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DAY 11 MONDAY 16 MAY 22 Leaving Elizondo Baztan short drive to San Sebastian on the coast

After a very, very relaxing week-long stay, it is now pack up and move on day or back on the road again for those wanting to sing along!!!!Before our short drive to the coast we stopped in the middle of Elizondo and visited our friendly shoe shop, then we filled up at the cheaper gas at the Hipercor Simply station as we have used nearly 600 Km worth of gas exploring the Baztan this past week.

Arizcun Fronton Court


Things have really changed since we lived here. The road to San Seb is so different! Lots of tunnels and bridges. It is still a gorgeous drive. I used to say to Paul back then that it reminds so much of Scotland, craggy and green, so green.

We got a text from Gill saying it would be great to go to Orio for lunch on Wednesday but we might need to make a reservation. As we cannot check in until 2pm we drove to Orio to check on our restaurant and to make a reservation but alas it is closed post weekend fiestas until Thursday of this week but we wanted to go on Wednesday as we leave on Thursday. I had not realized that Orio had been a big whaling town in the past! That is what they had been celebrating for the fiesta. There were nets hanging from balconeys and the central covered area next to the river. I was also told that there would be another fiesta on 23 of June to celebrate Besugo,(Sea Bream) which is what we go there for! At great expense I may add!  Oh well somewhere else will have to do.

Hotel Niza
We made our way back to San Sebastian but road construction in the center of San Seb is an atrocious confusing one way system is further complicated with buses rerouted and taking over of entire streets making it very hard to navigate. After driving around including a run across the bridge to Gros and back we located the Hotel Niza. Jane went in to check the Hotel which has private underground parking somewhat below the hotel but construction in front means park opposite and hump your luggage across the main drag or try from down below in the garage.

The garage is poorly marked for directing between levels 1,2, or 3. And extremely tight turns to navigate the ramps without scraping the walls on both sides of your car. We made it and everything was arranged into the room via two trips between the garage and room. Damn that was most traumatizing! The elevator was made by Otis Corporation in 1920 and is still running today. Please be kind and close the doors once you have reached your floor!! (We will take a video!) By then I was ready for wine! So, down we went and had a drink sitting next to the bay. It was lovely!

 Jane on the Beach.

The old town is as delightful as ever. We started out in the old Plaza which has tables from all the bars and restaurant around the sides. There are still the numbers on the doors above which date from when this was the bull ring! Great people watching(and dogs too, who are very well behaved and seldom stray from their owners sides) then we went on to our favorite Bar Martinez and ate several wonderful pintxos and drank wonderful wine until we realized it was close to 11pm and we had had a long day!  We walked back to the bus stop and returned to the hotel. Interestingly enough this driver required us to wear masks but on the way into to town the driver did not mention it!



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