Casilda Iturrizar Parkea
Rains have followed me to Bilbao but that didn’t stop me from running a few errands and getting my first taste of the lovely urban park, Casilda Iturrizar parkea. But first, a quick note about the errands. Running very low of basic stuff like shampoo, I decided to visit the one major shopping centre in Bilbao, the Zubiarte merkataritza-zentroa (don’t you just love how the Basque language adds all these extra letters to everything?). I’m not really sure what I expected, but as far as major shopping centres, this one is a little weird. It’s rather isolated, to start with, as it lies hidden behind the Casilda Iturrizar park, nestled between a row of high-rises and the river. It almost feels like someone saw a bit of land, didn’t really know what to do with it, and thought, “hey, let’s put a mall here, maybe people will come.” Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like many people do come, because judging by the numbers present and the lack of stores actually open, I’d say this particular mall isn’t much of a draw. I could be wrong … maybe these hardy Basque types don’t enjoy shopping on overcast days, and there was that Asian buffet-style restaurant that was open, a real-life-I-am-not-kidding-you-no-this-isn’t-a-joke buffet in the time of Covid-19. Surely that should be a huge incentive to come, no?
One cool thing I did see was a sign for a major Lego exhibition that was being constructed just then so I made a note to definitely come back in a few weeks to check it out. I’m sure I have at least one or two friends who will join me in appreciating the results, Stay tuned!
Bored with the shopping that wasn’t (I hate shopping at the best of times), I headed back through the aforementioned park. The rain was minimal at this point and it wasn’t very cold at all, but the streets were pretty deserted, as were the paths in the park. I do love having these spots to myself so I took a bunch of pictures as I slowly walked around, my tiny umbrella keeping the drizzle mostly off me. I hope you like the photos.
