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Another one bites the dust



Brad recently turned 30, much to his dismay. But a surprise visit from the one and only Jojo was enough to make him forget about it.


Awwwwwww

Little did Brad know, the quiet break he had planned would actually involve a surprise trip to Bilbao in Basque Country. The food capital of Spain. Yay!

As soon as we landed, we dumped our bags at our bnb and immediately headed out for some cava and oysters at a small bar hidden in the lane ways of Bilbao. We are yet to find a place that sells oysters on the Canary Islands - so have had a craving for a long time now. They were everything we hoped for and more.


Oyster perfection at El Puertito, Bilbao


We spent the next 3 days visiting various pintxos bars and sampling Spanish wine. These bars are lined with different plates of small tapas and the locals go there of a night for dinner, and share a beer or wine together. 

Our favourite bar was constantly replacing their tapas plates with pintxos made from fresh ingredients and put together by a proper team of chefs out the back. We would sit chatting at the bar and drinking wine, then everyone would go silent when a new plate of tapas was revealed. It was quite exciting!




Jo's mind is blown with one taste of her first ever mojito!

Loving life

Jo was certainly spoilt with her first taste of Spanish food. Luckily Bilbao is full of hills and stairs, so we were able to work off all the food and wine we ate.


A view over beautiful, green Bilbao
If you're feeling lazy, simply take the escalators!
Plaza Nueva, Casco Viejo, Bilbao
Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao
Guggenheim Tulips
Lo siento - a light installation at the Guggenheim

We visited the coast where the super rich live in castles overlooking the Bay of Biscay. One was for sale, so we are keeping our eye on it for when we win the lottery. We dipped our feet in the water near Getxo and quickly understood why there was nobody swimming there. And we thought Las Palmas water was cold....


Vizcaya transporter bridge, Getxo


A walk around Getxo
I could see us up on that top balcony....or the middle balcony... or the bottom balcony
Plentzia, a medieval coastal town near Bilbao

Sunset at Plentzia


It was the perfect distraction from the upcoming 30th birthday and now that we know Bilbao is only a direct flight away from Las Palmas, I think we will be back in summer to brave the cold waters of the Bay of Biscay (and more oysters).


From the 28 degree sunshine of Bilbao, the only logical next step was to visit the Arctic Circle in Norway for Brad's next break....


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Location: Bilbao, Biscay, Spain

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