Day 4 - Donostia or San Sebastián?

Woke up ridiculously early & watched Netflix & wrote my blog whilst Jackie slept like a baby. Just before 10am we popped out for coffee and toast at the cafe at the end of the road and by 11am we were on the road again.

We were heading for San Sebastián, but I had a couple of stops planned along the way. The first was Ermita de San Juan de Gaztelugatxe which is a picturesque small church on an island connected to the mainland by a man made bridge and made famous because it appeared in an episode of Game of Thrones.

We arrived about an hour later and parked up in the busy car park and went to investigate. There were a lot of people dressed up in walking gear & we discovered that it was a 1.2 kilometre hike down a steep rocky pathway to the church. We decided to give it a miss, particularly as our legs still ached from the previous day’s exertions of well in excess of 10 miles. Instead we found a vantage point overlooking the island and took a couple of photos instead.

Next stop was the harbour town of Lekeitio. We took the scenic route which took us through through forests and up and down mountains on steep winding roads & about 90 minutes later we arrived at the harbour front. We were just about to abandon Pearl on the harbour, when 2 kindly locals told us the police would give us a ticket. Luckily for us, as this conversation was taking place, someone drove out of a parking space & we dived in. Minutes later a police car cruised past.

As we got out & walked along the harbour, we both instantly fell in love with the town. The harbour was full of boats and was lined with multicoloured half timbered old buildings housing restaurants & Pintxo bars. At the end of the harbour was a spectacular looking sandy beach and the town was dominated by the huge late-gothic Basilica de Santa Maria de La Asunción.

We walked along to the Basilica, but found again it to be closed, so we stopped at Cafe Marina Bar for a glass of beer. We didn’t have a pintxo because Jackie had decided she wanted a proper sit down meal this evening. Whilst supping our beer we started to look at the possibilities of staying in Lekeitio for a couple of days at the end of our trip.

Around 2pm we reluctantly left Lekeitio and chose the coastal road to San Sebastián. This 2 hour journey followed the coast of the Cantabrian Sea through several seaside resorts until we finally arrived in San Sebastián. The first disaster was that Apple Maps decided to take us to completely the wrong location for the car park we had been advised to use. Eventually google maps got us to the correct underground car park and we found a space.

San Sebastián is officially known as Donostia-San Sebastián and all the signs and maps call the town Donostia (which I’d never previously heard of) with San Sebastián being a secondary name. I have looked it up, but it’s too confusing to worry any further about.

It was then a half mile walk with all our luggage into the heart of the old town & to our Pension Irune. We had to let ourselves in because we were late. After a quick shower & a change of clothes, we headed out for the evening. The old town is a busy maze of narrow pedestrianised streets full of shops, restaurants and Pintxo bars. We had a quick reviving beer, then headed out to explore the seafront including the beach, which has been described as ‘one of the best city beaches in the world’ & one of the main reasons for us visiting. It was by now a bit too late & overcast to make an honest assessment.

In addition, San Sebastián frequently tops lists of the world’s best places to eat, so after our walk we headed back into the old town to imbibe in a couple of beers and wines and a cheeky pintxo each. Jackie had one with sardines & I had a goat’s cheese one. Again delicious. We then found a suitable (fairly posh) restaurant called Ubarrechena. We ordered a bottle of Rioja, a starter of a Fried Egg pintxo to share, then Jackie ordered a sirloin steak whilst I had a veal steak. It was all very lovely.

At 9pm we returned to our Pension Irune to see the lady in charge, who gave us a discount card for the car park, but it still cost us the exorbitant fee of €56 for 48 hours. 30 minutes later we were both asleep.

Song of the Day : Take me to Church by Hozier.Read more