Day 16 – Bilbao

Unfortunately, today we leave Rioja. In retrospect, we wished we had added an extra day in this beautiful wine region. There is so much to see and taste. 😉 We never did figure out what the bull was all about that overlooks the region, but we waved bye and headed to the land of the Basque.

Although the 2022 harvest was pretty much finished, there is always something to do in the vineyard. This vineyard located at the base of the mountains is shielded from the weather and wind that comes from the north. The protection offered by the Cordillera Cantábrica mountains separate what is known as Green Spain from the wine regions on the southern side of this range.

Choosing the scenic route, we would cross the mountains and head to Vitoria-Gasteiz, the capital of País Vasco or more commonly known as the Basque Country. There are still major divisions between the Spanish government and the Basque people who have fought for independence for years. No better example is the name of the capital Vitoria (Spanish) – Gasteiz (Basque). Depending on your heritage will determine what you call this city – Vitoria or Gasteiz. Rarely are the two names used together unless it is on a map. All we had to do was cross the mountain. For the record, Janet is not a big fan of climbing up the mountain. Tom, who is driving, dreads coming down on the other side.

One thing that always amazes us is the number of people we see on bicycles. While driving on a fairly narrow road with few guard rails, one really has to think how much space they are going to give the Fool on the Hill. (A Beatles Pun). Passing a few bikers and navigating a few “S” turns, we rounded a corner to a view that forced us to stop.

It appeared that all of Rioja was below us from our vantage point. Oh, how we wished it was a sunny day. We may have to return to Rioja just to see this view again. Back in the car, there were just a few more turns to the top. Pleasantly surprised the top of the mountain was flat and then the roads gradually descended. Passing by small towns and farms the drive went by quickly. We saw more of the large haystacks we had seen in Ribera del Duero on our drive to Rioja.

This stack was much smaller than the ones we saw earlier, but they were probably twice the size and taller than our barn back on the farm in Virginia – Just Huge!

Arriving on the outskirts of Vitoria-Gasteiz, we were surprised how modern the city looked. It appeared everything was brand new and very industrial. The city had suffered greatly in the civil war, but those days were long over. As we got closer to the center of the city with our target the parking lot, things began to look more of what one would expect in a Spanish… no I mean a Basque city. The new and old blended in with narrow streets all headed to the city square.

We continued upward and headed to one of the two cathedrals in Vitoria-Gasteiz. As we rounded a corner, Tom thought he had found the Stairway to Heaven. There in front of him, he saw the one thing he desired in Porto and Vigo! A piece of a modern engineering was just steps ahead of him and pointed towards our destination! All Aboard!

The view from the top was spectacular, even though it was cloudy, and rain was threatening to ruin our visit. Standing in front of the Church of San Vicente Mártir, we could see Santa Maria Katedrala in the distance.

We visited both churches briefly, but Santa Maria had appeared to be converted into a religious museum and no longer a church. Could be wrong on that, but it was a beautiful gothic building. The vaulted ceilings were something to behold.

We walked to the Plaza Virgen Blanca to grab some lunch and investigate the plaza. The city sign at one end of the plaza reminds all that see it that Vitoria-Gasteiz was awarded with the Global Green City Award by the UN in 2019. It is made of fresh greenery.

In the middle of the square is the Monument to Independence, which commemorates the defeat of the French Army in the Battle of Vitoria. This was the end of Napoleon’s control of Spain as Lord Wellington and his forces continued to drive the French Armies northward until their eventual surrender at Waterloo.

We wandered the streets with no plan but to just enjoy stretching our legs and taking it all in. If planning a trip to this part of the world, it may be worth adding a day or two in this town. The city is truly a mixture of the past and present and is absolutely beautiful!

The raindrops began to fall and we headed back to the car. Tom began smiling once again when he saw what Jethro Bodine would call “Moving Steps”.

From Vitoria-Gasteiz to Bilbao was about an hour away and by the time we were on the road, the rain had stopped. The GPS did a great job all day, but in big cities like Bilbao accuracy is less than desirable. A spiderweb of streets, large and small confused the GPS, and we kept going around in circles with no luck finding our street. Frustration was beginning to set in when, voilà, we found the elusive calle. It took two more circles before we were able to turn and locate our apartment.

However, finding the street was only half the battle, next came finding a parking spot. Tom remembered his secret for finding parking spots in Malta! Not sure it would work, we did two more loops in hopes of finding one with no luck.

