somewhere that you need tickets to visit the beach since Galicia, Spain does monitor and limit the number of people who can visit each day. This led to much more research to make sure we had everything figured out before we left. This post will outline what you need to know to make sure you make the most of your visit to this amazing beach!
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First of all it is worth it! The beach really is incredible and if you are in the area we would highly recommend a visit. Plan to spend at least an hour down on the beach itself. It is much larger with more rock formations, arches and caves to explore than we realized.
Booking Tickets: 
During the spring through fall months you need to have tickets to visit the beach. You cannot book your tickets until 15 days prior to your visit. You will need to enter names and passport information for each person visiting. Then you will get an email with a barcode which they will scan when you enter the beach (so make sure to print it or save it on your phone).
Use this website to book your tickets:
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When to visit the beach:
Cathedral beach is different than most beaches in that the time of day and time of month really matter for your visit. The beach is only accessible at low tide. At high tide the water is too high to walk around the rocks. Low tide happens twice a day. The tides will be predicted on tide tables about two weeks ahead of time on the website listed below.
It’s good to know a little bit about the tides when you’re visiting this area. The tides have different heights based on the lunar phase. The best time to visit the beach is at the full moon or the week after. This is the time of the month when the difference between high and low tide is the greatest. Generally speaking that means low tide is lower and high tide is higher. That means there will be more beach to walk on during low tide at this time of the month. The week before the full moon is the worst time to visit the beach as this week the difference between high and low tide is at it’s lowest. During this week you won’t be able to walk on the beach without getting wet, even at low tide.
The tide table on this website is in Spanish. The bajamar column is low tide and the pleamar column is high tide. The altura or height column shows the height the sea will reach. It varys each day based on the lunar phase. The closer that number is to zero, the lower the tide/the better the day is to visit.

Use this website for tide tables and general info: http://ascatedrais.gal/ascatedrais/portada.php?idioma=en

 

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During your Visit:

Once you scan your ticket and head down to the beach you won’t be allowed to go back down a second time, so take your time! Even though the number of visitors is limited each day it will be crowded. The beach is large with lots to explore but do be aware it can be difficult to get a picture of the rock formations without anybody in them. Most of the large arches you will have seen pictures of before you go are to the right of the stairs down to the beach. But trust us walking the entire length of the beach in both directions is worth it. We recommend wearing shorts or pants that can easily be rolled up and wear shoes you can easily kick off. We visited the week after the full moon at low tide (the best week to visit) and while the beach was mostly dry there are rock formations closer to the water so if you want to see it all you may have to walk through some shallow water.

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There is a restaurant at the top of the stairs to the beach if you want lunch after you explore. We didn’t eat there so cannot recommend it. There are also picnic tables with better views of the beach so we would recommend taking a picnic lunch or some snacks to enjoy there before or after your beach walk. There are bathrooms you can use while your there but do be prepared, you will have to pay a small amount so do bring some small change.

We hope this helps! Go and explore this incredibly beautiful beach!

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-TFWYs

 

Bourbon Barrel Planked Venison Meatballs

Bourbon Barrel Planked Venison Meatballs

thefoodiewinoyogisblog

We love Venison. And we love bourbon. And we love grilling, grilling planks and meatballs. What do you get when you combine them all? Magic. You can buy the bourbon barrel planks here on Etsy: Bourbon Barrel Grilling Planks (full disclosure – we sell them at this shop!)

Ingredients

  • 1 Lb. Ground Venison (you can also substitute for another ground game meat, lamb, or grass fed beef)
  • 1 Tsp Sea Salt (we use Himalayan Pink salt)
  • 1 Tsp Black Pepper
  • 1/2 Tsp Red Pepper Flakes
  • 1 Tsp Garlic (granulated or diced)
  • 1/2 Tsp Onion powder

Make Them!

  • Soak Bourbon plank for at least 30 minutes to an hour
  • Mix ground venison with the dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix without overworking the meat.
  • Form into meatballs and place on plate and refrigerate one hour.
  • Preheat grill with indirect heat at 400F
  • Place plank on the grill to preheat for 10 minutes. As the moisture escapes the wood fibers it brings the oak and bourbon flavor out of the barrel plank and into your meatballs!
  • Once the plank is warmed up, place the meatballs on the plank
  • Cook approximately 20 minutes, or to your liking. I shoot for medium for meatballs, or 150F internal temp. Do not overcook them, Venison does not have the fat content beef has and they will dry out quickly!
  • They should be brown and glistening when you take them off. Enjoy them with naan and Tzatziki!

Please let us know if you try this out in the comment section!

TFWY’s

Tahquamenon Falls

Tahquamenon Falls

thefoodiewinoyogisblog
Tahquamenon Falls State Park is a great destination in the Michigan Upper Peninsula. We made this a stop on our way to the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore so we weren’t there overnight. You can camp in the park if you are planning a longer trip. This is a beautiful area and would be worth a trip to the UP all on its own.

