Monday, April 7

Today we walked from  San Sebastián to Zarautz, through Barrio Igeldo and the cute port town of Orio, 20.4 km, (12.67 miles). The vistas were phenomenal, though we did get rained on parts of the day.

“Orio has long been an important pilgrimage stop; Ferdinand and Isabella declared in 1484 that pilgrims could not be charged for ferrying across the Río Oría.” “The 17th century Church of San Nicolás de Bari is connected to a neighboring building by a pedestrian bridge that spans the Camino. The Baroque structure replaced an earlier church from which the graves remain, visible under new benches.” Zarautz is an important shipping town, historically, home to whalers and great explorers. Magellan’s ship, La Vitoria, was built here. International attention came in the 20th century with the Belgian royalty’s decision to summer here in the Palace of Narros.”

Once we hung out at the restaurant across the street for three hours, determined that our originally chosen place of lodging was NOT going to open, we backtracked and ended up at one of the best albergues that I have ever stayed in, Zarautz Hostel! After we checked in, we made our way back down to the beach for the evening. It took a bit to figure out where we were and to find a beach eatery but eventually we had dinner and a fun time together in town! (Factual quotations are from our Northern Caminos guidebook).