Eat at Porrue, the Basquery (or its sister restaurant, the more sit-down Bascook), Zortziko (although more formal, it’s by Dani Garcia, formerly of El Bulli fame) or Bermeo.Eat at a pintxo bar for lunch ( Las Cepas, Irrintzi or any that look like fun in Old Town).If you stay at Gran Domine, spring for a 6 th floor room with a terrace and view of the museum.Stay in a hotel across from the Guggenheim, either the Gran Domine or the Miró.The Spanish Basque into Rioja: Over the mountain pass, through the farm fields, along the Camino de Santiago and into the Rioja wine region, about 30 minutes from Logroño The French Basque: The area from the Bay of Biscay (and Saint-Jean-de-Luz) to the foothills of the Pyrenees This trip to Spain has three distinct elements: And from there on out, every pigeon we saw on the street was dubbed “underdone pigeon.” Thankfully, no one was curious enough to give it a try. Simply carried through a warm room? Plucked off the street and tied down on a plate? We really thought we were funny. What followed was a nearly five-minute laughfest, and a lot of speculation about what that actually meant. I think our first night in Bilbao wins the “lost-in-translation” prize.Īll four of us were scanning the translated menu (following some happy-hour wine and pre-dinner Cava) when I saw it and actually snorted. Sometimes the very best part of eating out all over the world, is getting the “translated” version of a menu to see how things are interpreted. Then we were handed their English-translated version. It pre-dates the romance languages it’s closer to Hungarian and has a distinct love of the letter “x.” I had perfected my “menu Spanish,” and when I was handed a Basque menu on our first night in Bilbao, I didn’t stand a chance.

Perhaps they are Basque, or maybe Catalan, or Castilian.Įverything clear now? Well, it won’t be once you hear the Basque language. The people living in Spain are not Spanish, nor do they speak Spanish. The Basque are small in population, but fiercely loyal to their culture and the Basque language.Īnd don’t call them Spanish. Even a mere 12 kilometers away from each other, they’re two different worlds. If you draw a bit of a circle around Bilbao, San Sebastián, and into Saint-Jean-de-Luz, down to the foothills of the Pyrenees in France, you’re getting pretty close.ĭon’t confuse the French Basque from the Spanish side. The Basque region is a small section made up of Northern Central Spain and southwestern France. In case it was really a question to begin with, the answer became even more clear when a tiny white dog came prancing down the street on his owner’s leash, looked up at us huddled in a doorway, then proceeded to pee on the umbrella stand and walk into the bar’s entrance. When it rains and you’re caught in the narrow streets of San Sebastián, Spain, should you buy an umbrella? Or should you simply go to the bar and drink Cava?

Thoughts of dog sebastian fren