Day 15 (del Norte): Lezama to Bilbao

The hotel is located on the edge of a factory complex, but this is no industrial breakfast. No protein. At the same price of 5 euros, we had much better in Orio and Zumaia. There simply aren't many hotel options here in Lezama. Even though I know exactly where we are, I do get briefly lost leaving the hotel because of raised highways, and a kind local man personally brings us back to the Camino. We are soon in Zamudia, a medium-sized town, modern and characterless. Is the Basque flavor already fading?

Zamudia: the Camino resumes on the highway through this generic looking town.

The Camino turns south to the hills. It's an excellent day for hiking - first foggy but now overcast and still cool. The trail is wide and the terrain easy. We climb steeply toward Mt. Avril, on the other side of which Bilbao lies. Three hours after we started the leisurely walk, we are on the descent and see people from Bilbao coming up for exercise. Distance-wise it is a pretty short day for us. Imagine some people walk from Gernika to Bilbao in one day, which we are covering in three.

The path climbs toward Mt. Avril.

Coming down from Mt. Avril, we deviate from the Camino to look for a good view of Bilbao. It's safer than it looks - otherwise the risk-averse wife would not agree to it.

Bilbao during descent from Mt. Avril: there it is - Guggenheim Museum.

first suburbs of Bilbao: not an instant attraction for us unlike these dogs seem to have for each other

It is downhill all the way to Casco Viejo, Bilbao's Old Town, which is quite appealing, especially seen from above as we approach it. We easily find our boutique hotel even though there is no name posted on the nondescript building. It is a walk-up and shares the building with other tenants. Nonetheless, it is stylish and super-clean.

Bilbao: The Basilica coming into view as we descend into the Begona district.

Bilbao: the Camino takes us to the edge of Old Town

Bilbao: Old Town coming into view

Bilbao: Old Town

Bilbao: our hip and funky boutique hotel with stove pipes to nowhere

Bilbao: good people watching from our hotel room balcony. Restaurants are busy at 3pm

After a little rest, we venture out, well just a few hundred meters, and we are in Plaza Nueva. I am looking for Gure Toki with some trepidation that it might be overcrowded. What do you know, there is no action spilling out to the square. In fact, whoa, we have the whole place to ourselves! We have time to chat with the server and leisurely study the menu in English. The food is superb in taste and presentation. Scratch the original plan to do pintxos crawl - we might as well stay here and order more. I am already liking Bilbao a lot.

Bilbao: exquisite preparations at Gure Toki. A popular scallop pintxo (a foie gras dish on right).

Bilbao: bacalao al pil pil con txangurro at Gure Toki

Bilbao: Plaza Neuva lined with pintxo bars

It's 8:15pm which is normally past our dinner time. We decide to have a light meal which means, yes, more pintxos. But how are we going to have some fruits and vegetables, which we need daily? What would Mrs. Obama say about our diet today? This is probably a common dilemma for visitors to Basque Country - how to fit all the culinary experiences into a limited amount of time and stomach capacity. But for now we want to do justice to Irritzi, another popular bar which thankfully is not too full. We grab the ones we like, eat and pay - all in thirty minutes. I need a place like this for lunch at work!

Bilbao: an attempt to include some fresh fruits in our meals

Bilbao: The creations here at Irritzi are not as slick at Gure Toki, but equally tasty and a lot cheaper. A total of 9 pintxos plus a couple of glasses of txacholi comes out to 18 euros. Hard to beat that!