San sebastian + marrakech travelogue
Back in January, Trent joined me after a work trip and we met in Europe for our first overseas trip together. We each picked a place to visit: he picked San Sebastian, Spain and I picked Marrakech in Morocco. The two couldn't be more opposite, and uniquely beautiful in their own ways.
San Sebastian is known for having the most Michelin stars per capita (a lot of world-class chefs come out of here), and their beautiful scenery located in the bay. We enjoyed both the high-end and low-end food scenes, with dinner at Narru one night and strolling the streets another eating all the delicious Pintxo's (see below). We even rented a car one day and drove along the coast down to Bilbao to check out the Guggenheim, I highly suggest it. Photos below of San Sebastian, and all it's (delicious) charm!
Pintxo's (prounounced "pincho") are a glorious thing in San Sebastian. Every bar and restaurant sets up hundreds of different little sliced baguettes topped with all the delicious toppings you could think of, and you just grab them off the bar and load up a plate for, like, $2 euros each. On Sunday, we just munched our way through the old town and enjoyed the people watching in the town plazas and church steps.
And after an early flight, we arrived Marrakech the next morning. My heart couldn't stop smiling ever since we stepped foot in this magical place. We decided to stay at a Riad, which is a traditional Moroccon house or palace of about 10 rooms. The grounds are beautifully kept with a full wait staff at our beck and call. Our breakfast was waiting for us each morning by the pool, and our happy hour on the rooftop each evening. This was by far my favorite part of the trip, I highly suggest anyone look into a Riad if you visit. We chose to stay at Riad de Tarabel after reading their rave reviews on Mr and Mrs Smith. And I'm NOT really sorry about the slew of photos I couldn't decide between posting below... ;)
We were staying right in the heart of the Medina (a souk market full of Moroccan rugs, antiques, pillows and spices) and enjoyed getting lost in the winding streets. One of the sweet surprises was this Secret Garden in the heart of it all. We enjoyed a delicious lunch at the highly recommended Nomad with views over the market and couldn't believe the flavors we were tasting. Again, just the COLORS surrounding us were incredible!
We enjoyed some fantastic dinners per our host's recommendation. We asked for one with a traditional Moroccan experience and he sent us to La Maison Arabe for an exquisite dinner poolside with live music, just dripping in authenticity. The other he sent us to for a bit more "lively" scene, Darna Comptoir. It was very dark and candlelit, and the live entertainment (belly dancers!) started at 10 pm around the whole restaurant. A fantastic way to end our last night in Marrakech.
Next up, we were off to Paris early in the morning to catch our final flight home. We only had one night on the first end in Paris, and one night on the back end but I wanted to make the most of it by showing Trent around one of my favorite cities. On our first night there, I took him to Bonhomie for a fantastic farm-to-table style dinner. On our last and final night of the trip, we waited patiently for a table at the popular Pink Mama and had a drink in their speakeasy No Entry (through the basement and meat refrigerator!) to pass the time. Yes it was Italian on our last night in Paris, BUT THAT BURRATTA and pizza and all the delicious things we ordered were insane. I'm telling you. Look it up next time you're there, you'll be thanking me!
