Donostia (San Sebastian) - Part III

The rain swept in overnight and the wind and pelting drops on my window awakened me before the alarm sounded (Just kidding...no alarm in this room!). Raining it was, but by the time I showered and dressed for my last hike about this amazing place, the clouds were breaking and the rain had ceased.

Yesterday I terminated the first half of my walk-about without climbing to the top of the NW peak. So today, I sneaked around to the smaller of the two harbors and took an old cobbled pathway to the crest.

Half-way To The Summit

View of the Old City - Mouth of the River Urumea

There was a stiff breeze, (a nor'wester about 30 knots I'd guess), blowing in from the Bay of Biscay. The swells were very lumpy and the tops were being viciously whipped, causing breakers far off-shore. I hope the photos captured the action as it was quite spectacular against the sky and even more dramatic when the swells collided with the exposed rocks and the seawall.



The trail down was very steep and I could tell it was rarely used, an alternate switch-backed pathway being the preferred alternative by most of the tourist hikers. The two routes finally intersected, and I wound my way down to the harbor barrio at the base of the peak.

It was a steep walk up and then back down of about 4 kilometers and I was ready for a break. In a short calle at the bottom of the footpath, I found a quaint, Basque neighborhood restaurant and decided to have a long lunch before heading to my pensione for siesta.



The menu was about as Basque as one could hope, and I ordered a crispy green salad, homemade bread and a glass of (you guessed it), Muga. After enjoing my salada and bread, I ordered steamed carrots, snap beans and lamb chops and a Muga Reserva to complement my entree. A little flan was a fitting finale!

This City will never cease to tug at my heartstrings and it will be very difficult to say good-bye and board the AVE for the 300 kph ride back to Madrid tomorrow. I'll let you know, if I successfully negotiate the subway from Chamartin to our haunt off Plaza Sol.

Tomorrow night I'll make the last pub crawl and bid adios to our pal, Carmelo, at Casa Toni. I'll try to pitch a couple coin into the bucket at Alhambra just to humor our Romanian transplant, she who kept us so well fed and well oiled.

If there's anything worthwhile at Cafe Central, I might shut my trip down with some Sangria and jazz...but it will have to be a damn site better than the last group we saw there! Eliseo Parra is a very tough act to follow!

"Adiós, hasta que nos volvamos a encontrar"

So...that's it for today. I'm off to siesta, then paseo and an evening carousing two or three of my favorite pinxtos bars. I'll need to "shut-it-down" early so I can drag this old body to the RENFE Station at 7 a.m. in the morning.

"Adiós, hasta que nos volvamos a encontrar" to one of Spain's loveliest cities.