A day off in Gorliz

July 23, 2016

It poured during the night and kept on raining into the morning. I was glad I wasn't packing up to go anywhere today!

The rain finally let up mid-morning and I decided to go for a walk. After all, the campground's description in the Federación de Campings de Euskaki brochure mentioned walks to "castle ruins" and to the lighthouse and that was why I had chosen to ride all the way here.

Following the directions I'd been given, I started by walking to the beach. It looked quite nice and I though I should return later since the weather was rapidly improving. There's a walkway along the top of the beach past the Gorliz Hospital, formerly the Marine Sanatorium, founded in 1919 for the treatment of tuberculosis (and the first reinforced concrete building in Spain).

Looking across Gorliz Beach and the bay beyond

At the end of the beach I took the "nordic walking" trail up the ridge. Somewhere there are petrified dunes, but I never saw them. Instead, passed a few viewpoints and collected a lot of mud on the bottoms of my sandals. At one point, not far before the turnoff to the ruins of Fortiín de Azkorriaga, there was almost an inch of mud, the kind my dad would have called gumbo, stuck to the bottoms of my sandals. Yuck! I scraped it off on rocks and collected more, until the trail became rocky and exposed.

The route (I wouldn't call it a trail) to the ruins was sketchy. It would be easy to slip and plunge a long way down! A good location for a defensive structure, though I don't think it could really have been a castle. A small fort, I think.

Rejoining the main trail, I continued on to the lighthouse. It's a modern structure and like most lighthouses, looks better from a distance. By this time the sun was full and it was getting hot.

After a late lunch in the campground bar/restaurant, I put on my swimsuit with a plan to walk to the beach for a swim. At the beach, however, it was breezy and the water looked dirty and unappealing. Scratch that idea. Instead, walk back through the town centre to find an ATM so I could eat tomorrow!

I had been told that there would be a parade down the main street of Gorliz tonight at 8. Walking through town, the preparations were underway and I could hear a group of musicians practicing in a tavern. Many people were wearing Gorliz neckerchiefs.

It almost sounded like fireworks when the celebrations presumably got underway. I finally walked over to the town around 8:30 and the parade was ongoing. Lots of people lining the street and many more in the parade. The parade did more than just proceed; the various groups stopped and performed, then carried on. My photos aren't very good, but I'll include them anyway.

These guys were hilarious to watch. They walked with a deliberate bounce to make their bells bong and their hat ribbons fly.

The Basque answer to Chinese dragon parades?

Little kids in kilts with noisemakers. One, aged about two, was staring fascinated at the pompoms on his shoes.

A group of women in costume. Those on the other side of the street were possibly in the parade before I arrived.

This fellow was driving a tractor with a fishing boat on the back and every so often would stop his tractor and dance around

I meant to zoom in on this guy's face. I cropped instead. Classic looks!

I would never have thought the pinstriped suit was traditional to Galicia...

...nor did I think of bagpipes and drums

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