musings of a cycling-crazed techie: Summer Vacation Part 2: Basque Country

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Day 1 - Bilbao

Donde estámos? En la tierra de los pinxtos y vino tinto. El púlpo está en mi estómago. Delicioso!

We flew into Bilbao, Spain on Saturday evening. We circled three times around our hotel in Barakaldo before being able to approach from the correct side. Oh how I love driving in European cities...in any case, we got checked in unscathed and headed for a tapas bar across the street as our hotel restaurant was closed for a wedding. We had octopus, papas bravas and roasted mushrooms with baby eels with a bottle of Rioja. Grand total $28. Everything really is free when you leave Switzerland. Sunday morning, we got up and headed for the Guggenheim. The best work there was from Joana Vaconselos - a Portuguese artist. She does huge sculptures out of unconventional materials. She had a giant pair of stilettos made of pots and pans and a 10 meter high chandelier made of tampons. Her giant octopus fills the entire atrium of the museum (pictured). Richard Serra - an SF artist has a huge installation of steel cylinders and walls you can walk through (pictured from above). The temporary exhibit was on Chinese art since 1989. We spent a few hours there and then had lunch at a cafe across the street. We had salads with mushrooms, onions and patè and shared some calamari. We then toured the old town and cathedral and headed back for a siesta. In the evening we attempted to Pintxo hop in the hood, but only found one bar with an ample supply, so ended up back at the hotel after to top off with croquetas and tortilla
and two liters of water.

Day 2 - Bilbao

Buen día! Hoy visitémos el museo Guggenheim. #bilbao #guggenheimbilbao #guggenheim #lindo #escultura #entiendes? #malespañol

Sunday - a good day to visit #iglesia #neogothic #neogothicarchitecture #catedraldesantiago #bilbao

We took the metro to the center and visited the Guggenheim Musem along with the Cathedral de Santiago.

Day 3 - Gaztelugaxte and Gernika

We left Bilbao on Monday morning and drove to the coast. We had reservations to “hike” to the hermitage at Gaztelugatxe on the Atlantic coast. It’s a 1.2km trek downhill and then up the stairs to the island and then once back on terra firma a climb back to the ridge and across for a 3.2km return. At the hermitage, it is customary to ring the bell three times, which we did. There wasn’t much lunch offering in the tiny outpost, so we decided to head to Guernica (Gernika) for lunch. As depicted in Picasso’s masterpiece about WW2, it was a city destroyed. It has risen nicely since then. The line building that survived was the church which is mostly original, but without windows, which were lost in bombing. The old town is charming and colorful. We dined on bacalao and then we visited the Basque meeting house and oak tree signifying the continuity of the Basque culture. The evening took us to Vitoria Gasteiz - a city often overlooked by tourists - without reason. We walked to the old town for some pintxos and had delicious tortilla, cuttlefish and a local sheep cheese that was fabulous.

Day 4 - Vittoria Gasteiz

Tuesday we were up before most of the town folk in Vitoria Gasteiz. We made a self-guided walking tour of the old town. It is probably the best preserved of the medieval centers in the cities in Basque Country. This is because the fascists mostly let the town be during WW2, unlike Guernica, which is the spiritual capital of the Basques. Today, Vitoria Gasteiz is the seat of The Basque autonomous region. Around 11:00am, we departed town to head for a hike we read about on the inter webs that sounded promising. We drove over Monte Basso - a real meat grinder to save for a return cycling trip. We descended the other side toward and the town of Baquedano - a charming hill town and start of the hike in Nacedero del Urederra. The hike descends from the edge of town into a river basin and up to the source of the river. It is Carstic and forms a series of aquamarine pools - much like what we saw a Plietvice in Croatia a few years ago. It is on a much smaller scale, but also much less crowded. After hiking out in the afternoon heat, we stopped at the only restaurant in town for the menu del día. We enjoyed salad, albondigas and arroz con leche. After that, we took the second half of our drive into Pamplona. Once settled and rested, we headed to the old town for pintxos. We had one exceptional one at a bar recommended by Rick Steves called El Gaucho. It was egg with truffle and little shredded potatoes on the top - delicious. We also managed to save room for some helados on the walk back to the hotel.

Day 5 - Pamlona

#sunset #pamplona #iruña #paisvasco #nobulls #onlypintxos #delicioso We arrived in Pamplona early enough for a pintxo crawl tonight. Fortunately, the rain stopped and the sun peeked out as it was going down.

Está alguién en casa? #oldtown #pamlona #iruña #españa #paisvasco

On Wednesday we ventured into the center of Pamplona. We took a walk along the outer walls of the old city. There are a few layers as they transitioned from square walls to star shaped walls for better defense to emulate the French style. Everything in the old town has multiple layers of building inspired by the constraints of the walls. We found the bull pen where the San Fermin running of the bulls starts each July. Following that, we toured the cathedral, which has three unique periods of building - Romanesque, Gothic and Romantic. They had a nice museum inside with some history of the Church/Europe. Definitely worth the 5 Euro admission (4 for seniors, 3 for pilgrims/kids). We lunched at a sideria - enjoying food and some cider. Then, we embarked on the local afternoon custom - a siesta. Then, we went out for pintxos around 8 again, but had to wait for rain to let up first. We started again at Gaucho for another egg with truffle and also had duck in a wonton-like wrapper. Then, we went to a place with a bunch of jamón Iberico and had some txokoli wine and a bit of ham. Our last stop was next door to that for croquettes - one cheese and one ham. Of course, we had to get helados again on the way back, since the place was so good the previous night. We did go for the smallest cone though

;)

Day 6 - Valle de Baztan and San Sebastian (Donastia)

Thursday we got up and headed out for the Valle de Baztan. It is a rural area where mostly Basque sheepherders live near the French border. We’d read that the valley is filled with marked walking paths and found directions for starting one walk that was around 7 miles. The valley is definitely wetter than most of the areas we’ve been in. It was overcast and drizzly all day and the amount of mud we had to traverse indicated a permanent wet state. We enjoyed the green rolling hills and farms. The walk reminded me a lot of the Wiclow Way in Ireland. After our walk, we lunched at a local Asador - only 10 euros for lunch with beverages. Wow! Then, we drove a very winding road to the final destination of the trip - Donastia, or San Sebastián. It’s a lovely, small city on the coast. And, it’s more touristed - for good reason. A short pintxos crawl before bed gave us a small flavor of the old town. Friday we tour.

Day 7 - San Sebastian

Friday we started with a climb of Mt. Urgall, overlooking the port of Donastia. We explored all the trails and ended up at the museum at the top, which has a history of the city. Above the museum is the Christ statue overlooking the city and a chapel - both relatively recent additions. On the way down, we stopped at the cafe, which was supposed to have salads, but no, and had a cheese plate instead. Then, we dropped into the city and had a brief stop at the Santa Maria church before having a legit salad for lunch. On the walk back, we stopped at the other cathedral in town and I took a quick dip in the ocean. It was perfectly refreshing and a great swimming beach. Following our siesta, we headed out for sunset photos, but were stymied by fog. So, we got an early start on the pintxos crawl for the evening.

Day 8 - Leketio before home