Costa Verde

The route we followed between France and Gibraltar is not the most straight forward one. For that a route following the Mediterranean coast would probably be a better choice. However we have opted for a longer way, first along the northern coast of Spain and then going south through Portugal.

coast

sunset at the coast near Zarautz

.

coast

The northern coast, made up by the Costa Cantabria and the Costa Verde is a popular holiday destination for the Spanish themselves because it is much cooler then many other parts of the country. In the month of September, that issue doesn't matter so much anymore and holidays are nearly over. Therefore it is still lively, but certainly not crowded anymore.

There are two main traffic routes following the coast. One is the motorway and the other the older N634. The eastern stretch of the motorway is a tollway, with the consequence that the N634 is very busy. However, going west, the tollway element stops and suddenly the old road is completely quiet, ideal for bicyclists.

inland

long and climbing road

the older N634

N634

Although the road is more or less following the coast, it definitely is not a very flat road. With rivers normally going to the sea, a road following the coast is always perpendicular to the rivers. Our case is no exception, with the result that the climbs are not long, but nevertheless can be quite steep. Just following a river (upwards or downwards) is always much easier.

The beaches are many, relatively small and nice. But a big part of the coastline consists of rocky formations. There are many characteristic smaller towns along the coast. They still function as fisherman ports, but the touristic attractions are of course apparent. And the two go nicely hand in hand. The two major cities are San Sebastian and Bilbao. We didn't stay in both towns, but while going through, they both looked nice. For Bilbao at least the center of town. The rest was ugly with a very large, very uninteresting industrial area, mainly consisting of refineries and other stinking industries.

bilbao

the ugly side of Bilbao

but also nice fishing ports

port

The country-side behind the coast is equally interesting and attracts many people with the typical adventure sports like rafting, hiking, etc. Not many foreigners have discovered this part yet, but the outdoor minded Spanish people definitely have. Also we came across many people who are on their way to Santiago de Compostella, the old pilgrims route. Some do this walking and some do it cycling. Old religious rituals and modern outdoor vacations are apparently going hand in hand.

All in all we found that Spain had a lot of nice surprises for us and we really intend to come back here for a more detailed exploration.