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Izaro: the island of lovers, pirates and seagulls

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There are places that accumulate legends the way rocks accumulate barnacles. Izaro is one of them. This small islet in the Cantabrian Sea, visible from Mundaka, Bermeo and Elantxobe, has spent centuries collecting stories of impossible love, English corsairs and territorial disputes settled at dawn on the water. Izaro Island. Photo: Vicente Muñoz An impossible love in the fifteenth century It begins with a love story. In the fifteenth century, a Franciscan monastery occupied the island. One of its young monks fell in love with a girl from Bermeo, on the coast opposite. Every night she would light a candle in her window to signal that everyone was asleep. And every night he would slip into the water and swim to shore. Until a disapproving relative of the girl moved the candle to a different spot. The monk swam towards the wrong place and drowned against the rocks. His beloved, upon hearing the news, threw herself from a cliff to share his fate. Romeo and Juliet, but on the Cant...
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Three Unmissable Stops in Gipuzkoa: The Flysch Route

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 It's the history of the Earth, written in stone over 60 million years. Zumaia, Deba, Mutriku: three towns on the Gipuzkoa coast that share one of the world's most important geological treasures, recognized as a UNESCO Global Geopark. Sunset over the Itzurun cliffs in Zumaia. (Photo: Jon Larrañaga) What flysch is, and why it's so special Flysch are rock formations created at the same time as mountains, stacked in alternating layers like a giant stone mille-feuille. In the cliffs along this coastline, those layers record 60 million years of geological history — including major events like the mass extinction of the dinosaurs, literally written into the rock. The area is a Protected Biotope and part of Geoparkea, the Basque Coast Geopark, recognized by UNESCO for its geological significance on an international scale. The visible stretch runs about 8 kilometers along the coast, though the formation continues several kilometers further out to sea. The flysch cliffs of Zumaia, G...
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The Festival You Shouldn't Miss: La Blanca, in Vitoria-Gasteiz

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A packed square. Thousands of cigars about to be lit, and just as many bottles of cava ready to pop. And, lowered on a rope from the bell tower of the Church of San Miguel, a countryman with an open umbrella slowly descending over Plaza de la Virgen Blanca. Celedón flies over Plaza de la Virgen Blanca in Vitoria-Gasteiz, descending from the San Miguel bell tower It's August 4th in Vitoria-Gasteiz, capital of the province of Álava, in the Basque Country. And that figure floating over the square is Celedón — a character who represents the entire city, dressed in a beret and checked shirt, played since 1957 by a real person suspended on a cable. When he reaches the balcony facing the bell tower, Celedón greets the crowd — locals and visitors alike — with the cry that officially opens the festival: Gora Gasteiz! Gora Celedón! ("Long live Vitoria! Long live Celedón!"). Cigars are lit, cava flows, and La Blanca begins — what many locals affectionately, and without a hint of mo...
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What Locals Actually Eat in Bilbao: 5 Classic Bar Snacks

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Forget the pintxos tours and the influencer lists. What locals actually order in Bilbao hasn't changed much in decades — even as a new Japanese restaurant opens every month, aperol spritz comes in a hundred variations, and Georgian food is suddenly the trendy thing to try. This is a tour of five spots that are part of Bilbao's culinary memory. They're not the most photogenic, and you won't find them topping "best pintxos" listicles, but they're what a Bilbao local actually recommends to a friend visiting town. 1. The felipada at Bar Alameda 2. The Triángulo at Bar EME 3. The pincho moruno at Melilla y Fez 4. The champis at Motrikes 5. The croquetas at Txiriboga The felipada at Bar Alameda Photo: Bar Alameda / Facebook Alameda de Urquijo, 40 — next to the Alhóndiga In 1955, a regular customer named Felipe asked if he could make sandwiches for his group of friends behind the bar: white sandwich bread, anchovy, lettuce, mayonnaise, and a touch of chili. T...
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The Carola Crane: Bilbao's very own Eiffel Tower

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 There are people who photograph the Carola Crane and call it Bilbao's Eiffel Tower. And you know what? They are not entirely wrong. The people of Bilbao have always had a talent for making things bigger than they are — but with such warmth and good humour that even their boasting is hard to resist. Foto I.Pisan  http://bit.ly/VO04o8 A crane with a woman's name Sitting on the banks of the estuary in the neighbourhood of Olabeaga, facing Zorrozaurre and a short walk from the Euskalduna Palace, the Carola Crane has dominated this corner of Bilbao since 1957. Standing 60 metres tall and weighing 200 tonnes, it was built at the Erandio workshops and used in the construction of vessels at the Euskalduna shipyard. It is the last surviving crane of its kind in Bilbao — and a good thing too, because Bilbao, for all its grandeur, is a small city with no room to spare. ...a short walk from the Euskalduna Palace, the Carola Crane has dominated this corner of Bilbao since 1957. The best w...
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The Basque Country: one of the best places in the world to watch the total solar eclipse on 12 August 2026

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  On 12 August 2026, for the first time in over a century, a total solar eclipse will be visible from the Iberian Peninsula. The path of totality crosses Spain from west to east, and the Basque Country sits right in the middle of it: Bilbao, Vitoria-Gasteiz and much of the territory will see the sun disappear completely for a brief, unforgettable moment, at around 8:28 in the evening. Total solar eclipse, Yakima, Washington, 21 August 2017. Photo: Justin Hawkes / Wikimedia Commons — CC BY-SA 2.0 Spain is effectively the only country in continental Europe where the eclipse will be seen as total — the other option is Iceland, with its habitually cloudy skies. If you are thinking about where to experience it, the Basque Country makes a compelling case. What to expect The eclipse begins as a partial at 19:32 — the Moon starts to cover the solar disc slowly, and the light changes in a way that is hard to describe: it loses its shadows, turns flat and strange. For almost an hour, the...
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La Carolina, the pastry that Bilbao carries in its soul

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 If there is one sweet that defines Bilbao, it is la carolina. Not the most sophisticated, not the most famous beyond these streets — but without question the most beloved. The one that vanishes first from the tray at family celebrations, the one every Bilbaoan remembers from childhood with meringue on their fingers and an unavoidable smile. Carolina by Martina Zuricalday To understand la carolina, you have to picture Bilbao at the turn of the twentieth century, in the maze of narrow streets of the old town known as the Siete Calles — the Seven Streets. A pastry maker from the neighbourhood, whose name history has not seen fit to preserve, had a daughter who was mad about meringue. To make it easier for her to enjoy it, he devised a pastry that would show it off in all its glory: a crisp puff pastry basket, filled with custard cream or coconut paste, crowned with a dome of meringue painted in two colours with chocolate and egg. On his daughter's birthday he presented her with his c...
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