Leikito

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Our goal for today was to drive into France via Hondarribia. We started the day with a nice breakfast in our hotel, which was pleasant and an efficient use of time. We were surprised how crowded it was, and recognized the voices of several of the older guest from the late night/early morning singing we heard from the adjacent pub...must have been some kind of reunion.

The drive we plotted out would maximize the use of the coastal roads along the Bay of Biscay (Coles de Basques), trying to bypass San Sebastian, to Hondarribia and then into France.

The drive was gorgeous and involved numerous stops to take in the rocky coastline. At one of the pull offs there were multiple etchings of a woman who had lost her seafaring husband...I think? There were signs for world championship surfing near one of the villages, which made Mike and I want to stop and give it a try, but dismissed by our traveling companions.

Then we came into the delightful village of Getaria. It is a medieval fishing village most know for the return of the only survivors of Magellan's ill fated circumnavigation of the globe. The more we strolled the village the more we became enamored. The narrow streets, churches and roman ruins made it quite enjoyable. The "scenery" on the beach was quite nice, requiring we dig around in the backpack for the binoculars. We noticed many of the restaurants had grills fired up outside their front doors, and decided this was a good place for lunch. We selected a restaurant with an outdoor area overlooking the harbor and ordered a variety of fresh grill fish.

Off to Hondarribia (Castilian: Fuenterabia) a picturesque village founded by the Romans and managing to preserve the old city charm. We had wanted to stay in the Parador here, but it was full, and apparently a popular place to stay. France was calling our name and couldn't resist taking the short drive to St Jean de Lutz, which quite frankly was of little consequence except to say we were in France. It was interesting, that it did have a different feel to it.

Ruth had been studying the map and spotted an opportunity for a "long cut" back toward San Sebastian, avoiding expressway and getting back into the hills adjacent to the coastline. It turned out to be a delightful drive with the ocean on the north of us and the low clouds over the bright green hillside.

Got back to Leikito in time for a dinner down by the fishing harbor again, with Lynn pulling out the unruly map for planning our next day of travel. (a note: look for maps that are of reasonable size to open at a dinner table our in the passenger side of a car...this thing must have been 4 ft x 4 ft.)

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