Consumptive people must, however, especially avoid them.
Delightful excursions in the neighbourhood: pleasure boats on the Urola: mules for mountain excursions.
Leaving the baths, we next arrive at
412 m. Azpeitia. Inn: Parador Nuevo. Pop. 6379. The town is surrounded by walls, and is entered by four gates; it is pleasantly situated at the foot of Mount Izarraiz. Its ch. of Na. Sa. de la Soledad contains a silver statuette of San Ignacio Loyola, the founder of the holy Order of Jesus, who was born 1 m. from hence. In the parochial Ch. of San Sebastian is the Pila, or font, at which Loyola was baptized; and in one of the chapels the marble sepulchre of Bishop Zurbano, ob. 1510. Mothers flock to this church to have their boy-babies christened Ignacio, and women offer their, shifts at the shrine in hopes of becoming happy mothers. The Doric façade of the ch. is the work of Ventura Rodriguez (1767). In the central street of Azpeitia there are two very remarkable houses with Moorish façades of brickwork, of the 15th cent.: excellent examples of their kind.
The road continues up the delicious green valley of Loyola to the
1 m. Santa Casa and Convent where Ignatius de Loyola was born in 1491. The Convent was built to enclose the residence formerly occupied by the Loyola family, by Maria Ana of Austria, wife of Philip IV. The architect was Fontana. It was built in the shape of a spread-eagle. The Ch., built in imitation of the Pantheon at Rome, is full of rich marbles from Mont Izarraiz, mosaics, and gilding, in the worst possible taste; and, notwithstanding its vast size, the impression it gives is anything but a pleasant one. The entrance hall is noble, and the double corridor beyond is handsome.
Obs. the chapel in which Loyola recovered from the wounds received at Pamplona. It is divided by a reja, and ornamented by bold carvings in illustration of the life and adventures of the saint. Here it is said the Virgin Mary descended to attend to the wounded man. The small door of the sanctuary is closed with the original bolt of the door of the Saint’s farm. It is now aseminary for Jesuits.
A Romeria (pilgrimage) is made to the Santa Casa on the 31st of July, at which time a grand public festival is attended by a great number of persons from every part of Spain. Travellers in this neighbourhood should endeavour to be present, as they will have a good idea of this picturesque fête. The Zorzico is danced with great solemnity in the Plaza. One day is devoted to Novillos, and the third to a Juego de Pelota, which is well worth seeing.
2 m. Azcoitia. Pop. 4901. There is a large manufacture of boinas, the cap worn by the peasantry here. Obs. in Church of Santa Maria la Real, the elaborately carved stalls. In the transept on the Epistle side there is a good retablo, containing eight pictures, painted in Seville in 1568. The rest of the interior of the ch. is tawdry and in bad taste.
712 m. Elgoibar. Pop. 3391. Inn: Fonda. A well-frequented mineral bathing establishment, the waters of which are peculiarly efficacious in certain diseases of the urinary organs.
212 m. Eibar. Pop. 4149. Here is an important fire-arm industry fitted with English machinery. Besides the government arm manufactory, Eibar is celebrated for the beautiful iron inlaid with gold work (damasquinè), made by Sr. Zuluaga. The most important specimen of this manufactory is General Prim’s tomb at the church of Atocha, Madrid. A great variety of small objects of every kind are also made there.
In the immediate vicinity is the hermitage of la Natividad de Nuestra Señora, surrounded by plantations of oak and beech.
3 m. Ermua. Pop. 717. The road continues through a remarkably fertile country to
7 m. Durango, Pop. 6195. A Swiss-like old town with rectangular streets and pleasant alamedas. Its Ch. of San Pedro de Tavira is one of the most
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