An afternoon in Bilbao

Apart from San Juan de Gaztelugatxe with a bonus of Castillo de Butrón, there was one more thing that made us want to visit the area. Namely, Bilbao. Although that is not the whole truth. We were not lured by the Guggenheim Museum (we saw the building and... it stands out ;)) or by the Seven Streets (Siete Calles) or by the New Market (Plaza Nueva). We wanted to see the Vizcaya Bridge (Puente de Bizkaia).

 
But first things first. We drove into Bilbao and left the car at the only parking we could find (and that also took us a while) - an underground carpark by the river. The spot was perfect. A walking distance from the Seven Streets and the New Market. Plus, it was right by the beautiful promenade that led along the river. A great place for a walk. With benches every few metres, green corners and many playgrounds plus the view of the river running through the town, it makes a perfect place to spend the afternoon for the whole family.
We also went to the guidebook recommended Seven Streets and to the New Market, where we ate the most delicious ice cream ever. Or at least during that trip.

 
And that was basically it for Bilbao. It was time to hit the road and see the Vizcaya Bridge. And use it as well. We got there just in time to drive onto the bridge and get transported to the other bank. Cause you don't just drive through this bridge. You fly over the river ;) Though it might be nothing special to many, it was a great adventure for our constructor. He loved it. Though it probably looks much better from the distance than when you're actually on the bridge, but the experience is to remember. 

The next morning, we said goodbye to Bilbao. We woke up to see the clear and sunny grey and cloudy sky. We packed up quickly, to make it before it started raining. And we drove off. We wanted to stop in Oviedo or Gijon for the night. But it didn't want to stop raining all along the way. So we decided to change the plan a little. We decided to stop for lunch in Oviedo and then continue along the coast. But it was raining so heavily that we even dropped that thought. In the end, we bought some snacks and decided to keep driving. The fogs were so heavy that we could hardly see the road ahead of us. Not to mention the (what could have been) amazing views. There were times where we could see a little more. It wasn't an easy drive.

About 150 km before La Coruna, we finally saw bits and pieces of blue sky. So there was hope. Hope for no rain. Cause we had no hope for clear sky then. That's definitely not the kind of weather you want during your camping (or any, for that matter) holidays.

The unpronouncable name of San Juan de... what??

When we were organising our #Eurotrip2016, we had nothing planned for sure. We didn't know where and when exactly we were going to get. We didn't book any campsites (which caused a little bit of trouble sometimes), we bought no entrance tickets. In the general idea of our trip, we had a few places we wanted to see and around them I drew a draft plan of our trip. We had just a few places we wanted to see on our way (like six or seven), a few more that would be nice to visit if we manage to, so out of three weeks on the road, is wasn't much. And the one I'll describe in a moment, definitely was one of the few.

I came across it totally by accident. I can't even remember where I read about it first, but it was like a year ago. And I sure knew I wanted to see it. Obviously, I totally forgot its unpronouncable name (and forgot to jot it down, too). When we finally decided to head to Spain, I started searching for it again. I knew it was somewhere on the northern coast of Spain. I kind of associated it with Bilbao, but wasn't sure. I had a picture of it in mind, but there's no search engine (yet) that can read my mind. Or anybody else's. Or is there...? Imagine this (and no, it's not a joke): I spent two hours scanning google maps (I was really desperate!) and searching with any keywords that got to my mind. Finally, I found it (yay for Earth view on google maps). I immediately wrote down the name (yup, still unpronouncable) and, to make sure I have it somewhere, I also e-mailed it to my husband. His reaction? "Please tell me we're going there". My reaction to his reaction? "No, honey, I'm just that bored to spend two hours searching for a place for the sake of searching...". Curtain.

Fast forward, and we're back on our campsite right off Bilbao.

In the morning, I went to the reception to ask for directions. I said (and I quote): "Could you tell me, please, how we can get to... I'm sorry, I can't pronounce it... San Juan de...". That was it. The lady behind the counter immediately knew what I was talking about and said the full name. In no way did it resemble the spelling of the word. Not to me, at least. And I still can't say it. I couldn't repeat it. I can spell it now, though ;)

She said we should drive to Bakio. There, we'd surely find further directions. We got to Bakio and found no further directions. We stopped for a minute right off the beach and simply asked for directions (the views were worth the stop!). It was no big deal, but we had to drive a few kilometres further. We finally got to the car park at the beginning of the trail.

