Why go
Those changes are still visible. Walk 31 August Street and the rebuilt Parte Vieja for the story of the siege; cross the Boulevard to see how the planned centre replaced the old defensive boundary; follow La Concha to understand the later royal summer city.
The full story
A monastery dedicated to Saint Sebastian appears in medieval records near present-day Antiguo. The town gained a charter from Sancho VI of Navarre in the late twelfth century and developed as a port beneath Urgull. Its position near the French border later made it a defended stronghold. Fires and wars repeatedly changed the built fabric. The most decisive rupture came in 1813, when British and Portuguese troops assaulted the French-held town and much of it burned. The old quarter was rebuilt on a largely familiar street pattern. In 1863 the defensive walls came down, opening land for a regular grid of new streets. Royal summer visits then encouraged promenades and buildings around La Concha. Read the city from old port to planned centre: each short stretch belongs to a different phase of the same coastal town.