10/08/18 – 12/08/18 Bilbao, Basque Country
We’d been shopping, we’d brought extra booze, we’d done our homework on where to stay IN ADVANCE (Unusual for us),now all we needed was our good friend Rob to arrive. He was flying in late from Gatwick, so the plan was to pick him up bright and early on Saturday morning from the hotel.
It had been nearly 5 months since we had last seen him, so on Friday night we were getting excited and had ourselves a couple of drinks to get in the mood. Then, the bomshell….his flight was cancelled due to bad weather and the next available flight was unsuitable ie on the following Monday……so we wouldn’t get to see him afterall. gutted.
Feeling slightly shell shocked it put us in a bit of a strange mood for the weekend but there was nothing we could do, so here’s what we got up to.
Parque Erandio
We spent both nights here for free (GPS 43.3246846,-2.9400183) its about 6 miles outside of the town centre, but when you are there, you’d think you were much further away from a big city.
It pretty much had something for everyone there, short walking trails through tree, BBQ areas, playgrounds, a rock climbing wall and some adventure platforms/short zip wires.
We were both surprised by how quiet it was on the Friday – We arrived around 6 pm and the carpark was reasonably empty. There were people sunbathing on the grass and making the most of the peaceful sunny evening. Even the now customary person that turns up in the middle of the night with their stereo blasting didn’t stay too long and didn’t really affect our night sleep.
Saturday and Sunday were a different story though as loads of local families turned up for the day bringing half of their kitchen and dining room furniture with them. The Spanish certainly know how to make a full day out of the park visit – most of them were there until close to midnight, talking and laughing.
Such a good place, we’d definitely recommend a visit if you are in Bilbao for a couple of days and want to get away from the city.
Guggenheim
Having studied this building when I first started out in Architecture, I was really looking forward to finally seeing it in the flesh. It was the kickstart that transformed Bilbao from a run-down port town into the vibrant and edgy artistic city that it is today. Such was its impact on the city, that it became known as the Bilbao effect in the media and other cities around the world looked at it as an exemplar on how to start a cities transformation.
You can read about its full impact on Bilbao and further afield via the BBC here
Now over 20 years old, its certainly had a lot of coverage in the media and perhaps the is part of the reason we were both slightly underwhelmed by it. Don’t get me wrong, its a fantastic building but we both couldn’t help feeling that it had perhaps lost some of its original impact, or because buildings have come on so much in the past 20 years, that it just didn’t feel as awe inspiring as we thought it would. That said, it does photograph well.
Old Town
About a half hour walk from the Guggenheim brings you to the old town on the opposite side of the river Nervion. There are loads of studios and individual arty shops interspersed amongst some slightly gritty looking bars with the odd rainbow flag thrown in for good measure. It’s good to see that the old town has maintained its soul and hasn’t been gentrified so much that it lacks any real sense of identity. You could definitely say the place has its own character!
We had our first taste of Basque Country pinchos on Plaza Nueva at a place called ZenZen Gorri. We sat outside on the terrace for about half an hour, me becoming more and more frustrated that we weren’t being served….turns out all I needed to do was go up to the bar and pick each dish that I wanted and they plated it up for you.
It was OK, some really tasty dishes (for the meat and fish eaters) however, everything seemed to be on bread though. Lorraine did have a couple of veggie options, although they weren’t too inspiring.
We did however have the tastiest ice-cream (Ferrero Rocher flavour) that we have both had for a long time from a place called Galati Galati. Yum. We also kept Rob in our hearts as we walked around the shops and saw some crazy fancy dress outfits that he would be only too keen to wear 😉
Parque Etxebarria
To escape the heat of the mid-afternoon we thought we’d try and go visit the park just outside the old-town. It looked like it was an easy walk on the map. What the map didn’t show were the (what felt like) 100’s of steps leading up to it – with no shade to escape the 30 degree heat.
Having eventually made it up to the top, it was a little disappointing. Most of the grassy areas either had no views over the city, or had no shade to sit in. Admittedly, there was a fairground occupying much of the park, so it might have felt different had that not been there.
We did however manage to find a good spot under some trees to spend an hour until it was cooler and our lunchtime beers has worn off.
Parking
We made our way back to the bullring where we had parked the Moho – It charged by the hour or €22 to park for 24 hours and had a helpful and friendly security guard on the gate. It seemed to be in a dodgy part of town (We noticed this on the way back) so it might be worth getting a taxi back there in the evening if you are staying the night.
Sum-Up
A good city with its own identity. We were sad not to experience it with our bestie as I’m sure this would have made the place even better. Lots to see and do and taste and drink 😉 Two thumbs up from me!
