Last weekend, I took a day trip to Vitoria, Spain. One of my favorite things about living in a new region is how many new places I have to explore! The lovely city of Vitoria is just an hour away from Logroño, making it the perfect day trip! So last Saturday, I got a group of friends together and we went!
Where is Vitoria?
Vitoria is the capital city of the Basque Country in the Northern part of Spain. The Basque Country is also famous for the cities of Bilbao and San Sebastian. It’s only about an hour drive from both cities, making a day trip to Vitoria the perfect thing if you’re already visiting the Basque Country. If you are unfamiliar with either of these cities, it’s about a 5-hour drive from Barcelona.
The city has a population of around 240,000, according to Wikipedia. It has a rich history and many buildings in the city centre date back to the 1500’s, according to Euskoguide.com. There are lots of museums and amazing food to eat.
How do you get there?
Well there are many modes of transportation that you can take. I always recommend the app GoEuro for booking transportation. It compares everything so you end up taking what’s best for you. It’s one of my favorite travel apps.
We ended up taking the Alava Bus there and back. If you go on a weekend day or a holiday, double-check the schedules. They change for weekends and holidays, and the buses are less-frequent.
The city centre
The walk from the bus station to the city center was about 15 minutes. The weather was nice in the morning, so we enjoyed the walk. Once in the center, you have to take that obligatory photo with the Victoria-Gasteiz sign.
The city centre was full of beautiful, old buildings and lots of people.
Time to eat
When in the Basque Country, you have to eat! The pintxos (tapas) are something you have to try. Basically all the bars have different small plates of food sitting on the bar. We arrived just as lunch time was happening, so we ate all the pintxos.
A friend of mine had recommended a place called El Siete, so we headed there first. That put us on the street with all the bars. It was packed full of people! So we went from place to place eating pintxos. While the pintxos aren’t free with a drink like in Granada, they still are rather inexpensive.
Exploring the Santa Maria Cathedral
Most of our group left around 5 p.m. However myself and my friend Rudy stayed a few more hours to explore the city. There was another bus back at 7:30 p.m. and I knew that there were still things left to see. We ended up exploring the Santa Maria Cathedral.
This cathedral was not open to the public for a long time due to it’s old structure. However now it’s open for concerts and other types of events. It’s undergoing renovations. However there are guided tours and you can get an amazing view of the city from the top.
The guided tour was awesome. They take you down underneath the structure and through different passageways. You have to wear a hardhat.
There are fun, creepy things like this that you get to see. The church dates all the way back to 1150. It was cool to explore a building that dates back that far.
Overall, it was a great day to visit the city. Here were a few spots we didn’t get to see:
Have you traveled to Vitoria or the Basque Country?
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