Things to do in Bilbao and Santander
The green hills that are visible from any part of Bilbao make it hard to believe that this is Spain's sixth-largest city and the country's main port, with approximately 400,000 inhabitants (1.4 million in greater Bilbao). Standing on the central Puente Arenal (Arenal Bridge) that spans the Rio Nervion (Nervion River) and looking at the glorious Ayuntamiento (City Hall) and its utterly rural backdrop, you'd think you were in some middling river town. But look again. The Gran Via, Bilbao's chief avenue, boasts gleaming skyscrapers, huge department stores, and elegant clothing shops. And a train ride along the banks of the Nervion estuary to the Bahia de Vizcaya passes scores of dockyard cranes, shipyards, warehouses, factories, wharves, and iron and steel foundries.
Bilbao's smokestack industries are in decline, and the air of industrial decay and political tension, along with the drab apartment blocks and frequent rain, make the city less than a touristic glamour spot. But Bilbao residents are renowned for their friendliness, and the city is packed with good places to eat and drink.
Founded in 1300, Bilbao didn't fully flourish until the 19th-century Industrial Revolution, when Britain became its main trading partner. Even today the city reflects a strong British influence, seen in dress, architecture, and even in the long list of English managers in charge of the local soccer team, Athletic Bilbao, traditionally one of Spain's top three. Touristic interest centers on the Casco Viejo (Old Quarter) which combines numerous fine clothing outfitters, specialty stores, traditional Basque restaurants, and bars. It is here that locals indulge in two Bilbao customs. One is the Chiquiteo, the drinking in rapid succession of small wines or beers - no more than a mouthful each at several bars in double-quick time.
The other is a copa y puro, the sipping of a liqueur, usually brandy or an anise-based brew called patxaran, and the smoking of a cigar after a hearty lunch (women as well as men follow both customs). To give either tradition a try, visit any of the bars on the Plaza Nueva.
St James Cathedral Bilbao
The grandiose Catedral de Santiago (St. James Cathedral), in the heart of the Casco Viejo, has a cloister built in 1404, although the church was largely rebuilt in the 16th century after a fire. Nearby is the Plaza Nueva; built in 1830 and enclosed by 64 arches, it houses a flea market on Sunday mornings. Gorostiaga is a curious Casco Viejo shop where seven generations of the same family have been making hats since 1857; the specialty is the famous Basque beret, or txapela, although trilbys and Panama hats are also made. The Teatro Arriag in the Plaza Arriaga next to the Puente Arenal just before was built in 1890. Recently renovated, Its jolly Imitation French architecture provides a contrast to Bilbao's neoclassical style.
Two museums are worth a visit. The Museo Historico, Arqueologico, Etnolograflco Vasco (Basque Historical, Archaeologic, and Ethnographic Museum) has a special room devoted to the commercial life of Bilbao since 1500. It's closed Sunday afternoons and Mondays; no admission charge. The ivy-covered Museo de Bellas Artes (Museum of Fine Arts), in the English-style Parque Dona Casilda Iturrizar, features an extensive collection of Spanish and foreign paintings and sculpture from the Romanesque period to the early 20th century. EI Greco, Velazquez, Ribera, Ribalta, Zurbaran, and Goya are represented, as are modern artIsts from Gauguin to Sorolla. The museum is closed Mondays; Sunday hours.
Santander Information
A trading and shipping port founded more than 1,000 years ago and once called Puerto de San Emeterio, today's Santander is a kind of staid San Sebastian, having tried without complete success since the early 1900s to rival the Basque resort. Although it was the royal summer residence from 1913 to 1930, the town never quite knocked San Sebastian off the throne as the queen of northern Spanish resorts, perhaps due to its greater distance from France, to the fact that its beach and bay are not quite as stunning as Playa de la Concha, or to the terrible fire that destroyed much of it in 1941. The fire left Santander essentially modern and dull - albeit with a large number of gardens (by Spanish city standards), as well as some very pleasant beaches.
The first surprise, for those entering the city from the east, is the still standing bronze statue of the dictator Francisco Franco on horseback in the aptly named Plaza del Generalisimo opposite the Ayuntamiento (City Hall). Activity in the city center revolves around the porticoed Plaza Porticada, or Plaza de Velarde, where the Oficina Regional de Turismo is found (there's also an Oficina Municipal de Turismo in the Jardines de Pereda.
