Marysville needs a pintxos bar.

One of the highlights of my first-ever trip to Europe recently was the pintxos bars in San Sabastian, Spain.

They basically are like hors d’ oeuvres. They often are bread or crackers with cheese or other toppings such as crab, shrimp, beef, chicken, tomato, anchovy, etc. They range in price from 1 to 4 euros. Every block in Old Town had a couple of them. A small glass of wine costs about the same. At one spot, my wife Debbie and I bought eight items for only 16 euros, about $20. In Europe, we didn’t have to tip, meaning every fourth time we ate out it was basically free. But the service was still exceptional. I told one waitress she was the best I had ever seen being friendly and running all over the two-story restaurant. Her smile beamed like I had just tipped her $100.

Eating out is so popular there. One reason why was prices seemed to be cheaper than at the grocery stores.

Tourists and locals alike gathered for pintxos every lunch and dinner. Imagine such as place where people could gather and talk down near the waterfront. People could walk it off after on the waterfront trail.

In San Sabastian, they have the La Concha boardwalk where people do just that, 24 hours a day. Thanks to my brother-in-law Jim we got to stay there for two weeks for free.

It is a harbor fishing village. At each end are big hills that provide great views of the city and its long stretch of beaches. On one hill is a statue of Jesus, somewhat like Christ the Redeemer in Rio. On the other hill we took a tram up to a restaurant where there also is a hotel and amusement park for kids. In the middle of the harbor is an island that we took a boat out to and explored one day. The water was not like Hawaii, but not like Puget Sound either. The temperature was somewhere in the middle.

We also enjoyed riding bicycles, eating at a Cider House, going on a tour of the wine country, wandering around the aquarium and visiting a museum with a Hitchcock exhibit that included information on the scariest movie I saw when I was young, “The Birds.”

Speaking of movies, we were there during an international film festival. We saw a very funny film on a hugest screen called “The Disaster Artist” with Seth Rogan and James Franco, along with hundreds of others at the fest. We missed him but John Malkovich attended the opening ceremony.

We had thought of going to Barcelona, but there were some protests going on there that got a little too violent for us. And we also thought of going to Madrid. But Debbie really has a thing for the Eiffel Tower, so we decided to go to Paris instead.

It was a whirlwind three days. We were going to take a train so we could see the countryside, but that took five hours. By plane, it took an hour and actually was $20 cheaper.

On the first day we went to the world-famous Louvre museum. While the Mona Lisa gets all the press, I was much-more impressed by all of the amazing statues. We only had three hours so we didn’t get to really understand everything that we were seeing, but it was still an awesome experience.

My wife is a real Disney fan. Every few years we go to Anaheim, and we’ve also been to Disney World. When we were at our hotel in Paris we were reminded that there is a Disneyland there. So we took the subway there the next morning. By the way, I love cities with subways. I can’t believe as progressive as Washington state people think they are that there is not a subway between Olympia and Everett. Imagine what they would do to the traffic gridlock.

Anyway, Paris Disney is just as packed as the others, and not much different, but we still had a great time.

On the third day we went to the Eiffel Tower. It also was surprisingly cheap, 11 euros. We only went up to the second floor, but still had fantastic views of the entire city, including the Seine River right below. We were there on the day of a half-marathon, so thousands of runners were waiting for the start right below us. Considering the number of terror attacks we read about in Paris, it was a little unnerving. But I felt safer when I saw numerous police with assault rifles.

We ended our short trip there with a two-hour bus tour around the city, seeing places like Notre Dame, etc.

We had lots of fun eating in Paris, too. We had three three-course dinners for 21 euros or less. And the food was amazing, including the best duck I’ve ever had.

I’m sure I gained about 10 pounds in the two weeks. There was a bakery in San Sabastian that I just couldn’t stay away from. As much as we did, it really was a relaxing time. I usually go-go-go on vacation, but it was so laid back in that little fishing village. I liked the town so much I’m thinking of spending time there when we retire about seven years from now.

Anyway, usually I need vacations from vacations, but this time while it was hard to leave, now that I’m home I’m refreshed and ready to work.

But I can’t wait to go there again.

Steve Powell is the managing editor of The Marysville Globe-The Arlington Times