Following with those places that you normally won´t visit when coming to the Basque Country, there´s a very special valley located in the province of Araba. It´s a inner “salt valley”, where locals have been obtaining pure salt from the ground for the past 1200 years. Abandoned for decades, it´s being recovered by a new Foundation that pretends to preserve and develop its former activity. It can be visited in small guided tours, the landscape surrounding it is just outstanding and the area is full of towns with a historical past and beautiful buildings. The salt obtained is excellent for cooking and considered one of the best in the world. Much unknown, though…
The web page is in Salt Valley. And if you type “salinas de añana” in YouTube (no “ñ” in your keyboards, I reckon), there are some good videos showing this miracle of nature.
For those of you visiting the Basque Country and that don´t care much about accommodation in the town center, the sensible alternative is rural lodging. By “rural” I mean “out of town”, but it may also imply closeness to nature, farm life and beautiful and idyllic surroundings. If you decide on a stay in the Basque Country on a rural home, you´ll get very good accommodation with all your primary, secondary and even tertiary necessities covered, a very good price, wonderful homemade breakfasts and all the peace and tranquility you long for, but also nice talks with the house owners, local and ecological products at hand, horse rides, beautiful trekkings,…
Some houses are better prepared than others, some have swimming pool, others offer their kitchen for private use, you may have a jacuzzi or not…but all of them pass a quality certification every year to make sure that the accommodation level is keep high.
I´m very fond of this kind of tourism, perfect to get a better understanding of our particularities. The evental language barrier will be quickly overcome by a warm welcome and a sense of immediate belonging to the place. I make my reservations through two webs, www.nekatur.net and www.agroturismosdebizkaia.com (this one, just for the province of Bizkaia), but you sure know how to google using the right words…
This is something unique in the world (yes, there are 5 others, but nothing close to this one). And, surprisingly enough, off the beaten path by tourism. A World Heritage Monument by the UNESCO, it´s been in use since 1893, designed by Alberto Palacio (not by Eiffel, as some may think). It serves to link both banks of the river of Bilbao at its finishing point (Portugalete and Las Arenas), runs 24h/365d and it transports both vehicles and people. There´s an elevator that takes you to the very top, where a recorded system plays the story of the Bridge. The views are spectacular and you can cross to the other bank walking on the iron grilled path on top. www.puente-colgante.com, luckily also available in English!.
It´s used daily by thousands of locals who take advantage of the cheap rates and extremely high frequency of trips (it´s constantly coming and going…). I´ve used it hundreds of times, many of my childhood memories are related to this Bridge and still remember how exciting it was to cross the river on a rainy and windy day, hung from cables on a kind of wagon…And then, going to Santurtzi to have some grilled sardines on the fishing port…
I´ve been to the III Basque Tourism Week, held in Donostia-San Sebastián, Bilbao and Vitoria-Gasteiz. Lots of interesting people discussing about how to improve the quantity and quality of visits to our beautiful but alas! so unknown country. There was one sentence, though, that got all my attention, Basque is sexy, and yes, I think we are, and for a lot of reasons…
…because of our love for good food, good drinking and festivals…because there are plenty of places yet to be discovered…because we make one of the best cheeses in the world (Idiazabal) but many others too…because in such a small territory we have sea, beaches, mountains, forests, lakes, caves and rivers…because our fiestas last long and suit all tastes and are really fun…because of our love for rural sports…because of our love for traditions…because of our unique language, euskera, so enigmatic…because we make one of the best wines in the world, the Rioja…because we don´t speak English and signs are in Basque and Spanish and tourists appreciate it…because of our laid back and easy going way of life…because we have the higher number of Michelin starred restaurants per head…because we keep a nice balance between rural and city life…because we have one of the most beautiful cities in Europe (in the world?), San Sebastián…because kids are welcome everywhere and we love to have them around…because of our love for families…and because a sunset from the top of the Hanging Bridge is a lifetime experience…among many other things…
It´s about time you come and visit a place full of positive experiences and emotions…where you will find at home. And this is not just a gimmick!!
Araba is the biggest of the three provinces that make Euskadi-the Basque Country, as it´s called. Its capital is Vitoria-Gasteiz, where the Basque Government and a good part of the Administration is based. Araba is usually ignored by tourism, except for its southern part, the wine region of Rioja Alavesa, where the best wines of Europe are made.
