The other face of Bilbao: when tradition survives around Guggenheim
They say that the second opportunities were never good, but when it comes to discovering destinations on the map, a first, nor second, not even with a third visit to a place to know its charm is not enough.The heart of a territory is known as the good love stories, those that advance slowly and that, beyond the first crush, captivate you inside.An interior that you did not expect, but as you discover a captivating spell on you.And then there is no turning back.Because they say that is where true beauty resides: in the corners and in the most remote stories of each passage.
Talking about happiness destinations is synonymous with talking about Bilbao.If you have traveled it, surely you have fallen to the appeal of the Abendo area, a delight for architecture lovers that is presented with the City Council, formerly the plot on which the convent of the Augustinians settled, demolished duringThe first Carlist war.
In front, stuck to the estuary, there is the ovoid variant sculpture of the Gipuzkoan sculptor of Orio, Jorge Oteiza, one of the most relevant figures of Basque art.And from those views, another architectural work rises on the horizon of its landscape: the Zubizuri bridge of, of course, Santiago Calatrava. If you do not cross it they will say that you have not been in Bilbao.
ANDER GILLENEAThe "Guggenheim effect"
A stop in this city is a commitment to art.You may have already visited it or may not yet, but surely you have pointed on your map that, to the left of Zubizuri is the Paseo de Uribitarte, because from this large space and less than ten minutes on foot, it gives us theWelcome to one of the most photographed and recognized views of the city of Bilbao: the Guggenheim Museum of Frank O.gehry, inconceivable without its two allied companions, "Mom", the spider -shaped sculpture of Louise Bourgeois and "Puppy",Jeff Koons's floral dog.
There are those who affirm that Guggenheim is gray, others have seen it violet and there are even those who affirm that it is golden.The reason: its titanium material, which acquires a different hue before our gaze according to the weather conditions and the time of the day we observe it.And as every good particularity has a name: "Guggenheim Effect Bilbao", an energy that already has denomination thanks to the capacity that the museum granted to the city in its international projection.
Today's Bilbao, in addition, continues to keep great similarities with Bilbao yesterday.Although the city has grown by leaps and bounds in recent decades, we can say that beyond these famous and tourist attractions, its essence and tradition are two of the characteristics that make it one of the destinations whose tradition coexists with the most environmentcosmopolitan.Here it is exactly, where it lies part of its magic.We start the journey ...
The seven commercial streets with more character
Touring the Viejo de Bilbao helmet is a real lesson of Basque history and art, but before entering this monumental place, it is worth knowing that the Walk of the Arenal, which gives entrance to this old area, was before the main traffic enginecommercial and port.It was covered with sand to house the port, the main economic sector of the city, but now it is a wonderful walk where to enjoy the views that are located on the other side of the estuary and reach the seven streets that make up the old town.
Cristina AriasIf at first there were only three (shallow, artakale and tender), it was with the urbanism law of 1442 when four others were added: Belostikal, Harrategi Zahar, Barrenkale and Barrenkale Barren.Touring them is enjoying a pleasant walk where tradition continues latent in the "lifelong stores" that are mixed with modern trade, that now seems to live in all provincial capitals.
The seven streets communicate through their cantons, which are narrow alleys that connect the entire old town.Throughout the extension of this monumental area, different establishments coexist that allow to know the history of Bilbao's purchases from within: fruit shops, butchers and fishmongers maintain their old label that is part of the city's memory, while some also persist somesmall - and few - businesses that set up their company inside the portals, as is the case of Basq Lore gift store.
D.R.Bilbao is one of those cities in which, despite its growth, trade still closes on Sundays, is resting to eat and some companies even hang the “closed” poster a few days during the week.In local establishments there is Black Friday and there are hardly any sales.
Fashion in Bilbao is one of the sectors that keeps behind its life a great commercial imprint.This is the case of Ramón Ezkerra, one of the few surviving fights in the area.Of artisan tradition and working and commissioned, the designer who gives name to the firm has attended customers who come to their hands to wear new sheep leather and fine skin.From his fight he designs and manages, but also gives a second life to ancient clothing and transforms it at the request of his clients.
This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.Talking about Basque fashion without mentioning the covers would be meaningless.This footwear, with which many families learned to walk, is still sold in family stores such as
Bizkarguenaga, a small place attended by the inhabitants of the villa and the surrounding landlords to buy their footwear.Work boots, espadrilles, bluchers and many other shoes that crowned this shoe store as one of the most recognized in Bilbao history.They say that the names of the shoe store in the sole were previously recorded, instead of the firm to which it belonged.
Less than five minutes walking is another of the fashion commercial emblems, a firm that has been reinventing over time and that has opted all its letters to sustainability as one of its greatest added values.This is Skfk, the name since 2018 of what was previously Skunkfunk, a fashion firm with local design that uses natural and recycled materials in its preparation.
