Hello! We are headed out of town from Bilboa today - our next stop is Logrono.
We really enjoyed Bilboa, there is a lot to see here and it happens that their basketball team had a game and their football (soccer) team had an important match as well while we were here. In addition there were some Easter events and the Basque festival which livened up the city.
There was music and dancing!
Bilboa is in Basque which is an autonomous country within Spain. The Basque people/culture/language is one of the oldest in Europe. They pay taxes to Spain only for military and border control (port/customs). The language, which was prohibited as recently as the 1970s has made a comeback. Now 65% are fluent. This language is separate from other languages in that it shares no common roots.
The name Basque was given by the Romans to the people in this region. They were expert boat builders. Whaling vessels from Basque were recently found in Newfoundland dating back 300 years before Columbus.
On Wednesday we arrived and found our way up to our apartment. The apartment is up above the old town. To get down to the old town and the river there are many stairs! Fortunately there is an elevator in the side of the hill! Saved us many, many stairs!
Bilboa is the most accessable city in Europe I have ever been to - no contest.
City hall.
Lady outside city hall who has had enough of this b.s.
Basque women have always held an important role in the family structure. Inheritance is to the eldest daughter, women run the businesses and, as seen here, women were helpers in dragging in the fishing boats returning with whale and huge cod.
Guggenheim museum
Giant flower puppy.
The symbol of the city is the cathedral and bridge with the wolves on the bridge.
See the head on top of the column? This is the author Unamuno. He is famous but not Basque, he wrote in Spanish. His head used to be on the marble base but it kept disappearing. They would find him in the river a week later, etc. So they stuck a column on his marble perch and raised him out of harms way.
This was at the festival. You enter the mouth....
... and come out the rear...
There was a line! I'm pretty sure it was free but still.
Yesterday we were on a bike ride. They have very nice bike paths through much of the city, even roundabouts for bikes! Carsten is the navigator!
Our destination was the Vizcaya Hanging Bridge. Built in 1893 and a UNESCO site, this is an engineering marvel.
Suspended above the river from a gantry (like a crane), it doesn't touch that water. The "car" is like a train car but with cars/bikes in the center and pedestrians on the sides.
We rode across - it was very fast! I was shocked that there were cars on it. Seems like that would be too heavy!
We had great food and wine here. Pintxos are the local thing. Basically they are little handhelds with a long toothpick holding them together. You go into the bar and they are all out for your choosing. Two/three is enough. We had several different kinds - ham croquette, small hamburger, and one that I think might have been squid. Not sure. A good glass of wine is about $3.00.
We enjoyed Bilboa very much!
More later,
Sheri & Carsten
PS. There seems to be only one panhandler in Bilboa, we have been approached by the same dude three times! LOL
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