PINTXOS AND TXIKITEO

Every time I come to San Sebastian, the first thing I want to do is to hit the city, to dive into its crowded streets to take in the bursting happiness, to have some txakoli (superb white wine) and of course to meet The King: El Pintxo.

Most of you know that pintxos are the Basque equivalent to Spanish tapas. But what about TXIKITEO?

Well, txikiteo is when you go from bar to bar tasting, smelling, eating and enjoying yourself as you can only do during a genuine “txikiteo tour” in San Sebastian. And you drink! You will drink a number of small glasses of wine, called chatos in Spanish and txikitos en Basque – hence txikiteo.

The word AÚPA!!! will be happily shouted out when you enter a bar. Aúpa is a way of cheering or a way of greeting –it has no exact translation actually.

Does the bar seem too crowded? Never mind, go in anyway. There is always room for one more.

This is, in my meaning, as good as it gets.