If coming to the Basque Country, try not to ignore Araba. It offers wonderful natural spaces (Valderejo, Gorbeia and Izki Natural Parks, for example), a wide diversity in landscapes and climates, excellent food, a great capital worth a visit and unexplored valleys surrounded by beautiful mountains.
Vitoria-Gasteiz is considered the most livable city in Spain, due to its ample spaces, the high rate of trees per habitant, number of parks, low crime rate and high number of pedestrian areas. Its Old Quarter was declared a Protected Monument in 1997, and keeps the spirit of the old times. The restoration of the old cathedral, www.catedralvitoria.com, can be followed in a guided tour that explains the whole process and has won several awards as Best Restoration Project. Not far, you can have lunch at www.restauranteelportalon.com, a XV century building with a spectacular façade and a beautiful interior, and great food, of course!!. You can´t miss the excellent pintxos served at its many bars, many located in the pedestrian street Eduardo Dato (a popular one is www.sagartoki.es). And, on the way out of town, the sanctuary dedicated to the Virgin of Estibalitz, many girls are named after the matron saint of the province.
Not far from Vitoria-Gasteiz, you can enjoy the reservoirs of Urrunaga and Ullibarri-Ganboa, both offer excellent hikes and places to have great food. The town of Peñacerrada-Urizaharra, still keeps a good part of its mediaeval walls untouched. In Salinas de Añana, further south, near the Valdegovía valley, pure rock salt is obtained as it was done hundreds of years ago, in terraces where water evaporates (guided tours available). And then, the Rioja region…that will be object of a separate post.
Two great museums in Vitoria-Gasteiz not to be missed: Artium, www.artium.org, contemporary art in a spectacular building, and the Museum Fournier of Cards, over 20.000 models of playing cards of all countries.
One of the main characteristics of the Basque soil is (well, it was) its rich content in high quality iron. Up to the XVI century, there were around 300 foundries! producing iron for all of Europe. Nowadays, iron still plays an important role in our present industrial activity (unfortunately, not as before…). At the very beginning, the foundries were located on top of the mountains and they used the wind as the main force to produce iron, using coal as their source of heat (in a very anti-economical way). Soon they found out that it made more sense to have the ironworks close to a water stream, and so “modern” foundries were established in many Basque towns.
I´ve been to two of these foundries, both recently restored and open to the public . You can visit them (visits are also available in English) in order to watch “live” how iron was formerly obtained. The historical reconstruction is very well performed and what you see is probably very close to what it really was, they take great pride in transforming iron “the old way”. One of them is near Bilbao, in Muskiz (Bizkaia), Ferrería El Pobal, www.elpobal.com (this link will redirect you to another page available in English)- press here for a 4´youtube video of a visitor-. You can also see how they got flour from wheat with a water mill. Entrance tickets are cheap and very interesting, kids find it really amusing.
The other one is located in Legazpi, Gipuzkoa, where there formerly were 7 foundries. This one is Ferrería Mirandaola, on this link (not the best of webs, but at least it´s in English), located in the middle of a beautiful park where you can enjoy the incredible and beautiful landscape surrounding it. There are restaurants nearby where you can have a good meal after the visit, and even get all the way to Azpeitia, to the Museo del Ferrocarril (http://www.nekatur.net/museo-vasco-del-ferrocarril-de-azpeitia), where you can take a ride for half an hour on a real XIX century train powered by coal, apart from an interesting collection of old engines, trams, buses, fire trucks, the workshop, etc…
There´s always an area in every city in the world that is widely visited by tourism, forgetting about other places that may be even more interesting. Bilbao is not like San Sebastian, which offers an unparalleled natural beauty as well as a better known gastronomy. The “Guggenheim effect” has brought tourists to this formerly ignored city, but the vast majority just stay a night or two and then leave, missing some of the charmest spots in town.
What follows is a quick very short list of some of the places I like in Bilbao (ordered as they come to my mind), that you normally will not visit as a tourist (and at very fair prices):
1) Bar EME, www.baremebilbao.com, absolutely the best sandwiches in the whole world (and I´m not exaggerating), locals love this place, you can have them either at the bar or to take away, it´s amazing how many hundreds of them they sell every day. Made with a special bread and a secret sauce, they are a treat. Quality remains untouched over the years. At 2,20 euros each, a bargain!!