One block towards the bay from the plaza is the very unattractive cathedral, most of whose architecture dates from the 17th century though it started existence as an 8th-century abbey church; it was also largely reconstructed after the 1941 fire. It does, however, contain a beautiful high altar and the tiny 13th-century Cripto de Cristo (Crypt of Christ), the city's oldest monument (an illustrious local son, the 19th-century literary critic Marcelino Menendez y Pelayo, is buried here).
The Paseo de Pereda, which begins at the seaward end of the Plaza Porticada, is a broad, elegant promenade embellished with palm trees and the huge, red arum flowers that dot the city. The Palacete del Embarcadero, a small art gallery located on the Paseo de Pereda near the wharf, is worth a visit; there's an admission charge. Continue along Paseo de erda to the Santander dock, from which ferries to Plymouth, England, sail twice a week.
Farther along, past lines of five-story glass balconied houses that escaped the 1941 fire, is Puerto Chico, where dockland Santander ends (the town was a booming port from the 12th to the 16th centuries). The first building here is the Real Club Maritimo (Royal Maritime Club), which rises out of the sea on Concrete columns in the shape of a ship's upper decks. Beyond it, the road turns away from the sea for a while then steps lead down to the first great local beach, Playa de la Magdalena. Clean and placid, it has a 100-foot backdrop of cliffs and trees (the ivy-covered structure above belongs to the royal tennis society, the Real Sociedad de Tenis).
At the end of the beach and up the hill is the English-style Palacio de la Magdalena, a gift from the town to Alfonso XIII, which was turned into the Universidad Intemacional Menendez y Pelayo after the king abdicated in 1931.
On the other side of the Magdalena promontory is a mile-long beach, Playa el Sardinero, dominated by the lavish 1914 Belle Epoque Gra Casino at Plaza Italia. One of only two casinos on the coast (the other is at San Sebastian). Across the bay are the villages of Pedrefia and Somo, both with huge, sand-duned beaches. Pedrefia is the birthplace of golf pro Sevenano Ballesteros and home to the golf course where he developed his skills, the Real Golf Club de Pedrefia.
There are two museums: the Museo de Bellas Artes, which can claim a Goya, and the Museo de la Prehistoria (Museum of Prehistory) whIch has major collections from the Upper Paleolithic period. The best resaurants are loated along Calle Hernan Cortes, in the vicinity of Puerto Chico.
The Santander Festival
The annual Festival Intenacional de Santander (InternatIonal Festival of Santander) with its program of music and dance is one of Spain's most prestigious, held each August at the Palacio de Festivales (Palace of FestIvals), a large, multipurpose indoor arena near the center of town.
EI Capricho de Gaudi This modernist folly has been restored and is now a deluxe restaurant specializing in Basque and international cuisine. There is a bar lounge on the top floor open only for private parties and a gift shop on the main floor.
Llanes Asturias
Llanes is the capital of eastern Asturias, and the town has a delightful barrio antiguo (old quarter), much of which is being restored; the gentle feel of a typical Asturian fishing port; and about 30 remote and very clean beaches, including Celorio, and Barros, within a few miles to either side. In the past decade or so Llanes has become the preferred vacation spot for several well-known Spanish government ministers. The town is also famous for its August Fiesta de San Roque, a daylong binge of folklore dancing in traditional costumes.
Llanes spreads upward from the tiny sheltered harbor at the foot of picturesque green hills and still retains chunks of its 13th-century ramparts. Llanes is yet another coastal town with a magnificent church dedicated to the Virgin Mary. This Iglesia de Santa Maria is part 14th and part 15th-century, part Romanesque and part Gothic. The port Ribadsella is a good base for Picos de Europa excursions, Ribadesella offers a magnificent beach, great hotels, rustic eateries, a fabulous cave with prehistoric paintings, and sidrerias (Asturian cider bars).
Car hire in Bilbao Santander and Asturias
Unless you want to spend a day sampling the local cider in Asturias, the best way to get around Bilbao, Santander and Asturias is to hire a car from the airport. Pre-booked car hire is cheap and you will be guaranteed easy pick ups and drop offs when you arrive at your destination to save you time and hassle. Car hire can be pre-booked at the airport in Bilbao or Santander, and low cost car rentals are available throughout the year.