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Tahquamenon Falls State Park is around 50,000 acres stretching over 13 miles. Most of this land is forested and great for hiking.  The highlight of the park is of course the waterfalls of the Tahquamenon River. There are two major viewing locations- the Upper Falls and the Lower Falls.  There is a trail in-between the two if you want to hike and see both sites. The Upper Falls is one the largest waterfalls east of the Mississippi. A few miles downstream are the Lower Falls. The Lower Falls are smaller waterfalls surrounding an island. You can rent a row boat at the Lower Falls to view them from the water or from the island. Since we were only there for the afternoon we didn’t take advantage of this option. We viewed the falls from land. There are great viewing decks offering lots of opportunity for great photos!
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Tahquamenon Falls Brewery & Pub is right on site at the park and offers microbrews and   standard pub style food. Of course you are in the upper peninsula so having a pasty is a must! A pasty is similar to an empanada or other meat and veggie filled pastry. The brewery has several microbrews on tap that are made locally. What specifically is available does vary based on the time of year you are visiting.
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The park is open year round. Of course your best bet for hiking and camping will be in the summer. Check out this website for more information on activities to do in the park during all seasons http://www.exploringthenorth.com/tahqua/tahqua.html. If you are planning to camp we would recommend booking your campsites ahead of time as this is a popular summer destination in Michigan and campsites do tend to fill up. Use the MI reservations website to reserve your spot online https://midnrreservations.com.
For more on the Pictured Rocks check out our post:
-TFWYs
Calle Ocho Music Festival

Calle Ocho Music Festival

thefoodiewinoyogisblog
The Calle Ocho Music Festival happens every year in March in the Little Havana neighborhood of Miami. We did not plan our trip around this festival but we happened to discover that it would be during our trip. We decided we should check it out since we wanted to see and eat in Little Havana anyways. The festival is the largest Latin American music festival in North America and it is free to attend. It takes place along several blocks on Calle Ocho. There are stages set up every couple blocks with live music. The festival is very crowded and can be a bit crazy as with any concert or music festival. We didn’t spend any lengthy amount of time at any one stage but when we did pass by the stages the music we heard was all very good. There were larger crowds around each stage and lots of people dancing and having a good time!
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We were really there for the food! There are street venders along both sides of the street selling all sorts of wonderful food! You can find any kind of Latin American food you want at this festival. We saw Mexican, Argentinian, Puerto Rican and Cuban to name a few specifics. We spent our time walking down the street in search of great street food to try.
We had some really awesome carne asada- that was the star of the afternoon for us! We saw this meat grilling on a tipi shaped wood fired grill (pictured below) and decided we had to stop at this food stand. We got the steak which came with fried plantains, something similar to coleslaw with fresh cilantro and potatoes. It was a lot of food but we did manage to try a few other things as we walked. We also tried a sweet corn pie which tastes like a corn pudding that is fried like a pancake and then some cheese is melted in-between two patties like a grilled cheese. We also had a fried empanada. Shredded chicken was the only filling in the empanada we had. It was not bad but we were expecting a filling more like what we had in Chile where there was always meat and cheese inside not just the meat. We felt like it would have been better with cheese as well as shredded chicken. This is just our preference and of course different cultures make their empanadas differently. We also only only tried them from one food stand so maybe others had different fillings.
While at the festival, you can see Domino Park and the iconic Calle Ocho rooster statues which you always read about when researching what to do in Little Havana.  It is good to know that a lot of the businesses and restaurants in Little Havana are closed during the festival. You can buy beer and other drinks from some of the bars in the area and from other street vendors. But if you are looking to sit down inside for a meal or a drink you will likely need to leave the festival to find something. We sat and enjoyed our carne asada at the Cuban Memorial Boulevard Park. This is a small park just off Calle Ocho with a memorial to those who fought for Cuban independence. It had a few benches with seating.  A lot of the street food available is easier to walk around with while you eat. You can also find less crowded areas along the sidewalk to stop and eat your food if needed.
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One big thing we definitely noticed was the lack of bathrooms. We were expecting at least one or two areas with porter potties or something since it was such a large festival. We passed a few restaurants that had signs saying $2 or $3 to use the bathroom. We finally came across a couple porta potties tucked back away from Calle Ocho. Those were free to use but were out of toilet paper. There happened to be a vendor selling soft drinks and water right next to these porter potties. He did have napkins he was charging for if you wanted to use some in place of toilet paper. So especially if you are drinking while at the festival just be aware that finding a bathroom may not be as easy or cheap as you expected.
We took an Uber from Miami Beach to the festival. Uber ride share is a great option to help keep your Uber costs down. Do be mindful that the festival is very crowded so the traffic getting there can be a bit crazy. Our Uber driver was able to drop us off within a block or two of the festival and then made sure we knew where we were going. A tip if taking an Uber away from the festival when you are ready to leave-  walk a block or two away so that you can more easily be picked up away from the crowds. If driving yourself to the festival be prepared to pay for parking and we would recommend getting there early before traffic gets too crazy.
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We had a great time at Calle Ocho! Whether you are there for the food, the music or just to have a great cultural experience it is worth a visit if you are in Miami in March. Again be prepared for big crowds. Knowing some Spanish is helpful when ordering food. If you don’t know any Spanish you can certainly point to what you want and still get by. We never felt unsafe or unwelcome while we were there. We saw lots of other tourists as well as locals. Our Uber driver recommended keeping your wallet in your front pocket and for women keeping your purse or bag close to you to avoid pick pocketing. We would second this recommendation and recommend not bringing a large purse or bag, just a small cross body bag for women is a good idea. Again we had no problems but this is just good advise whenever you are somewhere with a large crowd.
Check out or other posts for more information on the Miami Beach area:
-TFWYs