Avoiding the landslide 

The town beach looked much more appealing at low tide as we cycled past.  The raised pathway to San Nicolas was clearly visible but definitely not suitable for bicycles.  The climbing soon began, with fabulous views back to Lekeitio and along the coast.  There were heaps of cyclists on road bikes heading in both directions at high speed.

We stopped for coffee at Ondarroa at a café near the harbour and chose a sunny table overlooking the park. The Artibai river flowed through the centre of town and we were soon climbing again.  The road was closed after Deba due to a landslide so we had to catch the train one stop to Arroa- Zumaia to pick up the route again.  This also meant that we avoided a very long and steep hill. Not that I was complaining!

A couple of kilometres down the road we stopped at the restaurant Bittarte jaxetxea, which  offered a menu del dia that was clearly popular with workers and provided massive servings of hearty food. We were stuffed by the time we left and it was only another 7 kilometres to Getaria. We followed a bike path for a while along the coast but were soon back on the main road.

Our accomodation, Pension Karpatona, was located on the waterfront and the restaurant was very busy.  We were quickly checked in with bikes safely stored on the balcony and relaxed a while before heading out to explore the town. We started with the statue of Juan Sebastian de Elcano, a locally-born sailor and explorer, who was first to circumnavigate the globe by boat, taking command of the expedition after the death of the Portuguese expeditionist, Ferdinand Magellan.

We climbed up through Aldamar Park along an easy walking track.  There were stunning views back to the town which was situated on a peninsula,  with the protected sandy beach Markobe beach on one side and Gaztetape, a popular surfing beach on the other. 

After wandering round the port, we explored the couple of streets that made up the old town and found another statue of Elcano.  The town is also famous for the Museum Balenciaga dedicated to the life and work of the fashion designer, but unfortunately closed on Mondays.

Given that we were still full from lunch, we found an outdoor table in the old town for a light dinner of some pxintos accompanied by a couple of glasses of Txacoli. 

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