Sept/Oct 2022., Kelly

We were so happy with our little town of San Sebastián, that we only took four day trips into the surrounding Basque Country – and two of those were to the same place! The first one was a test drive for a future trip.

A DAY ON THE CAMINO – A lot of folks have The Camino de Santiago on their bucket list, including me. The various routes all end at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, and the coastal route goes right though San Sebastián. We picked a nice day and went to check it out! Jim told me we could hike on the route for about 2.5-3 kilometers over the headland to the next little town of Pasaia. It was great to experience a little piece of the decently-marked Camino. Walking up and down the trail, in and out of the headlands, high above the Bay of Biscay offered one great view after another up the coast toward France (we were walking The Camino in the opposite direction of the pilgrims.) We saw several ruins of age old farm buildings and small fortresses, a beautiful Basque mansion/light house, and an old Roman (yes, Roman!) bridge. The trail actually was ON a cobble stoned, circa 400 AD, roman road for a little while! SIX kilometers later, and after Jim saying more than a few times “it must be just over this next headland, Kel,”, we arrived in the tucked in, cool little port town of Pasaia, where a glass of wine and a pinxto made the extra length seem like a blessing! “Ultreia e suseta!” (Pilgrim cry meaning, “onwards and upwards!”)