You head back towards the coast today to spend the next two nights in Bilbao,  the Basque Country's biggest city and home to Frank Gehry's famous titanium-clad Guggenheim.

Before reaching the city, you'll explore one of the Basque Country's remarkable cultural landscapes - the little-known Salina de Añana. These are said to be the most ancient salt pans in the world and they have been producing salt here, miles from the sea, for up to 7,000 years.

On a fascinating tour, you will see how this process is not only being preserved but now actively celebrated. With the brine coming up from deep underground through what was the seabed, the purity of the salt here is famous. Almost every significant Spanish chef is an ambassador for this non-profit project which is aiming to get UNESCO World Heritage status. During your 90-minute tour, you will learn all about it, even taking a virtual fly-through and then doing a salt tasting session.

After you finish, you should be ready for some food. Happily, there is a very special restaurant close at hand, where you will enjoy a tasting menu lunch using ingredients sourced from the immediate surroundings, including salt from across the road - of course. Indeed you will be seated within what was a royal salt store.

Drive 1hr 45min, 130km.