Bilbao's Walk of Memory, old redoubt of warehouses and docks, today it is a garden museum where works by sculptors of the stature of screeching (Begirari IV), dali (Muse of Dance) Markus Lupertz (Judith), William Tucker (Maya) and others.
Among them it is worth highlighting the painful as well as beautiful sculptural group The sirgueiras, work of the Navarrese artist Dora Salazar in homage to women, many of them widows, who in exchange for very little they towed barges stuck in the sand in the estuary, pulling a towpath (rope) and which was inaugurated on April 30, 2021.
By those same waters, at the height of the Zubizuri bridge, since September 2021, the head of a girl appears disturbingly and depending on the tide, multiplying eleven times the dimensions of a 10-year-old girl, work of the Mexican Rubén Orozco.
Bilbao Memory Walk.
It's called Bihar (tomorrow) and it's part of the BBK campaign that aims to alert about the importance of decisions in life that will float or sink in tomorrow.
Near the Euskalduna bridge, The Carola crane stands out for its height and its color – a collection of the Bilbao Maritime Museum – which contains a curious anecdote. Her name responds to the beautiful Carola before whom every morning the workers stopped her work to see her go by.
So much so that the businessman, not knowing how to avoid the inevitable break, he proposed to Carola to send her a car that will take her directly from her house to the front door out of sight of her staff, to which Carola replied with her head held high that No one hid her and she continued to brighten up the mornings on the pier.
A WALK THROUGH ZAZPIKALEAK
Bilbao is the ideal size for walking. In four steps you can get from the Paseo de la Memoria to the Casco Viejo –Zazpikaleak– which alludes to the Seven Streets of which it is formed in a medieval layout, dressed in stately homes and the picturesque popular ones that populate the streets of the Pescadería, the Carnicería or that of Ronda in whose number 16 lived Miguel de Unamuno.
Their bottoms take up grocery stores, clothing stores, see Calzados Bizkarguenaga, the adorable shop where work shoes are sold for all sizes but also party espadrilles and even leather espadrilles.
Santiago Square, Bilbao.
Its neighboring store is a tribute to traditional crafts. The owners of Orriak make by hand details related to the Bilbao tradition whether they are the replicas of the giants and big heads or the careful pieces made from the natural drying of the leaves.
The next stop, Ramón Ezkerra's leather workshop, is a return to the days when clothing was mended or rebuilt, from generation to generation. This is the case of the designer, in whose atelier not only are skins made by hand and based, in his own words, in the good work, quality and service 24/7, but you can also take those whose style has gone out of style and pick it up converted into the latest model.
Continuing with the walk, between terraces full of people, some finishing breakfast, others starting the aperitif of the traditional pintxos, you arrive at Skfk, where the astonishment continues to grow as you enter the a place as avant-garde as it is welcoming.
At first glance, good taste and a great personality are detected in the designs whose fabrics and workmanship are printed a commitment to sustainability and the environment, as told by its owner Mikel Feijoo, pointing out that 90% of his clothes are made with sustainable fabrics and formulas.
BILBAO OVERFLOWS JOY
And speaking of pintxos, unforgivable to leave the Casco Viejo without taking a tour of the Mercado de la Ribera, admire the colossal building and then taste some of its elaborate pintxos before going to eat like kings at the Michelin star Nerua.
After taking a look at the guardians of the Guggenheim, Bourgeois's spider and Jeff Koons' gigantic Puppy, who is changing his autumn clothes, you enter the gastronomic paradise of the museum. There, its chef Josean Alija has prepared one delicacy after another, be it the Txitxarro in olive marinade or the incredible mushroom in eclair with egg yolk, onion and coffee, a hake kokotxa in an omelette with white asparagus or a chocolate cake and fenugreek ice cream.
All this paired with an Itsasmendi 7 Magnum 2020 D.O. Bizkaiko Txakolina, Ysios Private Collection Magnum 2016 and D.O. Ca. Rioja, and to finish a Mestres Coquet Gran Reserva Brut Natura 2015. D.O. Digging.
Nerua, a large window from which to enjoy the Nervión.
There are two other stops along the way that are more than recommended. Very Bilbao jewelry honors that sun flower (eguzkilore) that has always hung at the entrance of Basque homes as a symbol of protection. The Zuloaga jewelers, owners of the brand created in 2007, have recovered this legend in their jewels and deserved recognition from the National Association of Jewelers.
The Michel Mejuto Gallery, founded in 1984 by the art dealer and historian of the same name, is a tribute to Basque artists from the period between 1850-1936 in the category of Regollos, Arteta, Ibarrola or Zuloaga, not forgetting figures from the 50s and 60s; Jorge Oteiza and Rafael Ruiz, nor avant-garde artists like Nikolas de Lekuona.
Michel Mejuto explains the history of the Gallery in an entertaining way. he talks about the category of its artists with works exhibited in the Museums of Fine Arts of several cities, Queen Sofia and Prado (Madrid), and he punctuates some outstanding work, La Chimenea Roja by Ricardo Arrue, 1935.
Bilbao is full of people eager to make up for lost time and more when the legendary White Nights 2021 have been moved due to the pandemic from June to October and the city is filled with spectacles, it lights up in style, especially the controversial bridge of Calatrava (Zubizuri) and music sounds in every corner.
