San Sebastian Sights

(This is a continuation of my Fall European holiday recap. You can read previous posts here and here)

After the wedding, I spent a couple more days hanging around San Sebastian. One of the first things we did was to hit the beach. The weather was cool, and alas not warm enough for me to hit the water unlike the locals!

These are the beaches of La Concha and Ondarreta - a family-friendly strip, known not for its surf waves (For that, you have to hit Gros):

We kept walking along the beach line until we arrived at the foot of Monte Igueldo, where you ride the funicular to this view:

Such a pity that Montaña Suiza, a roller-coaster built in 1928 was not open that day. This is what we would have seen:

via - click here for a cool video from the front seat of the ride

As we forgot to see the famous Combs of the Wind that day, sight-seeing continued the next morning - a day much drearier than the last.

The Combs are sculptures are by San Sebastian-born artist, Eduardo Chillida - which he had anchored to the rock right by the ocean. For reference, each sculpture is about 2 metres tall and weigh 13 tonnes!

Next to the Combs are works by another artist, Luis Pena Ganchegui:

Ganchegui designed these breather holes to spray out salt water when there is a swell. Pity the tide was low on our visit. Oh and the island just beyond the cobblestones is the same turtle-shaped one that you can see from the vantage picture 7 images up. On a day like this, the water is so shallow that one can actually "walk" over to the island (hopefully making it back before the tide rose)!

Outfit details:
Day 1 - Anthropologie Frosted Boucle Pullover (sim) and necklace (sim), Gap tank, DL1961 denim, My Ferragamo ballet flats, DKNY crossbody (sim), Marni sunglasses (sim)

Day 2 (aka brrrrrrr) - Anthropologie leather jacket (sim and sim), Theodora & Callum scarf (sim), J Crew striped cashmere

Up next: Biarritz and Paris!

A Basque Wedding

I hope you enjoyed my previous post on Akelaŕe as it was a delight to recap my extravagant and wonderful meal. Now the main reason I was in San Sebastian was to celebrate the wedding of a very dear friend, TTL to her lovely man, X.

The wedding started at noon on a sunny Saturday with a beautiful exchanging of vows, entirely in Spanish. I didn't need to understand the words to know how much love was being conveyed. Oh and it is tradition for the bride to ascend a flight of stairs to meet her groom. This is TTL (in Vera Wang) making her way up the first of many steps:  

After the ceremony, we congratulated the beautiful couple over glasses of champagne and jamon. We were in Spain after all.

  We were also serenaded by a string quartet. 

We then moved on to the reception venue, right by the Bay of Biscay, where there were hors d'oeuvres and more champagne (and beer) in the sunshine.

It was at this point that I decided to take obligatory outfit photos: 

It is also basque tradition to wear cocktail-length dresses with a headpiece at weddings. Naturally I obliged. 

Anthropologie dress and jeweled belt, BHLDN headband, Miu Miu sandals (sim), Alexis Bittar earrings, Padini Malaysia clutch

I also noted how attractive Donostians are:

Apart from these dapper gentlemen, not photographed are the lovely boys of San Sebastian, who were all similarly decked in slim white shirts beneath their dark suits (very nice!)

We then moved on indoors to a 7(!!)-course lunch. 

I didn't wear a watch so I can only assume we finished eating at around 3. Which is when the party began. We danced and danced till way past midnight - which by my estimate is almost 9 hours of non-stop dancing. As most weddings go, the partying continued after we left the wedding venue at the after-party.

Pretty white lace ballerina flats the girls changed into to relieve sore feet!

I have many many photos of the evening as it progressed though there are too few that are fit to be published on a public blog ;)

It was truly a wonderful celebration in a beautiful setting and I wish TTL and X so much love and happiness together! 

I will leave with you the following song which became the anthem of the trip. I first danced to this at the wedding but then kept hearing it throughout, even in Paris! Enjoy!

Akelaŕe

Despite its small size, San Sebastian is home to the majority of Spain's many Michelin Stars. I like food as much as I like fashion and I could not pass on the opportunity for a meal at one of the world's best while I was there.


