After 3 aborted attempts to visit Bilbao we were determined to finally see it today. Armed with the location of an aire that doesn’t take reservations we left early from Vitoria. But Bilbao has a Costco so we took a chance on getting into the aire, to stop there first.
For the first time this trip we paid less than €2.00 per liter (very approximately $10 per gallon), substantially less in fact. That alone made the stop worthwhile. Than we spent an hour inside debating what would fit in François tiny fridge and cupboards. It is always a frustrating experiencing having to leave some very delicious looking things behind because they are too big to fit.
We finally headed up to the aire which has a spectacular view of the city from above. We pulled up and were assigned a space right away. We were planning on spending 3 days here, but were told there was a 48 hour limit. So instead of relaxing for a couple of hours we headed straight into the city.
Whenever there is a market to see it will be one of the first places we will go in the city. We arrived a little late and most of the food stalls had closed. The building itself was fun to explore and we really liked the stained glass windows on offer.
The food hall was still open so we checked it out and planned the rest of our stay here. We didn’t eat, but shared a table with a young couple who raised their glasses in toast when we sat down.
The main thing we accomplished at the market was to purchase our tickets for the Guggenheim museum for tomorrow. Ton then identified a couple of key points of interest for me to punch into maps and we were off on our walking tour of Bilbao.
Bilbao has historically been one of the main industrial cities in Spain. You can see that this is a city built on making things. The center of the city is gentrified, but the rest of the city retains its industrial feel. It is the largest city in the Basque country and is very proud of its heritage. In fact the local soccer team only recruits players from the Basque country or of Basque heritage from overseas. Luckily for them Basques make good soccer players and they are competitive in the Spanish league.
We enjoyed our walk through Bilbao, but our travels have taught us that we like small towns and medium sized cities better than big bustling cities. Bilbao is a little on the large size for us.
After a few hours exploring Ton asked how far to the nearest bus stop and I pointed across the street. I checked the schedule and the next bus was in two minutes, so our first day in Bilbao was a few minutes shorter than planned.