Day One: Bilbo at Night

And so it is that the "Ongi Etorri" bilboard sign told me that I was entering Araba. I was then able to soak in the Basque landscape. The flight delay was a nuisance, yes, but at least my entrance to Euskal Herria was quite improved thanks to the sunset I got to enjoy.

The sun light was almost gone when a sign on the side of the road told me that I was now in Bizkaia. It wouldn't be too long before the bus made its entrance into the urban sprawl known as Bilbo. Once at the bus station I was so excited to be there that I forgot to retrieve the piece of luggage I checked in when I got in the bus in Madrid.

Anyway, I made a phone call to try to locate Juan who volunteered to pick me up in Bilbo, and then I realized my mistake. As soon as I was done with the call I went back to the bay were my bus was parked, and there he was, the bus driver, not knowing what to do because his office was closed. So, we were both happy I noticed my backpack's absence.

Then, when I took a seat to wait for Juan I noticed I had forgotten to retreive my phone card from the pay phone I used to call his house.

Oh well.

Anyway, so Juan got there and he decided to show me the night life in Bilbo's old quarters, known as Zazpi Kaleak, the seven streets. I finally got to engage in the famous Basque tradition called txikiteo, which is quite simple, you do not stay for a long time at the same bar, you actually have one drink and then you move on to the next one, what in the USA is known as bar-hoping.

Around 1:00 am all places started to shut down, so we went back to the car in order to get to Durango, Juan's town.

When we arrived here, it was raining.

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