Not my favourite day of our holidays so far. But, at least we did make it safely to Bilbao and to our accommodation. And, Mick and I are still friends. We are staying here for 6 nights.

It was a good thing that we left much earlier than originally planned from Haro, as in the end, we only just made it to the hire car return office in time.

I had programmed Google to take us the toll-free route to a service station near the main transport hub in Bilbao called Intermodal, which was where we needed to return the car. Everything was going to plan and we even fitted in a stop along the way for a coffee. It was after we had filled the car (for €54), that things became complicated. We were less than 7km from the Intermodal, but we went around in circles trying to find the big “P” for parking. It seems straight forward, but there is a lot of construction going on near the entrance to the car park which blocked our view. And turning left is not easy either. You have to get into a right lane and then wait until one set of lights turns green. I was worried I was going though red lights, but just followed the other cars. It felt crazy.

We left the car on Level -4 as instructed and then caught an elevator to Level -1 to the office. There was very little signage to help here, but we did find what we needed and got the tick of approval from the lady in charge that we could go. There was a little sting before we left, I had opted to pay €8 / day for roadside assistance (a total of €80), which thankfully we didn’t need, but I worked out early on in our trip that there was no way I could phone for help if I needed it as my e-SIM only covers texting and WhatsApp calls. But as we were leaving the woman explained that the cost was actually €94.50 because of taxes!!!

It was now time for a coffee and to work out how we would get to our accommodation in the old town (Casco Viejo). I thought it was going to be easy. We just needed to buy a Barik card (for €3) and then put some extra cash on it for our trips. We would only need one card apparently, but we had no luck in finding a vending machine for this card in the main transport hub of Bilbao, which seemed weird! Nor did we have any luck (or so we thought) in finding the right tram stop to our accommodation. There was absolutely nowhere to get information or help with our challenge. We even spent 10 minutes standing out the front of the Intermodal looking at the notes I had made weeks ago, looking forlornly in various directions hoping someone might rescue us. I did ask a nice young man for help and while he did tell us the right thing, it didn’t match the notes I’d made with Google’s help. So, we caught a taxi – which was a great idea, and for €10, it was worth every cent.

The one bedroom re-furbished apartment is on the third floor of an old building that was once a Palace. After climbing 76 stairs and passing through 4 different locked doors we were in. I should have asked about elevators – but it was too late.

Transport options are just out the front and we are confident we will get the hang of it.

Mick found a Tourist Office and was able to get some maps and I was able to buy the Barik card – so tomorrow we will start investigating this city. The next photo shows more clearly the building we can see from our window. It is one of Bilbao’s most iconic cultural landmarks.

Once settled, and with the washing spinning in the machine, we headed off to find another of Bilbao’s iconic cultural landmarks – Mercado de la Ribera. It is one of Europe’s biggest covered markets, and in 1990 it was recognised in the Guinness Book of Records as being the biggest market in existence at the time in terms of number of traders and stalls.

The markets are located on the banks of the River Nervión. In the first photo you can see one of Bilbao’s 13 bridges that criss-cross this river. This bridge is called Areatzako Zubia. Not that I can remember that very easily.

We headed off to find the markets and Mick was happy to have a map to guide us.

When we got there – the markets were closed, except for the bar areas. We will have to return tomorrow.

The bar inside part of the old markets that was open showing a great variety of snacks called pintxos (pronounced peen-chos), which are much more than a snack — “they’re a cornerstone of Basque social and culinary culture”. You can tell a pintxos because of the toothpick!

Anyway, we will return tomorrow – as Mick is on the hunt for some oysters.

We did find a Carrefour near to the closed markets and bought some groceries so we could have a home-cooked meal. On the way back to our apartment we walked through the Plaza Nueva and found a bar where we enjoyed a few drinks with the locals.

It took us awhile to work out the induction cooktop in our apartment, but we had a great meal with a bottle of Rioja Crianza that we paid €3.99 for – it was excellent.

Tomorrow we will go to the markets and possibly try to work out how to use the Metro and our Barik card.

We’re not in a rush to enjoy this city.