Tag Archives: Accommodation

Camino de Santiago: Irun to San Sebastian

So, this week, I started my long journey to Santiago de Compostela (over 800km) from Irun. I will be walking for as many days as I physically can, and enjoying rest days in cities and some towns a long the way.

The journey to Irun from Zaragoza took a few hours on the train with a change in a town that I could not even pronounce. Most people go to Pamplona for a day first, as it is an easier transport connection and I think in hindsight, perhaps I should have. I had already booked my accommodation and train though, so I didn’t want to alter it. I also just wanted to get started on the walk before the weather turned, and I think it was the right decision, as I had three days of sunshine.

Most people attempt to do the journey from Irun to San Sebastian in one day, but this is about 25km and includes a mountain hike. I decided to start gradually, and split my first stage over two days, with an overnight stay just outside of Lezo.

This was definitely the right decision. The hike was very steep and a shock to the system, after several days sightseeing on flat terrain.

The walk took me up the mountain, with views of the sea and nearby beaches, coupled with traditional small farms, and picturesque houses.

After the lovely views of the mountain and the gruelling walk down, I realised something unfortunate.. The hostel that I booked on the outside of Lezo, was on a major highway. I came to a busy roundabout with no crossing, and was perplexed at what to do. My options were few:

To climb back up the mountain and find another path to town, and then doubleback on myself..
To attempt to cross the highway and potentially be hit by a car at 80kmph.
Hitch-hike and hope someone took pity on me.

I considered my options carefully, and decided the best thing to do was wave someone down, and beg for a lift in my broken spanish.

I waited about 40 minutes and asked three drivers before I found someone that would take me across the motorway. A lady with her teenage daughter and a horse trailer on the back of her truck felt sorry for me and agreed. This was a blessing. I ended up talking in Spanish with them the whole journey to the hostel, and they were very chatty. I also felt like this was a great opportunity to get over any ‘stranger danger’ fears I had.

Once I was at the hostel, I met several men that I was sharing a room with, including many Spaniards and a frenchman that spoke great English too. They were very friendly and the frenchman offered to drive me into the town the next morning, which again was super useful as the motorway was too dangerous to walk. I must make it clear that the motorway is not part of the route, and was a poorly planned detour by me.

So the walk continued on! I had some beautiful towns to wonder through as well as a cute little boat taxi crossing for 90 cents.

On the other side, there was a steep climb through a town when I came across the most craziest and beautiful thing… a set of escalators in the street! I felt a pang of guilt and then I got over it… this took me up three streets and I just thought it was part of the fun really! I have now discovered that many of the large towns and cities in this mountainous area have escalators and elevators to take you up to other streets higher up. There are even elevators that go underground to take you to disguised car parking and public toilets areas. The mountain people know how to live! 😀

More hills, and mountains, and what felt like never ending ascents, and I began to come out through forests. The Autumn colours are in full swing now (late October), and this was really beautiful. There were even historic bridges, and forts hidden in the woods, between the foliage.

By the time I got to the bottom, I really wanted to be there by now. It had been over six hours and my legs hurt. The views could no longer take the pain away… and then I saw it. SAN SEBASTIAN! HALLELUJAH!

I had two nights in San Sebastion, so that I could rest after my first stage. This city is gorgeous, I think this with each new city that I go to, they just get better!

San Sebastian / Donastia

This city on the water, is really huge, and my hostel turned out to be 30 minutes from the seafront 😢 but the atmosphere at the accommodation was good so I got over it.

The city seems to have several elements; a beachfront and promenade, a harbour, busy centre, old town, a castle on a hill, and then outskirts of communities and work places.

I visited the Cathedral and collected my stamp in my special pilgrim passport, and wondered around the city’s edge and old town. The old town is very pretty but quite touristy, and if you venture a little further along to where the market is, it is a little nicer. You can also walk all around the sea walls and what seems to be the old city walls. I would really recommend doing this walk, there are plenty of nice views and benches to sit and just enjoy it.

I had to remind myself that I was supposed to be resting, so after my little stroll, I sat down.. I ate a lovely chocolate brownie, definitely breaking my set budget, and then laid for several hours on the beach. It was the last day of 22’c and sunny, so I am so glad I did this.. even if I had to sit on my laid out trousers as I had nothing else.

In the evening, I decided to become part of the local scenery and continue sitting. So, I took myself to the local cinema, and I watched the new James Bond movie in Spanish. It was an excellent evening.

I really loved San Sebastian, and the pretty towns I went through to get there. It is nice to start slowing down for once, and just enjoy my surroundings.

Sevilla: Pearl of Andalucia

Following on from a week in Portugal, I decided to travel four hours by bus, to one of Andalucia’s best known cities, Seville (or Sevilla).

The journey to Seville was reasonable by bus, and cost only about €30 from Lagos, Portugal. There was no border restrictions and I didn’t even have to go through a passport check. The only downside was that the bus was very hot! It was 30’c outside and hotter inside the bus. Thankfully, we made plenty of service station stops to get some air and water.. (makes me sound like a car haha).

On arriving to Seville, I was able to walk the short route to my hostel. I definitely had lots of strange looks though, carrying a huge backpack and sleeping bag on my bag in 30’c weather. I must have looked mad, in a place where no one even owns a coat, as apparently it hasn’t rained for five years! I stayed at the La Flamenka hostel in the city centre, and this was a lovely place to stay. The staff and volunteers were very friendly and helpful and the environment makes it really sociable. Due to a chilled out kitchen and terrace layout, I was able to strike up conversation and befriend a Brazilian, a Norweigan, an Austrian, and a Barcelonina. Great practice for my language skills! All guests were solo travellers too, so we all had that in common.

