Day 49: Carrión de los Condes to Bilbao

Disclaimer: All voyages in this blog are being taken safely in the comfort of our imaginations - based on our plans and intentions for travel in 2020. What is reality after all? 

Today we drove into Euskadi: the Pays Vasco or Basque Country. Three routes were suggested and while we initially thought about heading to the coast(and even tentatively had identified some lunch stops), we eventually settled on the inland route past Miranda de Ebro.

This took us, by the time we were seeking lunch, near to the small town of Pancorbo, so we deviated off the highway and into the town in a gap between the steep crags:

We eventually found the centre of the old part of the town:

which was clustered around and over a little stream:

where there was a restaurant with a garden setting:

for lunch:

Back on the highway, we again detoured slightly into the nearby Miranda de Ebro - but were a little deterred by the 'canyons' of apartment blocks here (though one building caught our eye):

and the industrial nature of the town (mainly the chemical industry). In a rare burst of sunlight here between the clouds, we had a quick glimpse of the Iglesia Espíritu Santo near the banks of the Ebro:

We pushed on, eventually winding our way through the sometimes difficult streets of Bilbao, but somehow never getting seriously lost (such are the joys of this form of travel). We were directed by our accommodation to an underground car park in the Casco Viejo area - the medieval old quarter:

which used to be the fortified part of the city, protected by walls.

We parked in the usual tight spaces:

and took the lift upstairs to a paved park:

through which we trundled our way to the Plaza Nueva (also called Plaza Barria, meaning ‘new square’) – which takes its name in reference to what used to be Plaza Vieja, the 'old square' that once stood on the current site of La Ribera - the largest covered market in Europe (but a fairly modern one), along one bank of the river:

We'll go here tomorrow perhaps.

The New Plaza was built in 1821 in neoclassical style, and is surrounded by arches, called cuevas, and beautiful arcaded buildings:

Our apartment is a really short distance on the other side of the Plaza, on a corner of pedestrianised streets. It has these intriguing windows jutting out over the street:

We met our hosts outside, headed in:

and took the lift up to our apartment:

The highlight is certainly the enclosed balcony, where we can sit and look over the streets and the nearby ice-cream shop:

The question that's troubling us us is: "Do they do a banana split?" but the answer seems to be: "Not yet!" (though they do have chocolate pizzas!).

After settling in, we took a quick stroll around the area, looking back to the Plaza Nueva (that's how close we are):

and then wandering through other streets and squares (in between some showers):

before dropping in to a local bar/restaurant for some pintxos/tapas:

You can get table service, but it's more fun to simply go up to the counter and choose and point:

That's the universal language (at which we are quite proficient now), though English seemed to be widely spoken.

Again sated, we wandered along the river bank, back to rest up for a busy day in Bilbao; the river and the Guggenheim beckon tomorrow – read about it in our next post.