If you have a couple of extra days in your visit, a beautiful way to get to know the coast in the Bilbao area is to walk along the cliffs from the fishing village of Plentzia to Punta Galea cape in Getxo, where the Estuary of Bilbao opens. Its a very easy hike that takes around 3-4h, climbing several capes and crossing both sand and rock beaches.
We took the metro to Plentzia and walked left before the bridge, leaving
the village to our right. The path towards the cliffs starts behind the
San Telmo bus stop and is closed by a gate (which you can easily cross
through a gap on one side). After crossing an
area plagued by pampas grass the path starts meandering near the cliff
edge.
The vegetation soon turns into beautiful scrubland of heather and gorse. Heathlands are unfortunately disappearing in Europe, and in an effort to conserve them the local government has fenced off parts of the area. Please be responsible and only walk inside the footpath to prevent further destruction!
A beautiful (and easy) walk from Gernika to the village of Mundaka, following the basin of the River Oka.
We got the train from Bilbao to Gernika where we started off our walk.
La Tejera, where clay was made into bricks and tiles and now abandoned, was built in 1892.
We also accidentally bumped into Beresi basoa, a work of art and nature by Rober Garay. We skipped exploring it as its private and would love to have a proper tour.
Still some ways to go!
Finally in Mundaka, our last stop is at the Santa Catalina hermitage to admire the isle of Izaro and open sea before getting the train back to the city.
Efteling is a
beautiful, fantasy themed amusement park. Most of the attractions are
based around fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen, the Grimm Brothers
etc. with attractions and dioramas designed by the painter Anton Pieck
and Peter Reijnders.
The park opened in the 50s and is incredibly charming. We were super
lucky because it didn't rain and it was practically empty... we queued
exactly 0 times in the entire visit. Even so, it took the whole day to
be able to see everything the park has to offer, and we still missed out
a couple of attractions.
Because of the season not all big rides were open, like the famous
Flying Dutchman, but we did go on the roller-coasters that were! I love that every ride is based
on a different fairy tale! My favourite have to be Vogel Rok (which took
me totally by surprise!) and Droomvlucht,
a dark ride where you see different scenes in fairyland. It was
breathtaking, especially the last part when you speed down a troll
forest... I liked so much we went on this one twice.
I really recommend visiting Efteling if you are ever in The
Netherlands! I'd really love to visit in the summer season when all the
rides are open and there are more characters, if I can avoid the queues
somehow!
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