Bilbao is the largest city in the Spanish Basque Country, rich and comfortable, with excellent gastronomy and at least one world-famous attraction – the Guggenheim Museum of Modern Art. One of the best ways to get into the spirit of Bilbao is to come here during the main city holiday, Big Week (Spanish name: Semana Grande; Basque: Aste Nagusia). The celebration begins on the first Saturday after August 15, the day of the Ascension of the Virgin Mary. This year, Big Week in Bilbao will last from August 20 to 28. There is still time to buy tickets and at least catch the final chords!
We tell you what to do in one of the most beautiful cities in northern Spain.
I want to go to Bilbao!
Walk along the river
On the way to the Bay of Biscay, the waters of two rivers – Nervion and Ibaizabal – merge into Bilbao, dividing the city center in two; on the map it is listed as Ria de Bilbao, i.e. “Mouth of Bilbao”. Along this estuary are located the lion’s share of attractions, including the Guggenheim Museum, the city hall, the central market of Ribera, the Church of San Anton, depicted on the city coat of arms. So a walk along the embankment will allow you to look around and get an idea of the architectural appearance of the city, where elegant buildings of the 18th-19th centuries are interspersed with ultra-modern structures made of glass and steel.
Among the most famous examples of modern architecture is the Subisuri Bridge (literally “White Bridge”), designed by Santiago Calatrava,
when viewed from below, resembling the spine of some ancient giant lizard, and the already mentioned Guggenheim. And right on the river there is the Maritime Museum (Museo Maritimo),
chronicling the past and present of shipping in a city with a long history of fishing and shipping.
Enlighten yourself culturally and eat in a Michelin-starred restaurant
The Guggenheim Museum resembles a giant piece of foil, carelessly crumpled by the hand of a giant. The attitude of the locals towards this architectural masterpiece (as well as towards the contents of its halls) is twofold. But the giant flower bed-sculpture in the form of a puppy sitting in front of the entrance enjoys the invariable sympathy of the townspeople, who pronounce its name Puppy as “Puppy”. In addition to the permanent exhibition, the museum always has several temporary exhibitions – for example, until September 2016 you can look at the works of the American-French artist and sculptor Louise Bourgeois.
During Big Week, jazz is traditionally played here from 11:00 pm until 2 am. You can sit in the hall with a glass of Basque white wine, or you can wander around the huge, several-story exhibition space, listening to the sounds of a saxophone flying from afar. The museum building houses Nerua, one of the city’s restaurants awarded the prestigious Michelin star. Literally a 5-minute walk away are two more “star” establishments: Etxanobe and Serantes III. They are, of course, not the cheapest in the city, but not prohibitively expensive either – the average bill is up to 100 euros.
Enjoy the view from above
Bilbao is surrounded by mountains rich in iron ore deposits. Thanks to this location, the city has been famous since the Middle Ages as a center for the extraction of these resources. The active development of deposits during the industrial revolution made it possible to make a powerful leap forward economically and almost ruined the local ecology. Fortunately, this period of Bilbao’s history is already behind us – today freshness and coolness blows from the low green mountains onto its streets. And just from the top of one of these mountains, Archanda, the best panorama of the city opens. There is a small funicular to Archanda, although it is not difficult to climb on foot – the climb is not steep and not long at all.
You may be interested in:
Three main attractions of Segovia
Valencia pretending to be a big city
Getting lost in seven streets
At the dawn of its existence in the 14th century, Bilbao consisted of only three streets, and a century later it grew to seven. These same seven streets, connected by narrow, corridor-like cantonal alleys, are the historical center of Bilbao, its core. It is here that the main monuments of local antiquity are located – the Cathedral of St. James of the 15th-16th centuries, the stone “Dog” fountain (Fuente del perro) with drinking water and the oldest surviving palace of Bilbao, the Palacio Arana of the late 16th century. Here and on the adjacent New Square (Plaza Nueva) there is the highest concentration of restaurants and bars. And here, again, the lion’s share of cultural events, planned and spontaneous, take place during Big Week.
During lunch and dinner hours, as is customary in other cities in Spain, crowds of locals move from bar to bar, ordering a little of everything: a glass of wine or cider with a variety of pintxos sandwiches (a traditional local snack that comes with anything from meat, fish and pates to mushrooms, vegetables and mayonnaise salads). You can follow their example or, after walking around the center, sit down in one restaurant, ordering something more filling – Biscay cod or, say, roast oxtail.
More on the topic: 8 dishes you must try in Spain
Get ahead
Having not listed all the interesting places in Bilbao, we are forced to stop. Otherwise, there will be no time left to talk about the holiday. Big Week cannot boast of an ancient history – it has been celebrated only since 1978. But in terms of the degree of involvement of the population, it has few equals. The townspeople unite into large compars teams and organize concerts, parades, sports competitions, performances, culinary competitions and, of course, trade in food, drinks and souvenirs. In fact, for all the days of the holiday, the center of Bilbao turns into something like a rock festival venue: it’s primarily about the atmosphere, and not about the music sounding everywhere, although rock predominates in the repertoire of local concert venues.
It’s worth coming here not only for the festival atmosphere, but also to get acquainted with the long-standing Basque traditions: folk dances and unusual sports, such as lifting stones and cutting wooden blocks at speed, and admire the costumed processions of giants and golovachs (the latter, however, are also characteristic of other parts of Spain – not only the Basque Country). In order not to interfere with locals and tourists having fun, traffic in the center is completely blocked, with the exception of trams. After dark, the sky over the city is colored with fireworks every evening. It is difficult to briefly answer the question of what all these people are celebrating. It would probably be simpler and more accurate to say that they are celebrating life.
When traveling, pay for purchases with a OneTwoTrip loyalty card, and up to 10% of the order amount on OneTwoTrip, as well as up to 2% of any purchases paid for with the card, will be returned to your account.
Author: Elena Emysheva
Don’t miss:
Tomatina – a fight after which no one gets hurt
9 most unusual hostels from around the world
