Plentzia & Gorliz
Sometimes I like to get on a metro or cercanías train and see where it takes me. This is what I did today, because why not, right? The orange metro line (aka line #1) is the longest one in the city and I went most of its length, starting at the Zazpikaleak/Casco Viejo station, all the way to the mysterious towns of Plentzia and Gorliz. I say “mysterious” only because I really had no idea what to expect. Exploring without a plan is my forté, haven’t I said that already? The cool part of this little trip was that the metro emerges from the underground quite early allowing the passengers to enjoy the views along the way, including the working-class neighbourhoods on the eastern side of the Bilbao River, and the swanky coastline ones further north. There is so much green here and the hills reach all the way to the sea, it’s hard to believe I’m in southern Europe and not the west coast of BC. Mind you, the greenery is much more tame here but no less pretty.
The station is, technically, in Txipio but I guess few people turn west when they get off the train. As I emerged from the final metro station (at ground level, of course), I followed the other debarking passengers east towards a rather distinctive white bridge across the Plentziako Itsasadarra (Ría de Plentzia or the Plentzia estuary). As in most waterfront towns, there appeared to be a maritime walkway along the shore, but I decided to explore the town itself. Plentzia isn’t big but it is steep, something my knees became aware of very quickly, but what the height does to my body was quickly forgotten once I saw the lovely views from up high. The town itself had enormous charm and I spent quite a bit of time exploring it, eventually coming down on the north side, near the marina.
What awaited me there was a large beach that I would have expected to be much busier on a Saturday, but maybe the temperatures aren’t quite high enough yet for the people to be willing to brave it? I suppose one needs British tourists who think it’s already hot to fill the beach, though most of them are in Valencia right now, and not in the Basque Country. I was starting to get hungry by this point and the great search for sustenance had began, but there were fewer inviting places to eat than I had anticipated. I should have stayed in Plentzia’s old town, I guess. Hunger is what made me head into Gorliz, the little community away from the beach. I didn’t venture deep into the town; I just wanted a place to eat and found one along one of the larger streets on the edge. The meal was OK, enough to refuel me but not enough to write about. One of the problems with eating alone is that sometimes one makes bad decisions about locales and/or dishes and there’s nobody else whose plate you can sample from: the downside of solo travel, that’s for sure.
Enjoying the weather (very sunny) I decided to walk back to the metro along that maritime walkway I avoided earlier. And a good idea it was since I was able to check out not only some very nice houses (and cars), but the estuary itself was very picturesque with many boats, fishing and otherwise, dotting the water’s surface, with a lush forest background on the far side. There was something very calm about this town of Plentzia; I think living here–close to Bilbao but, in a way, far away from the hustle and bustle of it–must be really nice: the quintessential satellite community where people can live quietly while enjoying the proximity of a world-class city (the word “suburb” has a negative connotation here so I won’t call it that). I have said often that I don’t ever want to live in a suburb again but if I could find myself a place like Plentzia, I would definitely have to reconsider that notion.
