Aizkorri Mountain Trekking

We go by van to the Arantzazu Sanctuary (90 km south of San Sebastián) and there we begin an ascent, walking, of 400 meters of slope, to the domains of Aizkorri-Aratz Natural Park.

Highlight

The Arantzazu Sanctuary was built in the 1950s amid a great controversy: its architecture was considered so modern and bizarre at the time that even the church itself spoke out against it and prevented Oteiza’s sculpture of the 14 apostles from being installed, considering it heresy (according to the Bible there are officially only 12 apostles). The building imitates the thorns of the bush in which the Virgin appeared in the 15th century. In this building you’ll find, among other things, the first works of now consecrated Basque artists such as Chillida, and spaces that seem to have been taken from the film Alien (1979) by Ridley Scott.

Take me to the top

Once at the top of the Aizkorri mountain range, we cross the fields of Urbia, immense green meadows, groomed like golf courses and inhabited by herds of horses, cows and latxa sheep (you’ll recognize them by their primitive appearance and their wool that seems to form dreadlocks). After the walk, a well-deserved typically Basque lunch with km. 0: cured sausages, ham, tuna and Idiazabal cheese (made from the milk of the latxa sheep you, hopefully, have seen grazing).

Choose your own adventure

From Urbia you have two options: go down with the guide again to the Arantzazu sanctuary or cross the mountain to its eastern side to reach the Roman road (actually, it’s medieval - the Romans didn’t want to climb so high) and the famous tunnel of San Adrián, a natural cavity that served as a passage for travelers heading towards Castile and where there were taverns, inns and a hermitage that still stands today. From the tunnel to the van you’ll have a short walk.