Month: September 2022

Camino del Norte ~ A Weekend of Rest and Family

September 3 & 4, 2022

  • The Paella was delicious!
  • Inma, Martín, Marisa, Isma, Sandra, Charo, Ainara, Miren, Joken, Loli, Jon, Mike, Ismael, Guillermo
  • Almost ready to eat!
  • Ermita de San Miguel de Arretxinaga
  • Ceiling of the chapel (Ermita)
  • Iglesia de Nuestra Señora del Carmen
  • Walking in Ea with Mikel
  • Art in Ea
  • Canals and bridges in Ea
  • A small boy hoping his mama wouldn’t want to go home from the beach
  • What remains of the famous oak tree in Gernika
  • Murals around the plaza surrounding the Gernika Peace Museum
  • Inside the museum
  • The tree

After enjoying pizza with my Basque cousins on Friday night, we found a laundromat to wash our clothes and then spent Saturday with my cousin Mikel and his beautiful wife Ainara, touring Gernika and then visiting a few seaside towns before heading back to Markina for more – you guessed it – pizza.

We knew that we wouldn’t be able to see the Peace Museum in Gernika when we walk there on Monday, and I really wanted to see the town and the museum. It’s a wonderful city, filled with beautiful buildings and plenty of pintxos bars.

Guernica was brutally attacked in 1937 on a peaceful day while the townspeople were at the market, going about their business. The German Condor Legion introduced saturation bombing, pummeling the town with incendiary explosives before passing a second time to strafe the fleeing townspeople. The town was destroyed and thousands were killed.

As a result of the bombing, Guernica has very few historic buildings. However, a sapling of the old oak tree survives in the park surrounding the Casa de Juntas, the seat of the Viscayan Provincial General Assembly.

Picasso’s famous mural depicting the atrocities of that day:

A historical novel, Guernica, by Dave Boling, is a good read. It provides an interesting take on life in the Basque Country during that time, as well as the details of that horrific day.  

The next day, we visited the Iglesia de Nuestra Señora del Carmen, and the Ermita de San Miguel de Arretxinaga in Markina-Xemein before heading to a delicious Paella feast at the cabin of my cousins Isma (y Inma) and Jon (y Loli), along with more cousins (Mikel & Ainara, Marisa, Miren, Joken, Charo & Ismael and their sons Guilllermo & Martín, Jon & Sandra, and Luken).

After appetizers and wine, we had an amazing Paella made by Loli and Inma, and a traditional Basque cheesecake and Tarta de Manzana (Apple Tart), both made by Inma. After a wonderful afternoon, we were ready for a good night’s sleep to get ready for our 5th stage on the Camino.

For reference, we started our Camino del Norte on 30-August at the border town of Irun, just west of San Sebastian. For the most part, we have walked along the Golfo de Vizcaya. We will continue our journey past Gijon toward the Cabo de Peñas on the coast before heading inland after Ribadeo (23-Sept) toward Santiago de Compostela.

Camino del Norte Day 4 ~ Deba to Markina-Xemein

Friday, September 2, 2022

Deba to Markina-Xemein: 29.3km / 18.2 miles
Sunrise 7:35
Weather 60°F / 15.5°C Light morning rain, overcast later
Start: 6:40
Arrived @14:00 in town, 15:00 at Hotel Antsotegi

Total Ascent: 3202 ft.
Difficulty Rating: Terrain 5; Waymarking 2
Scenery Rating: 4

Today we left the Cantabrian Sea behind to enter the Basque mountains and their hamlets. Luckily we started out very early! The beginning of our walk was beautiful, and we were feeling pretty good about our progress. It is one of the hardest stages since the continuous ups and downs were tough on our legs (knees especially). We quickly switched from the asphalt to dirt roads, surrounded by trees and among several hamlets so typical of this area.

While on this path 5 years ago, we missed a sign, and ended up following a very steep, very rocky path up, avoiding cow dung on the way. Then we saw lots of cows on the path. And cows leaping across the path. That should have been a hint that maybe we were no longer on the road to Santiago…. We continued up one route, decided that we took a wrong turn, back-tracked, and then took yet another path that was also wrong. Finally, we descended through the same wonderful (not wonderful) rocky path, avoiding the cow dung. At the bottom we saw the sign that we missed. By that time we’d lost an hour. This time, we paid closer attention. We knew that we had a grueling ascent ahead.

We planned to stop for a café con leche in the picturesque village of Olatz, what would have been our only opportunity to get food before we crossed from Guipuzcoa into Vizcaya, but the taverns don’t open until after 10:00, and we started out way too early that morning. So we made our way up to the tortuous “profanity hill” climb, thankful that we’d trained on Red Cloud trail in Deer Valley last month. The hill was paved since our last Camino, but the relentless switchbacks were just as hard.

With views of the Artibai valley we made it down the challenging descent, both because of the slope and because of the slippery cobblestone pavement. Our knees were screaming by the time we got to the bottom. The gentle meadow at the end of this stretch was a welcome relief.

Eventually we continued to the Urko River, which we crossed twice on our way to our destination, Markina-Xemein, considered the “university of the pelota” since many of the best Basque pelota players in the world are from there. We made it to a bar in the center of Markina, where we had a few sodas, jamon de Iberico and queso with a lovely peregrino from Alaska, Phyllis. (She was born in Milltown, NJ!)

We passed by the hermitage of San Miguel, an 18th century temple, built on top of another one at least four centuries old, is known for the three huge rocks that support each other, forming a kind of chapel. At the epicenter of this union is a figure of the Archangel Michael, protected by monoliths at least forty million years old. (I’ll post more about this later… we did go into the Ermita on Sunday.)

