San Sebastian - Food, Food, and more Food (and a few Drinks...or a lot)

Today's post is all about food. I love food, San Sebastian loves food, it's like we were made for each other! Even though I have been conserving my money and not eating at the best of restaurants and bars, I have had AMAZING food these past three days. Yesterday I went on a Pinxto tasting tour. When I booked this tour, the brochure said we would be visiting 5-6 bars and we would taste a few pinxtos with drinks in each bar. Honestly, I wasn't expecting much of this tour; however, I was blown away by the quality and quantity of the food we had! And even though I was taking this tour solo, I met some amazing people from New York, London, and Australia. I mostly hang around and talked with a mother-daughter duo from Australia. Their names are Emma and Vicki. We hit it of instantly; they have been traveling Europe for the past four weeks and will continue for another five weeks before they head back home. Anyways, back to the food. Now I was expecting one pinxto and one drink in each bar; to my amazement, by nights end I had eaten a grand total of thirteen different pinxtos along with 10 glasses of wine and half a glass of sidra (fermented apple cider; it's really neat because they pour the sidra from high above the glass in order to release the CO2; now in every website I visited prior to my trip, they all said to try the "famous sidra"...I'm not a fan, it smells like fish and tastes like moldy apples). Throughout the tour, some of the pinxtos we ate included: muscles in a red pepper sauce, calamari, patatas brava(which are large chunks of potatoes in a special spicy mayonnaise), shrimp skewers, smoked cod with a parsley mouse and lettuce shoot, white mushroom risotto, beef cheeks, pigs ear, steak, fried peppers, and finally, cheesecake for dessert. I can't even describe how absolutely delicious each of the pixtos were! I will definately be hitting up some of these bars again before I leave! I haven't just had fantastic food on my pinxto tour. I've stumbled upon some hidden treasures myself. One day I had lunch at this small "American" burger joint - Va Bene - which had the most amazing burger I have ever put in my mouth! So simple, but oh so good. Today I decided to go for a traditional Spanish three-course sit down lunch. It cost me €30, but who cares about the price when I can have duck confit, the largest salad imaginable, and lemon sorbet! I think tonight I am going to have hot chocolate and churros for dessert! They are amazing here; I had them last year. Tomorrow I have my Wine and Cheese tour! I can hardly wait! It should be amazing seeing how it is with the same company I took the pinxto tasting tour with. Aside from all the food, my last three days in San Sebastian have been unforgettable! I get up in the morning (I have been sleeping in until 9:30...it feels soooo good),I have breakfast, visit a park or monument, take a stroll through the old town, go for a late lunch, and then spend my entire afternoon at the beach swimming, reading, and watching FRIENDS of course ;) It is nice having time to sit back, relax, and not having any plans to follow. Sadly, I will be leaving San Sebastian on Saturday, but I am really excited to start my pilgrimage...so far my only fear is the heat! San Sebastian has had temperatures around 23-25 degrees, but there is the nice cooling breeze from the ocean. When I am on pilgrimage, I will be in the middle of nowhere, far away from any body of water...I will be sweating like crazy! I hope everyone is having a fantastic time back home. I am thinking of you all! Bye for now :)

Cutting it Close - Madrid and San Sebastian

Well, I finally made it to San Sebastian! After two long and tiring days of planes and trains, it feels nice to sit in the sand, eat some tastey gelato, and read a good book. When I arrived in Madrid yesterday, it took me a while to find my hostel. After what felt like hours of walking up and down the same street looking for any sort of sign, this very generous couple offered to walk me to my hostel, not only because I was lost, but because I was in a sketchy looking neighborhood. And according to the lady, "there are a lot of tricksters here who will do bad things to you"....ummm, I'm not looking forward to this. But, everything worked out fine; I put my backpack in my room and went about exploring Madrid. It was a little bit intimidating a first, mostly because Madrid is such a large city and I am alone. However, I was able to maneuver myself through the metro stations, and I wound up in the district of Sol. There were some...let's just say "interesting" steet performers posing for pictures. After I wandered nonchalantly around Sol, I decided it was time to go and eat. I was hoping to find the same sandwich place I ate at when I was in Madrid with a school group a few years back because they had a delicious calamari sandwich. I couldn't find the sandwich place, nor the churros bar I was planning on having dessert at, but instead I found a similar sandwich cafe that served calamari sandwiches as well. Along with a glass of sangria, my night in Madrid was a success. In the morning, I was supposed to catch an 8am train to San Sebastian, however, I did not sleep well in Madrid and I didn't end up falling asleep until around 4am. I had two alarms set, however, they either didn't go off, or I subconsciously turned them off. Luckily, my noisy neighbors woke me up at 7:15! The train station is twenty-five minutes away and I'm not even ready! Shoot!! After I quickly gathered my belongings, I ran for the metro (and at 20 degrees at 7am, it was a fairly sweaty run). Thankfully I made it to the train station, literally with no time to spare. As soon as I took my seat, the train took off. I was definitely cutting it close! Five hours later I arrived in the beautiful city of San Sebastian! My hostel was much easier to find this time, and it is in a less sketchier area (although I still wouldn't want to hang around outside by myself). I am trying to spend as little time as possible in this neighborhood. Basically, my day consisted of taking a stroll through the old town, and then parking my butt in the sand for the entire afternoon! With the blaring sun and a gentle breeze, I couldn't ask for a better day. The reason I love San Sebastian, and the reason I am spending five days here is because it has a very laid back atmosphere and beautiful colonial style architecture. Urgull mountain (which I hiked before I went for dinner) offers amazing views of all of San Sebastian. To one side you can see the city, and to the other side all you see is the sparkling blue waters. Also, because the streets are well laid out, it is easy to find the bar or shop you are looking for. I stumbled upon some bakeries selling the most delicious looking pastries. However, I am learning to control myself though when it comes to spending my money. I have decided to splurge only once a day on a fancier meal. Today, I had a fairly expensive dinner of crab stuffed peppers in a rosé sauce; boy were they delicious! After dinner I took a stroll along the beach as I ate my gelato. It was funny, when I went to one of the many gelato shops, there was this blue gelato with a tiny Smurf sitting in it. I thought to myself, "that's kind of weird, but I'll try it anyways". I have no clue what flavor it is...I am just hoping that it wasn't made of chopped up Smurfs. Tomorrow I am going to allow myself to sleep in. I have no set plans. There are many things I want to do and see, but I am going to take it easy these next few days. All I know for sure is that I will be spending part of the afternoon reading my book at the beach, and then in the evening I have my Pinxto tasting tour! Other than that, I am going to take it easy. I start my pilgrimage on Sunday so I want to be well rested and adapted to the time change before I embark on my 900km walk. I hope you are all having an amazing time back home. I miss everyone sooo much. It gets pretty lonely here, and none of my roommates speak English so it is kind of hard to talk to them. Ohhh well, in only a few days time I will meet many new people...and there's only one route to Santiago so they can't run from me either ;) Oh, and I apologize if this post is a bit hard to read. I typed the whole thing on my IPod and I am not able to change the font size or colour. Bye for now :)

