Bilbao<\/strong> is a small city (little more than 350,000 people in 40 km2<\/sup>)<\/em>, capital of the province of Bizkaia, in the North of Spain, and the most populated city of the Basque Country. It is surrounded by mountains and smaller municipalities that prevent it from becoming larger.<\/p>\n The metropolitan area has a population of about 900,000 people, still fairly less than those of other cities in Spain like Seville or Valencia, not to mention Barcelona and Madrid!<\/p>\n The area of Bilbao known as the Casco Viejo \/ Alde Zaharra (= old town)<\/em> gives an idea of the size up to which the city grows from its foundation in 1300 until the second half of the 19th<\/sup> century. During those centuries, the port is the main source of economic activity and wealth. The river and its banks around the old town were always full of ships and activity.<\/p>\n Not until the last decades of the 19th<\/sup> century does Bilbao start growing beyond its boundaries. Surrounding villages become neighbourhoods with the pass of time.<\/p>\n In the 20th<\/sup> century, it becomes an important industrial centre, attracting a mass migration of people from all over Spain, one of the reasons why nowadays many do not speak Basque.<\/p>\n Euskadi, savour it<\/a><\/p>\n Although a new port is built outside Bilbao in the coast, ships are found all along the river.\u00a0 A great part of its banks (specially the left bank, where now you can enjoy a walk from <\/em>Euskalduna<\/em> Palace to the Guggenheim museum)<\/em> is occupied by shipyards, factories, warehouses, etc.<\/p>\n In August 1983, during the Aste Nagusia \/ Semana \u00a0Grande (= a \u201cbig week\u201d with several concerts and many different activities to be enjoyed in the streets of the city, for free!) <\/em>a severe flooding spoiled the celebrations inundating the old town. It was an opportunity for Bilbao\u2019s citizens to show they were brave enough to face any horrible situation all together. Thousands of people helped to return the damaged places to normal.<\/p>\n The reaction to the flooding is just an example of how people here are not willing to stand idle when hard work must be done. After the industrialisation boom came the crisis and something different should be done quickly. Basque people are very hard-working and quite traditional but sometimes innovative as well. In the 21st<\/sup> century practically all the industry disappears from Bilbao and moves somewhere else. The economy makes a brilliant strategic move towards the service sector and the dirty Bilbao becomes a modern city that is taken as an example of how to recover an industrial area.<\/p>\n What is so great about Bilbao? If we let aside how expensive it is to live here and the sometimes rainy weather\u2026 we have modern and comfortable public transport, <\/em>a wide range of musical and cultural events some of which are free of charge, a quite sufficient number of municipal sports centres and public libraries, the new Alhondiga, free Internet access, an international exhibitions centre, two universities (public and private)<\/em>, museums, restaurants, bars, nightlife\u2026<\/p>\n Elevators and escalators right in the streets to make elevated areas of the city easily accessible (most of them free of charge)<\/em>, the mountains at walk reach and the beach 20 minutes away by car or just taking the underground train, the Athletic Club of Bilbao, a football team with more than a hundred years of history always competing in the first league and doing it \u201conly with Basque players\u201d\u2026 and of course there is the welcoming and friendly people of Bilbao, who is born wherever they want!<\/p>\n By the way, people from more than a hundred countries live in Bilbao, so it may be true the old saying \u201cEl mundo entero es un Bilbao m\u00e1s grande\u201d (The world is a bigger Bilbao)<\/em>.