¿Qué tal?
Are you a fan of the popular movie series Game Of Thrones, which has been filmed also in many places in Spain? No matter the answer, you would definitely enjoy the trip to the North of Spain. To be honest, I am not as much of a GOT fan as I am a passionate traveller. The trip offered us a breathtaking view of awesome cliffs, long ocean waves, white sandy beaches and heavenly tasting food.
Precious moments (well actually hours) on the beach in Zumaia
On the day of departure I also took part in the 1st Conference of Sports Nutrition in Barcelona and it especially affected my free time to prepare everything for a 4-day trip. Surprisingly, I managed to fill up my suitcase in 2 hours with all the most important necessities. After departing at 10 pm we had to face an 8-hour drive with just 1 stop in between. But despite the long ride, me and my Belgian friend, lost ourselves in a very interesting conversation about some great topics, so the time passed very quickly. At around 6 am, we finally arrived at the first destination, which was Gaztelugatxe. It is located 35 km east from Bilbao and it is a place where the 7th episode of GOT was filmed.
We were woken up by the bus lights turning on and a sleepy voice coming from the microphone saying slowly: "Good morning guys, we have arrived!" It was still totally dark outside and we needed much more energy than usual to get off the bus.
Searching for directions to get to Gaztelugatxe
The North greeted us with a windy and chilly morning. In order to reach San Juan de Gaztelugatxe we walked along the asphalt road for approx. half an hour and it was just enough to wake us up completely. Very soon, descending to the cost, the path got more narrow and began smelling of pine trees and soon enough we could hear the pounding of waves, which was pretty good for starters. But what was even better was coming to the edge of a bridge constructed over the cliffs and hardly being able to see the ocean (because of the darkness) and huge waves.
Beautiful view from the winding bridge on our way to the top of the island
With time our eyes adapted to the dark (and it also started dawning), so we walked along the famous winding bridge and then climbed the stairs (240 steps was quite a lot for a morning walk) to the church of San Juan. As we reached the top it became much brighter and we were now more than prepared to take those #amazing #GOT photos. At that point we totally forgot about the sleepless and uncomfortable night on the bus.
The next stop was the largest city and the heart of the Basque country-Bilbao. After exploring the city center we also had time to visit the Guggenheim Museum. It is a modern and contemporary art museum known as one of the most admired works of contemporary architecture. In the evening many of us agreed to spend time just spontaneously, relaxed, chilling in one of the bars along the Nervion river and get some hours of well deserved sleep.
The Gugenheim Muesum
Charming streets along the Nervion river
Main train station in Bilbao
The following day we were woken up by the warm rising sun, ready to explore the next 3 amazing places. Our first stop was in small, kind of a sleepy, medieval village called Mundaka. It is the home of one of the longest left-hand waves in the world. It was definitely amazing and worth seeing this place, and in particular the surfers catching the waves.
From Mundaka the road led us to the next scene of Game of Thrones- Zumaia. It is without a doubt a place you must see, especially all of you who enjoy walking on the cliffs, watching long waves, discovering the coast and taking amazing pictures. Although mostly very busy with tourists, the Itzurun beach is also of interest to geologists because it is situated among the longest set of continuous rock strata in the world. There's no need to describe much - here are the photos which may speak for themselves.
After visiting Zumaia, it was again time to sit down for an hour and ride to the last coastal city on our trip- San Sabastian. It is located just 20 km from the French border and everyone can guess what is the main economic driver there. Tourism and commerce have given the city an international dimension. For example, it is where the San Sebastian International Film Festival takes place, which is considered one of the most important cinema festivals in the world. The city is also famous for its white sandy beaches, food and the picturesque "Porte Vieja"-old town.
We stayed the night and the next day in San Sabastian, so it was the perfect opportunity to enjoy the city night life and taste the local food. It took us an hour to find a good place to eat with room enough for 7 people. We almost gave up the search, but in the end we finally found one. And it turned out to be the prefect place! So in short, a it was a restaurant which served Pintxos (in a million different ways), lots of tapas, tortillas and good wine. Not bad for a pre-birthday dinner, right?
Apart from the delicious food I really liked sharing the wide variety of meals with other friends, just like most Spanish people usually do. Then, shortly afterwards we had really tasty but pricey ice-cream in the park where we settled down to eat it. But the cherry on top was the cake that surprised me at midnight in the central park of the city. My friends decided to bring it from a nearby restaurant and their procession was accompanied by the choir of the "Happy Birthday" song. Receiving wishes in 6 different languages, eating midnight birthday cake in park of San Sebastian were definitely things I had never expected.
Apart from the delicious food I really liked sharing the wide variety of meals with other friends, just like most Spanish people usually do. Then, shortly afterwards we had really tasty but pricey ice-cream in the park where we settled down to eat it. But the cherry on top was the cake that surprised me at midnight in the central park of the city. My friends decided to bring it from a nearby restaurant and their procession was accompanied by the choir of the "Happy Birthday" song. Receiving wishes in 6 different languages, eating midnight birthday cake in park of San Sebastian were definitely things I had never expected.
The last day was a bit more sleepy and due to the rainy weather we had some extra time to visit the cafe La Viña. It is world famous for its traditional cheesecake. Actually this was nothing like any cheesecake I've tasted before. The extraordinarily rich flavor of the pastry made us fall silent the moment we put it to our lips. This must be magic!! The Sunday morning stretched into midday while we were still at La Viña enjoying the moment. But then the people there began giving us strange and maybe a bit nervous faces, which was a sign to stand up and say goodbye to that awesome place. But I think that in all of our minds there was a voice telling us "I am definitely going to come back here". Maybe we will have a reunion there, who knows.
Soon after lunch we had to say goodbye to San Sabastian and greet the 8-hour bus ride back to Barcelona, which was at that time totally flooded due to heavy rainfall. The locals of BCN often say: "The streets here are not made for handling so much rain, it's unusual for this city to have so many wet days". Sometimes I hear them blaming the climate changes for it. But for us, Slovenians, it still seems like much nicer weather compared to what we have back home at this time of year - and I've been enjoying it a lot so far.
Next post will be up soon – stay tuned!
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