Our first view of San Sebastian is darkness. Having arrived after a 5-hour train ride from Barcelona, the only thing on our minds is dinner. Across the hotel is a restaurant-bar with a quirky name: Toki Eder.

Having to physically restrain ourselves from ordering the entire menu, we glance and grasp at familiar dishes and ask for those. A plate of plump, hot fries cloaked with a pair of golden fried eggs and decorated with strips of Iberico ham positioned outwards like spokes on a wheel. Crunchy and comforting, it piques our curiosity, revs our hunger: more, please. Beside it, toasts smeared with cream cheese and blanketed with smoked salmon; leaves of arugula scattered playfully atop. Side-by-side smoothness sates appetite. Then: a finale of exquisite mashed potatoes raked with a fine Spanish olive oil, and dotted with chunks of the most tender octopus. A truly stomach and soul-stirring start to our sojourn to San Sebastian.
The next day is gloomy, a petulant child on the verge of a tantrum but it doesn?t detract from her charm. Playa de la Concha, a bay shaped like a half-moon, is a panorama of soft sand, gentle waves, and a view that goes on forever. Its ornamental wrought-iron balustrade makes for an ideal walk.

As we meander along the fishing port, suddenly the clouds part and swathes of blue peek through. Magnificent.

In San Sebastian?s new town, or Centro Romantico, everything seems bigger and wider. More expansive and expensive, the streets are framed by...