We landed in Bilbao, got our rental car (a Kia Stonic – flashy yellow) and went straight towards our first stop: the Salto del Nervión. This is said to be the highest waterfall on the mainland in Spain, about 222 (?) m high. Were we excited? Yes! Did we see it? Well… yes, but we really had to search for it. It wasn’t the best season to go and see the waterfall, as we only saw a little streamlet coming out of the mountain… But the view! Oh my, that was amazing and unexpected :-). A ‘mindblowing vertigo’ as some fellow travelers said to us. And it was. Our first encounter with the northern nature was great! And it wouldn’t be our last encounter.
After enjoying the windy view for a few more moments, we walked back towards our car (the waterfall is a kilometer walk from the parking lot) and went to our first hotel in Miranda de Ebro. A city that nobody’s ever heard of, I don’t know if there’s much to be seen or done there, as we didn’t visit the city. Our hotel was the … and was located at the outer border of the city (close to a gas station though).
On our second day we had planned a trip around the wine area > mainly La Rioja, but there are also some wine cities that are found in the País Vasco as well. We started our tour in Haro, followed by Eltziego. In the latter we visited the Bodega del Marqués de Riscal (we reserved our tickets online). The winery is also a 5*-hotel with wellness and has a futuristic look. The architecture of the building was actually our main reason to go and visit that specific winery and not another. But there are plenty wineries to choose from, and a lot have very good comments. So… take your pick according to the route you’re taking and the time you have. I never had the chance to taste the wine, but the grape juice was excellent ;-). We also stopped in Logroño (not very spectacular) for an ice cream cone, but the main event for us was our little tour around the dolmen in the area. We visited a few of them: La Chabola de la Hechicera, Alto de la Huesera & San Martín. We also visited the ruins of La Hoya, an ancient village. There were a few more dolmen to go and see, but we lacked some time (and if you see a few of them … for us that was enough). But if you want to see them all, there’s a map of the area with each dolmen.
Our third day in the area we spent in the Parque Natural Montes Obarenes-San Zadorníl. The nature park was close to Miranda de Ebro and wanted to do an easy hike (being pregnant and all) that was signposted. So we searched online and decided to do the Sendero de Bozóo. Little did we know… we had to walk an hour before we got our signposted walk. We almost went back to our car if we hadn’t come across a friendly habitant of Bozóo. But the views were amazing, even if the weather did not cooperate and the picture do not do justice to what we saw. We didn’t saw a living soul (other than the older man who pointed us in the right direction). After our walk I wanted to drive around the park a little bit and we ended up seeing the Ermita de Santa María de la Hoz and the Cascade de Tobera, right before you enter the city of Tobera.
We ended our roadtrip back in the País Vasco, visiting Bilbao, on the twelfth day. I was never really interested in Bilbao and if we hadn’t need to stop here for our flight, I would’ve never come to visit the place. But I have to admit that I kind of enjoyed our time here. We couldn’t visit anything (I really wanted to visit the Guggenheim – but it was closed), but the weather was nice and we walked around the city, doing some shopping, eating and drinking. Isn’t that how life should be?
Around the world in a lifetime 