From where we sit, sipping our evening wine on our balcony, we’ve been wondering about the prominent stone building directly east of us, on high ground overlooking the town of Hendaye in France and the bay separating us. It’s alone, in a park environment and usually presents as a dark grey shape on the horizon, except today when it’s been lit up by sunlight. It’s probably four km away in a straight line, I’d say, and today we visited it.
But first let me relate the events of our visit to San Sebastian, just west of Hondarribia, yesterday. Having heard and read many superlatives of travellers who’d visited San Sebastian, and also as our first grandchild has been named Sebastian, we just had to visit while the opprtunity was on offer.
Hondarribia (blue dot) to San Sebastian.
On the iPad map we noticed that there was a “back road”, along the mountain spine, starting just west of Hondarribia. This seemed an attractive approach proposition as it offered the possibility of views on the way and of also dodging the motorway traffic. And so it proved. Much bigger than we’d envisaged, San Sebastian was daunting as we approached its centre. Street carparks there were plenty of, but somebody else had got there before us.
San Sebastian.
Txofre Car Park (underground) came to our rescue and we found a slot but next had to make sure that we could find our way back to it, and back to the exact floor and bay number. Having solved these problems (yep, iPad again), we headed on foot for the iconic beachside promenade, crossing the centre bridge visible on the image.
Decorative element on the bridge (pic by Mary)
Mary on the promenade. The lifesaver tower is included for the benefit of our friends involved in Australian SLSC activities.
Don Quixote and Sancho Panza being harrassed by fierce fish (!) on the promenade. Pic by Mary.
The beach and its backdrop. Pic by Mary.
As you can see, the sun had come out. So we opted to splurge on lunch taken at a promenade café. The cost wasn’t too outrageous but I can say that the water cost more than the wine, presumably because it was enclosed in clear plastic with a screw top.
From the iPad map we could see that part of the town had a very dense street pattern so we made our way back to the car through that area. This turned out to be the Old Town, brimming with local life and featuring a glorious plaza, typical of that in many Spanish cities.
Plaza de Constitution. Mary with red handbag at left.
The area where we’d parked the car was full of life also, as we found when approaching the car park from the northern bridge side. Many young families were frolicking in the several recreation areas we passed but the traffic buildup was such that I dreaded trying to get out of the place. In the event, it all went pretty smoothly, leaving us with a pleasant final feeling for San Sebastian. Well worth a visit, but plan arrival and departure carefully. There are plenty of accommodation options in the Old Town, but little chance of parking a car there.
We ate in for a change last night, after our big day at San Sebastian, and slept until after 9:00am. The large building several kilometres away I mentioned in the first paragraph intrigued us so we decided to find out more about it. Getting there and back by car was fairly easy though it entailed crossing two international borders and weaving our way through densely settled Hendaye, Hondarribia’s French neighbour.
The building turned out to be Chateau Abbadia and seemed so interesting that we paid the entrance fee and weren’t disappointed. You can read more about it here but here are a few of our pics from the visit.
This is the part we can see, in the distance, from our balcony. That’s Mary on their balcony.
Mary on the balcony, different viewpoint. Note the elephant head carving.
View across to our somewhat humbler accommodation. We’re at the bottom right of the third apartment block from the left in the centre of the pic.
Front entrance pic, by Mary
Finally, we’re leaving Basque Country tomorrow after almost two weeks. We've certainly found Basque folk to be friendly and their terrain to be very beautiful, if somewhat damp at the moment. We wish them well in their attempts to retain the many positive aspects of their culture.
Here, at Hondarribia, on Spain’s border with France, the Basque flag flies proudly and alone in the port.
Thanks for reading
Kev
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