Sundays in Spain are pretty hard to beat. One can choose church in the morning or, if you were like us, opt to let your 4 year old and 8 month old sleep in after a typically late Spanish Saturday night. The majority of the morning was rainy and gray so we hunkered down until around 11:00 as the clouds drifted away leaving a blue sky and gleaming cobblestone streets.
Stop 1: Churros
Mrs. NH and Little NH were determined to start their final day in Spain with the classic churros con chocolate. Considering our late start, we had to 
travel to the “parte vieja” to find a restaurant offering the tasty breakfast. The one we found seems to offer delectable churros 24/7. With breakfast out of the way, it was time to begin on the rest of the culinary day out.
Stop 2: Basque Lessons
I have a pretty good conversational grasp of Spanish. In the preceding week, I hadn’t missed a lick of conversation with any Spaniard. However, in La Cepa I was fairly lost. To this day, I’m not sure if the first conversation I had with the man behind the counter was in heavily accented Spanish or Basque. Yes, I muddled through and got a plate of delicious pinchos, but I was left stuttering as if it was my first day speaking Spanish. Confused, I brought the pinchos, sangria and zumo de manzana back to the family; the fellow behind the counter winked and gave me a small brochure with English, Spanish, Basque, 
Catalan, Dutch and other translations of common phrases and words. “Ah, ha!” I thought. “When in País Vasco…”
We gobbled up the pinchos and finished our sangria. Having studied my translations, I was ready to make my next order as a local. A Basque local. “Bat sangria!” I hollered to my ostensible new professor. He smiled and winked, “Eh, sangria bat! Pero gracias!” It was a correction, and a good natured ‘thanks for trying.’ It was also my first word in a new language. No one will ever confuse me for a linguist!
Stop 3: ¡Foie!
San Sebastian is Basque country and that means there is a good mix of French influence in this region. Considering my weakness for foie 
gras, it was also a culinary jackpot. We pulled up napping Little NH2’s stroller outside of Munto Jatetxea and I went in to place the orders in the midst of a bustling Sunday crowd. I ordered stuffed peppers, out-0f-this-world croquetas for Little NH, and the aforementioned foie. Ordering the foie gras was almost as fun as eating it. I relayed my order in Spanish to the sprightly girl behind the counter and she repeated it with incredible vigor over her shoulder to the open door that contained the kitchen. Seeing my reaction and smile at the power of her voice, she filled a caña and a clara and handed to me with a wide grin. I. Love. Spain.
Stop 4: Plaza de la Lasta and the Waterfront
Fat and happy from several tapas we decided to take a break from eating and stretch our legs for a short walk to the waterfront. The sun was now shining brightly and the town of San 
Sebastian seemed to be cast in Technicolor. We sat on the pier for an hour, digesting and soaking up the sun while Little NH practiced her Spanish on a group of boys wrestling with a fishing pole twice their combined height. Approaching them, she yelled, “¡Hola!” They all gave her a disinterested look and went back to untangling their line. Realizing that it won’t always be that way, I laughed and began plotting the rest of the day in my mind. Across the way, a string of seaside restaurants beckoned. Am I ever not hungry in Spain?
Continue to Part 2.
NotHemingway 