2024 September: France and Spain – Txingudi visiting San Sebastian by train

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Around 9.30am we are up and ready to leave for San Sebastian by train with our packed lunch. The train from Bentak station leaves at 15 and 45 minutes past the hour. We must take the bus to the station to aim for 10.15 train. We find the bus stop outside the shopping centre without difficulty. It seems we need the L2 bus but it is not clear where it stops. Mr C. gets to practise his spanish by asking two ladies waiting for the bus. It seems that one of them is going to San Sebastian, she says to follow her.

The bus arrives and we have a little difficulty making our destination clear to the bus driver. One has to remember that although we are in Spain, we are in the Basque region, from an English perspective it’s like being in Wales, not just Wales but a hard-end Welsh-speaking area. So Spanish is spoken and probably understood by all, but they want to make a point, look at the place names and you will see the same situation as you have in Wales. We say ‘three-stops’ and he gives us a ticket!

We get off with our guide at a very nondescript shopping street and follow her downhill, through a pedestrian tunnel covered with graffiti to the entrance of Bentak station. Voila! Would we have found it so easily without our guide? Next challenge: buy a ticket from the unmanned station at the automated ticket machine. A very unlikely local man with a fag hanging from the corner of his mouth comes to help… he does indeed help us buy two single tickets to ‘Amara Donoastia’. (San Sebastian is Donastia in Basque – you’re probably getting the Welsh analogy by now) Our lady guide hurries us quickly, we must cross the line (no bridge just a walk over the track) to the platform on the other side.

The 10.15 train is a little late but it arrives and we relax for the 30 minute journey to Donastia city centre. It is a very crowded city with apartment blocks built only a few meters apart and a severe road congestion problem. We are very glad we are sat on the train and not driving. We alight at Amara Station, use the very good public toilets and set off through the park towards the river. Here we follow the river down to the coast enjoying the architecture of the 1900 buildings and Santa Christina Bridge with its four white-painted ornate, gold leaf pillars. The road opens out onto a marina and the open sea facing north to the Bay of Biscay, very unexpected.

We follow the road around to Gipuzkoa Plaza and the Telmo museum, but before climbing the hill to the Castillo we visit Eglise San Vincente, a 16th century Gothic cathedral, ornate in true Roman catholic style. Outside we walk up several hundred steps to the top of the fortified promontory known as Urgull, stopping to have our lunch under the shade of the trees and with a great view over the sea. At the top, the fortified Castle made a good lookout in Medieval and later times with early canons dating from 1502. At the top we enjoy the standing beneath the Jesus statue who blesses the people of the town and, with a fabulous view over the town and coast, those who approach by boat from the sea.

Later, down the hill we walk along the very narrow and crowded streets, full of shops and cafes and bars… clearly the place to be seen! Briefly we look into the Iglesia de Santa Maria, very ornate and beautiful but €10 to enter, so decide to give it a miss. Walking south along the narrow shopping streets we come to Constitution Plaza with its arches and Ayuntamiento (town hall). On to Buen Pastor, a modern cathedral (of the Good Shepherd) and quite different, but still very ornate in its décor.

It is now nearly 3.00pm and we are flagging! The return trains go at 15 and 45mins past the hour, so we walk down to the station catching the 15.15 train to Hendaia (Irun). We reverse the process, buy train tickets, travel to Bentak station and walk back to the bus stop. It is easy to buy bus tickets asking for Txingudi (Jingudi). We arrive back at Hymer about 4.30 agreeing it has been an excellent day and not at all what we imagined. Now we know how to do the public transport travel, it is very easy but possibly not so without our Spanish lady guide this morning.

We open a bottle of Rioja and cook chicken burgers, mushrooms and tomatoes for supper, a very welcome repast.

Later – We watch our fellow campers (our favourite pastime on ‘car-park style’ overnights). A large German-registered motorhome arrives and he makes a meal of parking it in a very roomy parking space opposite us, several shunts forward and back, perhaps five (most people reverse straight in). The side door is flung open and there on the step poses a willowy tall blonde woman!

She surveys her surroundings, not quite with contempt but certainly with a disdainful look and shakes out her dyed long blonde hair. Meanwhile he is scurrying round, plugging in the hook-up cable and fussing over his parking. We watch with amusement (wondering if others watch us in the same way…) with one last look she shakes her flowing locks, takes his arm and they swan off through the security gate towards the (very down-market) shopping centre… towards MacDonalds and KFC!