the commute

I have finally arrived in Bilbao after a 4-flight odyssey that never seemed to end. The difficulty was that not many airports fly to Bilbao and for anyone who has travelled to Europe from Australia, multi-leg journeys to even enter the continent are the norm. Bilbao is a good launching point for the GR11 as it is a big enough city that I shouldn't have trouble finding a camping shop tomorrow to stock up on a few supplies (maybe some freeze dried meals, a gas cannister), and is a culturally and gastronomically interesting city as well.

I am absolutely exhausted and luckily had the forethought to book myself into a business hotel near the airport for my first night in Spain. I know it isn't very interesting of me, but after pitching up at 3pm in Bilbao and then getting to the hotel, showered and unpacked, I really don’t have the energy to go exploring this evening.

It does seem though that about 50m down the road is a very highly rated restaurant called Asador Aramendi Berria that, on a Thursday afternoon, had room for a party of 1.

I love Spanish food. And Basque cuisine is a nuanced and quite culturally independent culinary entity in of itself, that I'm looking forward to exploring. Below are some photos of the truly fantastic late lunch/early dinner I had, starting with a phenomenal (but not photographed) tomato dish that was essentially sliced heirloom tomatoes with torn chicken, white onion, salt and pepper and olive oil over the top. My main was a whole squid, served with a kind of rich umami sauce that I suspect was made from the ink, and a fried crispbread also I think with an element of squid ink involved - on a bed of caramelised onion. The dessert was an apple tart with a scoop of gelato.