Vitoria Gastiez – Into the Interior
On Friday 15th February we waved goodbye to Vera and Rita in Donostia motorhome Aire, and managed to find our way out of the city with only one wrong turn. Oops! We’d been so pleased not to mess up on our way in. But Donostia had managed to catch us out again just at the last moment!
A handy roundabout had us turned round and headed in the right direction with minimum stress though. Satnav set firmly for Cadiz to keep us pointed in the right general direction we headed South while I had a wee look through maps and park4night to choose an actual destination for the day.
We toyed with the idea of Burgos, but we had visited there on our last trip to Spain. We’d really enjoyed our day there, and it’s definitely worth more than one visit. But the world is so full of places to see, and our time on it is so short, that we try to avoid returning to places we’ve already visited.
Fully armed with that information, and no more, an hour and a half later saw us arriving at the Vitoria Gastiez free Aire at N42.866699, W2.68499.
Iggy & Jay in the free Aire at Vitorio Gastiez.
The Aire is set in a large carpark, in an area of big residential apartment blocks, and opposite a big Mercadona supermarket. First impressions could be a bit off-putting, especially if not used to modern Spanish cities, but we’d seen areas like this before and there were at least 30 other vans in the Aire, mostly Spanish, so we felt totally safe.
It was a 30 minute walk into the centre (there is a tram for those who don’t want to walk) and the beginning, through the towering “villages” of apartment blocks does not give an impression of good things to come. Dog poo is liberally scattered on the many grassy spaces, and graffiti tags seem to be breeding on shutters and low level walls.
In the UK this could be quite a dodgy area, but a second glance shows that those grassy areas run all round and between the apartments, and in large central courtyards inside them as well. Beautiful, huge trees, parade in every conceivable space. There may be dog poo, but there is zero other litter. And finally, the bottom floor of each apartment block is made up of shops and cafes, while children’s playgrounds sit in the central courtyards.
Hairdressers, insurance companies, vets, corner shops – every shop you would find in any city centre location. All smart and “proper” looking businesses. Each cafe a central gathering place with smiling faces and a community of people who know each other.
Nobody bothers us as we pass through. Unless you count the fellow dog walkers keen to chat with Marley. Curious to chat with us too. You don’t get many Scottish people with Greek Mountain Dogs wandering the Spanish interior in February it seems!
The apartment blocks soon give way to a park, then a main road to cross. Some more traditional long streets of shops and apartments. We were beginning to think this “historical centre” was going to be a disappointingly tiny arrangement of three streets in the centre of a huge, modern city!
But we were also about to be very wrong! Round the next corner and suddenly a huge , beautiful cathedral appeared before us with a small, attractive park laid out around it.
The old gargoyles round it’s roof appeared on closer examination to be modern replcements. Men holding phones and wearing flying goggles laughed down at us from on high. Their workmanship indistinguishable from the ancient stone around them.
The Stunning Cathedral of María Inmaculada de Vitoria
In the park a bronze crocodile guarded the waters of the fountains with open jaws, and large, spiky teeth. The meandering paths led us out and into the heart of the old town. A heart that soon revealed itself to be a spreading, wondrous hub for this vibrant, busy city.
Historical building followed historical building. Quaint streets wove cobbled paths past muralled walls, the other, enormous, towering Cathedral, the thought provoking memorial to the 1813 Battle of Vitoria.
The heartbreaking realities of war.
Museums abound for those who aren’t accompanied by a dog, children’s playgrounds are everywhere, and the city even provides outdoor, escalator type walkways, to assist the less able, those with bags, or anyone who wants to really, in climbing up and down the central hills.
And as the day wore relentlessly to a close my aching feet began to wish I had put those walkways to better use. There was so much to see. So many stunning sights waiting unexpectedly round each corner, and up each rise.
Street art and murals are abundant here. This turn led to an everyday shopping street lined with balconied apartments. That turn led to a Bohemian quarter, with pavement cafes and artists’ workshops.
Finally we sat in a plaza, on a cafe terrace, to catch the last, departing rays of the sun. Cerveza and vino tinto slowly sipped as we watched the oncoming night slowly slide across this magnificent Capital city of the Northern Basques.
And then home. One last turn through the pretty, historic streets. Past the apartment buildings. One last turn through the park. And on to Iggy. Waiting patiently, as always, for our return.
My heart full and my brain busy from the sights, thoughts and feelings of the day, I felt the old, familiar urge to give our Iggy a big, big hug.
So much to see
Him. DM. Marley. And of course Jay. It’s a good life this vanlife. I am on the road. I am travelling. I am home.
Fi. x
