Vitoria-Gasteiz

We finally arrived to Vitoria-Gasteiz in the early afternoon of our cross-country car trip. Vitoria is a scenic and contemporary city with so much civic and infrastructure order that you come to doubt if indeed you are in Spain. The city itself is not very big or cosmopolitan like Madrid or Barcelona, nor does it need to be. It has culture, excellent food, and good public transportation. There is plenty to see in one day with the added  bonus of low-cost-free tourism (e.i. young drunkards from abroad), pick pockets, or heavy traffic. 

If you are pressed for time you can easily visit the old and new part of the town in one day. Like many Spanish cities, it has a Plaza Mayor with restaurants and terraces to enjoy tapas and drinks. For me, the most pleasureable part of the day was eating huevos con chistorra and a few glasses of txakoli (a light, dry and slightly sparkling white wine) at a small tapas bar called Las 3 BBB. I tried for my very first time elvers, young eels, with scrambled eggs--which to my surprise I enjoyed. The city had an abandoned feel with the locals out of town on holidays for this month of August, but for travelers on the go, it was a welcomed sensation.

Adeu!!

p.s. to find out more about the murals go here.

Basque and Spanish

Mural on the side of a building. The city offers workshops on how to create murals.

Parque de la Florida

The Lehendakari lives here, a.k.a. the governor of the Basque Country.

I want to live here.

Plaza Mayor, Vitoria-Gasteiz

Typical windows in the northern part of Spain. Too cold to have balconies.

Part of the sign to Las 3 BBB tapas bar.

11th Century wall.

Portcullis