Its production is done in China and collaborates with India in the choice of organic cotton, in line with the Chetco coalition.Of this sustainable commitment, SKFK was the first Spanish company to obtain Gots certifications and fair trade certification (Fairtrade®).If you enter your store you can feel your passion for nature in the garden of the end of the establishment.A paradise for lovers of green.
This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
The memory of Bilbao can be materialized in its souvenirs.Buying a small detail on our visit is easy, but fleeing from the typical ones is even more thanks to stores like Orriak, a mandatory stop before closing the walk through the old town.Most of the products of this family store are handmade in maximum detail: its store workers are responsible for the drawing and design of many of their pieces, as well as the creation of the fabric dolls of their showcase.Here you can find from cups with the typical phrases of Bilbao ("It makes fresh", "right there"), to mariapáginas with the figures of their big heads or small ceramic figures to decorate the house.
This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.To put the final touch to the visit in this area and to condense the taste of Bizkaia in one place, between the San Antón bridge and that of the riverbank we can find the largest covered market in Europe: the Ribera market.It is divided into two clearly differentiated stripes.On the one hand is the Cafeteria and Restaurants area of Pintxos in which to enjoy typical dishes of the Basque Country, such as its gildas or Carolinas.
Also in this market there is space for the more traditional market in which to buy meat and fish to weight directly and without packaging.A perfect place that perfectly defines the essence of Bilbao today: that which cannot be imagined without looking back, customs, but does not make sense without the contemporaneity of now.
Cristina AriasGetty ImagesThe Vanguardia Bilbao: The new face of the city
Every large city has a street called Gran Vía and, in Bilbao, this is the street that starts the modernist area in which architecture designs a scenario in which its artistic manifestation coexists, as the statue of its end -the sacredHeart- with other works that pay tribute to famous characters such as the statue of the writer Antonio Trueba or the magnificent architecture of the Montero House, the work of Luis Aladrén.
The Bilbao Ensanche houses the circular square as the main center, the starting point of many of its visitors.It is in its surroundings where we find different stores and commercial companies for lovers of large cities, but also for those of the little ones, which still keep their essence.
This is the case of Eguzkilore, a jewelry that is born from the hand of jewelry teachers and that is inspired by one of the flowers that most inhabit as a symbol of protection in the Bilbaine rooms, the same that gives it name: the flower of Eguzkilore (Florof the sun).This mythological history symbol is still hung today at the entrance of houses and business in order to keep them safe.This is the reason why this jewelry takes ETA Flor as a starting point and creates pieces such as slopes, jewels, rings or pendants that are already part of the history of many of the city's generations.
This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.Promoting local culture and art
To discover the past of Bilbao through their businesses and centers is to impregnate itself in a DNA that fights every day to maintain and renew its staging in order to live with the passage of time.
D.R./ AZKUNA CENTROAThis is what Azkuna Zentroa has done, the De and Contemporary Culture Center of Bilbao, which is today about what was once a wines warehouse.In these rooms different rooms that support culture and accompany artistic creation, focusing their attention on Basque design, but also focusing their gaze on international projection.
Inside you will find a store dedicated to promoting Basque emerging art, but also a large offer of activities and corners to get lost: its mediateka -a magnificent bookstore in which to enjoy the time alone or in company -, the center of activityPhysics (CAF) - With gym, pool and sports rooms - or different exhibitions and activities that are organized in Lantegia, their ideas laboratory.
This center, which also changes its programming every three months, is in itself an authentic work of art.Its outer architecture of the 19th century contrasts perfectly with the modernity of its interior, created by the French Philippe Starck and the 43 pillars that welcome at its entrance, a work by Lorenzo Baraldi.
JOSÉ MIGUEL LLANOOf emerging artists and new talents to prominent names.The Michel Mejuto Gallery, located in Abendo and near both Guggenheim and the Museum of Fine Arts, is one of those small spaces in which the hours pass between the stories that inhabit the works of art that decorate their walls.A Basque artistic journey in which names such as Jorge Oteiza, Francisco Iturrino or Eduardo Chillida are concentrated.A collection that has been expanding a catalog since 1984.
The fame of his culinary art: a deserved title
Pintxos are the emblem of Basque cuisine that has conquered beyond national borders.A custom that was initially installed in the bar of the bars and that has created a whole culture of eating and drinking.Although "going from Pintxos" is probably one of the most typical customs, Bilbao has a wide list of restaurants and an offer that alternates from the most traditional flavors of your kitchen to the author.