The Descenso International del Sella
It is also home to the world's premier canoe festival, the Descenso Internacional del Sella (International Descent of the Sella River), held annually since 1930 on the first Saturday of August. It attracts 800 participants from many countries and over 200,000 festive spectators, who join in all-night revelry after following the canoeists 11 miles down the river from Arriondas. However, the whole town shuts down during the winter months.
The town straddles the broad Sella estuary, crossed by a long, narrow bridge that is actually the N632 highway, from which the locals can be seen fishing for bass, sargo, and red mullet. The port side of town brims with bars, restaurants, and shops. The other side is residential, but includes the beach, flanked by two headlands, and the best promenade hotels and mansions, glorious with their creeping purple bougainvillea. At the beach end of the bridge is an oddlooking Oicina de Turismo closed Saturday afternoons and Sundays in summer; closed completely in winter), occupying a converted herreo, one of the ancient granaries that dot the Asturian countryside.
A few hundred yards from the tourist office is the Cueva de Tito Bustillo, a cave named for the man who discovered it in 1968. Inside are 15,000 to 20,000 yearold cave paintings that have been pronounced the equal of those at Altamira and France's Lascaux. A vaulted niche in one gallery has shield shaped red marks, believed to represent the female vulva in an invocation to fertility. In another gallery are a large red horse, deer, reindeer, and a purple and black horse, many over 5 feet tall.
The FEVE Railway Ribadesella
Ribadesella is also a good place from which to ride on the FEVE raIlway. Take this classic rural train, hich offers good glimpses of the sea, four stops east to the hamlet of Vdlahormes, and walk a mIle past cornfields and a tiny chapel to the deserted beach. A half-hour stroll along AS263 and you'll find the station, at Nueva, from which to catch the tram back to Ribadesella. Another pleasant excursion is to drive west of Ribadesell along N632 about 14 miles (22 km) to Colunga.
Turn down A26 and drive 2 miles (3 km) to the delightful fishing village of Lastes, whose steep, cobbled streets rise dizzyingly above the old harbor. A final treat before leaving Ribadesella is a taste of the local Sidra in any of the quayside sidrerias, the waiter will pour the first glass from a bottle raised as high as the right arm can reach, while the left hand holds the glass low at an acute angle.
Bilbao's smokestack industries are in decline, and the air of industrial decay and political tension, along with the drab apartment blocks and frequent rain, make the city less than a touristic glamour spot. But Bilbao residents are renowned for their friendliness, and the city is packed with good places to eat and drink.
Founded in 1300, Bilbao didn't fully flourish until the 19th-century Industrial Revolution, when Britain became its main trading partner. Even today the city reflects a strong British influence, seen in dress, architecture, and even in the long list of English managers in charge of the local soccer team, Athletic Bilbao, traditionally one of Spain's top three. Touristic interest centers on the Casco Viejo (Old Quarter) which combines numerous fine clothing outfitters, specialty stores, traditional Basque restaurants, and bars. It is here that locals indulge in two Bilbao customs. One is the Chiquiteo, the drinking in rapid succession of small wines or beers - no more than a mouthful each at several bars in double-quick time.
The other is a copa y puro, the sipping of a liqueur, usually brandy or an anise-based brew called patxaran, and the smoking of a cigar after a hearty lunch (women as well as men follow both customs). To give either tradition a try, visit any of the bars on the Plaza Nueva.
St James Cathedral Bilbao
The grandiose Catedral de Santiago (St. James Cathedral), in the heart of the Casco Viejo, has a cloister built in 1404, although the church was largely rebuilt in the 16th century after a fire. Nearby is the Plaza Nueva; built in 1830 and enclosed by 64 arches, it houses a flea market on Sunday mornings. Gorostiaga is a curious Casco Viejo shop where seven generations of the same family have been making hats since 1857; the specialty is the famous Basque beret, or txapela, although trilbys and Panama hats are also made. The Teatro Arriag in the Plaza Arriaga next to the Puente Arenal just before was built in 1890. Recently renovated, Its jolly Imitation French architecture provides a contrast to Bilbao's neoclassical style.
