Guipuzcoa

San Sebastián is the capital city of the province of Gipuzkoa, in the Basque Country, Spain. Locals call themselves donostiarras both in Spanish and Basque.

Where is?

The city is in the north of the Basque Country, on the southern coast of the Bay of Biscay. San Sebastián’s picturesque coastline makes it a popular beach resort. Adding to the seaside environment, it benefits from hilly surroundings easily available, i.e. Urgull (at the heart of the city by the seashore), romantic Mount Ulia extending east to Pasaia, Mount Adarra rising proud far on the south and Igeldo, overlooking the bay from the west.

The city sits at the mouth of the River Urumea, San Sebastian having built to a large extent over wetlands of the river during the last couple of centuries, with the city’s downtown and the areas of Amara Berri and Riberas de Loiola lying on such terrain and the former bed of the river diverted to its current canalized course (first half of the 20th century).

The City

As a result of Donostia’s sprawling in all directions, first into the flatlands shaped by the river Urumea and later up the hills, new districts arose since the walls of the city were demolished in 1863. The first expansion of the old town stretched out to the river’s mouth, on the old quarter called Zurriola.

The orthogonal layout nowadays making up the city centre (the Cortazar development) was built up to 1914 (first phase finished) much in tune with a Parisian Haussmannian style. The arcades of the Buen Pastor square were fashioned after the ones of the Rue de Rivoli, with the Maria Cristina Bridge being inspired in the Pont Alexandre III that spans the Seine. The Estación del Norte train station standing right across the bridge was inaugurated in 1864 just after the arrival of the railway to San Sebastián, with its metallic shelter being designed by Gustave Eiffel.

La Concha bay, whose width varies greatly depending on the tides, high tide.

The Old Part

Or “Parte Vieja” (Old Part) is the traditional core area of the city, which was surrounded by walls up to 1863, when they were demolished so as to occupy the stretch of sand and land that connected the town to the mainland (a stretch of the walls still limits the Old Part on its exit to the port through the Portaletas gate). The Old Part is divided in two parishes relating to the Santa Maria and San Vicente churches, the inhabitants belonging to the former being dubbed traditionally joxemaritarrak, while those attached to the latter are referred to as koxkeroak. Historically, the koxkeroak up to the early 18th century were largely Gascon speaking inhabitants. Especially after the end of Franco’s dictatorship, scores of bars sprang up all over the Old Part which are very popular with the youth and the tourists, although not as much with the local residents. Most current buildings trace back to the 19th century, erected thanks to the concerted effort and determination of its dwellers after allied forces of Spain looted and burnt down the town (1813).

There is a small fishing and recreation port, with two-floor picturesque houses lined under the front-wall of the mount Urgull. Yet these houses are relatively new, resulting from the demilitarization of the hill, sold to the city council by the Ministry of War in 1924.

Antiguo

This part stands at the west side of the city beyond the Miramar Palace. It is arguably the first population nucleus, even before the land at the foot of Urgull (Old Part) was settled. A monastery of San Sebastián el Antiguo (‘the Old’) is attested in documents at the time of the foundation (12th century). At the mid 19th century, industry developed (Cervezas El León, Suchard, Lizarriturry), the nucleus coming to be populated by workers. Industry has since been replaced by services and the tourist sector. The Matia kalea provides the main axis for the district.

Amara Zaharra

Or Old Amara, named after the farmhouse Amara. It has eventually merged with the city centre to a large extent, since former Amara lay on the marshes at the left of the River Urumea. The core of this district is the Easo Plaza, with the railway terminal of Euskotren closing the square at its south.

Amara Berri

This city expansion to the south came about as of the 1940s, after the works to canalize the river were achieved. Nowadays the name Amara usually applies to this sector, the newer district having overshadowed the original nucleus both in size and population. The district harbours the main road entrance to the city, with Donostia’s central bus station being located between the roundabout and the river. Facilities of many state run agencies were established here and presently Amara’s buildings house many business offices. The district revolves around the axis of Avenida Sancho el Sabio and Avenida de Madrid.

Gros

The district is built on the sandy terrain across the river. The Gros or Zurriola surf beach by the river’s mouth bears witness to that type of soil. In the 19th century, shanties and workshops started to dot the area, Tomas Gros being one of its main proprietors as well as providing the name for this part of the city. Gros held the former monumental bullring Chofre demolished in 1973, on a site currently occupied by a housing estate. The district shows a dynamic commercial activity, recently boosted by the presence of the Kursaal Congress Centre by the beach.

