One's first impression of the Basque Country in north eastern Spain is green.
All shades of green. The green of lush grass, the green of pine forest, the green of vegetable gardens and the green of Basque national emblems reflected in flags, scarves, t-shirts, soccer shirts, pullovers, tablecloths, serviettes and even shoes.
The Basque Country is green.
One's second impression is rugged.
Rugged and old.
And together with green, rugged and old, it is orderly. No advertising permitted - anywhere.
This is Hondarribia situated on the west shore of the mouth of the Bidasoa river.
It is a border town sited on a little promontory facing France. The town includes an ancient old quarter with walls and a castle and in its outer area hosts the San Sebastian Airport, which serves domestic flights. The population of Hondarribia is 16,000.
We came to see the parador. A parador in Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries, is a kind of luxury hotel, usually located in a historic building such as a monastery or castle. Parar means to stop, halt or stay.
Not being hotel guests, a beer in the bar proved to be enough credibility to get us in to the building, and a trip to the toilets, enough opportunity to have a good look around.
It was very beautiful.
The castle has provided lodgings for many great figures of European history. And due to its frontier location it played a crucial role in the wars between Spain and France. It was besieged successively by Francis 1, by Cardinal Richelieu in 1638 and by Napoleon, under whose control it was from 1808 to 1813.
The fortress also played host to important people in peacetime, notably many Spanish princesses on their way to France to marry French kings: namely Eleanor of Austria, wife of Francis I, Anne of Austria, wife of Loius XIII, and Maria Theresa of Austria, wife of Louis XIV all stayed here.
The fabulously restored and furnished interior is a feat of decorating skill - it has achieved an elegant degree of easy comfort.
The old internal and open courtyard is absolutely beautiful, cool and green. It is joined to the restored internal spaces by glass.
I could look at this all day.
Outside you can see where the old towers and walls blend in with the new buildings that form the rooms of the hotel. Again, glass is used to join the old and the new.
While Hondarribia was being the most important town on the ancient Basque frontier, San Sebastian, just down the road was still a monastery and apple (cider) orchard. It didn't become a city until 1181. But it has since made up for lost time.
San Sebastián (Donostia in Basque) is located in the Basque Autonomous Community on the coast of the Bay of Biscay, 20 km from the French border. The municipality's population is 186,409.
The main economic activities are commerce and tourism, and it is one of the most famous tourist destinations in Spain. Despite the city’s small size, events such as the San Sebastián International Film Festival have given it an international dimension. San Sebastián, along with Wrocław, Poland, will be the European Capital of Culture in 2016.
At the heart of San Sebastian is the Bay of La Concha - a bay shaped like a clam shell.
I said it was neat and tidy, didn't I? And not a sign or advertisement anywhere to spoil the view.
And the beach here has a culture all its own.
These photos were taken about 7.00 pm after a cool change.
The mist was rolling in.
Only a few hundred metres past the sophistacted La Concha beach, up on the hill where we stayed in the Beuna Vista at Igeldo, the green hills tumble down into the sea along a rugged coastline ringed by pine trees.
Along this hillside, amidst the sheep and their bells, is one of the pilgrimage tracks for Santiago de Compostela and we saw many dozens of walkers pass our hotel.
A little further along the narrow coastal cliff-top road, littered with walkers, cyclists, picnic-ers and the occasional farmer, we see the toll-road speeding along the valley floor to the next town, Orio.
Orio, a fishing port with the town nucleus lying on the river Oria, roughly 1.5km away from its mouth by the Bay of Biscay. Orio has a population of 5,000.
Traditionally a town attached to the sea and the fishing industry, this sector is losing ground to the more profitable and less demanding tourism, rapidly developing after marshes between the town and the beach were drained with a view to building up new tourist oriented housing. The most widely known and conspicuous sport activity in Orio is the rowing regatta typical of the Basque and Cantabric coastal area, featuring a team represented by the yellow colour.
Pity I can't show you the rowing teams lined up with their colours - Hondarribia in the light green, Donostia in the dark green and Orio in the yellow, facing off in the Bay of La Concha, out into the surf of Biscay, around the markers and back again. We saw it in wild seas in 2013 - amazing.
The beach at Orio, on the Bay of Biscay, Basque Country.
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