Spanish Fly: The Journey Home from Morocco, by way of Spain
SAN SEBASTIAN - BILBAO - BARCELONA
This past summer I made my virgin voyage to Africa, with a tour of Morocco that took me through the Atlas Mountains, the Saharan desert, and coast to coast. It was an extensive road trip that covered at least a dozen cities and towns, 9 of which I blogged about. But sometimes, you can have too much of a good thing. As they say in France (and Morocco) - c’est l'embarras des richesses. After 10 days of being on the road, spending each night in a different town or city; and eating enough tagine, cous cous, and lamb to last a lifetime; I couldn’t quite head straight back to the grey skies and gravy of England, could I? I needed a transition destination - a holiday to recover from a holiday, if you will - in a country that was different enough to be interesting yet familiar enough to ease me back into reality. So I spent 5 much-needed days in Spain: decompressing and recalibrating in San Sebastian, Bilbao, and Barcelona. As one does...
SAN SEBASTIAN
Though not my first post-Morocco-port-of-call (that honour went to Barcelona), I felt truly relaxed in San Sebastian. How could I not? San Sebastian was designed for languid repose: geographically (perched on the Bay of Biscay in Spain’s mountainous Basque Country, the landscape itself is a hindrance to productivity), in design (the compact old town is made for walking - narrow, polished stone streets dotted with modern sculpture in surprising situations), and culturally (their answer to Spain’s tapas is pintxos, pronounced “pinch-ohs” which itself is so adorable that you feel compelled to pinch your way through every tavern’s entire menu). Clearly, the visiting crowd got the memo: Dutch tourists who merrily squeezed 4 to a car headed to Bilbao (clearly unbothered by the constraints of physics), an elderly French couple with their Cavalier King Charles spaniel (my favourite breed of dog, so naturally I’m biased), bronzed beach bums, hikers with walking sticks and all the time in the world. And then there was me, unwinding from my Morocco trip in full-unglam ie. without a stitch of makeup, hair in a messy top knot, and feet in Birkenstocks.
Take an apartment at Hotel SANSEbay - a hip boutique hotel carved into a stone wall, facing the sea. Hotel SANSEbay is right in the thick of the action - every evening, a jolly crowd congregates on the steps of the tiny alley outside (which lead right up to Urgull Mountain and down to Concha Beach) while literally 10 steps in the opposite direction you find yourself in the Old Town. Hike to the top of Mt. Urgull where La Mota Castle awaits - a small castle with ramparts that date back to the 12th century. A heavy lunch at La Cuchara de San Telmo is in order. You’ll need the fuel for a very long promenade along La Concha Beach, although you can take a break to admire Miramar Palace, the former summer home of the Queen of Spain. At the end of your walk you’ll take the funicular - a quick rumble through a dense, sun-dappled hill. When you reach the top of Monte Igueldo, catch your breath then have it taken away when you behold the Bay of La Concha. Head back downhill and get lost in the Old Town until its time for dinner. Finish off the day with yet more pintxos at Atari.
GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM BILBAO
I nipped over to Bilbao for the sole purpose of comparing the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao to the original in New York. I wasn’t the only one - the museum was opened as part of a revitalisation effort for the city of Bilbao. It worked, with visitors flocking to Bilbao to behold the Frank Gehry masterpiece (groundbreaking for its Deconstructivist design and also for being constructed on time and on budget). To be frank, I wasn’t as impressed by the exhibits as I had hoped to be. There was a bit of a “seen it already” - from the Louis Bourgeois spider (above) which I saw at her 2008 retrospective at the Tate Modern to the Koons tulips which seem to pop up everywhere. However! The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao outshone the Guggenheim New York with its uncensored display of Art and China after 1989: Theater of the World, a provocative and political exhibition of Chinese contemporary art from 1989 to 2008. In the US, Huang Yong Ping’s “Theater of the World” was met with outrage in for its use of live animals in its sculpture and thus removed. In Bilbao; the lizards, toads, and snakes roamed free, adding a much-needed surrealism and absurdity to the proceedings.
ABaC RESTAURANT, BARCELONA
In Barcelona I ticked a box on my culinary bucket list - dining at ABaC, that famous Catalan restaurant. Bestowed the highest Michelin award - 3 stars. The journey begins on the outdoor terrace, through the kitchen, and finally in the dining room - all while eating one’s way through one’s choice of seasonal tasting menu. I wimped out of the 25-course tasting menu and plumped for the (slightly) more manageable 18-course tasting menu. But of course, that’s as far as conservativeness goes at ABaC on the menu was lime cactus, Bloody Mary On The Rocks with tomato juice ice cubes & celery salt - really, an elevated gazpacho, “Chinese Box” - salty, buttery eel brioche with charcoal aroma, and a pudding served on a marzipan pillow that tasted like a tea-flavoured frost cloud tinged with malt-flavoured crystals; but to name a few. Verdict: ABaC is a must-eat when in Barcelona especially given the value for money - €190 for 18 courses and €210 for 25 courses at a 3 Michelin star restaurant. Book way, way, in advance.
ABaC MENU: OUR TRADITION
Lime cactus, tequila, and green leaves (above)
Cecina chip with Café de Paris butter (below)
Caramelised bread macaron with spicy tomato sauce and basil
Nori crumble, tuna belly, soy butter, botargo with cured egg yolk and spicy shoots
Fine Mediterranean herbs coca with anchovies and cured cecina infusion
Gilda de mar Bloody Mary on the Rocks (above)
Green Salmorejo
Whipped hazelnut butter with bread crusts and caviar
Chinese box: Chinese bread, fried brioche, grilled eel and wasabi
Onion soup with Parmesan spheres, walnuts, and kumquat
Black grouper, suquet & picada with romesco sauce, hazelnut and anise-flavoured leaves
Tuna rice, Mediterranean tomato stew, tuna belly, and pecorino romano
Matured sequence: steak and tendon tartare and asparagus
Camomile “pillow”, milk and biscuit roll with a touch of lightly spicy citruses (above)
Chocolate fragile crate (below)
Frosted tile with fresh and dried flowers, yogurt textures, crumbled biscuit, and violet ice-cream
“Sweet pumpkin”
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Successfully acclimatised from the sensory overload of Morocco via the comforting charms of Spain, I was ready to head home to London. Tell me - Do you plan post-holiday holidays? Do you ease yourself from the exotic back into daily life by extending your trips to familiar territory?