Mid Term Break - Cultural and Culinary Enlightenment in Bilbao
Much like our 2019 Copenhagen to Lecce tour, we’re taking a little off-bike break to check out a couple of very interesting cities, San Sebastián and Bilbao. Both have very rich and exciting culinary scenes with a long focus on sea food, and Bilbao in particular has become a ‘poster child’ for urban renewal with cutting edge architecture driving it.
Rather than a turgid day by day recount of what we did, this post is more of a photo dump of what we saw when we did our more or less standard ‘one focal point per day’ then filled in with random wandering to get a feel for the place, stay in these two cities.
We actually had two ‘focal points per day’, one being taking in a known attraction, i..e the Guggenheim Centre in Bilbao, and the dinner or lunch at a highly rated establishment (restaurant, bar/tavern).
Being off bike was good too. The upcoming rides in the Pyrenees look like they will be as or more challenging than our days in the Chartruesse and Vercors in France plus, we really wanted to see Bilbao, but to add this in by bike would have added some additional pretty tough cycling.. and we’re getting wimpy! If you have never been to the Biscay coast you should come. It is beautiful …. Green and lush, cool due to the cold waters and winds coming off the bay of Biscay ….. and incredibly rugged. There is not a square meter of flat land anywhere. Looking at a topo map the whole area looks like crepe paper with endless wrinkles of small steep hills. Better to take a convienent and comfortable bus ride from San Sebastián to Bilbao and back than add several days of interesting, but very tough cycling into what is already a challenging tour.
So with that intro, what did we do in Bilbao? The Guggenheim of course. This has become one of the most instantly recognized buildings in the world, and for good reason. There are scores of amazing pictures of it, but you really do have to see it in real life, and a different points in the day when the light plays off it. Thankfully we did. It also has some great art and sculpture on the inside too. Luckily for us the was a Joan Miro exhibit that had been here for several months, we caught it in it’s last week.. We also took in the Bilbao ‘old town’ with its narrow streets and cathedrals and of course the Mercado de la Ribera, one of the largest covered food markets in Europe.
Our dining extravaganzas included Lasai, a newish relaxed and low key restaurant with a growing reputation (great food and service) and NKO Eneko, a very high style and high demand Basque / Japanese fusion restaurant (great food and great food service .. but a bit too pretentious in overall atmosphere for us).
Our almost three full days in Bilbao were great, cloudy with a few sprinkles of rain on day 1 followed by two glorious days of sunshine. We bussed it back to San Sebastián and Saturday evening and checked back into the Axel hotel (great place) where most of our bags and our Tout’s had spent the last three days, and had a last wonderful great dinner outside on the terrace of one of the scores of wonderful neighbourhood restaurants that fill San Sebastián.
One final comment regarding ‘neighbourhoods’. Both San Sebastián and Bilbao have many parks that were all full of multi generational family groups out enjoying them, and the neighbourhood restaurants were filled with families and groups of friends lending a great human feeling to both cicites.
Our belly’s are full, our legs are rested and we're ready to tackle the next leg and country of the tour!
SOTD - The Sweetest Taboo by Sade. Most establishments here seem to play 70’s and 80’s music, and although we didn’t specifically hear this song, it fits the cool quiet vibe we had over the last three relaxing days …and it from the mid eighties …. Which seems to be very popular in Bilbao!
Everyone’s seen the outside of the Guggenheim but the inside is just as interesting
Richard Serra’s permanent installation ‘The Matter of Time’ … one of the few installations where the artist’s description of the piece really made sense, to me ;)
Traditional basque desert taken to a high level. It’s a bit like a Pavlova, crisp meringue with soft inside… and to me it looks just like the logo of the (crap) Little League baseball team I played on when I was 12 … The Dairy Queen Jets. Our hats were yellow with a classic Dairy Queen swirl ice cream cone on them. Hardly the most iconic sports emblem! But this looks just like the hat, and it was far better than our baseball team was.
Another modern architectural artwork in Bilbao, the Zubizuri pedestrian bridge by Santiago Calatrava (he also built a controversial (at the time) pedestrian bridge in Calgary a few years later. Both are now seen as essential parts of the city.
Karin KaarsooThe YYC one is pretty ugly these days with no glass and fencing to keep people from falling into the river. Reply to this comment 11 months ago
I took this just to show how Bilbao, like San Sebastián, is built up in narrow river valleys, and as soon as the banks start to rise away from the river, you are into countryside. The hill in this picture is no more than 2 km’s away from the heart of the city
Lots of dogs ….. and EVERYONE scooped the poop …. Unlike the country next door! This lovely pooch is Merlot’s doppelgänger (Merlot is the service dog puppy that we raised)
Anybody know who this guy is???? When we were buying some pastry here, this English guy come up with his whole film crew (camera, sound and various ‘minders’) several people seemed to take notice and know who he was. Just another random guy, with his own film crew, to us though.
Patrick ParnoHow do you choose your restaurants? Do you use the Michelin guide or something else? On paper or online? Your dinners (and sometimes lunch) always look fabulous! Reply to this comment 11 months ago
Kirsten KaarsooTo Patrick ParnoWe use the on line Michelin guide. We usually go with a single or double € sign. We also try to go for newer places. It simplifies things and generally provides excellent meals. Every once in a while we splurge and go to one with a star but usually for a special occasion. We also sometimes just walk into a place off the street! Reply to this comment 11 months ago
