Today it is a private dwelling, although I understand that the owner is still prepared to fire off the occasional salvo when pirates threaten. The castle comes with matching dungeons, where it is told that prisoners chained to the walls were often drowned by the rising tide; an effective deterrent sadly no longer employed to control the criminal classes. San Telmo can be found by walking to the far extreme of Hondarribia past the old port, and appears just before the road turns to the left to sweep up into the hills From the front it looks deserted, although if you take the little path around the left hand side, the lawns look immaculately trimmed. Continue along that path and you find an information board assuring you that this is indeed pirate territory, and that Basque fishermen would often go in for a little bit of piracy themselves when the fish weren’t biting. The castle also served to defend the town from the French, who would frequently cross the river for some pillaging when the fancy took them.
