Baby eels and beaches

La Concha Bay in San Sebastian from Monte Urgull

If anyone ever needed proof that Chris and I are hopeful, optimistic people, exhibit A is that we planned a five-week trip through Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands with two seven-year-olds who had been away from home for ten months.

What were we thinking?

Well, as of today, we have two more weeks left to touchdown in Minnesota, and it appears that we will all live through it, but it is touch-n-go from time to time. As a family, we have had some serious together-time, perhaps too much even. It will be good to return home and have some distance from each other, even if it is just the distance between the second floor and the basement.

F gets her Marcel DuChamp on in Plaza de la Constitucion

San Sebastian, where we have parked ourselves for five nights, both helps and hurts the situation depending on the moment. The food here is fantastic, but fantastic in an adult way that makes kids say “ewww” to just about everything that is offered to them, though H, our new champion of adventurous eating, has tried the baby eels and given them the thumbs up. Foie gras did not receive the same treatment, but Chris and I didn’t really want to share anyway.

Pintxos feast in San Sebastian

Pintxos (pronounced peenchos) are San Sebastian’s main gift to gastronomy, and they are like tapas on steroids, not because they are big but because they are exploding with flavors and come in a never-ending variety.  I could eat them from sun-up to sundown and probably never eat the same little flavor bomb twice. From cow cheeks to goose liver to blood sausage paté to pig’s feet to crab salad to cod intestines, there is sweet and savory and creamy and salty for every palate– except maybe the seven-year-old one.

In practice, this means we feed the kids in our apartment first, and then go out to eat and take plenty of activities for them to do while we are eating. It is delicate dance, but we have been perfecting it more and more every day.

Yes, that’s as big as his head

San Sebastian also has two beautiful beaches, one of which we visited yesterday (Playa de la Concha) despite the clouds that have smothered the city for the last three days. We built sandcastles, kicked the futbol (soccer ball), and played beach paddle ball before finally working up the courage to go into the water, which turned out to be warmer than in Llanes and with bigger waves to play in. In fact, one of the beaches in San Sebastian is a surf beach, which we viewed and which prompted many questions about the finer points of surfing that Chris and I could not answer.

As soon as we plan to leave San Sebastian on Friday, the sun is going to appear and temperatures are going to skyrocket, and we are heading inland to Salamanca where we have no pool and no beach and the temps may hit 100 F.  However, we continue to believe that this whole idea of “sunny Spain” is just so much publicity to get the unknowing on a plane. In the words of those fine artists Public Enemy, “Don’t believe the hype.”

2 thoughts on “Baby eels and beaches

  1. The three people I saw eating looked pretty happy. Gill, you look like you’re having the best time. H’s cone is HUGE! F, you look pretty cute!

  2. As long as there are sweets and ice cream I think the kids will survive.
    As this is the 4th of July, I’ll remind you of out most famous one known in our family as the “Pig Cook”. Can you imagine it was 15 years ago? Lots of good memories.

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