Alcazar

On my first day, I had prebooked a visit to Seville’s Alcazar through Viator, which also included a guided walk of Santa Cruz neighbourhood, and a visit to the Cathedral & Giralda.

I have visited Granada’s Alhambra on a previous trip, so I knew somewhat of what to expect in this Alcazar visit. The Alcazar in Seville is still beautiful though, and has its own charm. It seemed to have a lot more gold in the decoration and many more tiles and christian influence too.

The site also had several lovely gardens which set themselves apart as unique, due to different sections being created based on different styles from around the world. There is a french garden, italian, and even english! The english garden is home to many wondering peacocks, I was wondering if I had missed something in this, are peacocks English…? 🤔

I also ticked off another Game Of Thrones filming location from my list! The site was used as one of the locations for imaginary kingdom of ‘Dorne’. ✅✅✅

There is also a hidden away area in the garden which is quite cool. That is the mistress’ bath underground. Apparently, the Peter ‘the cruel’ built this bath for the the lady he was wooing, so she would have somewhere refreshing to relax. Considering the heat here, that seems like an act of true love to me! The bath is accessed through a tunnel and is a very pretty space.

Seville Cathedral

Connected to the Alcazar, is Seville’s Cathedral. The Cathedral is built on the site of the former mosque. The mosque was gradually destroyed after the Christian conquest of 1248, except for the minaret or Giralda that remains today. The cathedral is very grand inside as you would expect from any catholic cathedral, but it does have some additional advantages.

There is the Giralda, which actually means ‘weather vane’, (I had to question the guide about this as I knew tower is ‘torre’.) You can climb this to the belfry area and get a good view of the city. Wierdly, it has 35 ramps rather than staircases, so there really is no excuse!

The cathedral also makes links to lots of important figures. I was very excited about the abundance of seashells used as shapes in the decor to symbolise Saint James (Patron Saint of Spain) and the symbol of my upcoming pilgrimage.

They also pay tribute to Justa & Rufina, in the cathedral and all over the city. These were two sisters who lived as potmakers across the river, in 3rd century. They became martyrs when they refused to take part in a pagan festival due to their faith and broke a statue of Venus. For this, the authorities, imprisoned, tortured, starved and killed them. They are remembered all over the place!

Lastly, the Cathedral is the place that you will find the only DNA certified tomb of Christopher Columbus. His body has moved around the world to different countries before finding its way back to Spain. It makes sense that he is in Seville, as he set sail from nearby town of Huelva, before first discovering America.

Not only is this an interesting figure but the tomb itself is very beautiful and unique. Columbus is not buried underground, but is actually overhead. His tomb rests on the shoulders of four men which represent the different kingdoms of Spain (Castile, Leon, Aragón and Navarre) symbolising that not one kingdom can claim his accomplishments, but they belong to all of Spain as a union.

More art

As well as seeing beautiful art and sculptures at the Cathedral and Alcazar, there are many pieces in city plazas, numerous churches and galleries/museums.

I visited both the church of San Salvador in the centre and Santa Ana church in the neighbourhood across the river, called Triana. I would definitely recommend wondering into Triana, as it has a very sociable vibe and lovely views from across the river. Prices are slightly better too. Both these churches were very cheap to visit, under 5 euros each.

I also enjoyed free admission and air conditioning 😀 from the art museum ‘Museo de bellas artes de Sevilla’. The art displayed in this ex- convent is a mix of very renowned artists such as Murillo and Picasso. I must admit that I was not a fan of all the Picassos as they are so odd. There were many portraits and religious art that I loved though. The building is really beautiful and has many courtyards to sit and relax in. The gallery is only two levels so not too intense which is nice.

Other ideas for a fun time in Sevilla:

Spend some extra time across the river in Triana. The atmosphere is great here and you can also visit the local food market at the bridge for an affordable and fresh lunch.
Visit one of the many convents in the city and purchase something from a nun. Many convents and monasteries sell goods to sustain themselves, often you can get homemade sweets. I went to one in Sevilla, and bought from a nun though a strange turntable window!
Visit the Plaza de Espana and the park. The plaza is an obvious tourist spot, and very pretty, but the adjoining park of Marie Luis, is full of beautiful places to sit and relax in the shade.
Head to the big mushrooms in the sky! The huge ‘setas’ monument is named this because it is the shape of mushrooms. Get there a little before sunset, and you will see wonderful views of the city.

Overall, I thought Sevilla was a very romantic and beautiful destination. It was also easy to walk around and had good transport connections, and of course reliable weather! I would certainly visit again.

Next stop… Cordoba!

Staying with AirBnB

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I had my first stay in an AirBnB apartment this summer in beautiful Budapest…

Whilst AirBnB had been mentioned to me before I was a little unsure of how well it would go, my mind pictured a dirty room where a strange host would come in whenever they like. BUT… when I actually took a good look I realised that there were some brilliant places to stay at very low prices!

Booking the apartment was simple and hassle free with plenty of information you just select your dates and request your stay. From that moment you can then talk directly with your host to get to know them and to make your travel arrangements.

My host was very helpful allowing us to arrive at 11pm and providing useful information and tips on where to go. I really enjoyed the freedom of having an apartment as well as you could come and go as you please, use a washing machine and not have to worry about when the maid is turning up! The best part was that our view was amazing and you wouldn’t get the same one in a hotel unless it was very expensive!

Our apartment slept four and was an absolute delight and a bargain at £360 for 4 nights.

My next AirBnB stay will be in… Brooklyn, New York and will be another bargain at £180 per night between 10 people making it a measly £90 for 5 nights. I can’t wait!