Skip to main content

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....


Labels:
Location: Bilbao, Biscay, Spain

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

All roads lead to Rome: Marathon Recap

Let me preface this by saying, before last year, I would never have considered myself a runner. And I still don't! As you know, I have had a lot of time on my hands over the past couple of years and decided to take up running as a "hobby". Yes, I know. This does not sound like the Kath you used to know. But alas, desperate times call for desperate measures. It was after signing up for a 10k at the beginning of 2016 while Brad was doing his marathon, that I realised event running is a LOT more fun than your average Monday night jog. And if the best part about running isn't that you can eat whatever the hell you like, then I don't know what is.  Brad smashes out the Gran Canaria Marathon, 2016 After a couple of half marathons (I know, right? Who even am I anymore?!?!) and another couple of 10ks, I thought, "bugger it. Why not give a marathon a crack?" Brad and I decided to choose a primo location for the marathon, so that we coul...
Post a Comment
Read more

Back in the saddle again...

...The saddle of the mountains, that is... It turns out that the middle of this island, an island which has a diameter of around 50 ks (tiiiiiiny), is a beautiful oasis of peaceful rugged mountains and hiking trails! It is so refreshing to know that there is somewhere other than the crowded, ugly-building-crammed southern beaches to escape to. Artenara Brad and I set off on the local bus for the highest town on Gran Canaria, Artenara, which is 1270m above sea level. The bus ride was an adventure all on its own, much like our experiences in Bolivia, except this time with the luxury of asphalt roads and safety barriers! View of the ocean from Artenara We stayed in the most amazing Cave Hostel up in Artenara, which was literally situated IN the side of a hill, with hiking trails at its doorstep. The indigenous people of the island were said to live in caves in the area and there are old cave paintings scattered along the walking trails. Every morning when we wo...
8 comments
Read more

Budapest, Besties and Birthdays!

It was only a few weeks ago that Brad sent me an email with the top 10 things to do in Istanbul... it was also then that I realised Brad was somehow under the false impression that we were going to Turkey for my 30th birthday... He was almost right, just a few countries off!  We jumped on a plane in the wee hours of the morning; destination Budapest (in Hungary, in case anyone else is confused...)! With a quick stopover in Madrid, and 6 short hours of flying, we were finally at our airbnb, right in the heart of Budapest city. The 38 degree heat was a very welcome surprise.  The chain bridge - 5 minutes from our airbnb We dumped our bags and set off to Sziget, one of the biggest music festivals in Europe, which is held on a small island in Budapest on the Danube river. Our air bnb host warned us that the price of beer at Sziget had increased to ridiculous levels since she had been 7 years ago, however at around AU$3.20 for a pint of icy cold beer, we were ...
14 comments
Read more