We arrived last Thursday, by plane, and treated ourselves to a taxi ride to our “home” for the next 6 nights. An Air BnB in the middle of the “Old Town”. -Casco Viejo.
At the heart of the city are Bilbao’s original seven streets, Las Siete Calles, which date back to the 14th century.
We are in the centre of the Basque Country and you soon begin to appreciate how important their heritage is to them.
Signage is in Basque and then Spanish. English is not spoken to any degree and we have to use Google translate to help us along. It actually makes me feel slightly inadequate that I cannot even contribute!
Football is as important a game as in other parts of Spain, but Athletico Bilbao have a unique rule where only players from the Basque region of Spain can play for the club. The result? They’re only one of three teams never to be relegated from LaLiga!
Whilst its history is centred around the port and thus the transfer of goods you don’t see a huge amount of ethnic diversity certainly not compared to some English cities.
They appear to be proud people, Basque first and Spanish second.
The culture seems centred around a cafe/bar experience where locals and tourists alike mingle for morning coffee (black or white, no decaf or specialist milks), a social drink and pintxo at lunchtime before afternoon siesta where most shops etc close down for about 3 hrs. Then everything reopens and the small bars in the old town spill out onto the streets. Standing in the street, sipping a drink and socialising is an everyday night time activity and lends a background buzz to any evening spent inside your home.
Our first night was accompanied by a punk rock band performing outside a bar two streets away but clearly audible in our historic apartment above a shop.
Friday:
The city is full of architecture, which we both enjoy, as we stroll the streets of the “New Town” on Day 1 and take a walking tour courtesy of our Lonely Planet pocket guide. The weather is drizzly but, at least being out of season, we aren’t having to wait ages and fight the Instagram crowds for our photos. Our day out incorporates a visit to the Guggenheim- see my separate post:
https://amidlifeadventure.org/2023/03/07/opinion-modern-art/
and a trip up the funicular railway (although the views were extinguished by the mist).
Saturday was spent out with locals in the “Old Town” beginning with the fabulous Mercado de la Ribera where stalls upon stalls arrest the taste buds with fruit, vegetables, meat, fish etc. Everyone is out buying their weekly shopping. This is farm to fork at its best! And we return to the apartment with everything needed for our fish supper.
Within the market is a large food hall where everyone seems to congregate for lunch and having perused the various counters, laden with pintxos of all descriptions, we settle down to try our first foray into this Basque delight. Unlike those around us we settle for a coffee each whilst the locals are sipping martinis and aperol spritz.
Elsewhere families utilise the parks and open spaces along with the historic plazas to entertain the children. In the afternoon the Plaza Nueva is full of little footballers, balance bikes and people congregating for social interaction whilst their children play nearby.
The Plaza del Arenal, next to the river, is teeming with every age group relaxing on a weekend. The play park, which on a weekday is probably invisible, is the focal point. The river, itself, is empty. We didn’t see a single boat, kayak, canoe etc throughout our stay?
Sunday-we are up and out early to try out the metro. It’s fairly straight forward once you get the hang of it. It helps when you feed the tickets through the machine in the direction of the arrows. Talk about getting old!!!
There aren’t a lot of staff about, so help is not really at hand, but Google Maps provides us with all the info we need in terms of which train to get on.
30 minutes later we alight in Bidezabal where a seaside ramble in Getxo awaits. We are now in the suburbs, so to speak, and there is no doubt that the houses look newer and more expensive than the city.
Our walk takes us right along the coast line with clifftop views and a sandy beach. We meander through the Cornish style narrow streets of the old fishing village of Puerto Viejo before continuing on past the architectural beauty of the Paseo de las Grandes Villas. Heading across the unique Unesco World Heritage bridge of Puente Colgate we finally finish our sunny afternoon in Portugalete.
Throughout our walk we were surrounded by locals, all out enjoying the Spring sunshine. Dogs abound and it’s apparent that most ladies wear slacks and trousers and not jeans like me. Needless to say this English woman stood out a bit like a sore thumb!
Monday morning we hop on another metro train and head off to the bus station for a 7.30 bus (coach in England) to San Sebastián. Tickets are bought in advance and weekend tickets sell out quick, as we discovered, when we originally tried to book seats for Saturday on Thursday night’s arrival.
The bus station, like the rest of Bilbao is immaculately clean. You could eat your dinner off the floor! As we have discovered before you don’t get awoken by the bin men in Spain but by the street cleaners. The old streets around our apartment are cleaned down every morning and then every shopkeeper steps outside, before opening, and cleans their specific area of cobbled stones just to make sure!
The 90 minute journey goes without a hitch and we arrive into San Sebastián bright and early. Like Bilbao nothing really happens here until after 10 am but this gives us time to begin our walking tour of “Old and New” before it gets busy.
I’m trying to be honest on my travels, so I have to say San Sebastián is like Bilboa’s posh neighbour. It’s like the difference between a well looked after set of teeth, there is nothing wrong with them, they are clean, hygienic and useable and a set of teeth that have been brightened and whitened to sparkle. San Sebastián sparkles!
The beach is probably the best urban beach I’ve seen to date! The town is compact and welcoming. Designer clothes shops mingle with elegant bridges such as Puente de Maria Cristina. The 20th century, belle époque, 5 star Hotel Maria Cristina, designed by Charles Mewes, the architect responsible for The Ritz in London, stands proudly on the river front.
We managed to walk to the top of the 123m Monte Urgull topped by the old castle and a slightly grandiose statue of Christ. The spectacular views across the bay and the city were a just reward for the climb up there, although the steps back down to the old town fully exercised my midlife knees!
The streets in the old town are wider than Bilbao and again everything is that bit more spacious and bright.
I can imagine families packing up their bags of a weekend in Bilbao and popping across here by car or bus for a weekend of sun, sand and relaxation.
Our foray into life in Bilbao is coming to an end and tomorrow we board an early train to Madrid.
This is my first post on our extended trip to Western Europe and also the first in Spain. There will be more to follow on this tour.
A Midlife Adventure 