We stayed in Markina-Xemein for a few days to visit with cousins on my paternal grandmother’s side. Bernarda Arano Power was born in the little village of Berriatua. My father’s cousins’ children and grandchildren grew up in or near Berriatua. We first met them in 1973 when my parents, several aunts (Luisa and Bernie), my Dad’s Tio Jose, and more of my dad’s cousins (Marie, Viviana, Nieves) and their families traveled to Spain to see my dad’s Basque cousins Lucio (y Matilda), Severo (y Juli), Txomin, and Julian (y Karmele) Arano and their families. We’ve managed to stay in touch (haphazardly) for almost 50 years.

We’ve stayed at Hotel Antsotegi twice before, in 2017 on our first Camino, and again in 2018 with my mom, sister Jeni, and niece Maggie. My cousin’s son Josu told us that the pizza at the hotel bar was excellent. I can attest to the truth of his statement.

Some (23) of my Basque family arrived at 8:00pm, just in time for ensalada mixta, lots of pizza, wine, fun, and frivolity. The lady in charge happened to be from the US; Ainsley spoke English, Spanish, and Basque, and she arranged for us to have a private banquet room for our family “pizza night”. So. Much. Fun!!

From east (Deba) to west (Markina)… the uphill from Olatz and the downhill to Markina were pretty rough:

Camino del Norte Day 3 ~ Getaria to Deba

Thursday, September 1, 2022

Getaria to Deba: 19.6km / 12.2 miles
Sunrise 7:34
Weather 68°F / 20°C Cloudy, Sunny
Start: 6:50
Stopped for a café con leche at 8:30 in Zumaia
Arrived in Deba @13:20

Hotel: Pension Zumardi


We learned about Juan Sebastián Elkano, the sailor from Getaria who circumnavigated the globe for the first time. Ferdinand Magellan is given credit for being “the first”, but in fact Elkano completed the circumnavigation first.

We had a few guest peregrinos walking with us today: my cousin Ismael and his brother-in-law Vidal. I swear, Vidal is like a mountain goat. Mike was happy to have someone who could keep up with him. Ismael is a cyclist, and he’s not a fan of hiking. But I was happy to have him along for our trek today. He reminded me to walk “despacio” on the uphill climbs. A welcome reminder, since I’m usually struggling to keep up with the Big Guy.

We walked up a steep hill from our hotel, through the town of Zumaia, which has two beaches popular with geologists because of the unique “flysch” that are located there. The Zumaia beaches are home to the largest area of this unusual rock structure in the world. It stretches 5 miles and gives this section of the Basque coast an otherworldly feeling. Of note: this is one of the settings used in Game of Thrones (where some of Dany’s forces land as they make their way across Westeros). We went to Zumaia with my Mom in 2018 when we visited our family.

Most of the walk was on unpaved, rocky, muddy paths. Walking in mild, slightly overcast weather is comfortable, better than hot and sunny. And there was no rain today!!

We met Felix from Germany, who was walking alone. He lived in Canada for a few years and spoke English, which was very helpful. We also met a couple, husband who was from Malaga Spain, wife from Ukraine, who were walking with their 4-month-old and were “winging it”.

Arrived at Pension Zumardi, an apartment building, in Deba at about 1:20, checked into the Pension, and then had lunch in the Plaza with Ismael and his wife Inma, and Inma’s brother Vidal. The last downhill, from Itziar to Deba, was tough on the knees, almost 850 feet in just over 2 miles. But having Ismael and Vidal along made the walk very enjoyable.

Camino del Norte Day 2 ~ Donosti to Getaria

August 31, 2022

San Sebastián (Donosti) to Getaria: 26km / 16.7 miles, 7½ hours
Sunrise 7:30 ~ Weather 71°F / 22°C Cloudy
Start: 7:00
Arrived in Getaria at 14:30, in time for lunch!
Total Ascent: 1933 ft.
Difficulty Rating: Terrain 5; Waymarking 3
Scenery Rating: 4

San Sebastián to Getaria
Starting at La Concha beach, we headed up towards Monte Igueldo, a kick-ass uphill walk until we finally arrived at Orio, a cute village, for a café con leche, OJ, and an apple tart.

We walked the entire day in the rain, and saw about a dozen people on the Camino. The hike was grueling at some points, very rocky, very slippery. But the final stage was flat, on a paved 2.5-mile-long path that reminded me of The Strand between Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach. We were rewarded by spectacular scenery throughout the walk.

Getaria is a charming fishing village where you can enjoy fresh-caught fish right at the port, accompanied by the local white wine called txakoli. In fact, this town is renowned for its grilled turbot (rodaballo), which we’ve had 3 times since arriving in Spain. The village is wedged between two beautiful beaches, situated on the Bay of Biscay. The views surrounding Getaria are amazing. You have an old town, a mountain that is an islet, a port, beaches, the ocean, and the rolling green hills of the txakoli wine region. All of these things make Getaria one of our favorite Basque villages.

We ended the afternoon with a delicious meal of grilled turbot, a mixed salad (ensalada mixta), and a bottle of Navarra Rosé at Restaurante Txoko Getaria: I believe this is where we ate in 2017.

I completely agree with the sentiments in the article “Getaria, The World’s Most Perfect Village” I’d like to come back to explore this charming seaside village when we have more time.

Elevation Profile, walking west to east:

Hotel Itxas Gain is a small hotel (with a ”lift” – YAY!) where we stayed in 2017. Last time, we started our Camino in September. This time, just 1 week earlier, we are at the end of the tourist season, and the town was very busy until close to midnight. I don’t think we’d stay there in the future, but it was fine for these 2 tired peregrinos.