I have gotten terrible at writing blog posts in a timely manner. After all, it’s been six months since I wrote my last post about some of our favorite coastal hiking routes. While New Year’s Resolutions aren’t exactly my thing, I do want to make an effort to write more consistently in 2026, both in my personal journal and on the blog that I share with y’all. So, without further adieu, here’s a post about a few of our recent [sort-of] adventures in Euskaid.
A Weekend Away in Durango
There is a very long list of things that I love about living in Bilbao, including the ability to take the metro to the beach. Though I sometimes find myself wishing that I could spend an afternoon reading by a pool. Unfortunately, none of the hotels in Bilbao with pools sell day passes. So, with temperatures warming-up in July and without any travel plans for the month. I decided to search for nearby towns/cities that met the following criteria:
-Accessible via transit
-Home to an interesting cultural site or hiking route
-Had rooms available at a hotel with a pool
The result of the search was Durango, a town of 30,000 located southeast of Bilbao. Durango is accessible via a 40 minute trip on Euskotren, the light rail system that connects Bilbao with Donostia and Pays Basque. While most of the Urikola Parke Naturala can only be reached by car [or a very long and strenuous hike], there was at least one route into the mountain range of the same name that started near Durango. Most importantly, the Silken Gran Hotel Durango has a pool and there was a room available for our desired weekend . The reservation was quickly made!
We arrived on Saturday and spent the afternoon wandering around the town, admiring its architecture and eating delicious food [including diverse varieties of gilda]. After lunch I took advantage of the opportunity to read and write while laying by the pool.
Note: The rock in front of the church serves as a memorial to the Basque civilians killed in the 1937 bombing of Durango by Franco’s fascist forces, one month before the firebombing of Guernica.
On Sunday we enjoyed our breakfast on the terrace before embarking on our hike. Accessing the trail required a mile walk along a small highway, which was not my favorite, but the views of the aforementioned mountains in the Urikola Parke Naturala were well worth the trek. After 5.5 miles we stopped in the town of Mañaria for a snack before returning to Durango for more poolside relaxation.
Pinueta
Since arriving in Europe I have insisted that we visit the beach monthly. [Our streak currently stands at 25 consecutive months with a beach trip!] In the winter the weather isn’t always the best for my favorite hikes along the flysch, so we started December’s trip wandering around Pinsolo Parkea in the nearby town of Pinueta. We peeped some leaves and hung-out with Basajaun, a good hearted giant who protects the forests and the animals that live in them, before walking to the beach for drinks at the the txuringuito.
Gran Feria de San Antontxu in Mungia
Mungia is a small town outside of Bilbao that holds a festival every January for San Antón, the patron saint of livestock and butchers. The festival includes a competition for the best chorizo and morcilla and ends on January 18 with the Gran Feria de San Antontxu, where local artisans, bakers, cheesemakers, butchers, and others sell their goods. There are also stands selling talo, the Basque version of a tortilla, filled with all kinds of meat and local musical groups roaming the streets.
Unfortunately it was a very Basque weather day, with zirimiri that would not quit. We opted not to hike after visiting the market, but we were able to warm ourselves with txistorra and txorizo taloak and appreciate the architecture of Mungia.
Up Next
We don’t have any travel plans until March, when we’ll be visiting Las Islas Canarias. [This will be our 15th of Spain’s 17 Autonomous Communities.] However, I will try to hold myself accountable to writing more this year and compose a belated post about our October visit to Pamplona/Iruña, as the trip was a delight [and Navarra brought our total number of Autonomous Communities visited to 14].