We drove north from Pamplona on Monday to Irún on the Bay of Biscay, turned west along the coast, and settled into Lekeitio for a couple of days. We are east of Bilbao this time, and the weather has warmed up. The coastal mountains here are green, rugged, and beautiful.
Lekeitio is a Basque fishing port on the west bank of a bay created by the Lea river. Boats anchor in a deep basin protected by a concrete breakwater; the rest of the bay is shallow and lined with beaches. The water is amazingly clear, a beautiful aquamarine blue. A small island occupies the middle of the bay; at low tide you can walk out to it from Karraspio beach, where our hotel is. Our room gives directly onto a small terrace shared by the nine rooms of the hotel. The terrace overlooks the small street, the promenade, and the beach. The latter is a lively place, with people of all ages strolling, sunning, swimming, talking, eating, playing, surfing.
On this side of the river, it feels like a resort. On the other side, however, it feels like a working fishing harbor. The boats come in each morning with their catches, and at least some of them are sold right off the wharf to the local residents and restaurant owners. A small medieval quarter, unmarked and unrecognized, climbs the hill toward the ocean, while a modern town of about 7,500 people stretches around the hills back toward the river.
We are just here to relax for a couple of days before heading back to Bilbao and, on Friday, to our separate destinations.
