San Sebastian, Zarautz, and Getaria

Sunday we had a housekeeping day – doing the washing, cleaning the caravan, dealing with the waste – you know the sort of thing!  I was also quite pleased with myself – our ‘sharp’ knives were as blunt as a Yorkshireman’s critique, so I sharpened them using the claw on my hammer.  Now they’re really sharp again, so full marks to me for ingenuity!

The weather was lovely and sunny so we also took the opportunity to sit in the sun too, that is until the football started!  I’d managed to get the match on my iPad via Sky Go using the campsite’s wifi which worked remarkably well.  As you all know, of course my team won the league for the second year in a row, so I celebrated cooking burgers on the barbecue!

On Monday we took the train to San Sebastian, or Donostia as the Basque’s call it (that was very confusing on the motorway on the way here until we worked it out!)  Orio has a small railway station, about the size of Knaresborough’s but that’s where the similarities end!  It’s completely unmanned with an automatic ticket machine (where you can choose your language), barriers like the London Underground and level access onto the train.  And all the trains seems to be on time too.

A 25 minute journey later we were in the centre of San Sebastian, and after coffee and ‘tostada con tomate’ we set off exploring.

It’s a beautiful city with a lovely old centre, fabulous harbour and a 6km promenade fronting two fantastic clean beaches.

You can see from the photos how sunny it was, but there was quite a cool breeze, so we set off and walked the length of the promenade and back, along the beach where we could.

We then explored the old town and had a drink in one of the renowned tapas bars which had more Americans and British in it than locals.  The range of tapas is amazing and each of the bars try to outdo their competitors with ever more elaborate displays.

Refreshed we went walkabout again – this time to Constitution Square which was used as a temporary bull ring from time to time, and the apartments on the balconies were rented out to the well heeled by the council – you can still see the numbers stencilled into the walls above the doors of the now privately owned flats.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We continued our walk behind Mont Urgull at the tip of the peninsula, which gave us an appetite for lunch so we returned to the old quarter, found another bar busy with Spanish patrons and had another couple of drinks and some tapas.

By this time we were pretty weary so returned to the station, caught the next train back to Orio, and then walked back to the site.  Whilst most of the walking was on the level, we probably covered well over 10 miles in the day, which just about offset the alcohol we consumed.

Tuesday dawned bright and sunny with the promise of being a bit warmer, so we decided we’d return to Zarautz for the day.  However, we first had to wave off our friends Peter and Carol and reluctantly return their spare pump to them.  Let’s hope our replacement arrives on Wednesday/Thursday as promised!

We arrived in Zarautz late morning and set our deck chairs up on the near-deserted beach to sunbathe, read our books and watch the surfers do their thing.  We spent a couple of hours here before adjourning for lunch at one of the beachside bars.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We’d spotted one before which was very popular with the locals, so headed for that, and had the ‘meal of the day.’  The menu was all in Basque and Spanish and they didn’t speak much English so we ordered and hoped for the best.  It was great!  I had langoustines whilst Karol had a salad and then we both had a surprisingly good steak and chips, followed by creme caramel and ice cream.  All washed down with a bottle of the local white wine.  Not bad for Euro22 eh?

To justify such a big lunch we set off along the coastal walk to Getaria some 4km away. Getaria has its own beautiful beach and a lot of narrow winding streets up a cliffside.  It certainly has the potential to be a superb resort, but has a bit of a run down feel to it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, after a quick explore, and drink we walked all the way back again.

This coastal route is used by the Spanish for exercise so we encountered lots of people power walking, jogging, and cycling. I was particularly dismayed to be overtaken by a couple of limping walkers, who proceeded to move away from us as though we were standing still!  They were a little younger than us but still!

We arrived back at the car around six, and drove back to Orio where we had a small, late supper and another episode of our DVD box set of The Brokenwood Mysteries, which Debi bought me for Christmas and is growing on us.  It’s very gentle – a bit like Midsomer Murders with New Zealand accents!

Wednesday dawned bright and sunny once again, but we spent most of it hanging around waiting for the pump to arrive.  It didn’t so we did a big supermarket shop in anticipation of leaving Spain soon – fingers crossed the bloody thing arrives tomorrow!

This wasn’t a good day all round – I (Karol) woke up feeling ill and so we set off early to walk to the pharmacy in Orio – it’s only one kilometre from the site. Having used my limited Spanish, French and sign language I managed to make the assistants understand, but they decided I needed to see a doctor for antibiotics. Not understanding their directions one of them decided she would walk with us to make sure we went to the right place! She was lovely and so kind, when we got there she gave me a hug and a kiss when we parted – feeling low this reduced me to tears! Anyway, again with lots of language problems I explained the situation, Grant was sent back to the caravan for my passport and European Health card, and I was given an appointment for 45 minutes later. Fantastic service! Bang on time the doctor called me in, and after a hilarious 10 minutes with her miming the sometimes unpleasant side effects of the antibiotics, I left with a prescription. Thankfully I’m feeling much better today (Thursday) – but still no bloody pump!