Tag Archives: warung

Day 45 – Bilbao Taster

We were torn – no two ways about it. The Picos de Europa caught our attention, big time. On the other hand, with ¾ of our trip done, we just could not muster the energy for a full day hiking day. Plus, ever since one of my friends came back from a weekend romp to Bilbao raving about it, it was placed pretty high on my list. We are city people, after all.

And so we waved good bye to the impressive peaks and valleys of the Picos and headed back for the coastal highway. I snuck in a brief detour via a particularly recommended beach in Eastern Asturia – but when we got there, pretty much everyone except myself was already sound asleep. Bilbao it is, then.

I don’t even know where – there were many beautiful estuaries up here

After a minor challenge finding a parking garage (google does not differentiate between the public and resident only garages) we were smack down in the old town ready to explore. Briefly, at least – as we were quite knackered and the camping situation for tonight was not fully resolved.

Lunch then: Here came the great hour of a local food culture institution. One that quickly won me over, second to only maybe Warung Makan in Indonesia. Pintxos (pronounced peen-chos) are two bite extravaganzas similar to tapas, but smaller and more elaborate. They are pretty much a standard in any bar or café in town. So we did as the locals, picked two bars we liked and had two or three pintxos in each. The Café Bar Bilbao (while sporting an excellent carnivore selection) had no vegetarian option on offer, but were quick to whip up deep fried vege for Nina. Not as good, but A for effort. The location was great, though, giving us flashbacks to Barcelona almost a month ago.

The second spot was chosen for the vegetarian option. Nina enjoyed her chance to join in the fun. The place, Irrintzi was more our vibe as well – a bit artsy, a bit alternative. After two bars, we were actually full enough for lunch time. Just great – a drink, some food, 14€ for two and off to the next bar. I can totally see doing 3-4 in a night and avoiding both a bit of the hangover and a late night food frenzy stop at the golden arches. I want this at home!

this time, with veggie options (burglar still afoot).

We wandered through the old town a bit more, enjoying the architecture as well was the vibe. But it was time. The next campsite was half an hour out of town, which sort of made the decision for us on how to tackle tomorrow. That was a bit too far for public transport, so we would camp for the night, come back into town to park here and move on towards the Rioja valley once we had our fill.

[Flo forgot the most important food selection of the day. I managed to talk him into going to Opila, a patisserie pretty much next to our parking garage and i.n.d.u.l.g.e.d. while Flo planned the route for the next couple of days.]

The camp was one of those we would always rather avoid – expensive, tiny parcels without shade and not quite in a nice location. It was the closes one, though, and given that it was almost empty and the facilities were freshly renovated, it was kind of ok. We did get a chance to see the sunset – at the cost of almost freezing our toes off (in 10° C).

Day 100 – Centpostial

One hundred days ago, we left a cold and rainy Wellington, for good, at least for now. If we were a government this would be the point at which pundits would call for a first resume. So did we archive what we set out to do?   Continue reading

Day 89 – Western Timor

Cheers and all the best to you!

Cheers and all the best to you!

After a somewhat creative breakfast at our hotel in Kefa (egg on toast with jam), we were ready to hit the road one more time on Timor. While we were loading up the bike, we were approached by a young Indonesian who turned out to be Stef Ndun from the island of Rote. He seems to have a knack for collecting overlanders in Kefa  and is aspiring to join us on the road one day. I wish him all the best and would hope that he manages to get out there himself one day. It is about time that we see more travelers of non-European decent.

The road was good to excellent for most of the way and traffic was very light until mid-morning. Because we want to try and catch the ferry to Flores on Sunday, we decide against major detours and headed pretty much directly to Kupang. Around 11 am, coming down from another lovely mountain town on a limestone cliff (Soe), it started getting seriously hot. It is the end of the dry and everything is brown, heating up fast and there is little shade most of the way.

Lovely place, great food

Lovely place, great food

At 1 pm we have made it to a recommended Hotel in Kupang, desperate to get out of our gear and get some food into us. Once again we failed with regards to our spending discipline, going for a double with AC over a twin with a fan for $5 NZ more. Somehow it is harder to keep strong if everything is so comparatively cheap anyway.

On the other hand, cost for food really have plummeted. For lunch we went to a warung recommended by the Lonely Planet guide and spend 42000 IDR, or about $4.50 NZ for the two of us including drinks.

The afternoon was spend hogging the hotel WiFi – all in style with some afternoon tea free of charge. We have really been craving some youtube lately and got our fix. Needs must.

Our night market pick

Dinner was another great experience: We went to our first night market. These kinds of open air temporary food courts are popular all across south east Asia. The local version had loads and loads of fish, barbecued to order over eucalyptus wood fires. For some reason, I felt more like satay skewers myself today, also barbecued to order and utterly delicious. After some small sardine found its unfortunate way into Nina’s dish, she luckily found consolation in the desserts provided by another cart.