Lunch at Donamaria'ko Benta

When we planned our trip to Pyrenean Experience, in addition to relaxing and enjoying our time hiking through the villages and hills around Georgina's house, we also planned two outings. The second, which we will talk about in a later post, was to tour the Comet Line, the smuggling route through which allied WWII pilots (mostly British) were brought from Nazi-controlled France into Spain so that they could return to England (through Lisbon and, more frequently, Gibralter). But first, as our loyal readers will appreciate, we had lunch at a local restaurant, Donamaria'ko Benta.

Donamaria'ko Benta is no normal restaurant. Despite being on the edge of the tiny town of Donamaria (population 433 (yes, seriously)), the restaurant has declined a Michelin star due to not wanting all the responsibilities and hassles that come with the designation. Donamaria'ko Benta is, like so many businesses in our area, a family-run business that is now being managed by the daughters of the founders.

But, before we even got to the restaurant, we knew this would not be a normal lunch because we hiked to the restaurant from the largest town in the area, Santesteban (population 1,726), through the countryside filled with both beautiful scenery and animals of many sorts, including these curious cows who came to say hello:

And, a black-headed sheep:

In addition, although we somehow failed to take a picture, a local dog adopted us about a half mile from the restaurant and led/followed us there before disappearing to head home (we hope).

Lunch itself was, not surprisingly, fantastic. Five seasonally-based courses, including a bottle of wine matched with each course except dessert. Unfortunately, given the amount of wine we were consuming (Georgina and Carol did not pull their weight in this regard), we only have decent pictures of two of the courses: a lovely smoked-cod dish, and a pasta that included some foie gras because, well, it's Spain.

The following two dishes were both seasonal: wild boar and pigeon (squab). We knew it was pigeon-season because we heard the sound of hunters' gunshots echoing around the valley all week, and we even saw a hunter out with one of his dogs during a hike (no pigeons though). The food was fantastic, and we tried some very good, and unique Navarren wines (one of the great things about Spain, much like France and Italy, there are good wines made in many parts of the country). Finally, of course, there was dessert, although by then I am not sure that we were fully tasting the food and, fortunately, there was no additional bottle of wine with dessert.

After lunch, a slightly tipsy Shana made a new friend in the field next to the restaurant:

Finally, we finished our culinary experience by walking from the restaurant, which was in the valley south of Georgina's house, back up to the house itself, where we relaxed and went to bed early, there being no need for any further food that day. The hiking to and from lunch totaled nearly 8 miles -- so we earned every bit of that amazing lunch!

Hasta pronto,

Jeff and Shana