Episode 9: Food Mecca of Spain

Spain is made up of three distinct regions,each with its own distinct language and culture. There is traditional Castellano Spain, which is all of the central, western, and southern parts of the country. There is the Catalan region, up in the northeast with Barcelona as its capitol. Then there's the Basque region, which stretches along the entire northern border from France to Portugal. This region is lush, cool, and mountainous. Home to sheperds, farmers, and fishermen, theres a wealth of natural products and thus an incredible culinary tradition with a heavy focus on seafood. San Sebastian sits right on the Atlantic ocean and is the capital city of the region. Broken into roughly two parts, Donostia and San Sebastian proper, it boasts great surf beaches, a dynamic summer lineup of jazz and music festivals, a formidable football team, incredible natural beauty and the highest concentration of tapas bars anywhere in the world. In this episode we spend a few days in San Sebastian, exploring the myriad food choices and figuring out the best way to attack the pinxo bars. We find the best pinxo on earth, meet up with a local guide, surf (kind of) one of the rowdiest breaks in Europe, and party all night with a whole cast of crazy locals and visitors. San Sebastian turned out to be one of our favorite places in Europe, and after you see this episode, you'll know why.