<\/p>\n Bilbao is the most populated city (355.000 inhabitants) in Basque Country and its most bouyant industrial and economic center. Its historical importance can be explained because of its strategic location in the best estuary of the Cantabrian Coast, near to the end of a river (Nervion), where the influence of the see can be felt 14 km waters above, as because of the abundance of iron in its proximities.<\/p>\n Its birth as a city was in 1300, when they gave that title to the village and port of Bilbao. In that time it wasn’t more than a group of blacksmiths, fishermen and retailers. Seven streets was that medieval Bilbao, the same streets that you can see, walking in the \u00abCasco Viejo\u00bb. But in 19th century, the city had a vertiginous takeoff, with the creation of the Shipyards, the Chamber of Commerce, the Stock-Market, … That height arrived at the same time with extensions of the Port and an explossive demographic grouth. The consequence of that was the annexation of the neighboring towns, the seed of the urban conglomerate that today it’s known as \u00abGran Bilbao\u00bb (Great Bilbao).<\/p>\n In the last years of 20th Century, the crises of the steel and the coal, materials in which the Bilbao prosperity was sustained, forced to a traumatic process of reconversion and renovation which Bilbao,\u00a0at the end, would leave windy, shaping the optimism and the might of the new metropolis in vanguardist accomplishments as the Euskalduna Palace, the Metro (Subway) -designed by Norman Foster- and the Guggenheim Museum (look at Museums section).<\/p>\n Bilbao Metro has been able to\u00a0change the image of the city, renewing the infrastructures of communications and increasing the quality of life.<\/p>\n This image of a city in constant change contrasts with the idyllic calm of the rural landscapes that we can find\u00a0in few kilometers, where the dominant feeling continues being the attachment to the land. That’s the reason of the fervor whereupon natural spaces like Urdaibai, the stuary of Gernika or the bulk of Gorbea are conserved.<\/p>\n Bilbao is a very rich city in History. Whichever part of Bilbao you are visiting, you can feel History and Art. But there are some museums where these feelings are much stronger.<\/p>\n Fine Arts Museum is placed at D\u00f1a Casilda Park, beside the P\u00e9rgola.\u00a0 In its archives there are many works of Dutch, Flemish and Italian Renaissance Schools. There are also anonymous paintings from 12th to 15th Centuries together with works from El Greco, Zurbaran, Rivera, Murillo, Goya, Gaughin, Picasso. And you can see there the works of the most important Basque painters and sculptors of 19th and 20th Centuries. There are many expositions made during the year of collections not owned by the museum.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Bilbao es la ciudad m\u00e1s poblada (355.000 habitantes) del Pa\u00eds Vasco y su m\u00e1s boyante centro industrial y econ\u00f3mico, importancia que hist\u00f3ricamente se explica por su ubicaci\u00f3n estrat\u00e9gica en el mejor estuario de la costa cant\u00e1brica, a la vera de una r\u00eda, la del Nervi\u00f3n, en que la influencia del mar se deja sentir hasta 14 kil\u00f3metros aguas arriba, as\u00ed como por la abundancia de mineral de hierro en sus proximidades. La denominaci\u00f3n de Bilbao parece que surge por las dos m\u00e1regenes de la ria en que se asienta y que en euskera ser\u00eda \u201cBi Albo\u201d (Dos lados).<\/p>\n Su nacimiento como ciudad data de 1300, cuando se concedi\u00f3 tal t\u00edtulo a la villa y puerto de Bilbao, que a la saz\u00f3n era un peque\u00f1o enclave de ferreros, pescadores y comerciantes. Desde el primer momento la r\u00eda tuvo una importancia estrat\u00e9gica y comercial por la que entraban toda clase de mercanc\u00edas.