BILBAO


for photos. The groom is wearing a beige three-piece suit (you can get away with that sort of thing in Bilbao) and the bride a flowy white dress, the breeze catching the gauze and billowing it out, cloaking both husband and wife in a feather-light cloud of material. They giggle and embrace. Behind them, the River Nervión flows wide and blue under the sleek lines of the Zubizuri footbridge. But Bilbao hasn’t always provided a


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photogenic backdrop. Thirty years ago, the idea of having your wedding shots taken at the water’s edge would have been laughable — the river was a murky, odoriferous thing, the quayside a mass of rusting industry. But the largest city in the Basque Country has since morphed into one of the most vaunted examples of urban regeneration in Europe, full of chattering markets, long nights and proud, football-mad locals, and was even designated an official UNESCO City of Design in 2014. Today, you can almost sense it swelling out its chest with self-confidence, glass of txakoli white wine in one hand and salt cod croquette in the other. Visitors will want to loosen their belts


a notch or two, because this is a city that knows a thing or two about good food


124 nationalgeographic.co.uk/travel


yclists buzz under plane trees as traffic purrs past baroque churches. Two newlyweds are on the riverside, posing


and drink, filling its larder with a bounty of produce from the Atlantic, the lush farmland of the surrounding hills and vineyards carpeting the valleys. Wander the city’s streets and you could be forgiven for thinking it’s permanently on lunch hour. Glasses are knocked back before noon, bakeries bulge with customers and pintxo bars throng with besuited workers. Near-neighbour San Sebastián might draw the international foodie garlands, but the bilbaínos eat and drink with relish. “Cooking is simpler in Bilbao,” says


chef Paul Ibarra, speaking to me at his lively Basque restaurant, Los Fueros, which has been pulling in locals since 1878. Behind him, families pick through platters of grilled prawns. “In San Sebastián, the food is more elaborate, more French- influenced. Here, simple is good. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy. If you cook something, it has to be marvellous; the flavours have nowhere to hide.” To make his point, Paul sizzles off a


portion of hake in olive oil, sprinkles it with sea salt, adds a dollop of roasted pepper mayonnaise and places it before me. “I don’t know about you,” he says, “but if I die tomorrow, this would be my last meal.” The fish is golden, with a slight crunch to the bite. It would be a fine choice, to be fair.


FROM LEFT: Chef Paul Ibarra, of Los Fueros restaurant; the Zubizuri footbridge, designed by Santiago Calatrava; Guggenheim Museum Bilbao; pintxos at Mercado de la Ribera PREVIOUS PAGES: Louise Bourgeois’ sculpture Maman, outside the Guggenheim Musuem Bilbao


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