It's been three weeks since I was there, but I would still like to recommend a very special destination for you to enjoy. Word has long since got around that this city is the epicenter of culinary delights. Three 3-star establishments, two 2-star restaurants and seven 1-star restaurants - an incredible culinary density. You can easily research these places yourself - I'll give you my own personal impressions and a few insider tips that I received from two very special cigar friends: Kike and Carmelo Endolz.
So: you don't have to go to a Michelin-starred restaurant to indulge in this corner of Spain. You can hardly go wrong in terms of enjoyment. Every bar with its fanciful and fantastic pintxos (piece of bread or pastry with another food placed on top) will have you raving at once and I often didn't know which of the great pintxos to choose. It's best to do nothing but eat, look, eat, look... because in addition to the culinary delights, I couldn't get enough of the beautiful Art Nouveau facades.
On the very first day, I visit the largest and most beautiful cigar store (it also has an iquite big pipe section): Estanco Cava Nava Cigars & Pipes Specialist. It is located in the vibrant Gros district. Nearby is Playa de Zurriola, which attracts surfers all year round, even now in early February! The waves are huge...
Teresa Nava welcomes me warmly. Her family is the third generation to run the cava bar, which opened in 1942.
The humidor offers everything your heart desires and the Nava-Endolz family's knowledge of cigars is immense. They love their job and put their heart and soul into the tobacco industry. In the movie you get an insight into the great walk-in humidor.
So, if you are in San Sebastian and need cigars, this is the place to go.
A little later, I meet up with Carmelo and Kike Endolz - father and son. Both have been running the YouTube channel “Cigar Specialist”, the immense Spanish-language YouTube channel dedicated to premium cigars, since 2015. Carmelo has 25 years of tobacco experience, while his son has a love for cigars as well as knowledge in the areas of design and communication. Even if you don't speak Spanish, check out the channel - it's super entertaining. The channel went through the roof during the Covid-19 pandemic and now has 154,000 subscribers on YouTube alone.
We sit together for two hours, having just met and chat about God, the world and cigars, and it seems as if we are old friends.
Before I leave, the two of them give me tips on which bars we should go to in the evening on our Pinxos tour and what exactly we should order there. You can find the information below: it was quite a feast.
What helps with all the good food: in addition to the pintxos, you can also taste the vermouth varieties before and in between. Many bars have around 10 to 20 different varieties, often homemade, which taste wonderful. If you want something lighter and even more tangy, you should try Sidra (cider) or - great with fish: Txakoli. It is largely made from white grapes of the Hondarribi Zuri variety and is a very dry, slightly sparkling wine with a high acid content. Delicious!
Because you eat a lot, you should move around a lot in between so that you can continue eating again. 😁😉 But because there are such beautiful streets with great house facades, it's nice to stroll around. In addition to the beautiful beach walks along the two bays, we also walked to the Tabakalera. The former tobacco factory (a beautiful building dating back to 1913) is now a center for contemporary culture. It was still active until 2003 and employed over 1000 people in its 26,000 square meters.
Another walk worth taking is up one of the two hills: Monte Igueldo or Monte Urgull.
A beautiful old cog railroad leads up to the Igueldo and - before you go up or walk up - the Peine del Viento (Wind Combs) by artist Eduardo Chillida are absolutely worth seeing. Directly in front of the sculptures there is again a nice bar with delicious food and good espresso.
If San Sebastián is too lively for you (which is not really the case in the low season), there are pretty fishing villages all around. We went to Zumaia, where you can walk along a breakwater path to the sea and get a splash of water from the surf, which is fun.
Or you can drive to San Juan de Gaztelugatxe, a hermitage on a peninsula that you have to climb up many steps to reach, but which is breathtakingly beautiful. A famous filming location for Game of Thrones (probably overcrowded in summer, very quiet when we were here).
In any case, there is a lot to discover here: culinary, scenic and cultural. A trip that is worthwhile and certainly not my last!
Love, Katja
INFOS
CAVA NAVA
Paseo de Colón nº21
San Sebastián, 20002
+34 943 27 28 02
https://cavanava.com
TABAKALERA
Plaza de las Cigarreras, 1
San Sebastián, 20012
+34943 118 855
info@tabakalera.eus
www.tabakalera.eus
BARS AND THEIR MUST EATS THERE:
Txiki taberna Donosti
Peña y Goñi Kalea, 11
San Sebastián, 20002
Must eat:
- Croqueta
Bar Desy
Calle Ronda, 4 Gros
San Sebastián, 20001
Must eat:
- Tosta de Anchoa
- Torrezno (order it very crunchy "muy crujiente")
- Hamburguesa de chuleta
Restaurante-Sidrería Alorrenea
Alorrene Bidea, 4
Astigarraga, 20115
CIGAR SPEICALIST
https://www.youtube.com/cigarspecialist
Tienda Online
cigarspecialist.club
instagram.com/cigarspecialist
facebook.com/cigarspecialist.info
Twitch
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