Blog
Basque country
08/05/2010
Arrived at Eva's birthday in Madrid, we were promptly invited to an apparently long hand prepared birthday dinner. The whole Spanish group was present in Madrid. There were a lot of gifts and it was a pleasure to listen to the enthusiastic chatter in Spanish, Mandarin and Russian. Our Spanish organization has become quite international. There were many new there that we have been presented for the first time. The next day we flew to the Basque country and were now on our own. The rest of the day and the night we spent in Hondarribia, a perfectly preserved little medieval border town and stayed in "El Emperador", a hotel converted castle of Emperor Charles V, who was also king of Spain. I, particularly, liked it of course. On Wednesday, it was unfortunately over with the beautiful weather. But, nevertheless, we started in good spirits on the Coastal Path to San Sebastián: white-red labeled, the crest of the Jaizkibel massif, and along with supposedly fantastic views of the Biscay coast. We saw nothing of this because the weather was getting worse: rain, storm and fog. The view was not even 50 meters ahead. The old watch-towers on the ridge were barely recognizable. Soaked to the skin we have passed the peak of Alerru (547 m), the old fortifications and modern antennas were hardly visible in the misty rain. We had no other choice than to descend into the valley and take a taxi to San Sebastian. In the hotel, hot tub and sport massages made us feel alive again. During the night it stopped raining. Sunshine arose. Dutifully, we drove back to Pasaia and again started the climb to make up the 9 km we couldn't do the day before. Uphill, downhill, always along the coast, which cost us another five hours. But this time the view was fantastic. On the right handside, the cliffs fell steep into the foaming sea, the mountains were covered with blooming heather, yellow gorse and blue hydrangeas and glowing in the sunshine. This march along the Basque coast made up for all the suffering of yesterday. San Sebastian itself is a beautiful city: completely destroyed in the time of Napoleon, the fine sandy bay in shell shape surrounded by high slopes were rebuilt in Art Nouveau - a unique sight. Rio de Janeiro is nothing in comparison. We spoiled ourselves with a late lunch on the beach promenade, did a tour in the Tren Turistico, and fell into bed pretty exhausted. Tomorrow, we continue on the coastal path, and we will contact you again when we will have WiFi - probably not until in Bilbao.
