Once again, M1 and M2 spent much of the day demonstrating how little they understand of the concept of "rest". Or maybe it's just the word itself that confuses them.
Anyway, having got to bed last night at 3 a.m. after seeing Queens of the Stone Age perform and then walking for an hour back through the old city to the hotel, you'd think a day of proper rest and relaxation would be in order. There's been no cycling and nor will there be, so at least that's something. But the first thing we did do after getting up at about 09:00 was walk back into the old town to get breakfast. Or in M1's case, second breakfast, he having hoovered up most of the food he could find in the hotel room before heading out.
We walked as far as one of the main squares, the Virgen Blanca Plaza and sat inside one of the very nice cafes that are on the edge of the square. We each had coffee, freshly squeezed orange juice and a large croissant which was filled with some kind of jam. And for that we paid the modest sum of 6.50 Euros! You would be lucky to get the coffees alone for that in London!
We then found a self-guided walking tour on the internet and started following it. The first place of interest was the Virgen Blanca Plaza. And we were already there, so that one was easy! It includes a large monument to the Battle of Vitoria of 1831.
From there we walked the streets some more, visiting more plazas, a church and a cathedral, the city walls and other places of interest. We saw a small band of buskers, a bass player, a trumpet player and a woman who was or had clearly been an opera singer, with an amazing voice, performing.
We also encountered some larger than life figurines walking down the street. We have no idea what they were about but we were reminded of the Bimberlot Festival we'd encountered in Le Quesnoy last year. M2 was weirdly excited by Bimberlot and showed every sign of relapsing at the sight of the Vitoria-Gasteiz counterparts, so M1 hurried her away from the scene.
On completing the walking tour, we sat down for more coffee. That done, we walked back to the hotel and having walked about six or seven miles (M1 neglected to record the walk), we decided we might actually give this "rest" thing we've heard so much about a go.
Doubtless we'll venture into the old city again this evening.
Tomorrow we're back on the road again. Over two days, we'll cycle back to Bilbao and that will be the last of our cycling in Spain. Some sightseeing and more lounging around doing nothing is planned for Bilbao after which we sail back to England and will be taking a leisurely two days to cycle home. The bikepacking trip of 2024 is nearly over :-(
No comments:
Post a Comment