September 20, 2022.
After a beautiful night at the restful casa rural in Lezama, we had a nice breakfast of coffee, juice, croissant, toast and fruit at the casa before heading off towards Bilbao. We were in a good mood as we headed westward on a suburban road with no hills and no rocks. Light rail and planes in a landing pattern overhead let us know we were close to Bilbao. We didn’t quite count on having to climb 350 meters, though, to the high hills overlooking the city. Oh, well, it wasn’t that bad. At the top of the hill we ran into Mel, from Ireland, and Fado and his girlfriend. Fado only speaks French, so we exchanged very basic pleasantries, ate an orange and headed on.
Soon we came to an overlook of the city and we were excited to soon be back in the Casco Viejo, or Old Quarter. We stopped at the Begona Baslica where we got our Camino passport stamped, and then stopped at a nice little bar where we sat outside and had coffee and tuna sandwich. A very nice break after 10 km.
In less than a km, we were down along the waterfront, reliving our old memories of having biked to Bilbao in 2015. We continued north and east along the river until we arrived at the Guggenheim where we paused and enjoyed the perfect temperatures and breeze.
We decided to return via a Metro Station that would take us to our Pension. After identifying the target as the Moyuako Metro station, we started looking for restauraunts and found a beautiful little Culinary school Kitxen that offers high level cuisine for take out but can be eaten at one large shared table. For 13 Euro each we each had a fantastic 3 course meal..
After lunch, we hopped on the Metro, and headed north to near the Vizkaya bridge in the working class town of Portaguelete. We couldn‘t get in until 4, so had a beer a the local bar, stopped at a pharmacy where the pharmacist was incredibly helpful and showered us with gifts. Some people have a lot of care for the Pilgrims on the camino. Soon we were in our Pension which looked clean and new. We have a great place to stop for the night.
Glad to hear that all is going smoothly for you two. It seems that a good pension and good sleep at night really make a difference for you.. Photos are great as are your reports. Keep on hoofing.
Gfreg
The social and logistical struggles at the hostels add a level of stress that impacts our physical challenges, but also adds valuable social connections. We will pick the hostels carefully.