https://tourism.euskadi.eus/en/ Archives - Jim Murty’s TravelTravelTravel

Sustain Sebastian

31st October 20221st November 2022 funtime65

And in the week that’s in it with Cop27 around the corner we’re reminded that sustainability and gastronomy don’t have to be strangers, in fact they complement each other just fine, in European culinary hotspot San Sebastian, or Sustain Sebastian if you will.

Bask in the Basque country‘s warmth of hospitality.

Where it is always centred around the dinner table and the farm to finger experience.

And their love of small dishes allows you to savour a range of foods.

And the joined sensual experience of sharing your food with others.

It is of course pintxos that you’ll be dipping your fingers in.

On a stick

For those who like to know the derivation of these things some history here.

Pintxos were originally a slice of baguette piled high with food and held in place by a cocktail stick or pintxo.

These days rustic has become miniature haute cuisine.

With tiny flavour bombs from the traditional Gilda with an olive, guindilla pepper and anchovy.

To leek and prawns in brick pastry, for example, passing through myriad tastes (we’re told).

Get in with the locals by showing you know the difference between pintxos and tapas…

The pintxos are generally smaller.

Zurito or a txikito

This is how it’s done: Spanish food lessons

And order a zurito (a small beer), or a txikito (a small glass of wine) with your pintxo… or maybe both.

For those who’ve whiled away a day from Barcelona to Santiago, from Majorca to Tenerife then you’ll know how Spanish bars work.

And the Basques are a variation on a theme.

So in San Sebastian, the cold pintxos are available on the bar when you arrive.

And you can help yourself to them.

Hot pintxos should be ordered at the bar.

On a crawl

And just like us they like a crawl too.

So it is normal to have one round (pintxo & drink) in each bar before moving on to another one.

And don’t worry about burrowing around in your pocket for your euro.

You generally pay when you are about to leave.

Or you can get on one of the tours for €65pp which includes four selected pintxos and four different wines from different national DO.

So get out there and enjoy the farm to finger experience in Sustain Sebastian.

Countries, Deals, Europe, Ireland, UK

Flyday Friday – Airlines to sue British Government

19th June 202020th June 2020 funtime65

Quarantine used to be something reserved for pets…

And don’t you just feel like you’re being treated like a dog by our UK Government?

So it’s good to see Ryanair, British Airways www.britishairways.com and EasyJet https://www.easyjet.com/en taking it to bungling Boris Johnson and the preposterous Priti Patel and threatening legal action.

Change is good at Ryanair

We’ve all been there when life gets in the way.

Or you just muck up your booking by not reading the times properly. OK, that’s just me.

And yes I’ve heard the horror stories of how you can never get through to a real person in customer support.

And when you do you’re more likely to get blood out of a stone.

Just the ticket

But when it came to it and I needed to transfer my booking to Tenerife, and it was entirely my fault, Ryanair www.ryanair.com came good.

The low-fare airline has a summer sale on with 100,000 seats from €19.99.

But it does have a deadline of tonight, June 19.

And there are no flight change fees for July and August.

Barceloner!

This time last year I was moving through the throngs in Barcelona https://www.barcelonaturisme.com/wv3/en/ and https://www.google.ie/amp/s/jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2020/03/24/messi-around-on-the-water/amp/ on the hottest day of the year.

You’ll maybe not have La Rambla all to yourself but you will have room to run around.

AerClub together

We all love our club.

It might be Celtic, Chelsea, Barcelona, Ajax, Roma or the Boston Red Sox. Me? It’s AerClub.

And they’re offering the chance to win a €250 SuperValu voucher.

Or 10,000 Avios points which is enough for return flights to Paris, Amsterdam or London.

All cities I have taken you around… https://jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2019/04/16/mother-of-god/, Pictures of Amsterdam, George Clooney and Amal’s Amsterdam hotel. And The London life

Our friends at the national airline carrier www.aerlingus.com have even thrown in some free recipe ideas.

To get us in the mood, from French ratatouille to Italian pizza to Spanish tray-bake.

Bonjour, s’il vous plais attendez

Brevement, if you’re a true European, or live in one of those idiosyncratic countries like the Vatican State, Liechtenstein, Andorra and San Marino among others, you’re welcome in France.

If you’re say Spanish then you’ll have to wait until Sunday.

Then you’ll get back over the border without being put into a 14-day quarantine.

Bordering on excellence

The French-Spanish border is one of Europe’s oldest continuous dividers.

Although not as old as the Andorra frontier with France and Spain which dates from 1278.

Of course there being Basques on both sides of the north-west corner of Spain and south-west of France there’s only one thing for it.

Get out there and put one foot in each.

Visit www.france.fr, https://tourism.euskadi.eus/en/The Lourdes prayer and Water way to go in Biarritz.

If you’re British then you’ll have to make do with a good book or film or your holiday snaps.

Until this UK quarantine lunacy ends.

MEET YOU IN THE SKIES

Countries, Cruising, Europe, Sport

My Sporting Weekend – bowling all over the world

24th May 202024th May 2020 funtime65

The Ancient Greeks and Romans did it and Sir Francis Drake kept the Spanish Armada waiting until he’d finished his game.

And now those of us in Scotland www.bowlsscotland.com, where it was turned into a modern sport, will be able to get out and roll some bowls again.

Was it an unprecedented restriction on liberties? No, we’ve been here before.

Our Medieval predecessors who had less choice of pastimes loved a good oul’ bowl.

But monarchs from Edward I to Henry VIII. banned the sport of lawns – possibly because it got in the way of archery practice.

Keep ‘em rolling

Now I picked up boules long before I even rolled grown-up bowls.

A summer in Menorca in the Balearic Islands with Uwe, a German boy, on my last holiday with my parents.

Neither of us knew a word of English but Uwe being a German knew that he had to win at all costs.

Nein! Uwe was delightful company and i had found my friend for my holiday.

Beach life will be different for a while in Menorca and other sunspots http://www.menorca.es/portal.aspx?IDIOMA=3 with parents and children asked to adapt.

But as a wee Scots boy and a German Junge prove you only need a set of boules… or mobile phones!

For more on the Balearic Islands visit https://www.seemallorca.com. And its biggest island Majorca on a cruise https://www.google.ie/amp/s/jimmurtytraveltraveltravel.com/2020/01/21/smooth-sailing-around-the-western-med/amp/.

Of course while us Scottish people will roll our bowls in a genteel fashion our continental neighbours will pitch theirs.

Visit any small town in France and Spain and you will see a group of chain-smoking men huddled around their boules.

For me it is quintessential Basque Country https://tourism.euskadi.eus/en/.

I dipped my toe in the French side of Basqueland on a thalassotherapy and cultural trip to Biarritz https://tourisme.biarritz.fr/en and Water way to go in Biarritz.

While my earliest holiday memories, even before Uwe and Menorca were in family-friendly Santander.

I’m noticing that the Scottish Bowls Championships still look to be on from Sunday, July 26-Saturday, August 1 in Ayr.

So, if I practise hard enough here in North Berwick, the Biarritz of the North http://north-berwick.co.uk and www.visitscotland.com.

Although as the Scary One will be quick to remind me I am not the bowler in my family.

Full with child (the Son and Heir) she took me down on the lawns of Blackpool in the north-west of England.