This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.One of the main claims of tourism is the gastronomic amplitude offered by this land.In Bilbao alone, without taking into account the rest of Bizkaia, you can find six high -end gastronomy establishments with a Michelin star: Zortziko by Daniel García, Mina with Álvaro Garrido and Lara Martín, Zárate with Sergio Ortíz de Zárate, Eneko BilbaoDe Eneko Atxa, Atelier Etxanobe with Fernando Canales and Nerua with Josean Alija in front.
The latter, the Nerua, has been consecrated as one of the 60 best restaurants in the world of the ‘The World’s 50 Best Restaurants’ list.Integrated in the Guggenheim Museum, its kitchen is innovative and daring.Mix products of orchards, farms and the local sea in frizzes, such as its hake kokotxa with white asparagus wrapped in omelette or the tomatoes in sauce aromatized with herbs and caper background.
This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.Also avant -garde but not as daring as Nerua is Basuki: a perfect alternative for those who like to combine the usual gastronomy with the Castizo Recipe.It belongs to the well -known group Bilbao Berria, founded by Iñaki Lasa and Rafael Viar and is a perfect place for dinner at table or to drink drinks -DJ has, since the premises combines wood in space with contemporary details that place it as they place it asA unique and cozy enclave.It is essential that you try its creamy rice with octopus, the baked lubina with mussel and red pepper or, failing that, the grilled cross to the Pedro Ximénez.A delight for the palate.
A slightly more informal meal or dinner, in a cosmopolitan environment and near the estuary and a few steps from the old town: it is possible.Basquery is the ‘place to be’ for bread and beer lovers.An exquisite combo originally from a bread operator and a warehouse of artisanal beers, which form the perfect tandem to taste their menus and recipes: from hamburgers, lasagna of smoked duck, to fresh cheese of igorre and anchovies or fingerprints of chicken of Baserri.A fabulous option within everyone's reach.
This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.THE INCARTMENTS: THE GREAT UNKNOWN
Bilbao has a city, sea and mountain.In its western part there are the parties.The summits and valleys surround one of the areas less traveled by tourists, but more magical for nature lovers.
D.R.This place is the land of vineyards and, therefore, of txakoli.Who does not know what Txakoli is because he has never been in the Basque Country.It is this area, that of the Encartaciones, which welcomes the Sulibarria vineyard, responsible for the work of the Galdames winery that the Txakoli Torre de Lozaga elaborates.His hamlet is in a natural environment whose landscape is the most captivating for calm lovers.Ideal to enjoy the flavors of their four wines with a snack: some gildas or a little idiazabal cheese.
The area of Balmaseda, an enclave of pilgrims and merchants that has a pleasant heritage landscape to visit.Its churches and medieval construction make it one of the strategic points in which to make a stop and eat (or stay) in the convent of San Roque, a great space in which, in the seventeenth century, nuns of closing and closing nuns livedIt is now used as space for events.
The people of Balmaseda will tell you about their cooked from Putxeras de Alubias since it is the most typical dish of the area that shows its best version every October 23, date on which it is made for the big day of the San Severino parties aputxeras contest.
But beyond these beans, Balmaseda also has a rich legacy in specialty of coffee and chocolate.One of the award -winning chocolates with the International Chocolate Awards 2020 keeps its base in this town.This is Kaitxo, a family business that is responsible for cautiously selecting the best flavors in the world and developing in its factory some of the best chocolates and coffees in the country.
KAITXO/ Ana Belen Bernales MaestreThey have conquered haute cuisine and it is not surprising.From this corner they select the origin and miman in detail the process of making each of the products they sell.Its chocolates are Bean to Bar and its catalog is so wide that it is difficult to choose only one: black chocolates, milk, white and others that include ingredients such as violets, licorice, pistachios or star anise.
Also the specialty coffees that they have been selected grain to grain so that their flavor transports you to their country of origin: Honduras, Kenya, Ethiopia ... in Kaitxo they have coffee from the original destinations of the richest destinations in this plant.
On the banks of the sea: Getxo, Punta Galea, Azkorri and Sopelana
Etxezuri is Euskadi's most expensive street and is located in Getxo, a municipality bathed by the Cantabrian famous for being a summer area of the Bilbao and having magnificent beaches and cliffs.Getxo is the ideal zone for everyone Bilbao visits looking for those coastal scenarios that come to mind as soon as I think of the Basque Country.
From its sea port, rental sailboats with which to enjoy a walk where to observe the greatness of Punta Galea, an area that impacts its impressive cliffs.According to the navigation option you choose you will see from the sea different views, but surely in the distance you will see the beach of Gorrondatxe (Azkorri), striking for being one of the few large beaches in the area and those of Sopelana.
Monica GarciaGetty ImagesThe beaches of Bizkaia, for the most part, are not surrounded by buildings.They are from those beaches of difficult access in which the tranquility reigns, the landscape invites the rest and, enjoying a day reading is like one of the favorite activities when a sun ray comes out.There is no better plan.
