We will be renting a car for a few days following our RS tour of Basque Country heading towards Madrid for our flight home. I see no mention of Gaztelugatxe and the Hermitage in the RS books and was wondering if this would be a worthy detour. It is north of Bilbao where we pick up the car and the photos of the area and the hike along the bridge as seen online look spectacular. We were planning to spend a night in LaGuardia that evening and the mileage seems doable. Thoughts?
Posted by
Paris
7304 posts
S. Juan de Gaztelugatxe was closed for a while due to the damage caused by the crowds. I believe it is now open again, but a booking (free) is required for crowd control purposes, so you cannot be spontaneous. Also, it is completely in the opposite direction vs. Laguardia.
Posted by
Mid-Atlantic area
7162 posts
That site became popular because of its appearance in the Game of Thrones series and RS probably doesn’t write his books based on what’s popular at the moment. If you’re a fan of Game of Thrones, by all means, go see it. It looks like an interesting location and worthy of visiting if you’re in the area. Balso is correct in that it is going in the opposite direction of Laguardia. Laguardia is about a two hour drive from it on mostly interstate type toll road (AP-68). If you took the back road through Vitoria-Gasteiz then just south of it your speed will be limited to about 40mph on the 2-lane A-2124/BU-750.
Posted by
OP
41 posts
I’m not a big fan of Game of Thrones I just thought the walk and views along the way looked wonderful. As it appears we will see a lot of other beautiful vantage points along the tour perhaps the extra 3 hours this detour would take is not worth it- I appreciate the comments, thank you
Posted by
Mid-Atlantic area
7162 posts
There is some very beautiful coastline along that entire coast. While out of the way for where you’re going, the coast by Zumaia with its flysch rock formations is very nice. If you want to visit Gaztelugatxe, by all means go. If you don’t, you might regret it later unless you plan on returning to that area. Unfortunately with RS books there no way he could come close to mentioning every site worth visiting. We use guide books as a starting point, then do our own research. I’ve never seen Game of Thrones, but I have Gaztelugatxe on my “to visit” list the next time I’m in that area. The drive down to Laguardia should be fairly relaxing since traffic is very light once you get away from the big cities. While driving, stay at or below the posted limit. Three kph (1.8mph) over the li it might get you a ticket and there are cameras throughout the country.
Posted by
OP
41 posts
I looked Zumaia up and believe that is likely on our route from San Sebastián to Bilbao. Thank you for your tips especially about driving a bit under the speed limit,
Thanks!
Posted by
Bilbao
745 posts
What a real pity that San Juan de Gaztelugatxe, such a meaningful place for us Basques, is practically only referred to as a Game of Thrones site. It must be the sign of the times, but there´s a long history dating back to the 10th century in this place, and a TV series shouldn´t be the reference. Sigh...
No, the damage was not caused by the crowds, it was a land sliding (this is a very rainy area) and the slope of the mountain invaded the way to get to SJG. If you want to climb to the top, it would take around 45 min (first downhill, then 241 steps), no cars allowed to the foot of the steps. One of my favorite places in the world, and then GOT arrived and everything changed. As said before, the sign of these times when everything seems to be banalized. Still, a beautiful place to visit, winding road, beautiful Mundaka and Bermeo are very close, as Gernika and its Casa de Juntas, one of the oldest forms of Parliament in the world.