An ideal place to celebrate that night Basuki is special, sheltered by a decoration that keeps the columns and walls of the original building combined with modern materials. When talking about its gastronomy, the outstanding one goes to auizás creamy rice with octopus, baked sea bass with mussels and red chili or grilled entrecôte with Pedro Ximenez.
Bedtime in the privileged surroundings of the Hesperia Bilbao Hotel on the banks of the estuary, opposite the Guggenheim, in a first class room listening through the window to the notes of Vivaldi that celebrate the White Nights of Bilbao.
Kunsthal, Bilbao.
DESIGN AND SUSTAINABILITY
The so-called Isla Zorrotzaurre, once an area of hangars, is the latest urban regeneration project in Bilbao in its attempt to create a new neighborhood of accessible housing and well connected to the rest of the city.
And not just homes, industrial buildings are perfect for transforming them into centers of culture, study... Magnificent is the metamorphosis of the foundry of the year 58 which was inaugurated in 2018 as a School of Design, Kunsthal is open and diaphanous to facilitate synergies between teachers and students who will be able to take short courses, obtain degrees, or specialize with master's degrees in matters of design. graphic design, interiors, fashion and product.
A place that emanates positive energy and relax, so much so that the slippers wait in their boxes for greater comfort and the rooms are made to feel like in a house where e creativity is served first, second and dessert.
To take advantage of the good energy of the Kunsthal, there is nothing like immersing yourself in this space conceived for everyone, full of art, cinema, concerts, sport, beauty, avant-garde and other captivating epithets that is the Azkuna Zentroa, a former Alhóndiga Bilbao wine warehouse, in a modernist style, converted inside by French designer Philippe Starck in a center of Society and Contemporary Culture open to an international dialogue.
Attentive to the Project Program 2019-2023 as connector of society with contemporary culture, induces the citizen to make the Center his place of participatory leisure. Starck turned the 43 pillars that support the three buildings into columns that They symbolize the different cultures, religions… and, following the idea of the set designer Lorenzo Baraldi, he adapted the space to a magnificent cinematographic setting.
But Not only is Bilbao advancing by leaps and bounds towards a meaningful future, the surroundings of the city are also integrated into the sustainable current. Above Mount Güeñes, in Las Encartaciones, stands the Basque Design Center. Designed by the Ingelan architecture studio, its purpose is biodesign, with a strategic focus on sustainable materials.
Olga Iradier, project director, tells how the center's international courses offer the possibility of carrying out experimental research developing a new approach on how to create, produce and distribute textile elements and fashion learning to work with living organisms in the Art Lab, Digital lab, Textile Lab and Bio lab.
in the material library you can touch a plastic that is not plastic but has the same touch, a cloth made of paper; innovative materials for textile and furniture creation. This pioneer solutions center probably in the near future are integrated into society.
To toast to the future of the Basque Design Center is the txakolí Viña Sulibarria, whose vineyards on trellises to the whim of mists that arrive from the Cantabrian Sea, and a salinity tempered by the prebends of an interior climate, a grape sprouts from which exquisite broths.
The environment where the winery is located, next to the river Barbadún, could not be more enchanting: there is even the water mill with its miller who grinds the neighbors' corn and proudly shows how it works.
And as a reward for such an excellent day, a delicious meal at the San Roque de Balmaseda Convent where, after some homemade croquettes of aúpa, the tail sukalki braid and a broth rice with crabs and shellfish follow one another.
For dessert there is a visit to the Kaitxo chocolate shop or the result of the best aromas, flavors and textures brought to chocolate and coffee, with grains brought from Ethiopia, Congo, Peru, Madagascar, the Philippines, made with seductive touches of spices and even chili peppers.
It's about the dream of the brothers Jon Mikel and Raquel Gonzalez who, accustomed to long family after-meals in which coffee and chocolate prevailed, One good day in 2017 they decided to create their own brand that gives off the good work in each grain.
It's time to take a cold beer accompanied by tapas at the Basquery distillery, choosing the beer, toasted, blonde, black, with various flavors, accompanied by hamburgers to taste wrapped in bread made right there, among many other good options.
Bilbao Suspension Bridge.
SUSPENSION BRIDGE, READ…
The end of the trip could not be otherwise than leaving on a sailboat to the sea, inhaling its saltpeter, feeling the breeze and then going up to the Hanging Bridge, contemplating the splendid panoramic view and cross to Portugalete, which is celebrating.
Crowd of people, booths, games, and groups that play the txistu, the dultzaina or the txanbela, perhaps celebrating being able to be there, finally, together. The high point of the seafaring day culminates with lunch at the Puente Hanging boutique hotel whose walls tell the adventure of its genuine owner, Manuel Calvo y Aguirre, who made his fortune in Havana with sugar cane, He bought a house and left it in writing that after his death it should act as a hotel and with the profits distribute pot and bread rations among the needy.
There he landed the cream of society, Even Alfonso XIII himself celebrated some of his parties in the little hotel. Today, transformed into a boutique hotel, it still retains its colonial charm and from its terrace, while tasting the delicacies of its kitchen, you can see the coming and going, the joy of Portugalete.