Bilbao

Check also Basque Country, San Sebastián, Pasai Donibane and Hondarribia.

The summer of 2025 brought us back to the north of Spain, because we wanted to avoid the heath of the Mediterranean, mainly because of Kim's health condition. Regarding the weather we got what we wished for, but as we moved up the first mountain near San Sebastián, our campervan's engine began to overheat far too quickly. Reluctantly, we turned back and settled for a quieter, lower-altitude campsite. The next day, we wandered through the charming streets of San Sebastián, that we already visited before (in 2019 and 2022). The troubles faded from our minds, and from there, we set off on a stunning journey inland, eventually reaching the picturesque town of Pancorbo—but more on that later. On our way back toward the coast, the engine started heating up again, but we made it to a very nice campsite in Islares.

The characteristic Nueva Plaza, where we went for pintxos in 2015 but coffee with cake in 2025.

When we were settled, we reached out to our roadside assistance service for advise, and we were summoned to head to a garage in Bilbao the following day so that's how we ended up in Bilbao, a week earlier than planned. We had planned to move further west along the coast, and then visit Bilbao and show the Guggenheim Museum to the boys. We left the van at the garage and found a hotel at the edge of the old city, very close to the impressive and characteristic Nueva Plaza, one of the few places I remembered by head from a previous visit to Bilbao in 2015, next to Guggenheim Museum ofcourse.

Stairs leading from the Miguel Unamuno Plaza towards the Arco del Triunfo de Mallonako at the edge of the old city centre. The Stairs were built in 1745 on Mount Artagan and led to the Mallona Cemetery that was inaugurated in 1830 after the French banned church burials in 1808. The cemetery was closed in 1927 and replaced by a new one in Derio, but the arch is still there. Instead of a cemetary, we can now find a footballstadium behind the building on the photo.

The Arco del Triunfo de Mallonako that used to led to a cemetery. Today there's a football stadium.

The next morning my oldest son and I went up the Mallona Galtzada with quite some stairs to the Triumph Arch of Mallona from where Kurt Hielscher made his photo, I thought. Our youngest stayed with Kim who, due to her bad condition, had to decide to stay in the old city below.

Stairs behind the Garaipenaren Arkua/Arco del Triunfo de Mallonako in 1914-'19. Photo: Kurt Hielscher.

Stairs behind the Garaipenaren Arkua/Arco del Triunfo de Mallonako, 24th of July 2025. Photo: Casper Molenaar.

On arrival, it took me some time to recognize the stairs and the building from the photo behind the Arch. For a while I thought there should be another Arch or gate somewhere else near till it dawned on me when I saw that there has been built a wall in front of the view from the stairs to doors. And a tree planted. Suddenly, it started to rain so I quickly made some photos from different angles and standpoints with my cellphone (I had left my camera in the van in the garage), and went down back again to the old city to find Kim and our youngest.

Today, there's a footballstadium behind this building.

That afternoon we went back to the garage to pick up the van (and Kim's meds!!) and headed back to Islares 30 km west where we already had stayed on a nice camping before our little adventure in Bilbao (check some photos from Islares below). A few days later, our roadside assistance/insurance company, told us that we weren't insured for roadside assistance anymore, because we took the van from the garage. The rest of our holidays, we didn't take any risks anymore by driving up into the mountains.

Oh, and we made it home safely without any further problems with the van, as expected by us, but not by the insurer who told us we should have done the "necessary repair" of which we, and our own garage ànd the one in Spain (well initially), thought wasn't that necessary, as it turned out to be 1.350 kilometers later.