With San Sebastián behind us, this morning Nishant, Kenny, David and myself booked a cab to pick up two rental cars from Enterprise, tucked beneath a mall complex just south of the old town. Moments after signing the paperwork, it seemed Nishant’s choice of wide-bodied vehicles paid off: our accident insurance kicked in almost immediately.
Even the rental agent shrugged with a half-smile: “Yeah, that happens all the time when people drive out. Your friend just got the full insurance though, so don’t worry about it!”
Meanwhile, David had already returned to our hotel in San Sebastián to gather the rest of our gear. Once packed, we hit the road heading west toward Zumaia, pausing for a quick coffee and to iron out our caravan rhythm.
Zumaia is home to a stunning beach featured in Season 7 of Game of Thrones, its dramatic cliffs a fitting backdrop for dragons and dynasties.
But a hiccup: due to a miscommunication and different assumptions, David, Sandy, Yuhan, Kane, and Varun in one car pulled away without notifying the rest of us, leaving the group unintentionally split by about 30 minutes. While their car stopped for lunch at a pinxto spot, ours headed directly to Bilbao and straight to our first official stop: the iconic Guggenheim Museum.
Frank Gehry’s architectural marvel remains every bit as jaw-dropping as it was when it first opened—its fluid, metallic curves mirroring the nearby river and the city’s industrial past.
This modernist masterpiece has been described as a “signal moment in the architectural culture,” and a rare point of agreement between critics, academics, and the public alike.
Even though we arrived well past our scheduled entry time on our prepaid tickets, our honest excuse “we got into a car accident” was apparently compelling enough to get our tickets re-scanned for new entry. We spent the next hour soaking in the rotating exhibits of contemporary and modern art.
While David’s car toured the museum as we were leaving, the rest of us — Nishant, Raubern, Ainsley, Kenny, and myself — grabbed a quick Asian fusion lunch just across the street before continuing two more hours west toward the majestic Picos de Europa.
Nestled among limestone cliffs, deep gorges, and misty valleys, we braved the drizzle and fog to stretch our legs and take in the views from Mirador del Pozo de la Oración.
What we expected:
What we got instead:
Understandably, the other car missed a turn while following us and ultimately decided to skip the fogged-in lookout and head straight to Gijón instead of making a U-turn. But eventually, we all reconvened just in time for dinner at Sancho La Merced, a cozy recommendation from my friend Sofia, who, as fate would have it, lives here and plans to show us around after work tomorrow.
- At time of posting in Bilbao, it was 20 °C - Humidity: 86% | Wind Speed: 5km/hr | Cloud Cover: so hot it melted my chocolate from last night