<\/p>\n A finales del siglo XIV, se genera una importante actividad comercial no s\u00f3lo fluvial ,sino tambi\u00e9n aprovechando las numerosas minas que se ubicaban en los alrededores de Bilbao, fundamentalmente de hierro. Debido a esta actividad comercial Bilbao empieza a expandirse y ya en el siglo XVIII la villa tiene la forma del actual Casco Viejo y debido a la escasez de terreno\u00a0 inicia su expansi\u00f3n hacia el otro lado de la ria.<\/p>\n Pero es en el siglo XIX cuando se produce el despegue vertiginoso de la urbe, con la creaci\u00f3n de los astilleros del Nervi\u00f3n, la C\u00e1mara de Comercio, la Bolsa,… Este auge vino acompa\u00f1ado de sucesivas ampliaciones del puerto y de un crecimiento demogr\u00e1fico explosivo, cuya consecuencia ser\u00eda la anexi\u00f3n de los n\u00facleos vecinos, germen del conglomerado urbano que hoy se conoce como Gran Bilbao.<\/p>\n Bilbao era una ciudad viva tanto industrial como culturalmente y este desarrollo se vi\u00f3 truncado en el siglo XX con la Guerra Civil espa\u00f1ola y la dura posguerra. Hacia la d\u00e9cada de los 90, debido a las crisis del acero y el carb\u00f3n (materiales en los que se sustentaba la prosperidad bilba\u00edna) la ciudad se ve obligada a realizar una reconversi\u00f3n, causando una profunda transformaci\u00f3n y renovaci\u00f3n de la misma. Uno de los proyectos que m\u00e1s contribuy\u00f3 a este cambio fue el, en un principio, pol\u00e9mico museo Guggenheim (ver secci\u00f3n Museos<\/a>).<\/p>\n A partir de este proyecto, desembocaron en Bilbao los grandes arquitectos y se empez\u00f3 a contemplarla como una gran ciudad que se pod\u00eda vender en el mundo entero, para lo cual se comenz\u00f3 la construcci\u00f3n del metro, m\u00e1s tarde fue el Palacio Euskalduna, la pasarela Calatrava, la pasarela Arrupe., el parque Ametzola, el nuevo aeropuerto La Paloma en las inmediaciones de Bilbao, la nueva Feria de muestras, BEC (Bilbao Exhibition Centre).<\/p>\n El Metro de Bilbao ha conseguido renovar la imagen de la ciudad, renovando las infraestructuras de comunicaciones y aumentando la calidad de vida. Ha tenido multitud de premios por su limpieza y conservaci\u00f3n y tiene fama de ser el metro m\u00e1s limpio y cuidado del mundo.<\/p>\n Algunas de las bocas del mismo fueron dise\u00f1adas por el arquitecto Norman Foster y sonconocidas como \u201cfosteritos\u201d.<\/p>\n Esta imagen de una ciudad en constante cambio contrasta con la id\u00edlica quietud de los paisajes rurales que podemos encontrar a pocos kil\u00f3metros, donde el sentimiento dominante sigue siendo el apego al caser\u00edo y la tierra; de ah\u00ed el mimo y el celo con que se conservan espacios naturales como Urdaibai, en la r\u00eda de Gernika, o el macizo de Gorbea, en el montuoso interior.<\/p>\n \u201cEl Botxo\u201d es la denominaci\u00f3n que le dan los bilbainos a Bilbao.<\/p>\n Para m\u00e1s informaci\u00f3n sobre la ciudad pod\u00e9is acceder a las siguientes p\u00e1ginas:<\/p>\n guia-bilbao.com<\/a><\/p>\n www.bilbao.net\/bilbaoturismo\/<\/a><\/p>\n www.guggenheim-bilbao.es<\/a><\/p>\n Exposiciones contempor\u00e1neas todo el a\u00f1o. Edificio construido por Frank O. Gehry e inaugurado en Octubre de 1997. Es un edificio de titanio y cristal ubicado junto a la r\u00eda con unas formas espectaculares que lo hacen ser punto de mira para los objetivos fotogr\u00e1ficos desde todos los \u00e1ngulos del mismo. El museo tiene un \u201cguardi\u00e1n \u201c especial en la parte delantera del mismo y es el \u201cPuppy\u201d figura representada por un inmenso perro de 12 metros cubierto de flores representativas de la \u00e9poca del a\u00f1o correspondiente, en invierno totalmente verde y en primavera y verano lleno de pensamientos que le dan un color espectacular.<\/p>\n www.museobilbao.com<\/a><\/p>\n Mi\u00e9rcoles entrada gratuita<\/p>\n Tel\u00e9fono: 944 396 060<\/p>\n Exposiciones temporales y permanentes de Goya, El Greco, Vel\u00e1zquez y Zurbar\u00e1n.