Day 3 - San Sebastián to Getaria

Date: Monday June 17

Start: San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa, Basque Country

End: Getaria, Gipuzkoa, Basque Country

Daily Mileage: ~17mi (27.4km)

Total Mileage: ~34mi (54.7km)

This morning it was a little after 8am when we departed our hotel, walking out into a bright sunshiny day and down the shaded streets of the old quarter to a cafe.

After getting our coffees and pastries, we gave the barista a warm “a scary Costco”. She smiled and laughed a little, the general response to us using the the Basque thank you (eskerrik asko). I think our pronunciation is decently close, most people are just surprised to hear us say it. At least that’s what I like to think.

We sat on a bench on the La Concha Beach promenade while we ate our breads and drank our coffees, watching the waves roll in. The beach had only a few scattered people at this morning hour. We strolled down the promenade, part of the Camino route here, as we finished our coffees.

Toward the end of the boardwalk, the route pulled away from the beach, heading uphill through Barrio Igeldo and along forested paths. The morning would continue like this - an undulating path of ascents and descents over country roads and small pathways through pastures, fields, and woodland. Sometimes in the trees, sometimes with beautiful views over the coast.

*Typical Basque Country scene - rolling green hills, white homes with red tiled roofs. And sometimes the sea.*

There were a number of pilgrims along the route this morning, some struggling under the weight of heavy packs, others breezing through with small daypacks. Some pilgrims use a service to have their bigger bag/suitcase transferred ahead to their lodging each day so they are unencumbered and can hike the day with only a small daypack. This seems very pleasant and logical, though the cost of this service would certainly add up. We are carrying our own packs, which seems to be what most are doing – at least based on the pilgrims we saw today.

We all wished each other ‘buen Camino’ as we passed, leapfrogging with some throughout the day as people took different breaks or photo stops.

In the late morning, the route traveled by Txoko de Peregrinos, the Pilgrim’s Corner. Here there was a delightful little cafe set up, a large patio shading a number of pilgrims who were all stopped for a coffee or tea and a midmorning snack.

The shop was run by a friendly elderly woman, everything completely by donation. We each got a glass of the chilled herba matte with lemon, which was refreshing on what was becoming a very warm day. Sitting on the patio, we chatted with some of the other pilgrims.

Here we met Sean and Jean from Dublin. We had seen them hiking up ahead of us earlier in the morning, Jean looking like she was hiking double-time to keep up with the long stride of her partner. The two had hiked the Portuguese Way to Santiago de Compostela a number of years ago and were now doing the Camino del Norte one week at a time as they could since it was an easy flight from Dublin.

We all commented on how great the weather had been in San Sebastián. They said they’d taken a week long vacation in San Sebastián several years ago and it had rained almost every day, which seems like adding insult to injury for a vacation for someone from Ireland.

After our rest stop we continued on, the trail now heading most downhill over rocky forested paths and then small backroads that passed through vineyards where the grapes were grown on raised trellises overhead. Apparently this is common for some varieties in areas with high moisture levels as it allows for better airflow underneath the vines.

*This is me! Walking by the vineyards! Photo by Shawn :)*

The trail popped down to a highway for a short stretch before sending us uphill once again, up a road that had the intense grade of a runaway truck ramp - FUN. This is about where we encountered a small but very (noisily) noticeable number of pilgrims using trekking poles.

After a number of hikes in Europe, I’m convinced that they are making the tips on trekking poles EXTRA clicky-clacky over here as – no matter if the hiker is using them on asphalt, rocks, or soft dirt – they seem to be VERY loud. This is something that I have rarely noticed in the U.S. or outside of a group of European hikers. I’m not sure if it particular to specific countries over here or if it’s a continent-wide affliction, but something must be done to remedy it.

Most of the hikers using these poles also seem to have a very quick pole cadence – a constant staccato of clacking. Click-clack-click-clack... ad nauseam. And to what result? I don’t know... they are barely using the poles for any momentum from what I can see. I think they are just reassured by the constant clacking. The only result is really driving everyone else around them mad. Drives me absolutely crazy.

/Soapbox.

Onward with our day...

Up this road, we passed by the Ermita de San Martin de Tours, a beautiful little church with stone walls and a rusty red tiled roof. The church had a nice long patio where several people stopped for a bit of rest in the shade. Others made use of the shaded benches with a view over the valley. With only a short distance to go until a lunch stop, we continued on.

Not too much further down the road, we descended into the town of Orio. I’m sure the name of this town sounds grand with a magnificent Spanish or Basque accent, however we had taken to calling it “Oreo”, like the cookie. As in, “We are stopping for lunch in Oreo.” Which is exactly what we did.

Winding our way down through the narrow streets of Orio, we meandered to a pizzeria, where we grabbed an outdoor table along the sidewalk. We had eaten some very nice, somewhat fancy, meals the last two days. It was time for something simple. Pizza was just the ticket. Shawn washed his down with a nice cold beer.

