Wandering around Bilbao

Monday, May 15, 2017--Bilbao, Spain

We began today, after a small breakfast of leftovers I had brought from Santander, by going to the grocery store.  We bought a variety of items to have in the kitchen for preparing breakfast, dinner, and happy hours. After depositing the purchases at home, we headed out to explore parts of the city.

We stopped first at Mercado de la Ribera near our apartment.  It is a 3-story building that used to be quite active as a market.  Today, it has been remodeled while retaining its beautiful stained-glass ceiling and windows.  Half of one floor is now filled with cafes and restaurants.  The other half of that floor and the next floor have a few market stalls--about 20% of all the possible stalls occupied.  With the cafes, we got a close-up view of the pintxos (tapas) which was interesting; for regular cafes, you have to just glare through the doorway to try to see them.  The market area was a great disappointment--not nearly as exciting as the markets I have seen in other cites so far.

We passed by Iglecia de San Anton (gothic style from 1422) right behind the market, but it wasn't open for visitors.  So we decided to climb to Begona, a former industrial area which has been redeveloped with housing and has one of the major churches in the city.  It was a huge stack of steps to get up there above Bilbao, but  am in good shape from the climbing/walking I have been doing.  At the top, we barely got to visit the Basilica de Begona (from the 1500s and built by the same architect as the Iglesia de San Anton).  We walked in at 13:25, saw the interior, had a seat, took a photo of the alter, and were then told the church was closed.  It closes at 13:30 and reopens at 17:00.  But at least we got inside.  Several pilgrims arrived just after it closed and were so disappointed because they wanted to get their pilgrimage passports stamped there.

We walked down a different way through Parque Etxebakkia (which has a remaining smokestack from one of the industries there) to the Town Hall (with its modern addition in the rear) on the Bilbao Riverfront.  From there, we walked along the river opposite the main parts of town past the Puente Zubizuri, the Puente la Salve, opposite from the Guggenheim Museo, past the Universidad de Deusto, and into the Dna. Casilda Iturrizar Park where we sat and rested while watching people.  From there, we went to the Plaza Sagrado Corazon and turned to walk down the Gran Via.  Today, we wondered at the magnificent apartment buildings along the route and glanced the window displays at the stores were reopening following the afternoon siesta.  We walked all the way to the two train stations--Estacion Abando where we will leave on Thursday and Estacion de Santander nearby. 

Before returning home, we stopped at the store again for Wes to buy some colas and chocolate.  Then at home, we had a happy hour as I cooked dinner.  We had peanuts, olives, and wine.  And I cooked chicken/turkey meatballs in a tomato sauce and served them over spaghetti with slices of fresh crusty bread.

We will go back out briefly tonight to see what Bilbao is like at the hour that Spaniards go out in the evening to drink.  Also, we want to see some of the lighted features of the city.  But Wes will tire again easily as he continues to adjust to the time difference, so we will be back home before it is too late.