Potes to Bilbao

 Nov. 3, 2024

 After spending considerable time in the charming town of Potes, we catch a bus to the largest city in the Basque country.....Bilbao! Click on the pics to enlarge.

Our fancy modern apartment.....

Bilbao is a very modern city as evident by this incredible curved bridge....the Zubizuri or White bridge, finished in 1997. Its a pedestrian bridge with a glass walkway that crosses the Nervion River.

 

 

The city hall along the river.....

The Nervion river was highly contaminated after 100 years of industrial activity. However, in 1990 the local authorities launched a plan to overcome the situation, resulting in a river now clean enough to host a triathlon where people can actually swim in it...amazing transformation.

 

 

 

In the train station.....

The epic Guggenheim museum

 

 

 

More modern architecture along the river

 

 

The Athletic club stadium....

 

 

Still there are many beautifully preserved historic buildings throughout the city....

 

We took the incline up a nearby mountain...

Another highlight was the fascinating Viscaya Bridge. This is a transporter bridge. That is to say, it has a gondola that hangs down from it, at the height of the river banks and it can transport cars, people, etc across the river. The gondola is suspended by cables from a moveable deck above. It is the first ever bridge of this kind in the world and dates back to 1893!

 

 

A shot as the gondola approaches

 

If we calculate the number of trips this gondola has made, it would have traveled around the world 31 times.....& has carried over 650 million people! A shot from the top of this truly spectacular working historical monument....

 

A large monument near the mouth of the Nervion river, c. 1930...

The monument is called "The struggle of man against the sea", due to the fact that Evaristo Churruca, to whom it is dedicated, improved the safety to ships by straightening the river.

The monument depicts a man pushing a slab of stone over the God Neptune, whose Trident and Crown, lay broken on the ground.....

 

It is said the Bilbao has the best food in Spain. So when we found scallops complete with their gonads, we had to cook em up, yum!

We enjoyed Bilbao so much so we extended our stay.

Stay tuned for our next destination, the Capital of the Basque country, coming soon....

Regards,

KnJ