In Search of a Tortilla

I try to keep up with the latest happenings in each city I visit, usually, via the local “Secret City” page on Facebook. In Valencia, that was Valencia Secreta, in Madrid, Madrid Secreto, and here, Bilbao Secreto became my source for news and all that was going on. It is no surprise then that the article that caught my attention was one that listed the top 10 best tortilla española joints and that was something I just could not pass up. I wasn’t going to visit all of them, of course, I’m not that much of a glutton for tortillas, but I could find one or two for sure. I noticed that one was actually fairly close but on the other side of the estuary, and I had not really explored that area yet, so it became my destination on this gorgeous day.

First I headed towards one of the more striking landmarks in Bilbao: the San Mamés Stadium, home to Athletic Club, a La Liga football team, though most people call it Athletic Bilbao, presumably to differentiate it from other teams with “Athletic Club” in their name, of which there seem to be many worldwide (Wigan comes to mind). Why they used an English word in the team’s name escapes me, especially since they have Euskara as a ready source of potentially really cool words; a great opportunity was missed here, methinks. I wasn’t lucky enough to go see a match, unfortunately, since the season won’t start until August, but I did get a good look at the stadium, at least.

The port of Bilbao (not to be confused with the port in Santurtzi) is not really a port, it’s a maritime museum (Itsas Museoa or Museo Marítimo Ría de Bilbao), an open-air collection of boats and equipment, hence the impression that this is a port. I didn’t venture into it but I was able to have a really good look at it from above or from the Euskalduna Zubia (literally translated as the Basque Bridge), a very cool curving bridge that joins the Deustuko San Pedro-Erribera neighbourhood to central Bilbao.

The tortilla place, Bar Doa Berria, is a nondescript sort of joint, next to some fancier (and I have to say better attended) restaurants, but I did not care since the reason for my visit was the Spanish specialty and not the popularity of the locale. I have to say the tortilla was pretty damn good, not too dry (I don’t like the hard, dry ones), and it hit the spot nicely, giving me lots of energy for the next part of my walk.

I decided to walk down the north side of the estuary towards the old town taking advantage of the very well maintained boulevard with plenty of greenery. Unfortunately the trees did not offer much shade but the sun here isn’t as strong as in the south and the temperatures have not been ridiculous, for the most part. If I’m not going to hang out at the beach, I may as well get a bit of sun during these walks, even if only on the exposed parts of me. It was a really nice walk, especially when the view across the water were the imposing buildings of Bilbao Centre, including the massive Iberdrola Tower and, of course, the Guggenheim. It really is impossible to run away from this beauty, not that I’d ever want to.

My ultimate goal was the curious Santiago Calatrava-designed pedestrian bridge, Zubizuri, famous for its curved and futuristic design and the crystal see-through walkway. Unfortunately they have had to cover the main path, mainly because people had found it difficult to walk across … I guess what is usually sparingly used in museums over ruins and the like does not work as well on a large scale, especially when crossing a river is the intent. I can understand the discomfort as it usually takes me a few minutes to become totally comfortable stepping on one of these glass walkways, having to do so on a daily commute may have been a bit much.

The bridge took me back to just south of the Guggenheim where, earlier, I had spotted another curious sculpture I wanted to check out. Las Sirgueras, by artist Dora Salazar, consist of four statues, is a contemporary piece created to in recognition of the importance of women’s work and the path to equality. The work pays tribute to the sirgueras, women who towed vessels along the estuary using only a rope and their own strength. It is definitely a very powerful statement.

All in all, it was a very lovely walk on a very lovely day, full of sunshine and visual delights. Let’s hope the weather holds for the next few days as I have out-of-town trips planned!