Between big city life, buddy-boating and feeling “overprikkeld”
We had made it to Bilbao, or rather its fancy suburb at the river mouth Getxo. We were greeted upon arrival by a friendly harbour master who had been already instructed by our buddy boat Famara and their Spanish crew member. Safely moored next to them, André’s secret wish became true: a real Spanish paella was being cooked up by Mark and Sandra for the night. What an amazing welcome to the big city!
The next day was spent with shopping and some time on the local city beach. In the evening, we headed out for local tapas and drinks in the old town with our buddy boat friends and were truly surprised by Getxo’s unspoiled charm.
Getxo is part of the greater Bilbao area and the gateway into the city, when arriving by boat of any kind. With industrialisation in the 19th century, some parts of Getxo evolved into residential areas for the rich bourgeois class, their villas are still visible today along the river.
The marina soon filled up with all sorts of international boats that are cruising along the northern Spanish coast, including some other German and Dutch boats. We always like marinas, where the visitor pontoon is centralised and all visiting boats moor next to one another, instead of being spread across the marina. We were thus spending some time on the pier with “Hallos”, “Goede morgen”, “bonjour” … and listening to fellow sailors’ stories and their plans. Always inspiring and motivating to us!
We reached Bilbao the following day via metro from the marina. The city itself shines spotless with its modern architecture, the famous Guggenheim museum and shopping malls. It is absolutely worth strolling through for one day, we were both however overwhelmed, or as our fellow Amsterdam Dutchies would say “overprikkeld”. We were somehow missing the loud, chaotic, more authentic bars and restaurants that San Sebastián had offered. We got a bit tired of the constant buzz of tourists, cars, and just the city noise around us.
Interesting how such an experience changes as days and weeks earlier in South Brittany we had characterised ourselves as “city people” or “Stadtmenschen”, who need a good mix. But that is probably what it is for us: maintaining a good balance of solitude on the ocean, charming little villages and the buzz of an actual city with all it has to offer in terms of food, drinks and also it’s “prikkels”.
We enjoyed our time in Bilbao and surrounding, meeting our sailor friends and catching up with others on the way. Now it is time for heading further west to seek out some smaller Spanish villages and bays to charge up our social energy.
