Mark and I arrived in Bilbao, the capital of Basque Country today. Bilbao is slightly inland from the coast, along the Nervion River. It is also the place where many of our fellow travellers will leave us as they were just walking for their holidays. So far we have met only six other pilgrims planning to reach Santiago. From here on the trail should be less crowded, at least until we encounter people starting closer to the destination.
Bilbao is in a football frenzy. Their team, who has a policy of only fielding players with a strong Basque connection is in the final against Mallorca. There are red and white striped banners hung on most buildings. We walked past the fabled football stadium on our entry to the city today. (Bilbao did win!)
Sarah from Kansas, USA is a free spirit. She has been travelling the world for two years, working when she can. She came to Germany for a family health issue and decided to walk the Camino. She has no time limit so she’s just taking her time. She’s the sixth pilgrim we’ve met that is walking to Santiago. Sarah and I kept in touch, sharing intel on good albergues. When she reached Santiago she started walking the Camino Portugues back to Porto.