Plan # 6: The Txindoki´s Route

We leave Donostia-San Sebastián through Paseo de Miraconcha and the Avenida de Zumalacárregui until we reach the N-1 and  we will continue for about 20kms, until the deviation of Alegia. The town of Alegia, next to the river Oria, has some interesting monuments such as the famous old bridge or Zubi Zaharra, a medieval construction that saves the river channel  and the Church of San Juan Bautista.
From Alegia we take the direction of Amezketa, to enter in the surroundings of Mount Txindoki. This area was declared  Nature Reserve in 1994, with 10,956 hectares of surface and contains numerous megalithic monuments, dozens of caves and marmitas, and areas of mythological importance. The  village of Amezketa has a beautiful set of popular architecture presided by the Church of San Bartolomé with ancient tombstones and the  “argizaiolas”.

From Amezketa, you take a road that offers beautiful panoramic views up to Abaltzisketa, from where you can see the Mount Txindoki, and all its contours, the Town Hall, the typical houses with cantilevered roofs and the Church of San Juan Bautista, with the beautiful Romanesque cover.
From Abaltzisketa we after a short slope, we will arrive to the area of ​​Larraitz, in the foothills of the Txindoki, where is the hermitage of Our Lady of the Remedies, venerated in all the zone. Numerous footpaths and mountain routes start from here.

From Larraitz we descend in the direction of Zaldibia and Ordizia, but we turn to Gaintza, to arrive at this small village, the highest population of the Goierri and where an splendid panorama can be seen.

Then,  we arrive to Ordizia. The historical center and nucleus of the town declared as Monumental-Historical Set, is a space of medieval plant and narrow streets with a commercial activity and with known buildings like Parochial Church of the Asuncion, the Town hall, Palaces Zabala, Abaria, Barrena , Casa-Torre Muxica and the monument to Urdaneta. But the great attraction is the market of products of the country whose origin dates from the century XI and XII. Its celebration takes place every WEDNESDAY of the year and to this weekly market are added a series of extraordinary markets like the dedicated ones to the cheese of Idiazabal, medieval fair, of the wine, of Christmas although it emphasizes the fair of Basque Festivals in September.