We welcome you to the park Vista Alegre. Starting with this main entrance, we suggest a circular tour, a small walk through the park that is framed in the Arkamurka route of the Zarautz Blue Green Ring.
In this short tour you will get to know the past, present and future of the park, in a privileged place of encounter between nature and people. You will find more information on the interpretative panels that are found along the route.
Let's make a brief inroads into the history of this park. Do you sign up?
At the end of the 19th century, spas achieved a great boom, due to the benefits of thermal waters and sea baths, and Zarautz did not stay behind. Queen Elizabeth II began to spend the summer in the Palace of Narros in Zarautz, which caused the aristocracy of Madrid to also move to the villa during the summer. Little crew, right? Among them came the count and the family of Villapadierna, who put his eyes in a neighborhood that was precisely in this place and which was called Amaskar. He decided to build an estate in the upper part of this neighborhood where at that time there were several houses and houses. He surrounded the estate with a wall and built a house in it. He called his estate Vista Alegre, a name whose motive is guessed as we go up this way. The original building was an English-style cottage that can only be seen in old photographs as it was shot down. However, we can still see the wall and the house of the guard and above all the viewpoint or torreon that was built in the higher part and that we will find later on.
As we can imagine, in this finca of about 9 hectares the garden was one of the most prominent elements, since, following the fashion of the time, they created a beautiful English garden with numerous imported tree and vegetable species. Even today we will find exotic trees that are part of the historical heritage, such as cryptomeria, liquidamber, tulip, ginko or pinyon pine. Imagine the beautiful walks you would take in the shade of these trees!
The 20th century represented a great change for the estate of Vista Alegre. When in 1958 the property reached the hands of the industrial Luis Tomás, in the southeast of the estate the first residential tower of the neighborhood was built, with the help of the architects Encio Cortázar and Peña Ganchegui The first modern tower built in Gipuzkoa! It is a tower formed by 6 single-family homes of 3 heights with all the advances of the time to attract luxury tourism. In order to respect trees, instead of disseminated buildings, triplex dwellings are built on top of each other. This very innovative building for the time still receives special mentions in the architectural books.
From that moment on, Vista Alegre continued to build until it became the neighborhood we know today. Fortunately, however, in the 1960s, the City of Zarautz acquired and protected an area of approximately 4.5 hectares that make up the current park.
Let's go into this green oasis, without leaving the path indicated by the arrows or blue-green lines. Remember that we must collect our trash, leave the place in good condition and, of course, respect the flora and fauna of the park, without disturbing or touching the animals and plants that inhabit this place.
If you come with your dog, you should carry it subject and collect its droppings. You are your responsible.
If you come to the park by bike, remember that the people who walk it have priority. Reduce your speed and circulate along the signaled pathways.
Well, let's go to the right to learn something more about the close relationship between this park and nature.
