Casco Viejo, Basque Country, Spain

5Letizia 5:00 PM Sep 6, 2022

The beautiful visit at "casco viejo" (the old town) at Bilbao (Bascos Countries, Spain)
Visiting "Casco Viejo", that is the Old Town of Bilbao (Bascos Countries, Spain), one can see two important churches: The church of the two Saints John (the Baptist and the Evangelist) and the cathedral. During the "semana grande" (that is the "big week") in August the "casco viejo" is adorned at night by enlighted figures on its streets. Every night fireworks, musics, songs, dances enjoy local people and foreign visitors.

4Francis 5:00 PM Oct 18, 2022

A bit grimy but outstanding experience regardless
I visited Bilbao for 4 nights and 5 days last month in September, 2022. I spent 3 weeks touring 4 cities in Spain, Madrid, Bilbao, Mallorca (island not city) and Seville. The first thing that struck me is how grimy and gritty Bilbao is. It was a chore to capture the same pictures you see on social media, Insta, FB, and this site, without including the graffiti splattered everywhere. If I wanted to I could have taken two sets of pictures, one cropping out the graffiti, and another including the 'real Bilbao'. It seems as soon as youth turn 13 or 15 years old here, they go out and by spray paint. They are fascinated by spraying paint on everything including Michelin starred restaurants and historic churches. Never seen so much graffiti and paint in any other city (except for parts of Madrid). Perhaps it was the boredom during Covid19 shutdowns and home schooling? A need to express frustration? Not sure but it speaks poorly of city management that they don't clamp down. Otherwise, the museum district was relatively nice. Casco Viejo (Old town) was ... well ... old. The Pinxtos were the highlight. Make sure you have the black paella with cod fish (squid ink infused rice with baked cod). These are made to order and will not be sitting behind glass counters. Many Michelin restaurants (starred as well as honorable mention) can be walked into with no reservation which was another highlight.