A unique panoramic: the two Bilbaos from the most elegant bridge
Miguel SanzIt was in 1983 when the Bizkaia suspension bridge was inaugurated as a transferor capable of joining the residential and bourgeois area of Las Arenas, Neguri and algorta of the right bank, with the industrial and worker of the left margin, in which Barakaldo is located, Santurtzi and Portugalete.No less than 160 meters long and 45 meters high, they shape this construction that was born as a testimony of Biscay industrialization.
Now, this bridge - which is World Heritage of Humanity since 2006 - no longer distinguishes social classes and unites the most stately nature of Bizkaia with one of the greatest examples of development and renewal: Portugalete.
To get to this municipality from the side of Bilbao, you have to cross the bridge.Crossing it imposes itself as one of the most fascinating tourist attractions for its passersby.It can be done on foot walking on the top of it on its panoramic catwalk or moving in a hanging boat that moves through lanes.A challenge against vertigo.
Once in Portugalete, as soon as we get off the bridge, the restaurant of the Boutique Hotel CollapCuban.
This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.This lodging was a bedroom of characters such as Empress Zita de Bourbon-Parma or Alfonso XIII, who often enjoyed large parties in the hotel room.Now, in its stays, it has more than 70 warm and cozy rooms that breathe Cuban winks in its decoration.
Yes, Basque-Cuban.Because it was Manuel Calvo and Aguirre who managed to now be part of its essence.When returning to Portugalete in the mid -nineteenth century, after being in Havana and becoming fortune thanks to the cultivation of sugar cane, he established residence precisely in what is now the hotel.He became lodging exactly at his request since in his last will he requested that his mansion became a hotel that feed people with lack of resources.
D.R./ PUENTE COLGANTE BOUTIQUE HOTELVisiting the narrow, artistic and charismatic streets of Portugalete is one of the most captivating activities on the travel agenda.In its Plaza del Solar there is a temple worthy of being intogramrable and some Sundays in the morning in the area a market with local food is established to taste market flavors at street level in a very Bilbao atmosphere, in which, toSometimes, some txarangas are surprised.
Zorrozaurre: The artificial island designed by Zaha Hadid
Every great city has a neighborhood or an alternative area in which the crossing of disciplines coexists feeding its premises and bars.The atmosphere of the island of Zorrozaurre is one of them.Here and around the Soccer Stadium, San Mamés, part of the youth scene is concentrated.
Iñaki Marquina FotografíaThis Peninsula was designed as part of a project by the architect Zaha Hadid, who stated to convert what was previously a peninsula into an island of housing, workplace and leisure.
Delimited by the Nervión River and the Deusto channel, in addition to being another contemporary artistic reference, it has become an example of social and environmental sustainability.So much so that beyond its building and being an example of the use of natural resources, in it are initiatives that also contemplate design areas to bring to the inhabitants the teaching of different artistic initiatives that in the future allow them to create theirown projects.
Pablo AxpeNear the Paraninfo of the University of the Basque Country (UPV) and the University of Deusto, in Zorrozaurre another of the buildings that stand out for its sustainable facilities: the European Design Istituto (FDI) Kunsthal is raised, also designed by Zaha Hadid.It is a structure raised as if it were a villa to promote collaboration among its students.One of those places in what would have liked to study.
In it, different degrees of design are offered: fashion, graphic, indoor or product.It is a private center that has its main headquarters in Italy and others distributed throughout the world, has a design and designed courses program.
In addition, also of Basque origin but with location in the area of the incarnations, another center promotes sustainable design.The Basque Design Center, an R&D center located in the natural environment of Güeñes, offers specializations and initiatives focused on fashion and furniture biodiseño.Educating the designers now and those of the future is their main objective and their teachers teach to create first thinking about the materials, being aware of the use that can be given to innovate with them in design, help the planet and foster the circular economy.
This is the charm that falls in love.That Bilbao mosaic that in addition to its magnificent monuments and museums, is largely formed by the spirit of its stores and future projects, that beat yesterday's personality with today's personality.
A place that fascinates you for your daily life, but also nocturnal.The events that host its streets are many and varied: from opera concerts and more urban sounds to its white nights, a spectacular light performance that stains the area of the estuary white and that, if you stay a few days in the city, you canEnjoy even, drinking a glass of wine from the rooms of the Hespedia hotel, located on the foot of Ría, a privileged enclave.
Bilbao is tradition and rupture.An artistic, gastronomic and natural commitment that places it as one of the favorite cities to live.
Contenidos relacionadosRei Kawakubo expone una pieza en BilbaoJeff Koons visita BilbaoLa oportunidad del diseño emergente