I only had time to dine at one three-starred restaurant which made choosing the right one quite the challenge. Trawling through numerous threads on Chowhound and considering it would be a lunch seating, I ultimately decided on Akelaŕe. 

Akelaŕe is situated atop a hill, with large windows in the dining room that provide sweeping views of the Bay of Biscay far below. I am glad I requested a table by the window.

There were two menus to choose from: Aranori and Bekarki, to which I went with the former, just because there were a few cow-based items I do not consume in the latter.

The meal started with an appetizer called "Sea Garden". I was served from left to right, an Oyster Leaf, "Mussel" with ""Shell", Sea Urchin's Sponge, Beach Pebbles (of shallot and corn) and Seaweed Coral tempura over Prawn's "Sand". Ironically, nothing in this dish was seafood apart from the tiny bits of dried prawn in the "sand". Very clever!

The first course of the meal were prawns which was cooked table-side in a pot with lava rocks and wine spirit.  

Pre-plating. I am waiting (im)patiently for the prawns to cook. 

And voila - the final dish served with green bean cream and ground prawn shells. It was a great way to start the meal.

The next dish was called Mollusks in Fisherman's Net. The mollusks are the off-white pieces you can see through the net. It was described in the menu as having a full sea flavour. That was no lie and as such it was my least favourite dish. Having said that, the net was fish-free and made of rice flour - it was as tasty as it was pretty.

Next on the menu was Pasta Carpaccio, Piquillo and Iberic with Parmesan Shrooms. A dish made entirely of vegetables and pasta, this was nothing short of outstanding. Can you also spot the truffles? 

By now you may have realised that I was dining on my own. Not a stranger to solo restaurant visits, I was happily and thoughtfully consuming each mouthful and I was actually pretty "in-it" that I didn't even care to take out the book I brought with me. It was at this juncture that the two gentlemen sitting at the table adjacent to mine kindly invited me to join them for the rest of the meal. It was a lovely gesture and there was no way I could refuse. 

So the next dish was brought to my new table - hake which was breaded in monkfish skin served over mussels, rice and piparras (basque peppers). Frankly I don't quite remember how this dish tasted, being too fascinated by my new dining companions (one of whom was celebrating his birthday!). I ate it all though so it must have been good?

The fifth dish was a red mullet fillet served with three different flavoured "fusilli" - soy sauce, parsley and ajo blanco (garlic soup). I was paying attention again and I liked how nicely the fish went with the vastly different "fusilli" - my favourite being the one in soy.

Next, I was served a grilled lamb loin served with plum sauce (light brown) and a red wine reduction (dark brown) and red wine sediments (dark brown bits on the plum sauce). The light green bit on the top left hand corner was green tea powder - which I hardly touched, choosing to devour the lamb with the plum/wine sauce instead.

Finally it was dessert time. The first course being xaxu - a traditional cake with almond and yolk originally made famous by a local pastry chef.  It came with the most incredible foaming coconut ice mousse. I thanked the powers that be there were TWO pieces of this mousse as they were heavenly!

The last thing on the menu was this dish called A Different Apple Tart. Edible apple paper covered puff pastry layers with apple and praline cream. I should be thankful that it was only at this time that I started to feel a bit full. I really enjoyed this dessert but it was definitely overshadowed by the coconut-xaxu business above.

Bonus: the birthday boy at my table was dining off the Bekarki menu and was served this as his second dessert: what looked like a freshly-picked strawberry was in fact reconstructed with strawberry cream, ice cream and basil seeds. I had a taste and instantly wished I could eat the entire thing. I also wish I had a bigger purse as the plate it was served on was so pretty I wanted to take it home!

So there you have it,  my phenomenal meal at Akelaŕe.  I am glad this was my first meal at San Sebastian as it started the holiday off on such a high note. Everything about the experience was perfect, from the innovative dishes to the accidental dining companions to the impeccable service. I can not WAIT to return.   

Jetlagged but happy - Anthropologie Stamp Art Dress and belt, Kenneth Cole wedges, DKNY bag.