One of the nicest trips my wife and I have ever taken was a trip to Spain one summer. We chose to fly first into Barcelona, rather than Madrid, but viewed it mostly as an entry point into the country. Our goal was to hang out in the beach resort town of San Sebastian.

I grew up in Denmark, so I traveled around Europe the way Americans visit other states in the union. It’s common to hop on a cheap flight and head to another country for holiday. I had been to Spain in my youth, but school field trips and athletic meets are an entirely different type of travel than what I do as an adult.

BARCELONA

This city of 4.5 million people is a cultural center full of stunning monuments, historical sites, and beautiful vistas. It’s modern and sophisticated, and surrounded by the sea. Though it’s a large city, we found it easy to get around using public transportation and our own locomotion.

Barcelona was on the world stage in 1992 when it was the host of the Summer Olympics, though fall would be a better time to visit Barcelona because it’s cooler, less congested with tourists, and you can catch the city’s biggest street party, Festes de la Mercè, on September 24.

The people of Barcelona speak Catalan, their own language, and Spanish. Many of them also understand a little English and French. It’s not too hard to manage the language difference.

We enjoyed architect Antoni Gaudi’s wonderfully avant garde creations, from the sacred Sagrada Familia church, to the whimsical Casa Mila apartment building. Gaudi’s work was everywhere in this fair city, and it was wonderful.

La Rambla is a major pedestrian street that we stayed near. It’s a 2 mile long tree lined mall with shops and cafes along the way, which ends at the harbor. It can be crowded with tourists and therefore easy pickings for pickpockets, so be careful. We never felt unsafe in Barcelona, though.

If you enjoy food shopping, you must visit the Mercat de la Boqueria. An open market since 1701, it offers fresh fish and seafood, butchery and offal, game and eggs, fruits and vegetables, herbs, breads and pastries, restaurants, artisan products, wine, and even a Greek and an Italian hand made pasta stall! It is amazing. I wish we could shop at La Boqueria all the time!

While in Barcelona, do try the Iberian ham, or pata negra. It’s at least 75 percent black Iberian pig, and what makes it so special is that the finest quality ham comes from pigs who freely roam oak groves and eat only acorns in their last days. The free-range lifestyle and the diet imparts a special, sensational taste on the meat. Prior to 2007, you couldn’t even buy this in the US. You can now, but it’s crazy expensive.

DONISTIA-SAN SEBASTIAN

This resort town is in Basque Country. It’s picturesque and upscale, and located on the southern coast of the Bay of Biscay. My best friend in Denmark, Svend, often vacations here, so it was on his recommendation we made this the focus of our Spain trip.

From Barcelona, we caught a flight into Donostia, and taxied to our hotel just off La Concha bay. Though we came in June, what’s considered hot in Europe is like a cool summer night for people who live in the tropics. You’ll enjoy the weather, if you visit from Hawaii.

We just missed all the big cultural summer events, like the International Jazz Festival and Music Fortnight, and the International Film Festival. That’s OK. We didn’t have trouble finding things to occupy our time.

Donostia has three beaches, so we actually spent a day lying out in the sun – something we never do at home in Hawaii. I must have been living in America too long, because I had actually forgotten that the women go topless on the European beaches. There are surfers and beach stands with board rentals and lessons, but it was too cold for us to get into the water.

Santa Clara Island is perhaps the most recognized feature of San Sebastian's marine scenery. With a small beach and landing stage, one can get there year-round, and in summer there is a passenger service to help you get there easily. The island is a fantastic option for spending a different and relaxing day.

We chose to walk around a lot. San Sebastian is a wonderful city for walking. There’s a long sidewalk wrapping around La Concha bay, beautiful residential areas that make it a pleasure to veer off the tourist path, lots of pedestrian-friendly streets, and many parks and gardens.

We love to explore cities on foot, because it’s a leisurely way to take in the flavor of a place. There’s a great, short walk to the statue of Christ on a mountain above the beaches. It takes an hour to stroll up, and it’s worth the view. Bring water, because it’s kind of like walking up Tantalus. There’s also an aging amusement park at the west end of La Concha. You can catch a cable car up, but we chose to walk.

The Basque cuisine is famous within Spain, which was nice for us, as we enjoy trying new foods. Donostia-San Sebastián has a high concentration of Michelin-rated restaurants, namely the three-starred Arzak, which we were lucky enough to get a reservation for. In all, the city’s food establishments have a combined 16 Michelin stars, so if you can’t get in at Arzak, there’s bound to be another place.

Something else you must try when in Donostia is the pintxos, or tapas. Spain’s version of heavy pupus was invented in another part of the country, Andalucia, but they became perfected in San Sebastian.

Many bars are bursting with tapas, and the custom is to have one tapa and a wine in one bar and move on to the next bar. You pay for each one you eat (two to four Euro each). Only get a couple of pintxos at a time as sometimes it might look OK, but really, it’s been sitting on the bar the whole day. Try it first.

Cold tapas are displayed on the bar. Just ask the bartender for your drink and pick the pintxos yourself. Hot ones must be ordered from the barman. There is a menu on the wall.

Most of the tapa bars are in the Old Town, but we were rewarded for venturing into other parts of the city. We found the best seared foie gras we’ve ever had. We had to return a couple more times for just that.

We also loved the poor translations on the menu, which tickled our funny bones so much that we had to take a picture to remember it. I have fond memories of sitting in that bar, eating foie gras, and laughing so hard we cried.