San Juan de Gaztelugatxe

Off the rugged Biscay coast between Bermeo and Bakio, a steep, rocky islet rises out of the Atlantic, tethered to the mainland by a narrow stone bridge and crowned by a small hermitage dedicated to Saint John the Baptist. The approach is the spectacle: a stairway of 241 steps that zigzags along the spine of the rock, doubling back on itself over the surf, until it arrives at the chapel some 80 metres above the sea. Seen from the cliffs opposite, the whole ensemble — arches of the bridge, the thread of the path, the tiny building on the summit — looks more like a fortress than a place of worship.

Its history is older and rougher than the modest chapel suggests. A religious building stood on the islet as early as the ninth century. In 1334 the rock was the scene of a confrontation between the Lord of Biscay and King Alfonso XI of Castile; in 1593 it was plundered by Francis Drake, and a year later raided by Huguenots from La Rochelle. The hermitage has been destroyed and rebuilt several times: the present building dates from the early 1980s, after a fire in 1978. Inside hang votive offerings left by sailors who survived shipwrecks, a reminder that for generations this was a sailors' sanctuary as much as a pilgrims'.

Custom has it that anyone who reaches the top should ring the chapel bell three times and make a wish, and on the feast of Saint John, 24 June, the people of Bermeo make their traditional pilgrimage up the steps. The islet and its neighbour Aketx form a protected biotope that runs along the coast from Bakio to Cape Matxitxako. In 2016 the setting found a new audience when it stood in for Dragonstone in Game of Thrones.

Getting there

Gaztelugatxe lies about 6 km from the fishing town of Bermeo, on the coast road towards Bakio in Biscay. The nearest airport is Bilbao Airport (BIO), about 19 km away in a straight line. From the coast road, the islet is reached on foot, crossing the bridge and climbing the stairway.