Why go
Look at the change in street pattern as you leave the old quarter. The regular central grid reflects nineteenth-century expansion, while bridges and the railway helped tie new districts to the Urumea. This context makes short walks between Parte Vieja, the centre and Gros more revealing.
The full story
For centuries the walled town occupied the ground beneath Urgull. Once the walls came down in 1863, expansion moved first across flatter land near the Urumea and then farther into the hills. The central extension followed a regular street grid associated with the Cortázar plan. Its formal design drew on Parisian examples: arcades around Buen Pastor Square and the richly ornamented María Cristina Bridge show the ambition of the new city. The railway reached San Sebastián in the same era, with the North Station opening in 1864 across the river from the centre. This planned district differs in scale and rhythm from Parte Vieja’s older streets. It also explains why a visitor can move quickly from port lanes into a more spacious nineteenth-century city without leaving the centre.