Well, hello there everyone! I visted San Juan de Gaztelugatxe - pronounced Gaz - te - lu - gatch - ay - a few weeks ago and I wanted to share the photos and a little history!
Gaztelugatxe is a small island located outside the small municipality of Bermeo, a forty-five minute bus ride from Bilbao. The church and the bridge to the island were constructed in the 9th or 10th century by the Knights Templar - Masons. The funds were donated by the Lord of Biscay, don Iñigo López to the church to the monastery of San Juan de la Pena.
The pathway up to the church as around 230 steps and is made of stones from the surrounding beaches. Once you get up to the top it is said that if you ring the bell on the church three times you are allowed one wish. I did not know this at the time, thus I did not make a wish; however, I would have liked to...
Now, I'm going to take on a little picture tour of the hike up to the top of Gaztelugatxe. The bus dropped us off about 3 miles away from the top in the little town of Bermeo. We had to walk along a hilly road - along with some passing cars - for quite a while before we arrived at the actual trailhead. The countryside was absolutely gorgeous and I would not mind spending some time out there. Bilbao is a big city and it was really nice to get out of the city for the day. Anyways, here we go!
The first sign we saw on the way there... I forget what the leaf means. It's something similar to the shell that represents the Camino de Santiago I have mentioned before.
Frollicking along the road and admiring the scenery to our destination...
The traditional basque house - baserri - were built so that in the winter the animals could be housed in the bottom level of the house. This way the body heat from the sheep, cows, chickens, etc. would rise and heat the house during colder winter months.
Through the woods and over the hills... to San Juan Gaztelugatxe we go!
Woohoo! Finally the last sign telling us where to go... You can see the other island, Aketze, as well.
The view from the small parking lot where people can park if they decided to take their cars on the unkempt road to the island. Hardly anybody drive all the way out and there are no services to drive you out because the road is so bad. Looks, like the spaniards/basques need them some 4-wheel drive cars. Gorgeous I tell ya!
This was my favorite scene on top of the island.
This is the church with the bell that I rang a few times, but didn't make a wish...
After seeing the top of the island we headed back to town to catch our bus back to Bilbao. The sunset was absolutely beautiful as we walked down those rolling hills. I just might have to go back - if only for that.
Next week: Burgos
*I'm sorry little Herman hasn't been in the blogs as of late! There'll be another blog soon where you can search for that sneaky little bear!
No comments:
Post a Comment