Hi all,

I'm going to Spain for the first time from January 1 to 11, will stay in Valladolid for the most of the time, and was planning to go to Bilbao.

I thought to do some day trips to Palencia and Burgos as they are on the way to the coast. May be somebody can help me whether these places are worth visiting or not? Or should I spend more than a day to some of them? Or may be there are more interesting places on the way to Bilbao?

By the way, I'm quite interested in photography (architecture - nature mostly), so should I plan some extra films for these places?

Muchas gracias for any advice!!!

I just returned from Spain and a Spanish friend of mine took me up to stay with her family in a village outside of Burgos. We spent the weekend walking around the city. The Cathedral is pretty spectacular and there is a Monestary there that is wonderful. If you like architecture it is worth a stop and a tour of the Monestary.

Thanks, ditravelphoto! Can you tell me the name of the village? I think I'll go there (medieval architecture is cool!) and stay for some time.

Any other suggestions are welcome! Please, I need your help, cause I explored this cool site (well done, MM!) only few days ago, and the trip starts on Saturday. Thanks in advance!

The name of her village is Villengomez, but it was Burgos that has the really interesting stuff that we explored. Also interesting in the Castilla y Leon province area, but a little out of your way, is Avila. Lots of photo's wait for you there! Beautiful old walled city!

Thanks for the village name, yeah, I know city is more cool to explore, but still small Spanish village is value in itself. Ummm, walled city! I love it when it looks like that, I'll definetely keep some films for the possible trip to Avila! Thanks a lot!
By the way, I can see you like photos as well? May be you can tell me any other places you've just been to that are worth to keep on the photosensitive paper? I planned to go to so many places, that now I realise I have to refuse from some of them, so your tips will come handy.

You should definitely visit Vitoria (Gasteiz in Basque), a beautiful city between Burgos and Bilbao. Its medieval quarter is one of the best preserved in Spain. If you take the highway (A-1) between Burgos and Bilbao it's almost exactly between the two cities.
Good luck!

take a look at this thread
http://www.madridman.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=4;t=000258

I pulled up Bilboa in the search function - the title mentions castles and I'm guessing that walled cities and castles go together.

Also a couple of board members are from the Bilboa area and have links to some photos and/or websites that are worth taking a look at.

Have a wonderful time!

Thanks a lot, jose madrid and Puna!

Jose madrid, I've checked the photos of Vitoria, and I must say they are cool! I have to find some time to get there too.

Puna, I've visited the site of the Spanish Association of Castle-lovers (smth like that), and it has tons of useful info (though in Spanish that is not in my access, but still). Muchas gracias for the help with using the great annals of this message board, that's really useful.