Bilbao
The Largest Basque City, A Former Shipbuilding And Steel Port On The Nervion, Regenerated After The 1997 Opening Of The Guggenheim In What Planners Call The Bilbao Effect · Bilbao, Basque Country
The city the Guggenheim rebuilt, and it is worth seeing what the museum was rebuilding. Bilbao was a shipbuilding and steel port on a tidal river, and when that economy collapsed in the 1980s the place was grimy, shrinking and largely written off. The museum opened in 1997 and the transformation that followed - a cleaned river, a Norman Foster metro, an airport terminal, a reclaimed waterfront - is studied by planners as the Bilbao effect. What that account leaves out is that the city underneath was always good. The Casco Viejo is seven medieval streets of bars and shops that have not changed hands in generations, the Mercado de la Ribera sits on the river, and the pintxos culture is the equal of San Sebastian at half the price. Come for the museum, which has its own row, and stay for the city that is not it: the old town is seven streets, the market is on the river, and both were here long before the titanium arrived.
Plaza Nueva, Bilbao, Basque Country, 48005, Spain
NO OPENING TIME HERE WAS CHECKED, and the city has none: the old town, the river promenade and Plaza Nueva are public. What has hours are the sites, and the structural fact is that the GUGGENHEIM CLOSES ON MONDAYS for much of the year while the Casco Viejo does not, which reshapes a short visit. The MERCADO DE LA RIBERA is a morning market closing Sundays. Pintxos bars run evening service from about eight and many close Mondays. The funicular runs long daily hours.