Gipuzkoa Province in Basque Autonomous Community

The walk from Getaria to Zarautz.

Although our holiday was centered around eating pintxos in San Sebastian, we still wanted ample time to explore the small villages nearby. For this reason we got a “rural house” in the nearby village of Orio. Orio is a quaint village of about 5,000 people on the river with access to some ocean coastline as well. We stayed at a beautiful house in the hills with views overlooking the river.

The surrounding area is either coastline our mountainous and both were beautiful. One day we climbed the mountain to the nearby village of Igeldo to have lunch overlooking the ocean. There were tons of hikers and trails with stunning vistas. Another day we went down to Zarautz along the coast and wandered around the town. It has a beautiful beach with many surfers riding the waves. There is another nearby village of Getaria, famous birthplace of the explorer Juan Sebastián Elcano who was the first person to successfully circumvent the earth and make it back in one piece. I think his accomplishments are overshadowed by Magellen but this village makes certain to inform you of Juan Sebastián Elcano’s feats. The village is built around a central fort overlooking a port and the walk from there to Zarautz leads along a winding and rocky shoreline. It reminded me so much of northern California and the Oregon coastline in the United States.

Another quaint historical town was Hondaribbia situated on the border of France. The town has developed their tourism in an admirable way and provides maps for not only the historical points inside the town but also the surrounding area. We had a wonderful afternoon walking around the historic part of the city and then the more modern and lively part of the city.

We also popped over to Saint Jean in France just for the hell of it. Unfortunately we did not realize it was the day of Saint Jean and the place was packed with festival goers. It was cool to see all the festivities with traditional music groups and huge crowds dressed in black and red but we were expecting a more casual village so it was a bit of a surprise.

The area was beautiful and after visiting the tourism booth in San Sebastian I realized we didn't even do any of the recommended tourist activities or visit many of the recommended villages. There is still a ton to explore!

View from Orio.

Orio town.

Zarautz.

Hondaribbia

Hondaribbia

Getaria.

Road to Getaria.