1000 miles driven and counting… 🙂
Our 6th stop was San Sebastián, Spain, which is a nice 2.5 hour drive from Bordeaux. When we were planning the trip, we noticed that almost every major interstate in Europe has tolls. Since we’ve used a toll transponder for every trip to Chicago, Ryan researched to see if transponders also existed in Europe. He found that you could rent transponders for a small fee so we took the plunge and had transponders for multiple countries sent to our hotel in Paris. The transponders have proved to be fantastic for France and Spain as they are saving us a lot of time versus waiting in every toll booth lineup up!
The lanes on the far left are for the transponders 🙂
July 28th was Ryan’s birthday so it worked perfectly to be in San Sebastián that day since the city is considered one of the dining capitals of the world. Ryan had several awesome options for dining out on his birthday. He chose Akelarre, a 3 Michelin Star restaurant with 270 degree views of the Atlantic Ocean! We had an 8 (!) course menu. It was fantastic!
A fun take on suckling pig (a Spain specialty) with the discrete little pig pork rind
We also visited two mountains that overlook San Sebastián. They both have fantastic views of the area and kind of remind us of our visits to Catalina and Rio de Janeiro (in a small way).
San Sebastián is also known for its fantastic beaches. We walked along the three major beaches on a beautiful 80-degree sunny day.
We finished off the day by going to the historical center of the city and sampled pintxo tapas. We weren’t super hungry after lunch so small plates were perfect. Unlike US Tapas restaurants we have visited, the San Sebastián restaurants set all dishes on plates on a table. You just walk in and pick up what you want and then pay. This is pretty neat as you could try tapas from several restaurants in a night.
We have never seen a street xylophone and accordion combo. Ryan said that this reminded him of middle school general music where there was always a marimba concert each year!
Ryan & Emily - The Globetrotters 
San Sebastián is a great food city. Your dinner looked wonderful. We’ve found that food in Spain is very good. We’re really enjoying the updates.
Greg – just had paella for lunch….so yes, I agree that the food is quite good! 🙂
Wow !!!! Guys I gained 3 # just looking at the pix…..what a privalege following your city to city trip….cant wait for next session
Of course you are missing our fall weather here in Cincinnati
Ralph
:). Ha, I have to keep up my running mileage to offset the calories! Glad you’re enjoying the posts. It’s about 97 degrees in Madrid today but it feels cooler than London because it is very dry. It’s often +105 here so we hit good weather! We hope you both are doing well!
This stop looked so delicious! Love following your travels! Happy (belated) birthday to Ryan!
Thanks, Melissa! Do I recall that your son, Ryan, also had a bday on the same day? 🙂
Ryan and Emily,
I am enjoying the incredible photography of your travels. One or both of you are very talented. Thanks for sharing!
Tracy
Thanks, Tracy! We have been taking lots of shots. I doubt anyone will want to see everything we take – we are on target for 15,000-20,000 shots right now 🙂
20,000 photos in 3 months sounds about right. We’re usually in the 200-250 per day range. I think your pictures have been great and look forward to seeing as many as possible.
Emily, it looks like you are eating more adventurously… Good for you
Ha! I’ve definitely had food other than salad, fruit, and “white food” as you would call it. Remember that time I ate ice cream and bread for dinner? 🙂 I hope all is well with the house and Arizona!
Happy belated Ryan! Wow! I am blown away with these pics! Emily, you are just a cutie!
Hi Emily and Ryan,
We are enjoying your adventure nearly as much as if we were there ourselves! If you go down to Madrid please try chocolate con churros for breakfast . Promise they are way better than the pig ear tapas. The marimba player in the family enjoyed reading Ryan’s comment about his middle school marimba memories!
Hi! We are actually in Madrid right now and actually picked up a chocolate con churros last night to eat on the way to Toledo. 🙂 Glad to see you are following the blog!
Loving all the updates!! So wish I could fit in ur suitcase for the trip….. I would love to know what u guys actually packed in that small luggage. I think I do pretty well for 1-2 week vacations, but always willing to learn new things! Was a suit jacket really apart of the Hoverman packing?? 🙂 continued safe travels!!
Hey! I am so glad that you are enjoying the post. It sounds like you had an awesome trip to Alaska! I haven’t been there, but it is on my list for the next big trip. 🙂 You’ve given me an idea for a future blog post as several people have asked me what is in the bag. Look for an update sometime soon! I hope that all is well!
Sorry, this is Emily… forgot I was on Ryan’s iPad!
Fantastic! What a great start to your trip. Happy birthday Ryan – you share it with my wife! Great choice for the birthday dinner spot! Have fun. MM
________________________________
That is cool I have the same birthday as your wife. I tell people it is a perfect day. It is all a multiple of the perfect number, 7 and it is the only day in history with TWO perfect games in baseball – and both since I was born. 🙂