And I'm Off!

        After what has felt like years of planning, and re-planning, and re-re-planning, the big day is finally here! In only a matter of hours I will be boarding a plane headed for Spain...well, Montreal, and then Brussels, AND then Madrid! It hasn't really hit me yet that come Sunday evening I will be going to sleep in my dream country. At the moment, I am overwhelmed with many different emotions. As much as I am excited to be alone for three months, exploring the beautiful countryside of Spain, I am nervous because I am going to be alone for three months, exploring the beautiful countryside of Spain. But, no matter where I go, I know that I will have people praying for me to have a safe journey. I want to thank my parents, my family, and my friends for supporting me in this next step in my life. I know that I have been a pain (what with all the complaining I have done), but if I didn’t receive the support from all of the people that I love, then I wouldn’t have a packed backpack waiting for me beside the front door. I am going to miss everyone, but I hope you all have a fantastic summer, and I will see all y’all in August. I’m ready, I’m antsy, and the sleeping pill I just took is starting to kick in, so, goodnight everyone. My next post will be about my first day in San Sebastian. I can’t wait!!

        Oh, and I am forewarning you all; be prepared to hear me complain about sore feet during my first few weeks. I am walking 900km, so I am certain that I am going to have an aching body. You have all been warned ;)

My summer in Spain...an adventure before it even begins!

          With less than a week before I leave, I am already feeling the pressure of having to plan every aspect of my trip, and conserve my money which seems just as hard now as it will be when I am actually in Europe. But, I am really excited to be spending my entire summer in Spain and I am eager to gain life experiences along the way. The only two dates I know for sure what I will be doing are May 26 and August 15. Other than that, I am going to play it by ear and see where my pilgrimage takes me. I will be spending my first 5 days in the beautiful city of San Sebastian where I will be taking a Wine and Cheese tour along with a Pincho tasting tour. Hopefully the weather will be nice, *fingers crossed*, because according to the weather forecast, it looks like there will only be two sunny days while I am there. Even so, I will still have the amazing food to look forward to, so who cares if I don't get to spend a week at the beach; I will be getting plenty of sun while on pilgrimage, that’s for sure!

          After San Sebastian, I will be taking a train to the small city of St. Jean Pied de Port just over the border in France. This is where I will begin pilgrimage. From here, it is approximately 790km to Santiago de Compostela – the final destination for most pilgrims. However, I plan on walking a grand total of 905km to the coastal cities of Finisterre and Muxia. Then I can say that I walked the entire distance across northern Spain – from the Pyrenees Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean. Although I am doing pilgrimage for bragging rights and for self-fulfillment, all of the documentaries I have watched and the guide books I have read have said that that by taking pilgrimage “you will find the answer”, but I don’t know the question. I guess over the course of my 53 days of walking I will find what I am searching for, even though I don’t know what “it” is at the moment.

          Finally, after my pilgrimage, I plan on spending July 24 and July 25 in Santiago de Compostela for the festivities of Saint James. Then, I am going to take a train into the southern region of Andalucía for the remaining 20 days of my trip. I have no clue what I plan on doing in Andalucía. All I know is that I want to go to Seville, Granada, and Cadiz. There are sooooo many things to do and see in Andalucía, so I am going to keep my plans open to anything. Morocco is a mere 60km away; who knows, maybe I’ll take the ferry and spend a weekend in Tangier, or hop on a train bound for Marrakech and experience the wonders of southern Morocco. Even though I am stressing about not being able to see EVERYTHING, I am going to love what I do see, and not regret what I don’t see. I have 22GB worth of memory cards so that I can take thousands of pictures, and my backpack is filled with 30lb worth of belongings of which I will be carrying with me for the next 3 months. Hopefully I don’t run out of money…then again, it’s me…I’ll run out of money before I reach Santiago ;) Wish me luck!