2) La Tabernilla de Pozas, in Licenciado Poza street (known as “Pozas”, the most popular street for having some drinks before the soccer matches), you´d never enter here because it doesn´t even have a sign outside. There are no bars like this anymore. Wine coming from wooden barrels behind the bar, drunk in “porrón”, it´s popular to have (non-peeled) peanuts and wonderful tuna sandwiches (real ones with huge chunks of fish and wonderful crusty bread), an ageless counter, unaltered premises for ages,…, and the legend says that the two brothers behind the counter haven´t talked to each other for years..
3) Melilla y Fez, in Iturribide street (Old Town), just entering the street on your left hand side, a huge variety of potato omelette (Spanish omelettes) served in big portions at very good prices. Also, “pinchos morunos” (real kebabs) and a lively local atmosphere.
4) Bar Estoril, in Plaza Campuzano (downtown), the best long drinks in your life, together with wonderful french omelette pintxos. Can´t miss it screw driver made with real orange juice and the gin & tonic.
5) Bar Rio Oja, in El Perro street, the best cazuelitas (tapas), Old Town (Casco Viejo), homemade cuisine at popular prices.
6) Azak restaurant, in Pablo Alzola st, in the Basurto district, you can have selection of Iberic specialties and cheese for as less as 14 euros…and so big you´ll need to have another bottle of their wide (and cheap) wine list. A rarity in this district. Huge selection of meals, appetizers and beers.
7) Taberna Taurina, in Ledesma street (center), small but authentic with dozens of pictures of bulls and bullfighters.
8) Mina restaurant, a small restaurant in the heart of the Old Town, facing the Ribera Market. A bit pricey, but worth every cent spent at it. The chef Álvaro Garrido deserves a Michelin star, at least. Menu changes weekly, always surprising, always delicious.
9) Maestro García Rivero street, in the very center of town, full of bars where you can have a “zurito” (small beer) or a glass of wine together with some pintxos in any of its several bars. Lively outdoor atmosphere, the place to meet to start the night for many locals.
In your next visit to Bilbao, try to visit any of the places mentioned above. You´ll get a true feeling of what this city is about.
The suggested routes below are, in my opinion, those places that you should visit when coming to this so much unknown country. Most are easily accessible on public transport and, except in high season, you shouldn´t worry too much about crowds.
1) DONOSTIA-SAN SEBASTIÁN, one of the most beautiful cities in Europe (in the world?), views from Igeldo mountain, pintxos in the Old Town, Chillida-Leku open air museum (www.museochillidaleku.com), the picturesque fishing town of HONDARRIBIA.
2) ZARAUTZ, GETARIA (wonderful promenade almost touching the sea linking both towns), grilled fish at any of the restaurants in Getaria, ZUMAIA and its beautiful church, LEKEITIO, its port, its island and the incredible retable inside its church.
3) ARANTZAZU Sanctuary (www.arantzazu.org) and OÑATI and its University(www.oinati.org).
4) SAINT JEAN DE LUZ, BIARRITZ, BAYONNE-BAIONA, in the French Basque Country (also Petit Bayonne, on the other side of the river), great chocolates and gateau basque, apart from picturesque villages and perfect beaches for surfing.
5) BILBAO, Guggenheim Museum (this was obvious!), Old Town (Casco Viejo), Funicular train to Artxanda for spectacular views of the city.
6) The HANGING BRIDGE (Puente Colgante) of Portugalete, a Unesco World Heritage Monument, unique in the world, over 110 years old and running 24 hours a day.
7) VITORIA, Old Quarter (jewish) and a guided visit to the spectacular restoration of its Old Cathedral (Ken Follett based its novel World Without End on this cathedral, so they made him a statue!)
ATXONDO valley, where silence can be heard, spectacular place with the mountains and sheep in the background. And several wonderful restaurants .
9) URDAIBAI Biosphere Reserve and the beaches of Laga, Laida, the town of Busturia, Mundaka (surfers´ paradise), the sea estuary, the caves of Santimamiñe and the PAINTED FOREST OF OMA. Also the steep fishing town of Elantxobe.