After lunch, we continued along the riverfront in Orio (the river by the name of Oria) and the waterfront cafes where it seemed all of the other pilgrims had settled at for lunch. Crossing the bridge near the port, we continued across the river and then westward where we climbed high up above Orio – and the Oria – along the walker’s route.

There is also a bike route for the Camino del Norte, which stayed along the road through this section, but the walker’s route hiked high above the river with fantastic views over the town. And a few goats.

Where the routes reconnected with each other we continued to climb, this time on backroads once again bordered by beautiful vineyards scaling the lush green mountains.

As we made the climb along the vineyards we chatted with a fellow pilgrim for a bit, a woman from England. She was hiking the Camino del Norte for about three weeks and then planned to return in the fall to finish the remainder.

As we made our way up the hillsides, we heard it. CLICK-CLACK-CLICK-CLACK... Oh no! Click-clackers were coming! Why can there be no peace? SOUND ON for the video below to hear what we are dealing with…

At the top of the climb, we came to Gran Camping Zarautz. While the ‘official’ Camino continued along the roadway to Zarautz, we turned along the campground to take a coastal alternate mentioned in one of the guidebooks. This route contoured high above the oceanfront, offering fantastic views of the coast. I will always take an alternate for better views. (Also, it seems the click-clackers stuck to the other route, making the alternate even better).

This route also went by the old Malla Harria iron loading docks and warehouse, a structure that looked like it could have belonged to an old battlement or castle.

Eventually the trail led us down many many steps, depositing us along the beachfront in Zarautz. We walked a wooden boardwalk – golf course to our immediate left, beach to our immediate right – comforted by the nets strung over the top and left side of the boardwalk to catch any errant golfballs before they popped you in the face.

A very hot day – reaching upwards of 80ºF (26-27ºC) – the beach was full of people dressed in a self-selected amount of swimwear (or none) and teenagers grouped up kicking soccer balls about. In the water, break upon break of clean waves rolled in; surfers lined up down the coast to ride the waves.

We continued from the wooden walkway to the concrete beach promenade, shadeless and hot. While the beachfront itself was nice, the buildings lined up along it seemed a little dull. Aesthetically, the promenade facades were not very eye catching.

Toward the end of the boardwalk we detoured into town for a bit of sorbet... which only seemed fitting on a hot day. Sitting in the shade, enjoying our maracuya (passion fruit) and lemon sorbets, there was not much to get one down other than the occasional brain freeze. A problem I can deal with when a hike includes the opportunity for an ice cream detour.

From Zarautz, we only had a few miles left for our hike on to Getaria, where we would stay for the night. We took the recommended coastal route, which stuck to a nice wide pedestrian pathway along the sea stretching all the way to Getaria.

On the way out of town we passed by a walled protected area along the coast, part of which served as a harbor for small boats, the other part a very nice protected swimming area. Here swimmers jumped into the water from any number of ledges, poles, and platforms - the water below a beautiful transparent shade of blue and green.

Continuing along the pedestrian way, we followed the coast. Lime green algae grew along the rocks below, a beautiful pop of color against the blues and greens of the water. This route seemed very popular for cyclists, who whizzed by along the road.

It wasn’t long before we approached Getaria, with its beautiful peninsular mountain and golden beach with a backdrop of arches set into a stone wall. The beach sat far below the town itself, the approach to which seemed to be guarded by a magnificent temple.

This magnificent temple was actually a monument to Getaria’s Juan Sebastián Elcano – who was actually the first person to circumnavigate the globe, though Magellan gets all the credit (really, look it up if you don’t believe me). Spain is very proud of this fact because I seem to see it mentioned everywhere. Every four years, Getaria holds a reenactment of their hero’s return. Sounds riveting.

*More reasonable-sized monument to Elcano.*

We made our way down the narrow streets toward Salbatore Deunaren Eliza (Iglesia de San Salvador) – a beautiful church – and toward our hotel for the night, situated right next to the church (so we should always know what time it is!)

After showering and relaxing for a bit, we went back out for dinner, grabbing some cold ‘pintxos’ at a restaurant/bar down the street. Pintxos are somewhat like tapas, but generally a bit more informal/snacky. Where tapas are often a small version of larger meals, pintxos are usually small bites/snacks - served cold/room temperature - and often held together by a toothpick and sometimes a piece of bread. The Basque region is known for its pintxos and you could easily do a bit of bar hopping to have a roving pintxos smorgasbord.

We had some small sandwiches and some round breaded snacks that encased some mashed potatoes, ham, and a slice of hard boiled egg in the middle. I know this sounds weird, but it was quite tasty.

On the way back to our hotel, we ran into Sean and Jean (the ones from Dublin) - we hardly recognized them in their ‘town clothes’ – all cleaned up. We’ll likely see them along the route tomorrow as everyone heads toward Deba.

And now, the church bell tolls and its time to manufacture the Zzzs.

Day 3 - San Sebastián to Getaria

Day 4 - Getaria to Deba (+)

Day 2: Early Zero in San Sebastián

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