The Best Hike Yet

It hopes of redeeming ourselves after eating wonderful food day after day after day, we decided to put on our hiking boots. We walked about a mile to the base of Mount Ulgia to the east of San Sebastian. From the trailhead, we climbed and climbed and climbed. Our sweat and tachycardia paid many rewards when we reached the top.

Looking down on San Sebastian and the beach on which we will be spending the afternoon.

Our hikes with our good friends were beautiful, but this hike was the most beautiful of all. It alternated between lush green forests and breathtaking beautiful ocean scenery.

We walked along an ancient stone road built by Romans.

We saw no signs of humanity aside from ancient ruins.

(Jo refused to allow me to further venture out on this old bridge). 

I wish the grandkids were along to enjoy the nature walk.

This last picture is of a four inch  long slug.

We came across a beautiful castle on a hill which also served as a lighthouse.

This hike was considered "moderate," but the National Park Service would undoubtedly call it "difficult." Our six mile walk ended up being an eight mile hike because we took a wrong turn following another main trail with the same red and white markings.

We descended into the fishing town of Pasaia. Call us lazy, but we decided to take the bus back to San Sebastian (the red line below is our bus line).

After our hike we treated ourselves to a fantastic lunch.

I am truly blessed with such simple tastes that I enjoy McDonald's and Jack's Pizza as much as any fine dining in any country. (I'm not so sure Jo agrees.) Call me gauche (as some in our family do), but I wouldn't have it any other way.

On our way back to the hotel, we walked along the beach boardwalk and saw this beautiful sand art.

Our next stop was this beautiful beach with very fine warm sand.

We went for swims and enjoyed the beautiful warm day.

It was nice to get another video call. Anna called again, this time with Jackson because he was home from school not feeling all that hot. He told us he was reading a book about the Hindenburg (I wonder how many kindergartners read books like this.)

After the beach it was back to the hotel and unsuccessful attempts to get the sand out of our hair (but we really didn't care). 

Jo had made reservations a week before to a very traditional old restaurant in the Old City. We had octopus and fish under the hanging ham hocks. 

It was a great day. We then headed back to the hotel to watch an episode of Suits. We watch it because it is exactly like life in big law firms.