After a check out from the Ibis at 9.30 we headed to a big Carrefour just along the road to stock up on. wines to take home. Red and white wine, PX sherry and some Osbourne brandy. We couldn’t not do it as these Osbourne bulls have been everywhere on our Spanish travels!
Our drive through the Spanish countryside (top down, off motorway) was a little bit cooler than of late. It got down to 13.5 degs and we were often over 1000 metres. For the most part it was fairly desolate high plains and later fertile farmlands. We loved the chance to be on quiet back roads, with the option to stop at any time. We passed this Cristo del Otero, about 70 metres tall in Palencia. A very strange statue.
For lunch we stoped in Villayro but found lots of busy cafes that only served pinchos and were effectively out of stock by 2:30PM. And no menu del Dias anywhere. Slightly disheartened but not hungry we drove on! We drove through some glorious scenery especially in the Ebro gorge (the river which flows through Zaragoza). We stopped at a bridge in the gorge and took these photos and found this strange statue - a modern menhir, one of 15 a sculptor has placed along a route in the hills. Some look very intricate
As we got closer to Bilbao the landscape became even more dramatic with mountains in the distance, and a much greener landscape. The photos don’t do it justice of course.
Our hotel, Artetxe, sits above Bilbao and is a lovely rural little place with twilight barking and cocks crowing. We had a picnic and drinks in the garden so no one had to drive again. And as night came on we got a great view over the twinkling city from our window.
Daily Mileage 183 miles
Total trip 4797 miles