Excerpt from Malta Blog 2016… with our driving decision made, my other conundrum with vehicles in Malta needed to be addressed. I did some research and may have found a way to eliminate my concerns about parking. I discovered that Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini (Mother Cabrini) is the unofficial patron saint of parking spaces. She is also known, and more importantly, as the patron saint of immigrants. God knows she is a busy woman these days, but hopefully she will hear my prayer when I say, “Mother Cabrini, Mother Cabrini, please find a spot for my little auto machini.”

Now I know some of you pre-Vatican II Catholics will go with St Anthony as your standby for parking places, but it appears Mother Cabrini, the first US citizen to be canonized as a saint, has moved into his spot. (excuse the pun) 

Not willing to do another loop, Tom stopped in the middle of the road and we unloaded suitcases. He left Janet in front of the apartment building with all our worldly possessions trying to figure out how to unlock the door. Tom got back in the car and said his prayer to Mother Cabrini and suddenly a vehicle less than 10 yards in front of him pulled out, opening a space! He did not classify it as a miracle, but it is close.

Up to this point, the host of our Airbnb had always met us at the rental apartment. This would be our first self-check-in. How hard could that be… Janet had already figured out how to unlock the outer door to get into the building, but there was another inner door that she could not open. Tom read the instructions multiple times with no luck in breaking the code. Basically, all we had to do was press the apartment doorbell and that would open the door. However, no matter how many times we tried the door remained closed. The last time she pushed the bell, a voice came over the speaker and said, “This is not an Airbnb!” in English. Frustrated and tense from trying to find the apartment and parking the car, Tom went next door to a Greek restaurant to use their WIFI. It was when he was getting the password for the WIFI, he realized what we were doing wrong. Back at the locked door, Tom began reading the instructions slowly and Janet followed along.

We were staying in apartment number 4 on the 1st floor… and that is what Janet thought she was pushing over and over. Instead, she was irritating the lady on the 4th floor in apartment number 1. So, we tried pushing the right doorbell and instantly we had another voilà moment. A sigh of relief and a little jig was our response as the door lock clicked open. Dropping our bags, it was time to complete our last task of the day… return the rent-a-car.

The train station was only about 8 blocks away on foot, but the rental car agency was on the other side of the tracks. Driving was not as straight forward as walking. We ended up getting a great tour of Bilbao as we took multiple streets and bridges to get to our destination. Receiving a thumbs up on the car from the Enterprise attendant, we set off to find our apartment on foot. It was much easier than driving. Cutting through the train station we stopped to admire the beautiful piece of glass which filled almost an entire wall of the station.

The walk back was easy and quick. It was decided we deserved a reward for breaking the code to unlock the apartment and turning in the rental vehicle with no damage. Two beers were in order - it was time to rehydrate and decompress! Not far down the street from our place, there was a small bar/restaurant and we went inside to enjoy our reward.

This discovery turned out to be one of the best places we visited on our entire trip. The owner and waitress were some of the nicest people ever. They welcomed us like we were family and took great care of us. While enjoying our beers, we observed four men in the corner having an animated debate about something. Their speech was fast and in Euskara (Basque Language) so not a word could be captured or processed. This went on for at least a half hour before they stood up and with a smile, patted each other on the back and started packing up. The whole time this was going on they were sharing one 500 ml bottle of Rioja.

We had paid our bill and were leaving when Tom stopped at the table to ask what wine they were drinking. Immediately, one of them named Pedro, poured a glass of wine and Tom and his new friend begin talking about wine in broken Spanish. Tom could not communicate well enough to relay what he was trying to say and went to the phone app to solve his problem. Typing into the translator, “if men would sit with a bottle of wine and discuss the problems of the world, we could solve all of the problems today”. They all smiled and the next thing we knew, the owner showed up with a bottle of Rioja in a paper bag and offered it to us as gift. Unfortunately, as he was handing Tom the wine the bag ripped and the bottle exploded on the floor. Wine was everywhere, but no one seemed upset. Before we could apologize the waitress appeared with all the needed supplies and was cleaning the floor… with a smile. We looked up and the owner had arrived with a second bottle – this time no bag 😉. We said thank you and walked down the street feeling we had just met some very special people.

After unpacking we set out for dinner. It had reached the magic 8:30 hour when restaurants opened. After trying three places with no luck because we had no reservations, we headed back to the apartment. The restaurant next door offered carryout, so we went there and ordered dinner. They said they were very busy, but it would be ready in one hour. An hour later Tom retrieved the meal and at 10:15 we had our first dinner, Greek no less, in Bilbao. Sleep followed soon after that and free from a vehicle we looked forward to exploring tomorrow on foot.  Good Night from Bilbao!