We have been in San Sebastián for a couple of days now, and we are really loving it here! It has such a laid back, family friendly, beach vibe that I think it was the perfect first stop. We have been able to relax and slowly catch up on the sleep that we missed during the long day of travel.

On our first day here, we all accidentally slept until about 11:30 (including James). Oops! No big deal except that we had 1:00 lunch reservations at Restaurant Rokondo. The restaurant is beautiful and has a great patio outside. When making the reservations, Justin thought is would be good for us to eat on the patio with James. However, it was raining a little bit that morning and they weren’t seating people outside. Inside the restaurant was quiet, with white table clothes, wine glasses, and flowers on the tables. Not the best place for James, who was extra whiny that morning. We ended up taking turns chasing James around the patio (it had stopped raining) while 2 of us ate. It worked out pretty well, at least no one was eating alone!

The food was delicious! I started with the prawns and then got clams in a parsley sauce. Justin got ham to start (yes, it was a big plate of Spanish ham) and then had cuttle fish in squid ink. Samantha got foie Gras and peppers to start and then got a fish called Hake. We all enjoyed the meal. Even James got a plate of prawns for himself after trying mine and liking it. By the end of lunch, James was back to himself and in a pretty good mood.

We spent the rest of the day walking along the coast and enjoying the beautiful view. Aside from a few James meltdowns, it was a great evening.

That night, Sam watched James while Justin and I went out for a coupe if drinks and tapas. Thanks Sam!

The next day, Sam and Justin decided that they wanted to hike up the mountain to see the statue of Jesus. I passed on the hike and stayed back with James. They said that the walk wasn’t too bad. It took a couple of hours but wasn’t overly strenuous (although at one point, Justin thought that Sam was clutching her chest when she was actually reaching for her phone).

When they got back, it was about time to go to lunch. This was our super fancy lunch of the trip and just the two of us. We went to the restaurant, Akelare. It is a 3 Michelin star rated restaurant with a gorgeous view. It was wonderful! Aside from a small mix up as to what time the reservation was for (oops), everything was perfect. It was such a treat to be able to sit down at a meal completely uninterrupted! We each got a different 9 course tasting menu. I’m no food blogger so I’m not going to attempt to describe the dishes, but they were all wonderful and a little playful. For example, for my foie Gras dish, it was called “cooked foie Gras with salt and pepper.” They brought out the foie Gras on a plate and then dumped supposed “salt” and “pepper” all over it. However, the salt was actually made of sugar and the pepper was crispy rice. It was so good! One of my desserts was called “gin and tonic on a plate.” The gin and tonic was like a gelatin and it came with lime sorbet. Everything was great!

It seems like James was good for Sam (who he calls “Sema”) while we were gone. After lunch, Justin, James, and I went out to the beach. James ran around like crazy! Sam went and walked around and did a little shopping.

The rest of the night was pretty low key. James fell asleep on the sofa watching Nemo while we sat on the patio drinking wine and eating some yummy cheese that Sam bought.

Everything has been going very well aside from some sleeping issues from James. He has really been fighting us at bedtime 🙁
Although, he was fighting us at home too.

Alyce

PS We are already down a pair of shoes. Luckily, I packed an extra this time!