Hiking in the Hills

My neighborhood of Algorta is surrounded by those of Aiboa and Bidezabal. Yesterday, my group and I decided to get explore the wonders each had to offer.

Although what led us to Aiboa was the expectation of a Chinese Dollar Store where they supposedly had notebooks for us to buy, the neighborhood turned out to be a purely residential area. The houses and apartments are situated on a steep hill and offers sights not so often seen back in the states.

View of the Metro that cuts through the Aiboa neighborhood

Long walkway adorned with alternating tree and metal arches

Dog enjoying the Spanish Sun

View of the industrial bank from Aiboa

It may be interesting to note that the dogs here are amazingly well trained and that it is not uncommon for them to be walked or even let our without leashes. We found that owners punish their dog by putting them on the leash when they misbehave. Such behavioral modification makes sense and the culture in Bilbao takes advantage of it. We decided to meet up around 4pm to go hiking to a fort in Bidezabal that was used to defend Spain from the English attack.

View of Bidezabal from Algorta

View of the journey up to the fort

Kind Spanish elder telling us about the history of the fort

We kept walking along the path that took us to the fort...

Carrie on the edge of the cliff

Carrie sees something!

I don't know what she pointed too...

Oh, it was stairs

View of the beach from the stairs

View of the beach from the shore

Ultimately, the day was a fun day for hiking. The beach turned out to be Rock Beach and what looked liked to be soft sand from above turned out to be, unsurprisingly, hard and rocky. Not many people seem to go down near the shore because of how precarious the stairs were toward the bottom but the experience of standing on the shoreline was surreal.