Two museums are worth a visit. The Museo Historico, Arqueologico, Etnolograflco Vasco (Basque Historical, Archaeologic, and Ethnographic Museum) has a special room devoted to the commercial life of Bilbao since 1500. It's closed Sunday afternoons and Mondays; no admission charge. The ivy-covered Museo de Bellas Artes (Museum of Fine Arts), in the English-style Parque Dona Casilda Iturrizar, features an extensive collection of Spanish and foreign paintings and sculpture from the Romanesque period to the early 20th century. EI Greco, Velazquez, Ribera, Ribalta, Zurbaran, and Goya are represented, as are modern artIsts from Gauguin to Sorolla. The museum is closed Mondays; Sunday hours.
Santander Information
A trading and shipping port founded more than 1,000 years ago and once called Puerto de San Emeterio, today's Santander is a kind of staid San Sebastian, having tried without complete success since the early 1900s to rival the Basque resort. Although it was the royal summer residence from 1913 to 1930, the town never quite knocked San Sebastian off the throne as the queen of northern Spanish resorts, perhaps due to its greater distance from France, to the fact that its beach and bay are not quite as stunning as Playa de la Concha, or to the terrible fire that destroyed much of it in 1941. The fire left Santander essentially modern and dull - albeit with a large number of gardens (by Spanish city standards), as well as some very pleasant beaches.
The first surprise, for those entering the city from the east, is the still standing bronze statue of the dictator Francisco Franco on horseback in the aptly named Plaza del Generalisimo opposite the Ayuntamiento (City Hall). Activity in the city center revolves around the porticoed Plaza Porticada, or Plaza de Velarde, where the Oficina Regional de Turismo is found (there's also an Oficina Municipal de Turismo in the Jardines de Pereda.
One block towards the bay from the plaza is the very unattractive cathedral, most of whose architecture dates from the 17th century though it started existence as an 8th-century abbey church; it was also largely reconstructed after the 1941 fire. It does, however, contain a beautiful high altar and the tiny 13th-century Cripto de Cristo (Crypt of Christ), the city's oldest monument (an illustrious local son, the 19th-century literary critic Marcelino Menendez y Pelayo, is buried here).
The Paseo de Pereda, which begins at the seaward end of the Plaza Porticada, is a broad, elegant promenade embellished with palm trees and the huge, red arum flowers that dot the city. The Palacete del Embarcadero, a small art gallery located on the Paseo de Pereda near the wharf, is worth a visit; there's an admission charge. Continue along Paseo de erda to the Santander dock, from which ferries to Plymouth, England, sail twice a week.
Farther along, past lines of five-story glass balconied houses that escaped the 1941 fire, is Puerto Chico, where dockland Santander ends (the town was a booming port from the 12th to the 16th centuries). The first building here is the Real Club Maritimo (Royal Maritime Club), which rises out of the sea on Concrete columns in the shape of a ship's upper decks. Beyond it, the road turns away from the sea for a while then steps lead down to the first great local beach, Playa de la Magdalena. Clean and placid, it has a 100-foot backdrop of cliffs and trees (the ivy-covered structure above belongs to the royal tennis society, the Real Sociedad de Tenis).
At the end of the beach and up the hill is the English-style Palacio de la Magdalena, a gift from the town to Alfonso XIII, which was turned into the Universidad Intemacional Menendez y Pelayo after the king abdicated in 1931.
On the other side of the Magdalena promontory is a mile-long beach, Playa el Sardinero, dominated by the lavish 1914 Belle Epoque Gra Casino at Plaza Italia. One of only two casinos on the coast (the other is at San Sebastian). Across the bay are the villages of Pedrefia and Somo, both with huge, sand-duned beaches. Pedrefia is the birthplace of golf pro Sevenano Ballesteros and home to the golf course where he developed his skills, the Real Golf Club de Pedrefia.
There are two museums: the Museo de Bellas Artes, which can claim a Goya, and the Museo de la Prehistoria (Museum of Prehistory) whIch has major collections from the Upper Paleolithic period. The best resaurants are loated along Calle Hernan Cortes, in the vicinity of Puerto Chico.
