Vitoria-Gasteiz

Let’s start our trip in place where I am studying - Vitoria Gasteiz, which is a beautiful city, especially in terms of its architecture, best described as a medley of the old and the new. You can sense the eclecticism even in the Gothic cathedral, which for centuries has been decaying and then renovated over and over again...

Most of the interesting places in Vitoria-Gasteiz are located in the city centre. You will find there the old town with its romantic streets and squares, historic churches, palaces, lots of greenery and countless bars of regional gastronomy. Vitoria is the ideal city for those who like long walks without the rush.

The best place to start a walk through the old town is the main square of Vitoria-Gasteiz , the Plaza de la Virgen Blanca. This is the place where habitants of the city mass during major holidays and events. In the centre of the square there is a large monument dedicated to the Battle of Vitoria. It is surrounded by houses with facades decorated with white balconies. The square is dominated by the Gothic church of San Miguel. 

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Right next to the Plaza de la Virgen Blanca there is the second most important square in Vitoria, which looks like the most typical markets in Spain. That's Plaza de España, also known as Plaza Nueva.

The most important historic building in the city of Vitoria is the Gothic cathedral of the Virgin Mary. The cathedral is inscribed on the UNESCO list as one of the relics on the pilgrimage route to the tomb of St. James in Santiago de Compostela. 

The Cathedral is definitely the pearl of the city, but I also recommend walking around to see its charming parks and very characteristic houses. Really interesting is that Vitoria-Gasteiz is the provincial capital of Basque Country with the highest density of green areas per inhabitant. For example, they have planted over 130,000 trees belonging to 150 different species. The city is also surrounded by a green belt which can be toured on foot or by bike. All this has contributed to Vitoria-Gasteiz being appointed European Green Capital 2012.

Interesting fact is that the inhabitants of Vitoria-Gasteiz call this city Siberia- Gasteiz due to the weather. During the winter there is really cold and oddly, considering that we are still in Spain often snows. 

This picture I took about two weeks ago. So as you can see the weather in Spain also can surprise!