JanthusiastThe “pilot” of CityChillings.com. My hometown and a perfect point of departure to explore the gems of the North of Spain. The city of the “chulos”: Spanish for “the cool ones”. It is by far the biggest city of the north coast and a city bursting with life.
Bilbao was not always like this. Until very recently the city was grey, dirty and industrial. In the 80s it was even famous for being one of the most polluted areas of Europe. This all ended with a change in mentality: Bilbao was to be an example, a touristic destination of quality and above all: clean. The large plants disappeared from the city center and made place for parks, architecture and museums, like The Guggenheim. It worked: In 2018 the city was voted best European city by the Academy of Urbanism, above Vienna and Ljubljana!
The metropolitan area of Bilbao count with just under 1 million inhabitants and is therefore the fifth biggest city of Spain, after Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Seville. It is situated between mountains which makes the city very elongated towards the beach, creating one of the cities curiosities: you can see the green hills at the end of almost every street.
With a rich and unique Basque culture, Bilbao has a lot to offer. From food where each bar is even better than the previous one, to an interesting history, parks, mountains, museums, beautiful beaches and coastline. It is a fresh, modern, clean city which does not feel as big as it really is.
Download your free map and guide of Bilbao now! If you pass by for a weekend and you liked the map, don’t forget to make a selfie in front of the San Anton church and to tag @citychillings.
Enjoy!! And thank you for sharing.
Janthusiast
