Day 19 - Zarautz, San Sebastian (Orio)

Wow, what a day - again.  With a forecast of 31 degrees and gorgeous blue skies, I set off early for a little walk on my own while the girls got ready for the day ahead.  I walked up a path at the eastern end of Orio beach to do a little investigating, quietly hoping to get some good pics of Orio and the coast out over the Bay of Biscay.  I walk for a kilometre or so until I realised that I was not going to see any further east without a long walk, so I turned around and headed back.

Upon my return to camp, the girls were ready to go so we set off for our planned walk over the hills to the next beachside town - Zarautz.  We had to first go back into Orio and the old town to access the only pedestrian foot bridge across the river.  On our way through we passed through the town square where they had a local market on.  Under the roof of the town square hanging an inverted rowing boat.  Orio - once famous for being a fishing village, is now a rowing village and this is the townships pride and joy.

Crossing the river, we passed the train station and what looked like an industrial area, before joining a portion of the Camino Norte route.  Walking along the western side of the river and ascending some hills provided us with views over Orio.  Then it was through an area of farmland and vineyards, where we came across a sole Japanese pilgrim (female) walking the trail.  She offered a few smiles, but did not speak much English.  Her smile widened when Sierra said "Sayonara" (goodbye in Japanese, thanks Mami Sensei) as we left her behind, ambling up the hill alone.

We have been so impressed with Sierra and Madi's endurance (and lack of complaining) on our big walking days.  The walk routed us through the popular "surfers" camp ground, which had lovely green sites high up on a hill with amazing coastal views.  We would have loved to stay here for the vistas, but the access in and out of the park was very steep and not close to to any shops, etc - so we think our Orio site was a better pick for us.  True to Nancy's description, this park was filled with young, carefree surfer types - many we encountered on the descent down to the main beach of Zarautz (quite a hike for the committed surfers with boards under arms).

When we reached beach level, we were greeted by a lovely boardwalk, that had a very well maintained golf course on the left and access to the deep and long beach on the right.  We walked the length of the boardwalk before choosing a resting point for Mark and the girls to brave the surf waves whilst Kristie chilled and people watched.  Spaniards certainly love the sun - they are obsessed with sun baking and it seems they arrive at the beach committed the whole day.  Clothing seems to be quite scant with the Spanish. Everything from skimpy g-string bikinis to total nudity in both adults and primary school aged children.  When they do put clothes on, it seems the norm is to strip naked on the beach to get changed!  I felt like a prude changing into my bathers on the beach while Kristie held a towel around me.  At the very least, topless seems to quite the norm for most generations, to which Sierra and Madi found strange! 

After leaving the beach, we headed to the train station ready to venture into San Sebastian for the rest of the day. Again we weaved through some old town streets, impressed by the age of buildings along the narrow pedestrian streets.  Fortunately/Unfortunately depending on which way you want to see it, it was Siesta time, so fewer people are on the streets, but we also struggled to find a shop open for a much needed drink and ice-cream, before the train ride.  We eventually found a small sweets shop whose shopkeeper was turning the lights off ready for Siesta.

Closed for Siesta 1300 - 1630

A reminder that we apparently not in Spain

The train ride to San Sebastian was a welcome relief from the heat of the day. We were surprised by how modern the trains were, complete with air conditioning!  We arrived in San Sebastian mid afternoon planning to walk the streets of the city, give the girls a swim at the beach, and have some dinner before catching the train back to Orio.  One of the first things Kristie noticed being in a Spanish city for the first time, was the way cars are parked bumper to bumper, with not room to manoeuvre.

Walking the streets of San Sebastian, we thought the streets were beautiful.  A larger city which seemed to integrate the old and the (relatively) new, seamlessly.  Even outside the old town area there were many pedestrian only streets, and much gorgeous typically Spanish architecture to admire.  We eventually stumbled across the Artzain Onaren Katedrala - The Good Shepard of San Sebastian Cathedral, in Plaza del Been Pastor.  It is an ornate gothic-inspired cathedral that was different but equally (if not more so) beautiful than other cathedrals we had seen to date.  Inside the sunlight was shining through the stained glass windows, leaving very colourful shadows on the stone columns inside.  The kids were quite curious at first as to what was creating the scattering of coloured light inside.

After many beautiful pedestrian only streets, we visited the tourist information centre and learnt that there was a sightseeing bus that was reasonably priced, so to orientate ourselves to the city in a short period of time, we immediately jumped onboard.  It's becoming a typical day when we seem to start everything late in the day.  We put it down to the Spanish starting the day later (nothing seems to open until 10ish), having a siesta mid afternoon, and the later sunsets.  

The hop-on-hop-off tour bus covered most of San Sebastian - Donostia to the Basque, in a one hour loop.  I'm not sure we absorbed too much cultural information through the headphones for our english translation, but it was good to see more of Donostia in one hour than we could have on foot.  The added advantage of the bus was that it would also save us a 40 minute walk from one end of La Concha beach/town to the other, given that we needed to get to the furthest end of the bay for the kids beach and the Funicular ride up to Monte Igeldo.  

The kids loved the water yet again, but this time I didn't go in after the bone chilling cold of Zarautz in the morning.  Kristie enjoyed people watching from the back of the beach and we all loved watching the surfers, boogie boarders and body surfers tempt fate by riding waves hard up against the rock wall at the end of the beach.

From the beach it was a short walk across the road to the Funicular and a ride to the top of Monte Igeldo at 181m above Concha Bay.  At the top, the girls were most disappointed to learn that the "fairground with incredible views" was closed.  It looked very dated, but there was some fun looking rides.  Not that we would have had much time to play anyway.  So we spent an hour walking around, soaking up the 360 degree views of Donostia and the Spanish coast.

Using the Funicular again, we descended just in time to make the last bus back into town (7.45pm) as the sun was setting.  It was then a hunt for some authentic Tapas for dinner, but again time our enemy, we ended up in a cute cafe near the cathedral instead of a tapas bar that got a write-up in the Lonely Planet that we were hoping for.  The cafe we chose offered something for everyone - burgers for the kids (Ox beef though, which we did question but they loved) and Kristie was adventurous ordering some tapas.  A platter of mixed croquettes including some with black squid ink, and nachos spanish style.  Lucky she ordered the nachos, as the croquettes were not a huge hit, but she was glad she tried them!

We made the 2nd last train back to Orio (9.20pm departure from San Sebastian) and retired back to the van very tired but inspired for more of Spain after our big day.  The kids still had energy to burn at the end of the day despite having walked 9kms to Zarautz in the morning and who knows how many kilometres around San Sebastian in the afternoon.