Egia

Egia, stemming from (H)Egia (Basque for either bank/shore or hill), is a popular district of Donostia on the right side of the Urumea beyond the train station. At the beginning of the 20th century a patch of land by the railway started to be used as a football pitch, eventually turning into the official stadium of the local team Real Sociedad before it was transferred in the 1990s to Anoeta, south of Amara Berri (nowadays the site harbours houses). The cigarette factory conjures up the former industrial past of the area, while the building has been made recently into a Contemporary Culture Centre. Right opposite to this building lies the Cristina Enea park, a public compound with a botanic vocation. Egia holds the city cemetery, Polloe, at the north-east fringes of the district, stretching out to South Intxaurrondo.

Intxaurrondo

This part (meaning ‘walnut tree’ in Basque) is a large district to the east of the city. The original nucleus lies between the railway and the Ategorrieta Avenue, where still today the farmhouse Intxaurrondo Zar, declared “National Monument”, is situated since the mid-17th century. The railway cuts across the district, the southern side being the fruit of the heavy development undergone in the area during the immigration years of the 1950s and 1960s. In addition, further housing estates have been built up more recently souther beyond the N-1 E-5 E-80 E-70 ring road (South Intxaurrondo). The police force Guardia Civil runs controversial barracks there (works for new housing are underway).

Altza

Altza (Basque for alder tree) is the easternmost district of San Sebastián along with Bidebieta and Trintxerpe. It was but a quaint village comprising scattered farmhouses and a small nucleus a century ago (2,683 inhabitants in 1910), yet on the arrival of thousands of immigrants in the 1950s and 1960s a rapid and chaotic housing and building activity ensued, resulting in a maze of grey landscape of skyscrapers and 32,531 inhabitants crammed in them (data of 1970, some 50,000 in 1996). A scheme for the improvement of the area and the construction of a new housing estate (Auditz Akular) is under way as of the late 2000s.

Trintxerpe

This tip of San Sebastián’s eastern sprawl lies actually on the bank of the Bay of Pasaia, next to the neighbourhood San Pedro from the latter. It was heavily populated in the 1950s and 1960s with immigrants pouring in mainly from Galicia, who crammed in grey tone functional buildings with little regard to aesthetics.

Ibaeta

Ibaeta stands on the former location for various factories (e.g. Cervezas El Leon) of San Sebastián, with the buildings of the old industrial estate being demolished in the late 20th century. The levelling of this large flat area paved the ground for a carefully planned modern and elegant housing estate, featuring a new university campus for the public University of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU) and institutions such as the Donostia International Physics Center. A stream called Konporta flows down along the eastern side of the area, but it was canalized under the ground almost all along to its mouth on the bay pushed by urban building pressure.

Loiola

It lies by the Urumea at the south-east end of the city. It comprises a small patch of detached houses (Ciudad Jardín) and a core area of 6-odd floor buildings. The district has recently gone through a major makeover, with works finishing in 2008. The road axis coming from important industrial areas (Astigarraga-Hernani) crosses the district heading downtown. A military base (home to an uprising in 1936) stand across the river. Attempts by the city council to close it have been unsuccessful so far.

Martutene

The district bordering to the south on the town of Astigarraga comes next to Loiola in the south direction. This part of the city features an industrial area, a football pitch for lower leagues, a disused vocational training building and enclosure as well as a prison, much in decay and due to be transferred soon to a new location, probably in the municipality’s exclave of Zubieta, while this option is coming in for much opposition.

Igeldo

This rural quarter is almost a small town in its own right (many neighbours advocate for a municipality of its own), located at the mountain range of the same name towering over the west side of the Bay of La Concha (Kontxako Badia). At the nearest point of the bay lies a permanent fairground at the hillock Mendiotz, topped by a conspicuous mock military tower (actually built up at the beginning of the 20th century for tourism) which houses a hotel. There is a frequented camp-site on the area.

Zubieta

The exclave Zubieta (meaning ‘place of bridges’) was a picturesque old village up to recent years, with a bunch of houses, a unique handball pitch (on account of its single wall as opposed to the regular two) and a church. Yet it has undergone a great urban development, which has rendered the location a built-up area with paved streets and due equipment. Two contested projects are under way to build a solid-waste incinerator and a prison nearby. Historically, neighbours from Donostia held a meeting at a house in the former village in the wake of the 1813 burning, in order to decide the reconstruction of the town.