Inland Basque: Cider, Markets and Mountains

The Basque rib steak: aged, thick-cut, grilled over charcoal and served rare.

The Basque capital most travellers skip: a medieval almond, a cathedral restoration you can visit, and a serious pintxos crawl.

January to April in a Basque cider house: fixed menu, unlimited cider, and you queue at the barrel with a glass.

The Basque half of Rioja: medieval wine villages, bodegas cut into the hill, and two famous modern wineries.

A town with a university older than any other in the Basque Country, and a modern sanctuary in the valley above.

Black beans from the Oria valley, served with morcilla and pickled peppers in the town that grows them.

A rippling, wave-form winery by Santiago Calatrava, set among the vines of Rioja Alavesa.

A historic winery transformed into a modern architectural marvel by Frank Gehry in the heart of Rioja

Hard sheep's cheese from the Basque hills, smoked or unsmoked, best bought at a market.

A market town with beans named after it, an arcaded square and a river through the middle.

An arcaded market town with a dark history and the old road to Vitoria running through it.

A Wednesday market running since 1512, and the cheese competition that goes with it.

Mountains between Bizkaia and Álava, and the cave where Basque mythology puts its goddess.

Traditional Basque cider house experience featuring rustic set menus and natural cider poured directly from the barrel

Basque pilgrimage basilica rebuilt in the 1950s — raw concrete, Oteiza's apostles, Chillida doors, a serrated silhouette above a limestone gorge.