San Sebastian

The night before we had sampled some of the Basque regions best tapas or pintxos. Two things overwhelmed me. The price and the quality. We had been recommended some dishes by the woman at our hostel. We chose cow's cheek in a tomato sauce, scallops in a local, garlicy, buttery sauce, mushroom risotto and 'kebab' which was in fact a pork rib in a sticky, succulent sauce.

Fi and I both picked the cow's cheek and the scallops to be our favourites. The cheek had been cooked for hours in the sauce so when you picked at it, it simply fell away and melted on your tongue. The sauce that accompanied it was the kind that you would soak up with half a baguette, just to make sure that you got at every last possible smidgen. The scallops were perfectly cooked and came with a sauce that was equally to die for. Each meal cost no more than 3 euros. Couldn't believe it. We had just crossed the French/ Spain border a few hours ago but already the prices for food and drink had dropped astonishingly. It was heaven.

To add to this amazing food and drink, was the aforementioned beautiful weather. We strolled along the beach and admired the surf. Some tough old grannies had already wrapped the clingy swimsuits around themeselves and were heading for the water. Gracious though there were in the water, it doesn't look quite as hardy when they emerged to then struggle up the sand and wrap a towel round their translucent bodies. No-one cared though, them least of all, which is the acest part. We headed to Pamplona.