Wed 25 June- Hotel Monte Igeldo and restaurant Mercure

Wed 25 June- after coffer and sweet rolls, we continued researching and reserving hotels in France. We will stay at a lot of chateaux in the countryside, avoiding cities with their traffic, parking and noise issues. We'll hope for a nearby restaurant and grocery shop (and pastry shop, too).
We took a long walk, first on the promenade along the beach, stopping by the garden/park at Palacio Miramar. There were lots of pretty flowers, especially hydrangea, and a nice view of the bay, city, mountains and Isla Santa Clara. We continued our walk to the funicular at Monte Igeldo, rode it to the top. There were more great views. We checked out Hotel Monte Igeldo and its restaurant Mercure, and decided to celebrate Kiyomi's 56th birthday here: draft beers; grilled vegetables with garlic; and angler fish. This was our first time for angler fish; it was served deboned except for the backbone and the huge mouth gaping open wide. It was quite good, fresh and tender and went well with the beer and vegetables. Afterward we took the funicular back down and walked back on the beach, barefoot.
After a rest at the hotel, we went for our beer and pintxos (tapas) to Beti-Jai: 3 tapas and 2 draft beer was E10; and then to Bar Aralar where we had 3 pintxos and 1 beer for E6.50. On the way back to the hotel we got pastry for tomorrow.