While everyone was in Lisbon for Steemfest, I headed last tuesday October 31st for one of the last corner of Spain which I had not yet seen: the Basque country.
Taking advantage of November 1, and courtesy of a 20€ Ryan Air flight from Sevilla, it took me a little less than 90 minutes to land in this charming little city which remains unjustly in the shadow of the other great cities of Euskadi (Bilbao and San Sebastian).
Of course, Vitoria has everything you can expect a Spanish city to have: a really cute and well kept historical center, with its spotless buildings, a huge (and very recent) cathedral, and as many churches as you can dream of...
The heart of the city develops around the Plaza de la Virgen Blanca, where you'll find a massive monument dedicated to the Battle of Vitoria (June 1813) which saw the decisive battle when the Anglo-Spanish troops managed to oust the French out of the Peninsula once and for all after years of war and guerilla.
There is also a tradition of painting the facades, and some are truly stunning.
It is also a dream for architects because there are a lot of amazingly beautiful buildings and villas all around. Let's be honest, even if it's a small city, it's one which is quite rich.
So rich, actually, that it can afford to build outdoor mechanical escalators for its (elderly or not elderly) population to ascend the steep streets of its historical center. A nice touch!
But my real luck was that I could visit it on November 1st, and the city was in full swing with A LOT of stands selling food and other stuff to locals and tourists. If you wonder, I had a massive piece of empanadas and another massive piece of cheesecake as dessert.
And of course, there was people playing and dancing traditional Celtic music in the streets:
To be continued with San Sebastian!!steemitworldmap 42.852058 lat -2.678690 long Trip to Basque Country! Hello Vitoria-Gasteiz! d3scr