SPAIN - Game of Thrones gets everywhere

It's going to be a hot weekend, so on Friday I did the  coastal walk I was planning around a small resort called Bakio.

Bakio is north east of Bilbao and is not on the metro or suburban rail so I had to try out the Basque buses. The buses are easy to use - the city buses are red, the country buses green and I am using a "Barik Card" Its a stored value card like London's Oyster Card and you just tap in and out on public transport throughout Bilbao and the Biscay area. The only problem I have found with it, is that the "Barik" fares seem to be about a third of what you would normally pay so I am not using the money I have loaded on it very fast!

The bus made a very swift exit from Bilbao via the motorway and then went up and down and up and down to get to the northern coast. In fact one thing that has surprised me about this area is just how hilly it is.

Bakio is a small resort with a big beach and good surf, although I noticed a lot of the beach disappeared later when the tide came in.

So why did I come here? I was heading to Gaztelugatxe an islet linked to the shore by a small bridge that has a chapel on the top. Apparently it was used in Game of Thrones, just like some of the places I've been to in Northern Ireland. I've never watched it but it came up on Google and looked a cool place to go to. So here it is

It was a straight-forward walk to get to from Bakio although it was a typical coastal path of up and down. Gaztelugatxe is free to go in, but increased popularity after appearing on TV means that numbers are being restricted. It is therefore necessary to book a ticket online before you get here. After going through the checkpoint you walk down a very steep path from the top of the cliff to the bottom only then to cross the small bridge and climb up to the chapel on the islet.

I have to ask - why does the path to spiritual enlightenment  ALWAYS involve so many steps?

I also have to ask - why when you do, climb the path to spiritual enlightenment is the chapel at the top often closed?

Anyway all that climbing is a good workout and afterwards it's a short walk further along the coast to the Matxitxako Lighthouse - please don't ask me how to pronounce Matxitxako!

At this point I had better mention the Basque language - it's not related linguistically to any other language but like Welsh it has various combinations of letters that make it hard to pronounce by outsiders - there seem to be a lot of X's ! The other thing worth remembering here is that  everything has to be shown in both Spanish and Basque so there is often little or no room left for an English or French translation as well.

The coastal scenery around here is stunning