<\/p>\n www.museomaritimobilbao.org<\/a><\/p>\n El Museo Mar\u00edtimo R\u00eda de Bilbao nace con una fuerte inquietud por convertirse en una instituci\u00f3n moderna y actual, y mantiene una gran apuesta por la innovaci\u00f3n. Actualmente, participa en el proyecto europeo \u00abeMarCon\u00bb, cuyo objetivo principal es implementar una plataforma que permita a museos y visitantes geogr\u00e1ficamente aislados la posibilidad de organizar y experimentar exposiciones virtuales de contenido mar\u00edtimo en Internet, creadas conjuntamente entre varios museos.<\/p>\n www.museoreproduccionesbilbao.org<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Miguel Unamuno plaza, 4; 48006 \u2013 Bilbao<\/p>\n En la actualidad el museo, conocido como Euskal Museoa \/ Museo Vasco de Bilbao, se encuentra en un proceso de renovaci\u00f3n tanto a nivel museol\u00f3gico como museogr\u00e1fico. La apertura de un nuevo acceso principal hacia la plaza de Unamuno, un espacio abierto y p\u00fablico de f\u00e1cil visualizaci\u00f3n es, sin duda, el punto de inicio de esta remodelaci\u00f3n y el elemento m\u00e1s llamativo para quienes lo visitan por su claro contraste con la arquitectura del edificio hist\u00f3rico en el que se ubica. Los objetivos que se persiguen con estos cambios son los de mostrar la evoluci\u00f3n hist\u00f3rica y cultural de nuestra sociedad destacando en ella, aquellas caracter\u00edsticas que la hacen \u00fanica y singular.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Bilbao City Bilbao is a small city (little more than 350,000 people in 40 km2), capital of the province of Bizkaia, in the North of Spain, and the most populated city of the Basque Country. It is surrounded by mountains and smaller municipalities that prevent it from becoming larger. The metropolitan area has a population of about 900,000 people, still… Read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":3209,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2571","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","xfolkentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.locals.aegee.org\/bilbao\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.locals.aegee.org\/bilbao\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.locals.aegee.org\/bilbao\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.locals.aegee.org\/bilbao\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.locals.aegee.org\/bilbao\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2571"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.locals.aegee.org\/bilbao\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2571\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3742,"href":"https:\/\/www.locals.aegee.org\/bilbao\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2571\/revisions\/3742"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.locals.aegee.org\/bilbao\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.locals.aegee.org\/bilbao\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Museums<\/h2>\n
Guggenheim Museum<\/h3>\n
Fine Arts Museum<\/h3>\n
\u00abR\u00eda de Bilbao\u00bb\u00a0 Maritime Museum<\/h3>\n
Ciudad de Bilbao<\/h1>\n
\nHablar de los or\u00edgenes de Bilbao, es remontarse a la Edad Media donde exist\u00eda una peque\u00f1a aldea de pescadores situada a orillas del citado rio llamado Nervi\u00f3n. En una de las laderas de dicho rio se levantaban una serie de casas que posteriormente ser\u00edan el n\u00facleo de la villa y se le denominar\u00eda Siete Calles. Las mismas que hoy pueden verse paseando por el Casco Viejo.<\/p>\n
\nEl siglo XVI, fue el despegue comercial de la villa de Bilbao,\u00a0 debido fundamentalmente a su actividad portuaria.<\/p>\n\u00a0Museos<\/h2>\n
Museo Guggenheim<\/h3>\n
Museo de Bellas Artes<\/h3>\n
Museo Mar\u00edtimo<\/h3>\n
Museo de Reproducciones<\/h3>\n
Museo Vasco<\/h3>\n