Txuleta with tomatoes or piparras at the Néstor bar
It is difficult not to fall in love with the resounding beauty of a city like Saint Sebastian... Although it sounds obvious to say so. the of the Miramar Palace that looks imposing to the bay of La Concha. the one with the boisterous Old Town, where to get lost among locals, foreigners and a glorious overdose of pintxo bars. Or the one at the port, in which you imagine how until almost the day before yesterday the fishermen arrived and you evoke scenes from 27 Hours, by Montxo Armendáriz.
The city seduces the entire planet –especially our French neighbors and the growing American fans–, and if it does so, it is thanks to a splendor capable of reinventing itself at the hands of local and welcomed characters who offer a new vision. The sight of him. An example of the eternal possibilities for the future that San Sebastián has without leaving behind the tradition that has given it so much fame.
The critic and editor Peio Aguirre
The critic and editor Peio Aguirre, the most recent curator of the Spanish pavilion at the Venice Biennale, based in the aegis neighborhood, he is one of them. Aguirre, a great connoisseur of Basque modernity and the work of artists such as Jorge Oteiza or Néstor Basterretxea, finds a way to relate them to a more international context. We could say something similar about the chef Bruno Oteiz, who, after spending more than twenty years in Mexico, has returned to San Sebastian with Gatxupa and a Mexican as head chef, Obrayan Lugo.
But the connections here go beyond culture and its intrinsic relationships to a star-studded kitchen, as they also emerge in new creative hotspots. A) Yes, the San Telmo Museum is the showcase that explains how, with the arrival of industrialization, the progress of many cooperatives skyrocketed, some still present, such as Mondragón. Indirectly, businesses such as Arizmendi, an independent pizzeria with a cooperative spirit that, established in Tabakalera , offers an alternative within the hospitality industry.
History of Basque culture in the San Telmo Museum
On the edge of this center of contemporary culture that this year celebrates its fifth anniversary, In the neighborhoods of Egia and Gros, it is the gastronomic entrepreneurs who insist on offering something different from the pintxos of the old part, where the locals accuse the tourism boom. For example in Kiza, a small bistro-cafe with big ambitions, a loyal clientele devours its cod ravioli with green sauce or its already famous apple pie.
If the past of San Sebastián is worthy of admiration, its future is more than promising. for now, In 2021 it will be Cristina Iglesias from San Sebastian who will leave her mark on this path with her long-awaited installation in the old lighthouse house on the island of Santa Clara.
And, again, we will not know where to stop looking. And to admire.
Nobody leaves without trying the apple pie at Kinza restaurant