Game of Britta - Butrón & Gaztelugatxe & Itzurun

Daaaa da da da daaaa da, daaaa da da da da daaaa daaaa (Everyone who has watched the series now has the same catchy tune because I described it so creatively here - to everyone else: Just ignore that part of the post - the pictures are still there pretty)

A fantastic hello to you all,

I'm currently writing to you from my next AirBnB because the weather forecast is bad again and I just can't predict it here. Well, in any case I'm back in France near Bordeaux.

The last days of my first car trip are coming to an end and I have to honestly confess to you: I've experienced great and amazing things but I'm also at the point where I can say: enough is enough now! The last few days in Spain were really an absolute high and I experienced a lot of great things.

Among other things, I had a real FAN girl moment when I looked at 3 of the Game of Thrones filming locations in the Basque Country. I also wrote these in the title for you, but unfortunately I have to admit that I can't tell you how these places are pronounced. All three locations can be found in film scenes from the Game of Thrones series and also in the spin-off House of the Dragon. And since it's low season here and I was relatively early for Spanish standards, all three places weren't too crowded.

I started with the castle in Butrón:

A really incredibly beautiful castle in the middle of the countryside and very well preserved from the outside. Unfortunately I can't tell you more about this castle. From here we went on the planned “hike” to the island of Gaztelugatxe. This was scheduled to take around 2 hours and 4 minutes (according to my Komoot app) and was supposed to take me from the parking lot to the tip of the island and back. The trip through the Basque Country alone was worth it. An incredibly beautiful country that is criss-crossed by rivers and mountains and has always conjured up some great beaches and views at regular intervals.

As soon as I saw the island for the first time, I was really excited about the “hike” and the view and the feeling of walking on this path. I keep writing "hike" here in quotation marks because I was a little over-equipped, having forgotten that this place is a tourist highlight and the paths were therefore pretty well developed. But since I always travel with the motto: Better to have than to need! That didn't bother me and I went on my way happily.

Once on the way I had a really outstanding view of both sides of the coast and both beaches looked simply gigantic!

After climbing the 241 steps in one go and at some speed, I was sweating a bit and so I took a quick look around. The view in all directions was really great and the chapel that stands on the hill is also really pretty.

Fishing boats from the area always sail around the island 3 times starboard and 3 times port to pray for a good catch, good weather and a safe return home. This custom is very old and no one can explain where it comes from. For this and a few other reasons, this place is also very special for the fishermen. Of course, there are not only good legends about the island, but also witches, thieves, pirates and others are the main characters of the island and its stories.

Then we went all the steps back to the mainland and the view of the coast was also a dream. I also had really good weather here again.

I think my enthusiasm for this place was one of the reasons why I did this hike faster than usual, because after just 1 hour and 20 minutes of pure walking time I was back at the car. I took a little break there, ate and drank something, sweated it out a bit and then drove on to the next backdrop:

I only stayed here for about 5 minutes. I would have liked to go swimming here too, but I had to park my car because of my overfull bladder and because the Spanish in this town only operate the parking meters via an app, which only works with a Spanish tax number (who thought of that?). I'll get back to my vehicle(s) as quickly as possible so that I don't get towed away.

To be honest, I was pretty exhausted and was happy that I could go to the campsite and go to bed.

In the next few days, San Sebastian was on the agenda in northern Spain. But more on that in the next post.

Your Britta