Day 49 – Pasai Donibane 

I walked into Pasai around 1:00pm and decided to not press for Irun today.   It was a fairly strenuous 7.6km already and the temps were only going to rise for the rest of the afternoon.  

Pasai is a bustling port nested in a narrow harbor on the Bay of Biscay.

Alburgue in the old stone church at the top of the hill.

The Camino Norte passes right through Pasai and barely makes a whistle stop.  There is one albergue located in an old stone church at the top of a hill on one side of the bay.

The church was built in the 1700’s but is not in use anymore.  The hospitero explained that only the clock and church bells are still in service.   The alburgue runs totally on donations and volunteers. 

The walk here had some challenges including some very narrow paths right next to a cliff, a foot bridge with no handrail, and a 50 meter long tunnel with no lights. 

The man in the tall ferns in the picture above is Fernandez. He was my guardian angel.  He showed up just when I thought I’d lost the trail altogether.   He laughed, shouted Spanish at me and motioned me down the trail.  Whenever we got to a steep hill or had to cross the footbridge he’d laugh at me and hold out his walking pole for me to hang on to. 

When we finally made it to the edge of Pasai,  he gestured a serpentine course downward towards town,  shook my hand with a jolly “Mucho Gusto!”, and turned around and headed back to San Sebastián.   I might not have made it without him.

Pasai has some interesting history behind it.  The sign above translates to:  “Marquis de Lafayette sailed from this port on April 26, 1777 to fight for American independence.”

Also, Victor Hugo lived here for awhile, apparently finding it the same way I did, by walking here from San Sebastián.  This journey had a stronger influence on his writing career than it did on mine.

Buen Camino,

– jgp