Zarautz… It’s near San Sabastian

Written by Clara the Exploradora

Zarautz is a sleepy little surf town nestled between hills on the norther coast of Spain. Zarautz Hostal is right by the bus stop and is built above a gas station/bar. ‘Twas quite comical to us. Patrick and I arrived in early afternoon and met one of our hostal mates, Jaimie and then left for a site seeing run, my favorite way to site see. The run took us to the beach, up a hillside above some cliffs, and down to some ruins that had a staircase washed away in some places. It went all the way down the cliffs and to the rocky outcrop. Patrick and I made it our goal to get to one of the ancient buildings that looked like it had once served as a look out. We could only make it to the first of three because the tide was rising and the waves were breaking and we could see rain coming. So we headed back up and to the hostel. 

That first night we didn’t do a whole lot other than walk around town to get acquainted with it and find a grocery store to make some dinner and have something for lunch the next day. During our walk we found something rather interesting… a milk machine. Not even joking. Watch the video I took of Patrick filling up his hydroflask with milk. Breakfast is also included in this hostel price. It was a simple piece of toast, coffee, milk, or chocolate milk, with a fruit of your choice. There are plenty of places to buy yummy cheeses, fresh produce and delicious bread. 

After dinner, we had a great time hanging out with the other travelers, sharing travel stories, and playing games. Patrick and I missed the boat on the fact that most people go to Zarautz to surf. While we were there it was cold and rainy with choppy waves. People surfed anyways. It looked like a blast.

For our day activity we walked all the way to Getauria. It’s a fishing town very close by at the base of an island. The locals say that it looks like a mouse. I would have to agree with that.

Jaimie told us about a back route that goes through vineyards, sheep pastures, and other beautiful landscape so we took that. It is also part of the Camino. It starts at the opposite side of town from the hostal and is a rock path up to the top of the hill, where it opens up to spectacular views. We got very distracted by the beauty that surrounded us. Again, like our walk through Auritz, it was overcast and spontaneously drizzly the whole walk, but that did not detract from our enjoyment of it. (Read my post on Auritz Here)

Eventually you reach the town of Getauria. The town is tiny, compact, and full of life. People crowded the streets to get some Pinxos and a glass of wine with their friends for lunch, taking their dear sweet time! I love that site… People mingling and talking and laughing. Genuinely being present in the moment and living life. Very un-American of them.

Patrick and I meandered our way through town until we reached the beginning point to climb up the very small island to see the lighthouse. It rained the whole way up and the path was pretty slippery because of it. Luckily, though, at the top there is a shelter type thing. We ate our picnic of ham, goat cheese, and bread in there so we wouldn’t get soaked. After we finished that we made it the rest of the way to the light house. You can’t actually GO to the light house but you can look at it. That’s nice. On the hike down we detoured off the trail and found a lovely little overlook that had an amazing view of the ocean and Zarautz in the distance. No complaints there. If it wasn’t so freaking cold and rainy, I would have stood there all day listening to the sounds of the ocean. 

Once in town we strolled through the still crowded streets and around the beach path back to Zarautz. Don’t let the title fool you folks. Calling it the beach path is a rather liberal term for it because, yes it follows the beach, but from high up along the road. It’s still pretty though with lots of sketchy ways down to the rocky beach. At the Zarautz border you can walk down to the beach and walk the length of that. One of the things I really love about Spain is that people are out running, riding their bikes, walking their dogs, enjoying friend’s company…. stuff like that. It made me crave that culture to take root in the US of A.

That evening we went out with our hostal buddies to get pinxos in town. Even in Zarautz, people are out drinking wine and eating in the town squares while kids run in and out of bars, playing tag or soccer, or whatever it is that the kids want to do at that time in their lives. We enjoyed a table full of random foods that we all picked and then shared and each other’s company. That is what I love about hostals… getting to know the other people there and going out with them.

The next day, Patrick and I had breakfast in a beach side cafe called the Shelter Bar to research our next stop. We had to get to San Sebastian in the afternoon to catch our BlaBlaCar ride to Madrid.

I had organized with the driver of our BlaBlaCar to meet him in San Sebastian at a certain time. We got there and waited and he picked us up and took us to Madrid in a timely and cheap manner. We saved around 20 euros each using BlaBlaCar, instead of the train or the bus. It was the cheapest and fastest way to get to Madrid from here. The great thing about it is that you don’t have to talk the whole time. I would hazard a guess and say that it’s nice to engage in friendly conversation and stuff but you don’t have to talk too much. I tell you this because people are afraid of having to engage in friendly conversation. No se porque.

A neat statue

Awesome book store