Bilbao: Damp Socks and Unexpected Kindness
okay, so bilbao. it’s…a lot. i landed with absolutely zero expectations, mostly because i booked this trip on a whim after a particularly brutal gig in manchester (drums are heavy, you guys, heavy). i’m a touring session drummer, which basically means i live out of a backpack and eat questionable gas station sushi. glamorous, right?
first impressions? damp. everything is damp. not like, a refreshing mist, more like someone just hosed down the entire city. i just checked and it’s…a persistent drizzle, apparently. hope you’re into that sort of thing. the air pressure is weirdly high, like everything’s being squeezed. my ears keep popping. the weather report said something about -1.06 degrees, but honestly, it feels colder. like, bone-chillingly colder. and the humidity? one hundred percent. you could practically swim in the air.
i stumbled into this tiny bar near the *casco viejo (old town) - seriously, the streets are like a maze designed by a sadist - and overheard some locals arguing about pintxos. apparently, there’s a fierce rivalry between a couple of places on plaza nueva. someone told me that “Gure Toki” is overpriced tourist trap, but “Victor Montes” is where the real bilbaínos go. take that with a grain of salt, i was three glasses of txakoli in at that point.
the guggenheim is…well, it’s the guggenheim. you’ve seen the pictures. it’s shiny and titanium-y and everyone takes photos of it. it’s cool, i guess. but honestly, i was more fascinated by the pigeons. they’re huge. like, almost raven-sized. i swear one of them gave me the side-eye.
i’ve been trying to find decent coffee, which is always a struggle. i’m a bit of a coffee snob, okay? i need my fix. i found this place called “cafe kasko” (https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g187452-d1079999-Reviews-Cafe_Kasko-Bilbao_Vizcaya_Basque_Country.html) and it wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t life-changing. i’m still on the hunt.
the people here are…interesting. a little gruff, maybe, but also surprisingly kind. i got completely lost trying to find my hostel (seriously, that maze!), and this old woman walked me all the way there, even though she didn’t speak a word of english. she just kept pointing and muttering something in basque. it was adorable. if you get bored, san sebastian is just a short drive away, apparently.
i overheard someone at the hostel saying that the ribera market* is amazing for fresh produce, but you have to go early to avoid the crowds. (https://www.mercadodelaribera.bilbao.eus/en/). i also saw a post on a local forum (https://www.bilbao.eus/en/) about a secret speakeasy hidden behind a bookstore. i’m definitely going to investigate that.
honestly, bilbao is growing on me. it’s not pretty, it’s not glamorous, but it’s real. it’s messy and chaotic and full of surprises. and the damp socks are a small price to pay for the unexpected kindness. i’m thinking of checking out some live music tonight - i found a listing on Yelp (https://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=Live+Music&find_loc=Bilbao). wish me luck. and maybe send some dry socks.