The Santander Festival
The annual Festival Intenacional de Santander (InternatIonal Festival of Santander) with its program of music and dance is one of Spain's most prestigious, held each August at the Palacio de Festivales (Palace of FestIvals), a large, multipurpose indoor arena near the center of town.
EI Capricho de Gaudi This modernist folly has been restored and is now a deluxe restaurant specializing in Basque and international cuisine. There is a bar lounge on the top floor open only for private parties and a gift shop on the main floor.
Llanes Asturias
Llanes is the capital of eastern Asturias, and the town has a delightful barrio antiguo (old quarter), much of which is being restored; the gentle feel of a typical Asturian fishing port; and about 30 remote and very clean beaches, including Celorio, and Barros, within a few miles to either side. In the past decade or so Llanes has become the preferred vacation spot for several well-known Spanish government ministers. The town is also famous for its August Fiesta de San Roque, a daylong binge of folklore dancing in traditional costumes.
Llanes spreads upward from the tiny sheltered harbor at the foot of picturesque green hills and still retains chunks of its 13th-century ramparts. Llanes is yet another coastal town with a magnificent church dedicated to the Virgin Mary. This Iglesia de Santa Maria is part 14th and part 15th-century, part Romanesque and part Gothic. The port Ribadsella is a good base for Picos de Europa excursions, Ribadesella offers a magnificent beach, great hotels, rustic eateries, a fabulous cave with prehistoric paintings, and sidrerias (Asturian cider bars).
Car hire in Bilbao Santander and Asturias
Unless you want to spend a day sampling the local cider in Asturias, the best way to get around Bilbao, Santander and Asturias is to hire a car from the airport. Pre-booked car hire is cheap and you will be guaranteed easy pick ups and drop offs when you arrive at your destination to save you time and hassle. Car hire can be pre-booked at the airport in Bilbao or Santander, and low cost car rentals are available throughout the year.
The Descenso International del Sella
It is also home to the world's premier canoe festival, the Descenso Internacional del Sella (International Descent of the Sella River), held annually since 1930 on the first Saturday of August. It attracts 800 participants from many countries and over 200,000 festive spectators, who join in all-night revelry after following the canoeists 11 miles down the river from Arriondas. However, the whole town shuts down during the winter months.
The town straddles the broad Sella estuary, crossed by a long, narrow bridge that is actually the N632 highway, from which the locals can be seen fishing for bass, sargo, and red mullet. The port side of town brims with bars, restaurants, and shops. The other side is residential, but includes the beach, flanked by two headlands, and the best promenade hotels and mansions, glorious with their creeping purple bougainvillea. At the beach end of the bridge is an oddlooking Oicina de Turismo closed Saturday afternoons and Sundays in summer; closed completely in winter), occupying a converted herreo, one of the ancient granaries that dot the Asturian countryside.
A few hundred yards from the tourist office is the Cueva de Tito Bustillo, a cave named for the man who discovered it in 1968. Inside are 15,000 to 20,000 yearold cave paintings that have been pronounced the equal of those at Altamira and France's Lascaux. A vaulted niche in one gallery has shield shaped red marks, believed to represent the female vulva in an invocation to fertility. In another gallery are a large red horse, deer, reindeer, and a purple and black horse, many over 5 feet tall.
The FEVE Railway Ribadesella
Ribadesella is also a good place from which to ride on the FEVE raIlway. Take this classic rural train, hich offers good glimpses of the sea, four stops east to the hamlet of Vdlahormes, and walk a mIle past cornfields and a tiny chapel to the deserted beach. A half-hour stroll along AS263 and you'll find the station, at Nueva, from which to catch the tram back to Ribadesella. Another pleasant excursion is to drive west of Ribadesell along N632 about 14 miles (22 km) to Colunga.
Turn down A26 and drive 2 miles (3 km) to the delightful fishing village of Lastes, whose steep, cobbled streets rise dizzyingly above the old harbor. A final treat before leaving Ribadesella is a taste of the local Sidra in any of the quayside sidrerias, the waiter will pour the first glass from a bottle raised as high as the right arm can reach, while the left hand holds the glass low at an acute angle.
Labels: Car hire in Bilbao Santander and Asturias, FEVE Railway Ribadesella
posted by Fay at
4:25 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home