Hiking The Coast

Last Sunday we woke up and were too lazy to go to the gym, so we decided to take a hike instead. As you might expect, almost 5 miles later, the hike turned out be much harder than the gym. But it
was a beautiful day and the views were fantastic:

First, you have to understand that this hike did not require us to travel far. We simply jumped on a local bus and 9 stops later got off in the small, picturesque village of Pasaia (cost of the ride 93 centimos (about $1.10) each using our new bus passes). Pasaia is divided by a small inlet of the Bay of Biscay and since there is no bridge, you have to take a "ferry" from one side to the other. We didn't make the crossing this time but there are more hiking opportunities on the other side.

As you set out on the hike, you get amazing views of the Pasaia Bay. Since it was such a beautiful day, plenty of people were out on their boats:

The route is 7.5 kilometers (4.5 miles) of fairly rough terrain with lots of ups and downs. Walking sticks were not required, but certainly would have been helpful. Despite the guide book calling it an "easy route," we give it a rating of three scoops of ice cream - the amount we ate after returning to San Sebastian.

The hike took us through Ulia – a nature preserve that sits on the eastern edge of San Sebastian's
main city area. Part of the trail is one of the Camino de Santiago de Compostela routes walked by pilgrims and tourists alike. Although it is fiction, we highly recommend the Martin Sheen movie “The Way” about the Camino.

At the end, we literally walked backed into San Sebastian, but not before getting a fantastic view of the city and the beaches from above:

Next time we’ll do reverse the trek and go from San Sebastian to Pasaia. Although we didn't see an ice cream store there...

Hasta luego,

Shana and Jeff