I was in Spain a few years ago and it was one of my favourite places (and I've been a lot of places). I spent about two weeks there and mostly stayed in the northeast. I loved Barcelona and wish I had spent more time there (I was only there a couple days). One of my favourite things there was a cooking class. We went to the market first thing and bought and bunch of supplies and then came back to the class and were taught how to make some good Spanish dishes. The class was hands on and we got to eat a delicious meal at the end.
This is the company where I took the class.
http://www.cookandtaste.net
Pamplona was interesting and has a really cool old city with lots of bars and restaurants. I don't recommend running with the bulls, but we walked along the route. To get to the old city, you either need to climb a big hill or take an elevator up the cliff. We opted for walking. We arrived there mid-day and I thought it was a sleepy little town, but then when we came back to the main square in the evening, it was packed. That is siesta. Plan your day around it, because a lot of restaurants close at that time too.
San Sebastian was the city everyone wanted to see and it was great, but it is very popular and the beach was packed (although I did go right in the middle of the summer tourist season).
I broke away from my tour and went to Bilbao, because I really wanted to see the Guggenheim there. I really enjoyed that and wanted to spend more time there, but my friend and I had to rush to catch a bus back to San Sebastian to re-join our tour.
One other place I really enjoyed was a little village we went to, called La Guardia. Our tour guide added that at the last minute, because some other site we were supposed to go to wasn't available. It's a little village built on underground wine cellars. No cars are allowed in the village because of this. We got to tour one of the one cellars.
If you do go to San Sebastian and want to do a day tour, I recommend this company.
http://www.sansebastianurbanadventures.com
I would love to return to the Basque region again and want to get to the south. Just didn't have time in this trip.
Oh yes, I almost forgot. I totally agree with this statement. >>Jamon Iberico is the greatest pork product in existence. << Try it, several times!