San Sebastian, photos from my start of El Camino del Norte

 San Sebastian, photos from my start of El Camino del Norte

From my hotel I walked down to the front opposite Playa de la Zurriola. The headland at the eastern end...

...the hill at the western end, and the first hill of the day...

...and the waves coming in from the Atlantic swell. There is a breakwater at the end of the western headland that protects the bay, but the swell was still enough to create giant waves. There would be no swimming options along the beach today.

Then there were some of the builindings that I hadn't taken photos of the day before such as this 19th-20th turn of the century hotel with clock tower, the Gros Hotel with retail units on the ground floor.

There were many other old buildings or recently built ones designed to look in keeping when San Sebastian was developing such as this modern but art nouveay style shops and apartments. And crossing over the bridge over the river...

...the concert hall...

...an ornate art nouveau early 20th century wrought iron bandstand with stained glass windows under the roof...

...and the city hall. down on the sea front. There is a large open space in front of it but the photo has to a bit side on...

...as there was a funfair set up there, and some of the rides are antique.

One of the municipal markers showing the way on the left. A large yellow arrow, and underneath, the op of a crook and a yellow scallop shell. The red and white marker painted on the stone denotes a long distance path that follows much of the same route

But there are plenty of other markers to help the pilgrim with yellow lines of various artictic ability pained on kerbs, rocks, road sign poles and telegraph poles such as these which were painted with a stencil that explains the quality and preciseness of the artwork. 

Where there is a junction, the wrong way might also be denoted with a yellow cross to indicate that this was not the right way

One of the views as the route descends a hill. The view is pleasant but the very busy AP8 motorway runs along the base of the valley and the noise travels up the sides of the valley so it is not as peaceful as it looks. 

A stone cross, one of many, placed along the side of the route.

I had to stop at the cemetery. 

The waterfront at the pretty little town of Orio, taken from the N634 that crosses the river in the town. 

The Mollarri Iron Ore Loading Dock. Iron ore was brought here by aerial tramway from 1906 to the early 1920s to be loaded onto ships from a dedicated pier that was built below the cliffs and out of sight.

In the other direction was the beach in front of Zarautz. I walked down the hill and along the beachfront to find my hotel in the city centre.