The Basque Region - Spanish, Gallego and now Euskera!

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Pais Vasco – Bilbao



We arrived to Bilbao with little time to spare before the rental car was due. We ended up having to return it at the airport since it was a holiday but when we got there we asked if we had time to fill up the gas tank and where we could find a gas station. She was very kind and said we could return the car at the other location in the city, which worked out way better for us getting to our hotel and not being charged an arm and a leg for gas. When we finally made it to town much later than anticipated, we still had a bit of a walk to our hotel. Luckily that nice woman had given us a downtown map.

It was a rather lengthy walk but we love coming into a new town as everything is so new and exciting so it went by quickly as we looked for where we would be laying our head for the next two days. Our hotel room was nice and had good ambiance; a very comfortable place to be staying during our time in the city. We were once again stationed in the old part of town and after we dropped off our bags we took off to explore. We weaved in and out of the confusing maze of streets and eventually stumbled into hidden plaza full of interesting stores, restaurants and vendors manning tables of knick knacks and souvenirs for sale. We went into a bar and experienced for the first time the “pintxo” culture of the region. Pintxo is the Euskera (2^nd official language of Basque Country along with Spanish) word for tapa. Although you have to pay for them they are wonderful and varied and you want to try them all. We chose 4 or 5 bites that looked interesting and safe and they were all delicious. After that we took our time checking out the rest of the plaza and made our way to the river for some new scenery. There we met an enthusiastic old man who knew we were tourists and commenced to chat our ear off about all there is to see and do in the city and warned us of a specific part of town known for its crime. We were at a disadvantage, first because he was speaking in Spanish and second because he had a near undecipherable accent. There was a lot of polite nodding and smiling and we eventually found a pause in the conversation to thank him and say good bye. From there we continued along the river taking in all that we could, snapping photos like crazy. Off in the distance we saw a train car ascending a giant hill and we headed towards the base of the hill in search of a ride. For less than a euro we rode the funicular up to a breathtaking viewpoint overlooking the entire city of Bilbao. You could see many monuments, churches, modern buildings, tacky billboards and of course the Guggenheim Museum.

The sun was headed west and it was soon going to be dark so we descended the funicular and started walking back to the hotel. The town was full of life and all the Christmas shoppers were frantically moving about looking for the perfect gifts for their loved ones. The lights hung above the streets and shone brightly and nearly every plaza had a lit up Christmas tree or some type of special decoration. We found something to eat and got back to the hotel at a decent hour so we could rest up for more exploring and our trip to the famed museum the next day.

We left the hotel the next morning in search of breakfast and found what was touted to be the largest indoor market in Europe. The Mercado de la Ribera was indeed quite large and there were a ton of people packed into nearly every square inch of the two floors. We just glanced around during this visit but ended up returning later to buy some wonderful goat cheese, spicy chorizo, fresh fruit and a bottle of local wine for a late night snack.

Next we were off to the Guggenheim where we had made reservations for noon. The place is incredible! There were some interesting sculptures outside including a giant spider and a dog carved out of a giant bush/tree. The building outside was impressive too. Pictures (nor words) do it justice. We picked up our listening devices for the tour inside and snapped a few photos inside the non-exhibit area (which have mysteriously disappeared) and went to see the first exhibit. There were many paintings and sculptures scattered throughout the museum but a noteworthy exhibit was called The Matter of Time by Richard Serra. There were interactive sculptures around 15 feet high or so that you could walk through. Different walls would lean out and other walls would lean in giving you interesting perspectives. One of the sculptures walked you in a circle to the center. As you walked in you could see the walkway perfectly fine but as you exited you basically walked in a blind spot the entire time, not sure if you were going to bump into oncoming traffic in the narrow walkways. We both enjoyed the museum thoroughly and left happy 3+ hours later.

As we write these blogs, it seems like we spend a lot of time thinking and writing about food and wine. It is definitely something we enjoy experiencing while we are here, and it is pretty different than what we are used to on a daily basis. We bring this up because Bilbao is known for their pinxtos. And after the museum we spent a couple hours searching for impressive displays on bar counters. We would look from outside and see how many varieties they had and choose our next barstool wisely. It’s been a few weeks so it’s hard to remember what they were, but technically speaking it was goodness on toasted bread. We found a couple good pintxo restaurants and enjoyed a couple of tastes before exploring the town more. On the way back we walked by an active bullring in the heart of the city and then we found something we had on the itinerary. We had been searching for a wine warehouse but instead found that it was more of a unique commercial center with dark lighting and some exhibits. In part of the middle area there were a variety of giant pillars in different styles going from floor to ceiling near a paneled floor of white lights. There were a few shops there that we poked around in and we snapped some fun photos on benches that were lit up. There were also people swimming above us and we could see them in the pool through the ceiling. Not what we were expecting, but probably better.

After a full day of walking we were pooped and we made it back to the hotel a little after dark. We had our snack for the night and decided to settle in for our early morning to Santander.

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