We headed off early as planned and were on the road by 8.30 – early for us!! it was quite a long journey to Zarautz today and we decided to take the main roads, several of which were toll roads. We had two stops on the way and the tolls added up to about €16 but saved us a lot of time on the journey. It was pretty scenic even though we were on the major roads and there was beautiful hilly scenery as we headed towards the basque country. We were very chuffed when we got to the campsite as there was an amazing view down to the town and the ( proper sandy) beach. We were also near the exit gate straight to the pathway down to the town, which we planned to explore later. https://www.grancampingzarautz.com
We strolled up the hill to investigate the facilities. It was 2:45 so the shop was shut, but the café was buzzing with people having their lunch, so we decided to join them. We ordered a couple of small dishes – Dave had his first meatballs of the trip (albóndigas) and I went for the peppers stuffed with cod. It is true to say that no cod were damaged in the preparation of that dish!! It was delicious all the same.
We chilled in the van for a while and then headed down to the town. Our plan for tonight was to walk along the beach and promenade, find some of the sculptures on the sculpture trail and sample some pintxos in the beachside bars. These are the basque equivalent of tapas and are small snacks, normally served on a slice of bread.
The walk down to the beach was brilliant, with great views. We really enjoyed strolling along the boardwalk and the long promenade amongst groups of primarily basque or Spanish people. We managed to find quite a few of the statues and then sat down for a drink whilst watching the world go by.
We looked for a pintxos bar and found one that looked good in the old town. It looked pretty busy which we thought was a good recommendation. We decided to go into the restaurant so that we could sit down rather than fighting for space by the bar or in the street outside. We were showing our age !! 🤣 In the end Dave opted for mini squid (chopitos) and I had hake (merluza) washed down with a couple of glasses of Txacoli – a fairly low alcohol, local sparkling white wine. There was a huge group behind me celebrating a birthday and it was novel to hear it sung in basque.
After the meal, we both felt really stuffed and it was a considerable challenge getting back up the hill to the campsite!!! However, we did time it extremely well for the sunset, so we apologise for the abundance of photos. We approached the hill (120m climb) in short, sharp bursts and eventually made it to the top after a very enjoyable evening.
