Bilbao, Spain, is the most beautiful city I remember visiting. It is bright, dynamic, and full of diversity. It was neither too warm, nor too cold when we stayed there, between May 1 and May 6. Between two museums, a variety of delicious vegan food, and a lot of walking around, we had the best time ever in Bilbao!
Please note that I am writing this journal entry a couple of months after the fact. Much has happened in the meantime and I am sure this journal entry will be a lot different from what it would have been if I had written it right after we left Bilbao...
A Marvellous Visit to the Guggenheim Museum
We arrived at Bilbao on the morning of Sunday, May 1, after our 30-hour ferry trip from Ireland. We could not check into our hotel until the afternoon, so we decided to instead walk around the area near the Guggenheim Museum, have breakfast, and then visit the museum itself.
The brightness and cleanliness of that tourist-driven area impressed us immediately. We marvelled at the sculptures around the museum and at the buildings that lined the streets on our way to the first of a glorious series of vegan breakfasts at Arvo. We liked this spot so much that we had breakfast there as often as possible. I always ate the avocado toast but my partner tried a few different dishes, his favourite being the peanut butter and banana toast! When I go back to Bilbao, Arvo will be up there in the places to visit again.
Once we had our bellies full of delicious food, it was time to go into the Guggenheim Museum. We allotted the rest of the day for that because we take a long time seeing everything in a museum - we like to dedicate time appreciating and talking about the pieces. How thankful we were for having allotted that much time when we started experiencing the enormous amount of art in there!
The highlight from the Guggenheim Museum for us was *The Matter of Time* by Richard Serra. It is a room the size of a large warehouse filled with steel sculptures that we can walk around and between. From what I understood, the idea is that the sculptures are only art when people walk among them and experience them that way. They taught us a lot, especially about time - how different people experience time differently and how even the same person can experience time differently depending on the time of life they are in.
I obviously loved all the exhibitions they had on but there is none that now, months after, my mind also remembers clearly apart from the *Motion, Autos, Art, Architecture* car exhibition. I remember loving how well they blended art with engineering and how that way they were able to make people who did not usually like art museums enjoy this one. Among the cars I remember most are a couple of the first cars ever made (including an electric car from 1900!), a few beautiful and quirky cars, and the iconic jet-powered Firebirds near the end.
After the Guggenheim we were starving. That is when we went to La Camelia for the first time. We went back to this vegan restaurant a few times during our stay in Bilbao, the food and service being hit or miss. The highlights were the roasted potatoes with a delicious green sauce and the sushi that I do not have a photo of because we ate it too fast to even remember to document them that way!
A Walk to Casco Viejo
We could not visit Bilbao and miss Casco Viejo so that is where we went on our second day in Spain, May 2. As we understand it, Casco Viejo is the oldest part of Bilbao. It has a lot of shops, restaurants, and bars to go to, as well as beautiful buildings to again marvel at.
The highlight of our time in Casco Viejo was the cakes and juices at Bohemian Lane. We went there a couple of times and loved everything we tasted, including two different cakes, a cupcake, a palmier, and a couple of juices.
It was not easy to find a place with exciting vegan food for dinner though. The pintxo bars only opened way later then we are used to and most restaurants did not have options that opened our vegan appetite.
In hindsight, I am thankful for the difficulty we had finding a restaurant that day though. It was what led us to our absolute favourite restaurant of this leg of our journey: Merikitchen. Our custom pizza had vegan cheese, crispy onions, bell peppers, mushrooms, spinach, and black olives. It is the best pizza I have ever eaten. We came back over and over again while we were there and we will come back there as often as we go through Bilbao!
A Day Trip to San Sebastián
On our third day in Spain, May 3, we took a day trip to San Sebastián. We did not have enough time to visit all the places we wanted to but we still had a very pleasant trip there!
It is not always easy to eat vegan while we are on the road and we often have trouble finding restaurants with vegan options that are open. We tried a couple of restaurants for lunch between Bilbao and San Sebastián but they were all closed. This means we were ravenous when we finally got to Bilbao, past lunch time as far as we are concerned, and we were very excited about heading straight to Km.0.
We started our meal with croquetas de espinacas, which were crunchy on the outside and deliciously creamy on the inside. Then we moved on to the mains: I had a traditional stew with mushrooms, chickpeas, and fake meats, whose name I cannot remember but that I can say with certainty was magnificent, and my partner, H, had a seitan dish that he enjoyed very much. And finally, still hungry, we both had a dessert: I had the berry cheesecake, which I did not love, and H had a french toast. The staff is not friendly but they are not unfriendly either! If I ever return to San Sebastián (and I hope I do), I will definitely pay Km.0 another visit.
After our lunch (and with a cinnamon roll from OhBaba in our backpack) it was time to explore the city! We first headed to Playa de la Zurriola, then into the Parte Zaharra, and then up the Monte Urgull. The views of the ocean from Monte Urgull went spectacular.
We ended up missing some of the better-known places in San Sebastián but I do not mind since this way we had enough time to properly explore the ones we went to. It was clear that the places we went to had tourists in mind and I unfortunately did not get a sense of the culture of the people of San Sebastián. Next time!
A Few More Relaxing Days in Bilbao
The rest of our days in Bilbao were spent having breakfast at Arvo, working at the hotel during the day, walking around the city during the afternoon, and then relaxing watching Spanish television in the evening.
One of the highlights during these days was our visit to the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum on May 4, our fourth day in Spain. There was an exhibition on about restoring art downstairs, which I found fascinating, and a blend of classic and modern art, which did not allow us to ever get bored. It was obviously not as dynamic as the Guggenheim Museum but it is still worth a visit, especially since it is free to enter!
Back to food though... Another cool spot we found in Bilbao was Baskian. It is located in the, Centro Comercial Zubiarte, near the Guggenheim Museum and the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum, which makes it perfect for a quick bite between visiting those two amazing museums. I think there were several vegan options and I went for the quinoa burger. Everything was tasty but the highlight for me was the roasted potatoes with vegan mayo that came with the burger… I just love potatoes - how Irish of me!
And we were finally able to buy a couple of pintxos from La Muga on a day when we dinner later than usual for us. I had a kind of avocado toast and my partner had a tiny sandwich. Both were tasty but underwhelming after all the hype around pintxos!
Overall, we lucked out when it comes to food in Bilbao. The only truly disappointing experience was our visit to TxuKrut. We went there on a week day, which meant we only had about an hour to eat. In addition to opening way past their opening hours for that day and taking a while to get our food ready, the food itself was nothing special. It goes to show that the all-vegan options are not always the best!
Where Is Gato? #3
Gato, our cactus, spent his time relaxing at a table next to the window. They had a calm and happy time as far as we could tell!
Overall, we loved our time in Bilbao. It was cool enough that I felt comfortable, there was plenty to do, and we would only have left with empty bellies if we wanted! Next time I am there, I will definitely visit the Guggenheim Museum again and eat delicious food at all the wonderful places we got to go this time.
San Sebastián also deserves another visit - we still have the whole Western side of the coastal town to see.
Next up I will share with you our time in the wonderful Picos da Europa. Stay tuned for that!