It was much easier to find the car park than to find a free spo. Though we were lucky, again. Somebody was driving out right before us, so we took the freshly emptied spot. The car park was free of charge and totally full. We no longer had to worry about that, though.

We were soon on the trail to San Juan de Gaztelugatxe. A small chapel on a tiny islandish rock sticking out of water, with a narrow strip of rocky path leading to it. The trails starts in a forest, so it's mostly shadowed at the beginning. It goes down and is realitevely steep and slippery at places. It's safer to leave flip flops and put on more adequate footwear.

Once you get out of the forest, it still leads down, but it's a bit flatter. Finally, you follow a road for a bit. It takes you to that rocky strip joining the islandish rock with the land. And then to the stairs taking you all the way up to the chapel. There's a toilet (horrible, dirty and stinky) both at the bottom of the stairs, as well as next to the chapel on top. There's also a place to fill up your water bottle. Remember to take a look both to your left and to your right, cause it is definitely worth it.

Once you feel you're ready to climb up the stairs in broad sunlight, you can set off. It's exhausting, especially on a hot, sunny day. The stairs are narrow, so passing by others isn't too comfortable. The climb is worth the effort, though. At least I didn't regret doing it.

The chapel itself is nothing spectacular. You can pull the string to ring the bell, if you like. And... that's basically it. (Oh, you can also smell that there's a toilet next to the chapel. To avoid it, remain on the other side of the chapel, away from its entrance).

But the views of the sea and the coast are amazing. And once there, simply focus on them.

We were just thrilled (some of us in particular ;)) when we realised that we have to get all the way back to the car. And from the chapel we could see what was awaiting us. Some of us especially couldn't wait to get back ;)

It wasn't as bad as it seemed, though. This time, the way up was partly shadowed, which made it a little bit easier to get to the top. And we already had some plans for the rest of the day that helped us keep going, too. It's all about motivation ;)

On the way back to the campsite, we stopped at one of the viewpoints. Why? Cause, well, it was a viewpoint ;) And we could take a picture of San Juan de Gaztelugatxe from a distance. You can clearly see the islandish rock sticking out of water with the chapel on top. And the rocky strip of land connecting the island with the land. It's really there and it looks amazing.

Have you ever been to San Juan de Gaztelugatxe? 

How did you like it?

Driving, driving... and a colourful sunset

Having seen La Roque Gageac, we spent day four of our #Eurotrip2016 driving. We didn't know where we would get, where we should look for a campsite or anything. We even didn't know whether we were going to spend the night in France or in Spain.

Driving through Dordogne

Finally, we ended up driving to Spain. We knew we were stretching it a bit too far. But we had no trouble finding free spots on campsites, so we hoped it was going to be like that here as well. Spoiler alert - it definitely wasn't.

Relax zones on French highways

Already exhausted and thinking of nothing else but regaining freedom (aka getting out of the car), we got to the first campsite in the area we wanted to visit. The views from there were spectacular. The campsite was on a kind of cliff, overlooking... I don't know, a river estuary? It reminded me of Norwegian fiords a little, though the colours of water, sky, plants were definitely different. I regret not taking any pictures there. But if I got out of the car, the kids would have wanted to do the same. And getting them back in the car would have been impossible. And since the campsite was full, we had to keep driving. Throughthe narrow roads, with lots of twists and turns. Through mountains and forests. We got to the second campsite. Surprise, surprse, it was also full. We definitely did not expect that. How naive of us, I know. And we knew it back then, too.

Anyway, we typed into our navigation the coordinates of the third campsite. Third time's a charm. We were back on the road. Twists, turns, forests, mountains - all that again.

One of the few pictures of our tent (the big one on the right)

We finally got to the campsite. And, again, we hear that, unfortunately, they hav no places left. Seriously, nothing? We're small, we don't take up much space (our full bumper totally contradicts that...). We're with kids. We're sooo tired. We won't stay long. Two nights tops. Or maybe at least for one night...? The receptionist said that they have area where we could set up a tent, but we'd have to leave our car on the car park and not next to the tent (so not  problem), and there's no electricity there (sold! we could live with that).

 The sunset as seen from the on-site playground

So we found our place for the next two nights. With a magnificent view of colourful sunsets over the sea. Just off Bilbao. We could stay. We could relax.

Right after the sunset