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West of Vitoria the green pastures soon give way to a rugged and dry terrain, home of vultures, eagles and spectacular rock formations. The area is fairly well served by bus from Vitoria.
Salinas de Añana
Five buses daily from Vitoria bus station.
This hard-bitten half-a-horse village has one of the more unusual sights in the Basque lands. The place owes its existence to the saline water that wells up from the ground, which was diverted down a valley and siphoned into any number of ‘eras’, flat evaporation platforms mounted on wooded stilts. It's an eerie sight, looking like the ruins of an ancient Greek city in miniature. As many as 5500 pans were still being used by the 1960s but nowadays there are only about 150. The first written reference to the salt collection in these parts was in 822AD, but it seems pretty likely the Romans had a go too.
There's an attractive church but not much else in the village, which has suffered badly since the decline of the salt pans. During Semana Santa, however, the place is more lively; Judas is put on trial by the villagers. It's something of a kangaroo court though; the poor man is always convicted and then burned.
Cañon de Delika
Access from a car park, about 3 km from the main road, the 2625 (running from Orduña in the north to Espejo in the south and beyond), turn-off is signposted Monte Santiago and is about 8 km south of Orduña). Buses to Orduña from Vitoria bus station with La Unión.
To the west beyond Salinas, and actually reached via the province of Burgos, this spectacular canyon widens into the valley of Orduña. The River Nervión has its source near here, but it's sometimes hard to believe that this is the same river that made Bilbao great - it's regularly dry in summer. When running, it spectacularly spills 300 metres into the gorge below creating the highest waterfall in Spain. There's a good one and a half-hour round walk from the carpark. Follow the right-hand road first, which brings you to the falls, then follow the cliffs to the left, where vultures soar above the valley below. When you reach the second mirador, looking down to Orduña, another road descends through beech forest back to the car park. Near here is a spring, the Fuente de Santiago. Legend has it that St James stopped here to refresh himself and his horse during his alleged time in Spain. If you're in a car, there's another waterfall to visit on the way back to Vitoria from Orduña. A marked side road near the town of Gujuli leads to it, prettily set beside a Romanesque church.
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