The hike I booked with Air BnB for today took me to Zumaia, which is a town west of San Sebastian, famous for its incredible cliffs and a UNESCO Geopark which holds more than 60 million years of history in its rock formations. My guide Angel is from Patagonia in Chile, he is an environmental scientist, and he moved here with his wife and their young son three years ago. He has set up a tour company called Basque Nomads to show people the wonders of the Basque landscape, and he is the most brilliant guide. You must book an experience with him when you come here and support his growing business. We caught the train to Zumaia (only 40 minutes from San Sebastian), and started the tour walking through the old town, looking at the buildings, and then slowly making our way towards the coast. My jaw literally hit the floor when I saw the ocean views start to appear, and the cliffs, and the stacked pancake rocks. It is incredible. No wonder this area has been a location for movies (and more Game of Thrones), and it is a live laboratory for geologists from all over the globe. Within each slice of rock lies 10,000 years of geological history, so in the span of our hike we covered tens of millions of years, including the period when dinosaurs became extinct. Amazing. It was another beautiful day in Spain as you can see, and the temperature reached 27 degrees. Warming me up for my return to Auckland 🙂 where I won’t need the man boots or Mongolian yak wool socks and can put on some jandals for a change 🙂 Gabon (which is good night in Basque)
