Bilbao Spain

In between our Sits in Hereford, England and Poitou-Charentes, France, we had a couple of days open so we chose to visit Bilbao on the northern coast of Spain. Barb had read about Leon Spain and bars that served complimentary pinxtos, pronounced pink-saws, served free at bars when buying a glass of wine. Pinxtos are similar to tapas and popular in northern Spain. Various toppings are usually served on top of a piece of bread with a toothpick to keep it all together. Our dear friend Bob G. taught us how to have “app and go’s” (going from place to place and sharing appetizers) when snacking and drinking in Asheville so we knew it was a fun style of eating allowing us to try different foods. Also, neither of us ever thought we would be able to travel to Spain so we found a cheap flight and off we went to Bilbao for two and a half days.


We took a night flight into Bilbao and enjoyed a cab to our hotel down curvy mountainous highway roads to the flatland of Bilbao. The lights of the city looked very appealing. Our hotel was in the heart of Old Town but it was late so we unpacked our stuff and thought about what we might see in the morning.

As we exited our hotel in the morning we walked into beautiful old town! There was a nice energy from the many people walking on the pedestrian cobblestone walkway. To the left was a road with several buses and I saw train tracks I later learned were for the tram taking people around the city. We opted to walk toward the courtyard admiring the tall buildings on both sides of the walkway. We passed a couple of side streets with gorgeous old buildings with seating and canopies in front of some of them. We saw an opening a short distance from us and in a few minutes reached an open courtyard with many seats around small tables with huge umbrellas advertising the name of a restaurant directly in front of the seating areas.

Pintxos

We went into the closest restaurant, Bizuet. It was a narrow store with a row of tables and a counter filled with plates of pintxos, tapas, on two tiers with a section of small plates stacked with a spoon and a packet of sugar. There were a half dozen people seated at the counter and a few others scattered in the remaining seats. The man behind the counter was very busy working the cash register and setting fresh pinxtos in front of the customers and removing empty plates and coffee cups.


I perused the selection, cold fish omelette on French bread, fried octopus ball on top of salmon and French bread, ham and cheese on French bread and many others some with creams, cheeses, meats, fruit, you name it, both sweet and savory. I requested “Dos cafes y un con leche.”, perhaps a grammatical nightmare but understood and probably appreciated. The second worker behind the bar looked at me briefly then quickly turned to the coffee machine and began the process. After getting the café started he briefly explained he would bring them to me.


I went outside where Barb was seated at one of the small tables with an empty chair waiting for me. I explained the food situation and suggested we, I, select a couple and be ready for any type of food because it was difficult to discern what made up all the choices. She said she would trust my choices and anything would be ok to try.

We saw the many tiny terraces off the apartments above the stores and thought how nice it would be to get an AirBnB there and have coffee looking onto the scene we were in. Barb said she felt she was on a movie set. The town took her breath away. It was during that first encounter Barb declared she was in love with Bilbao. Oh, I almost forgot. Directly behind the seating area is the Santiago Cathedral, from the 14^th-15^th century.


Within moments our coffee arrived and we both sat talking, drinking delicious coffee and watching the many people flowing by between us and the store fronts. There were young people arm in arm, old couples, families, people being helped in wheel chairs, and dogs all to the backdrop of constant chatter, mostly non-intelligible words. An old man added to the entertainment of people watching by playing an accordion of pop tunes singing in Spanish. All of the tables eventually filled and the people ate pinxtos, drank beer or wine and, sometimes, non-alcoholic beverages, usually the children. It was a great people watching venue.


I eventually went back into the Bizuet and selected a couple of pinxtos, octopus and cheese, ham sandwich and the cold fish omelette. Our waiter brought them out with another round of cafes and we thoroughly enjoyed them.

Old town appeared to be built around the court we sat in with streets radiating to a main road. There were side streets down as you walked out toward the main road surrounding the center of Old Town some with smaller courtyards set up similarly to where we were. We walked around feeling safe with the many people out and about.

We stopped back at our lunch stop for some wine and more food when closing time, 10p, sneaking up on us. We paid our bill and headed happily to our hotel.

Guggenheim Museum

On our second day in Bilbao we decided to walk the mile to see the Guggenheim museum of modern and contemporary art. It was commissioned by the king of Spain to be built on the decrepit area of the port of Bilbao to bring the area back to its prior stature. The pre-opening of the museum was attended by over 5,000 people and the museum architecture being praised as one of the premier buildings of our time. We wanted a destination to see more of the city.

As we walked, we noticed the buildings were a seemingly well thought out combination of old and new all blending into a picturesque city. We ventured out during the heat of the day so we tried to navigate by traveling, as much as possible, in the shade between the buildings. I noticed the temperatures ranged from 75 to 92 degrees along our route with the difference being the shade. There was light traffic and some people on the streets but we both felt safe and enjoyed the beauty of the city. The restaurants and bars were all inviting and we stopped a few times to relax and enjoy a drink and all were welcoming. There were green spaces with benches and shade and the terrain was level.

It was a stark comparison between a “decrepit port area” and its appearance today, clean, vibrant with buses and a tram stopping frequently by the museum. The museum is fantastic and like nothing I have ever seen and striking difference from any of the architecture, modern and old, in the rest of the city. The bridge that spans the Nervion river appeared to have a modern and whimsical feel complimenting the museum.

We admired the museum from the outside before making our way back to Old Town. We didn’t take the same route home because Barb’s internal compass knows where we have to go so we make decisions on a street by street basis. Our return trip was as enjoyable and impressive as the first half.







Bilbao is a city of 350K with a heavy flow of tourists. We would love to go back and enjoy more of the city or perhaps find a smaller city in Spain offering a smaller, more local flavor. Spain is definitely on our radar to visit again!

Cheers!
John

If you would like to see more of Barb's photos of Bilbao, just CLICK HERE