10) The walled towns of LAGUARDIA and LABASTIDA and the wine region of Rioja Alavesa. Not to miss the guided visits to the wine cellars underneath the town.
11) The POZALAGUA caves, in the Karrantza valley, a spectacular combination of rare stalactites and stalagmites, now specially prepared for visits with kids,, http://www.karrantza.com/?seccion=cuevas3&idioma=es.
You will not find massive tourism or tourist traps at any of these places, and distances from one to the other are not that big, so plan your visit in advance and you will make the most of this absolutely beautiful corner of the world!!
I know, I know…all of you are kind of shocked by those strange eating schedules when you come to visit us: we do have breakfast at standard hours, just like you, but lunch is rarely before 13:30 (01:30PM), and it´s quite complicated to find a restaurant open before 21:30 (09:30PM), except maybe in Donostia-San Sebastián, where they are more influenced by the French visitors. Kids have an extra meal right after school, between 17:00 to 18:00 (just a sandwich, a piece of fruit and/or a yoghourt). On weekends this schedule readapts to our way of life: breakfast, as everywhere else, is later. But then we have the “aperitivo”, which is around 13:00, and may consist of several glasses of wine or “zuritos” (small glasses of beer), together with some pintxos, friends and outside the bars, if the weather is nice. We then have lunch (yes!), around 15:00, which may last a couple of hours. And then, the siesta…(which is not as common as you may think). Dinner on a Saturday evening may not start before 22:00 (10:00 PM) and not finish before one in the morning…or later.
And it´s very hard to get a table before 0930PM.
Another habit of ours is to have the “amaiketako” (meaning at eleven), that is, a small meal by 11AM or so, in order to keep going until lunch time. It used to be more popular in the past, when factory or rural labour had long working hours and work was much tougher than today.
But why do we have these odd (to you, that is) eating schedules? Well, the legend goes that at the beginning of the XX century, when blue-collar workers started to claim their rights and obtained better salaries and therefore social status, the “capitalists” changed their eating times so they would not share their meals with their workers. As a consequence, the workers wanted to follow their bosses attitudes and habits…so they also changed their schedules accordingly…….and everybody ended having their meals later than usual…
That´s why our working and school times divide our day into two long sections. And the main news on TV are at 3PM and 9PM, finishing almost at 10PM. So don´t be surprised if you feel like having dinner at around 6PM and find that people are still working and restaurants closed. Relax, have a glass of wine and a pintxo and blend in with the locals, it´s a wonderful experience!!.
Yet another place full of charm that you don´t normally visit when you come to the Basque Country. Located on the east end of the river of Bilbao estuary, it is the small fishing quarter that gave birth to the fancy suburbial town of Getxo. 
It consists of a group of typical fishermen´s houses, painted in white, red and green, uphill, and full of nice places to eat. But you don´t see any tourists here, it´s mainly locals, that like to walk along the beautiful promenade by the sea starting at the Hanging Bridge (www.puente-colgante.com, a Unesco World Heritage Monument, we´ll leave it for another time) and passing by the magnificent villas and mansions overlooking the beach of Ereaga, and ending at the Old Port, the Puerto Viejo.
You can also get there on bike or by car, but I recommend the walk along the beach to end having a glass of wine or beer together with a great pintxo at any of the bars on the port. Kids jump from top of the stairs to the water, just for fun, while people sit on the 
stone verandas watching them and enjoying an outdoor drink with some “caracolillos” (periwinkles?¿, small black sea snails, much appreciated over here) or fresh shrimp. Climbing the renovated stairs where young people like to sit, you will find a statue of a fisherwoman and a kind of shrine devoted to the Virgen del Carmen, as well as a small cozy square where you may want to sit down and enjoy some peanuts (with shell) and a drink and another pintxo. On top, after another image of the Virgin, there are three or four excellent fish restaurants (catch of the day, mainly), expensive but worth the experience.
A bit further uphill, to your left, the mirador of Usategi, for outstanding views of the bay. On the way back , there´s an elevator to your left that takes you to downtown Algorta, the metro is easily accesible from there.
(down, view of the Old Port from the beach of Ereaga)
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