Sept/Oct 2022., Kelly

GETARIA and ZAURATZ – A half hour bus ride west of San Sebastián brought us to the charming little fishing village of Getaria where we climbed a headland called El Raton (The Mouse) to take in the views. It seems like everywhere we go here, we climb up a hill to take in a view. Surprisingly, we are never disappointed. This village is famous for being the home of Juan Sebastian Elcano. While Magellan is often given credit for being the first to circumnavigate the globe, he “only” organized the expedition and made it part way around (he died in a skirmish with natives on a Philippine island.) His second in command, Elcano, managed to carry on and made it all the way around finishing the perilous journey in Seville three years from when they disembarked. As well as Elcano, Getaria is famous for its grilled fresh fish, and as we walked along the ancient narrow streets we saw coals glowing on grills out in front of many of the restaurants. After an amazing meal of some delicious local fish whose name we never did translate, we headed off for a 2 kilometer walk to the next coastal town of Zauratz (“I promise, it’s really only 2K this time, Kel.”) Low and behold, as we came around the corner of another headland, just on the other side of a cute old palace, we found another amazing surf beach! Again, SO many folks in the water – short boarders, long boarders, young, old, girls, guys, beginners, shredders, and everyone in between! With more than 250 kilometers of coast, the Basques sure love their surfing! Another great day, my dudes!