Wednesday September 7, 2022

Lezama to Bilbao: 9.5km / 5.9 miles / 3 hours
Sunrise 7:44
Weather: 65°F / 17.2°C, Sunny
Start: 6:40
Total Ascent: 1128 ft.
Arrived at 10:45
Difficulty Rating: Terrain 2; Waymarking 4
Scenery Rating: 2

This stage includes walking through the city of Bilbao and a transporter bridge from Getxo to Portugalete. We aren’t fond of schlepping through cities on our Caminos, so we typically get a taxi to get to our next destination. This was one of those days.

We went to the Cathedral, but Mass was about to start, so no pictures from the inside. Then we wandered to the “old town”. My legs and feet were begging for an easier day, and I was delighted that we had decided to cut our day short.

We could have walked some of the route and then taken a taxi to the “ferry” to get to Portugalete. As it was, we stopped for a café con leche and a bite to eat in a Plaza by the Museo de Vasca (Basque Museum). The museum is closed for renovations; otherwise we would have spent some time there. Instead, we took a taxi the long way around to Portugalete.

Portugalete is not a tourist town, but we did climb the stairs to see one of the 3 churches after having lunch at an Italian restaurant with a very rude waiter. The restaurant that the lady at our hotel recommended wasn’t open, and since kitchens typically close at 3:00, we stopped at the first place with availability.