After spending the morning at the wonderful Guggenheim Bilbao, we visited the 16th century Basilica of Begona which towered over Bilbao's Casco Viejo or Old Town. In the past, it was the first point where sailors returning home were able to see the basilica's bell tower thanking her for having looked after them during their time on the rough seas. The church was also known as La Salve or Greetings as that was the way sailors paid their respects to her for allowing them to return back home.
The basilica was mainly Gothic in look although Renaissance touches were added during the century-long construction. It was unusual in that it slanted upward from back to front.
The gold altarpiece had a statue of the Virgin Begona, the patron saint of the Biscay region who's venerated locally as Amatxu or Mother.
The floor's zigzag pattern was something we hadn’t seen before.
The austere vaulted interior was brightened by some striking paintings on the brick walls and lovely stained-glass windows.
These mosaic murals were on the walls of a nearby building.
We had quite a walk down to the Old Town located at the bottom of the hill. According to something I read, it was 351 steps away but who was counting?! Since we'd parked our rental car by the Cathedral, we sure hoped the schlep to and from Old Town would be worth it.
This block reminded me of Rainbow Row in Charleston, South Carolina.
The same archway but from the perspective of looking back at it.
As Bilbao is a city that was built on hills, it meant that almost everywhere we walked, we were either climbing up or down stairs. It certainly made for a great workout!
It was interesting exploring the narrow, winding streets of the medieval part of town but we found much of it sadly to be very grubby and full of graffiti.
The 14th century Gothic Catedral de Santiago, named after Santiago or St. James the Apostle, was almost hidden as it was in a very small square in Casco Viejo. The Cathedral was
founded in the 13th century and only existed for a short while until it
burned to the ground in 1374. It was then expanded. Work began on the cloisters in the 16th century.
In 1571, a fire destroyed the nave and flooding also caused damage later in
1593. If all that weren’t enough, the cathedral was hit by a ship which banged
against its walls!
The windows inside were tall enough to make it bright and clear even during a gloomy afternoon. The Mount Carmel Chapel caught my attention since the church and elementary school I had attended while growing up in Ottawa was Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
The baptismal chapel was one of the widest chapels and had a red limestone font.
Late Gothic tomb:
Seeing the Chapel of St. Montserrat brought back fond memories of our visiting Montserrat north of Barcelona a couple of weeks earlier.
St. Anthony’s Chapel was a typical Gothic vault sculpted in dark stone. St. Anthony, who was widely worshipped in Bilbao, was shown with faithful dogs at his feet and with the family coat of arms.
The Cathedral's portico was attractive but I much preferred the simpler Basilica of Begona.
With a new three-star Michelin restaurant, Bilbao was ready to give San Sebastian, the city that we'd visited the day before, a run for its money. The 1929 La Ribera City Market reopened in 2011 as part of an urban renewal plan to an appreciative public.
It was fun wandering the bustling market with its fresh fish counters and butchers as it gave us a great sense of to how people from Bilbao shop.
The pintxos or tapas looked like works of art and very interesting but just a little too much outside of our comfort zone to want to try, especially with the language barrier.
Upstairs and across the entrances were some lovely, original, Art Deco stained-glass windows. The city's coat-of-arms, with two wolves, was in the largest panel.
It was neat seeing the Giacometti ad on the tram as we'd just seen that exhibition at Guggenheim Bilbao a couple of hours previously!
From a distance, the colorful Old Town looked attractive with its many balconies but too much of the area was seedy with many homeless people evidently down on their luck. It seemed that more than just the market needed to be revitalized.
Even though the Old Town didn't appear to be an area where people had extra money to spend on the finer things of life, this shop had some of the most beautiful baby clothes I'd ever seen in my life. Of course, the prices were pretty sky high, too, with an infant's sweater costing $55.
In the heart of the Old Town seven 'atmospheric lanes' called Las Siete Calles dating back to the 1400s came together when the east bank of the Nervion River was first developed. They originally constituted the city's commercial center and river port.
On Sunday mornings, a flea market is held on Plaza Nueva but it didn't sound like we missed much by not being there with "chirpy birds, fluffy mice and baby terrapins" among other items being sold!
A couple of posts ago, I wrote about Basque Country and its people's struggle for independence. This sign perfectly summed up what many in the region believe.
Thank goodness it was only drizzling when I asked Steven to pause for a moment so I could take this shot before we continued retracing our way up all 351 steps to the top of the hill and back to the Begona Basilica.
Think you can understand we 'needed' some Bergerac wine we found after walking through the old town and then hiking all those steps in the rain!
Next post: A drive to Guernica, the site of a horrific bombing by the Germans during Spain's Civil War.
Posted on December 18th, 2018, from Amsterdam.
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