Last year around this time I started thinking about taking a trip along the northern coast of Spain to celebrate my 20th anniversary of living here, but various ‘life things’ came up and I had to put this dream on hold. This year I have decided to start planning this trip again in earnest and, if all goes well, I should be able to travel anytime during July or August.
I’ll fly from Sevilla to Santiago de Compostela and (so far) the plan is to go from there to A Coruña, Olviedo, Santander, Bilbao and San Sebastián. Then I’ll have to backtrack to Bilbao to fly home. I’ll most likely be travelling on my own by public transport and I hope to meet up with friends along the way.
So if you have any advice or suggestions about places to go, things to do, where to stay, etc. please let me know. Am happy to add places to my itinerary. And if you are going to be around any of these places this summer let’s meet up!
Hi,
As promised I’m leaving my twopence worth here.
It has been a long time since I visited galicia or Asturias so, my thoughts here will be about your Bilbao-Donostia stretch of the trip.
If you don’t follow them yet I suggest @365_cities for good and genuine info about both cities must eat things/places
So,lets say you land in Bilbao and are staying in the city (for land I mean arrive by train) besides taxi to your hotel I would just walk every where, from Casco Viejo to San Mames 30 min will do it.
The tram is good as it’s the Metro(if venturing outside Bilbao Metro is always the best option)
As for sightseeing,well the ususal apply, Guggenheim, Alhondiga, Mercado de la Ribera, Puente Colgante (not in Bilbao but in Portugalete)
The bar food scene in Bilbao is a world apart from Andalucia.To start with I would say Bilbao is very expensive, a coffee will set you back €1.50-€2 and a caña around €2.50, in addtion to the caña we also drink Zurito, a undisclosed amount of beer ranging between 100ml to half a caña depending on establishment.
You won’t get anyone to throw in free olives/altrabuces/cacahuetes with your drink.
There are no tapas we only eat pintxos(pinchos) which are always displayed on the bar(Donosti is very very good at this), what you see is what you get bar a couple of items some bars would offer , caldo and rabas. As pintxos are cold you might get offered them microwaved, not always a good option.
The 2 main pintxos to try are tortilla de patata(bare with me in this one) and Gilda(pronounced jilda)
The tortilla de patata is nothing like that of our counterparts south of Burgos, it is thin and it is runny,some might think too runny but then they are not basque.
The Gilda consists of an olive+guindilla+anchoa (optional red pepper/onion/gerkin) stabbed with a toothpick drizzled with olive oil, simple yet utterly delicious. eaten in the one go as it is so small.however, back to the price,it costs same as most pintxos, around €2 for 3 uncooked ingredients on a stick(yes I come back home after a round of beers and pintxos feeling as if I’d been robbed, 2 cañas and 2 gildas €8 yikes!)
Anyhow I will not bore you about prices anymore, promise.
Back to the pintxos, other traditionally found in bars are sandwiches , made with Bimbo,of course,often called triangulos, generally filled with ham,egg lettuce, tomato,called Vegetarianos(they are not suitable for vegetarians)
Lots of Bonito in many forms but often in bocadillitos (small baps of them) and like in any other town the newly fashionable ones.
When it comes to areas I would distinguish diferent zonas to explore
1- Casco Viejo from de Plaza Nueva(jamon in Victor Montes, calamares (que no rabas in Cafe Bilbao)visit every corner of the square 4-5 gems in there.all the way to the 7 calles where you should get lost and explore.
2- Ledesma/jardines de ALbia not to be missed,institutions like Artajo and El Iruna, and excellent new ones like the Japanes/fushion place, Bitoke for new style pintxos
3- Calle Diputacion from the Lasa to El globo(they started the designer pintxos thing)to La Viña
4- Pozas , this refers to street called Licenciado Pozas and includes a street running off it called Maestro Rivero , it’s a long street so start at the Ercilla Plaza towards San Mames.There is a miriad of bars here and all are worth it on their own right. Best Gildas in Artagn, quail eggs+jamon at Huevo frito,great tortilla at Indusi, onwards to Don Ulpiano, Busterri for great triangulos, Mugi for wine, honestly you should visit the lot.
A little off Pozas , literally round the corner one of my old favourites is Called Joserra, they do a lot of cooking on demand, very famous tortilla, pincho moruno and Txampi (garlicky champinones)
Beware that strange as it may seem some bars closed on Saturdays.
5- Deusto this are I visited as a student but it’s only in the last 5 years I’ve discovered hos good they are.On a Sunday when the rest of Bilbao is dead and closed , it comes alive, check avenida Madariaga and Blas Otero.
There are other bars a little bit off the main areas like Bar Eme,world famous for their triangulos(secret sauce recipe) or El Colmado Iberico
The next best thing and utterly fashionable in London is Txakoli(basque white wine) do try it.
Moving away from Bilbao, lovely towns to visit along the coast are Algorta/Getxo and Plencia,loads other beautiful towns on the way to Donosti, like Bermeo are worth a visit too.
On the food in Bilbao theme, also worth noting up and coming restaurant like Mina and old time favourites like El club Ranero or Rufo.Good asadores like La Cuchara.
Don’t leave without trying bacalao a la vizcaina or al pilpil.
Donosti is avery different city, there is an old comparison that it used to say Bilbao was more english where Donosti was more French, and undoubtedly Donosti is way prettier,all the food I know in Donosti except for Arzac is their Casco Viejo,I think every single bar needs visiting twice,that should take you a week at least.
Their food is more elaborate although based in the same principles,good produce kept simple.
right, so this was a very small synopsis, as I said , I’m back there for easter and could check anything else you may want to know,or perhaps update new places.
Tweet me any questions or email, whichever
@LucerneBelle
Ps: in the issue of calamares and rabas, calamares are fried only dusted with flour, rabas are fried in thick batter.
Wow, this is amazing! Thanks you so much. This is the first time I’ve actually PLANNED a trip, so it will be quite interesting to go somewhere having some idea of what to look out for. And this has really helped a lot with Bilbao and the different type of food up north. Really really appreciate it, especially as you lost the first attempt! xx