The best way to enter Hondarribia is by descending Mount Jaizkibel. Beyond the stimulating views, the path helps to understand the privileged environment of a town of about 18,000 inhabitants, located between the foothills of the mountain (or at the end of the back of a whale) and the welcoming breadth of the Bay of Biscay. The sanctuary of the Virgin of Guadalupe refers us to the traditional Alarde (civic-religious parade to fulfill the vow made by the people to the Virgin during the siege of 1638), which is celebrated every September 8. From here, the Bidasoa river is a water scar that separates us from Irun and Hendaye, a neighbor with a truly irresistible beach. The innate richness of nature reveals green mountains, dotted with farmhouses, cider houses and orchards that gently absorb the sirimiri,in order to later give shine to a wild landscape.
9.00 An intramural walk
On a sunny day, it is a good option to have breakfast on the terrace of the classic
Batzoki
(1)
.
On view are part of the medieval wall that borders the old city and the
Alameda
restaurant
(2)
, until today the most renowned in Hondarribia for its way of reinterpreting tradition.
Before crossing the
door of Santa María
and entering the walls, the sculpture of the
Hatxero
(sapper), symbol of the city
, welcomes you
.
It is impossible not to evoke the slow steps of Dustin Hoffman and Steve McQueen, convicted prisoners at
Papillon,
shot here in 1973. It is a pleasure to see that the scenery has changed practically nothing. It is due in part to shops such as
Menina
(3)
, which has offered its own puppets since 1980, run by Idoia Siejo and Jonan Basterretxea (family of the sculptor Néstor Basterretxea, a fundamental figure in Basque artistic and protest modernity), and other enclaves such as the
Sebastián
restaurant
(4)
, the
Town Hall (5)
and the
Zuloaga palace (6)
—both from the 18th century— or the church of
Nuestra Señora del Manzano (7)
, where on June 3, 1660, Maria Teresa of Austria and Luis XIV, the Sun King, were married by proxy, before staging the formal wedding six days later and at full speed in San Juan de Luz.
enlarge photo The Parador de Hondarribia, in the Plaza de Armas.
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10.00 Old watchtower
The
Plaza de Armas (8),
the usual meeting point, is dominated by the
parador Carlos V,
from the 10th century. Here is an imposing presence, whose stone and whose windows also speak of the time when María Cristina, a very fan of Hondarribia, insisted on maintaining it at all costs.
Half castle, half palace, its monumentality controls, from the top of the promontory, the bay of Txingudi and explains its ancient function as a fortress and watchtower.
Continuing along San Nikolas, you arrive at
Plaza de Gipuzkoa (9)
, where the brick creaks with the traditional architecture in wood and stone.
12.00 Colored facades
The traditional houses shine in the
neighborhood of La Marina (10)
, whose facades are predominantly green (the color of the Hondarribia trawler). For example,
Zeria,
a house from 1575 and current restaurant (restaurantezeria.com). This walk has risks, that is, places with
pintxos that are
too easy to treat:
Txantxangorri
(San Pedro Kalea, 27),
Lekuona
or
Gran Sol
. In them we learn that the natives of Hondarribia are called Vikings or that there is a monument of
a bear and a strawberry tree
in the Javier Ugarte square
(11)
as a courtesy to the many Madrid visitors. The brightly colored balconies sprinkled with flowers are good company for the eyes. Attention to two shops: the old
hardware store of María Rosario Berrotaran (12)
, as a good
quincalleirie
full of all kinds of objects, among them, the fashionable bag-basket-carrycot on the surrounding beaches; and
Bibat
(13)
, where you can find suggestive illustrations by Maore Sagarzazu.
It is essential to know the essence of the
chacolí
, cultural heritage of the Basque Country.
Nothing like a visit to the
Txakolineria Hiruzta (14)
, on the outskirts, which thanks to the oenologist Ana Martín has recovered the centuries-old tradition of production and elaboration of versatile, gastronomic and first-rate chacolís.
enlarge photo The puppets that they design and manufacture in Menina's shop-workshop are distributed all over the world, both in private collections and in museums.
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14.30 Pure ancestral flavor
To eat, it is advisable to book at
Trinkete Borda
(15)
, in neighboring Irun.
There is no better wagyu meat in Spain than that which Iñaki Hernández preserves in his meadows, and you will hardly find a restaurant that handles the grill so well.
Its products from the garden have a pure, ancestral flavor.
A gastronomic festival in keeping with the landscape.
Living in a cloud must be something like this.
Behind the restaurant is the original ratchet in which a Spanish baseball championship was played in the sixties.
Assuming this data after eating only allows the pelotaris to be imagined while the question of the next escape is resolved.
16.00 Two nearby getaways
There are two nearby excursions.
You can go to
Saint Jean de Luz
and see what remains of the original La Pérgola casino designed by Mallet-Stevens, or visit the fishing villages of
Pasaia,
crossing by boat from Pasai Donibane to Pasai San Pedro and remember Orson Welles reading only in the historic Casa Cámara restaurant and visit the house where Victor Hugo (oarsoaldeaturismoa.eus/es) lived during his stay in 1843. To see what this place inspired him, just open his book
Journey to the Pyrenees and the Alps
: “ A curtain of high green mountains cutting their peaks against a resplendent sky and in that sky a life, a movement, a sun, a blue, an air and an inexpressible joy, that was before my sight ”.
20.00 Rest in the farmhouse
On the way back, the ideal, without a doubt, will be to spend the night in
Basalore (16)
, a hotel-farmhouse (843 93 14 20) surrounded by nature.
The expression "has it all" makes sense in this corner of the world and stops having it outside of it.
The tasteful couple of actors Elsa Pataky and Chris Hemsworth spent the summer of 2019 here delighted, and were visited by Matt Damon.
Discretion, repose and fullness are assured.
A transformative experience.
On the terrace, when the humidity lurks and the sun is nothing more than an orange ending that fades beyond everything, it is time to open the chacolí that was bought in Hirutza and surrender to the essence of nature.
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