Carpe Cabra

Gill emerged from the voluble hubbub of Bar Gorriti looking a little crestfallen. 'They have no goat,' she announced sadly.

This was disappointing news. The goat cheese pintxos with Serrano ham coated in an unctuous yet mysteriously delicious dressing had been one of the stars of yesterday's snack crawl. 'We have to have this again,' we had agreed. 

'Maybe they only do goat on Tuesdays.' Gill posited.

'Well' I said, 'then at least we seized the day - Carpe Cabra'.

Undeterred, we headed across the square to Brexta market towards our favourite pintxos place, Bar Askena, which is situated in the corner of the basement tucked behind stalls selling hams, cheeses, meat and fish. There is even small Lidl supermarket in the place. The basement stalls prove that small can still be beautiful so far as food is concerned. We don't really need hypermarkets the size of a football stadium, and heavenly cooking does not have to be expensive, only to found in swanky multi-starred restaurants.

I could (and have!) explained at length why we think San Sebastian is one of the most convivial places on the planet. How just being in it gives you hope for humanity, I think I said previously that it was the most alluring city we had ever visited, but we had not been to New Zealand at that point. Difficult now to choose between here and Wellington, both places exude a relaxed, inclusive optimism - we are truly lucky to have been to both within a matter of months.

So, instead of an "essay', a few pictures with comments.

Great buildings:

Stylish streets:

Engaging street life  - vibrant or laid back, you choose:

Its setting - one of the most beautiful urban beaches in the world....

Gill's feet, Pete's head bobbing somewhere in the briny

Unusually, I also took the small camcorder with me today. When we stop for a few days I might edit a few clips together and upload them here later.