Bilbao

Bilbao was founded by charter on 15 June 1300 by Diego López V de Haro, Lord of Biscay, on the right bank of the Nervión. A second charter in 1310 forced the trade route from Castile to the sea through the town, and in 1372 it became a free port with privileges in the iron trade. The first three streets, Somera, Artecalle and Tendería, grew into the walled Seven Streets, and the port exported wool and Biscayan iron across Europe. The Consulate of the Sea, created in 1511, made it one of the kingdom's chief ports, and in 1602 it became the capital of Biscay.

In the 19th century Bilbao was a liberal stronghold, besieged by the Carlists in 1835, 1836 and 1874 without falling. Iron mining, steelworks, shipyards and banks — the Bank of Bilbao was founded in 1857 — made it the centre of the second most industrialised region of Spain, and its population rose from 11,000 in 1880 to 80,000 in 1900. The city annexed Abando and built a new grid around the Gran Vía, and Basque nationalism grew up here under Sabino Arana.

In the Civil War the city was bombed and fell to Franco's forces in June 1937. After the war the demand for housing outstripped supply, workers built slums on the hillsides, and ETA was founded in 1959. The industrial crisis of the 1980s and the flood of August 1983 hit hard, but from the 1990s Bilbao rebuilt itself on services: the metro in 1995, the Guggenheim Museum in 1997 and the regeneration of the old docks, recognised with the Lee Kuan Yew World City Prize in 2010.

Bilbao's transformation is part of its culture. Since the Guggenheim opened in 1997, the so-called Guggenheim effect has become a byword for regeneration through architecture, and UNESCO named the city a City of Design in 2014. Alongside Gehry's museum stand works by Calatrava, Foster, Starck and Pelli, while the Fine Arts Museum, the Basque Museum and the Arriaga Theatre keep the older city's culture alive.

Basque identity is strong but worn lightly. Spanish is the main language and Basque the second: about 29 per cent of residents consider themselves fluent in Basque, and more than half of Basque speakers are under 30. Athletic Club, founded in the 1890s and one of the most successful clubs in Spanish football, has fielded only players born in or closely linked to the Basque region since 1911, and the new San Mamés stadium, opened in 2013, seats more than 53,000. Basque pelota is played at the Bizkaia Frontoia, and hiking on the surrounding hills, such as Mount Pagasarri, has been a weekend habit since the 1870s.

The year's peak is Aste Nagusia, the Great Week in August, with concerts, a nightly fireworks competition and the festive tents of the konpartsak, under the symbol of Marijaia, a plump figure with raised arms. The txoko, a private gastronomic society where members cook for one another, is a popular institution, and the city has given Spain the musicians of Mocedades and Fito & Fitipaldis.

About 347,000 people lived in Bilbao in 2024, and the metropolitan area along the estuary has about 1.04 million, close to half the population of the Basque Country. The city is divided into eight districts and 34 neighbourhoods, many of them former villages annexed as it grew, from Begoña and Deusto on the right bank to Abando and Basurto on the left. About 16 per cent of residents were born abroad, the largest groups coming from Colombia and Morocco.

The economy has moved from steel and shipbuilding to services, finance, tourism and business events. The banking group BBVA traces its roots to the Bank of Bilbao, the electricity company Iberdrola has its headquarters here, and the port, moved downstream to Santurtzi, is among the five largest in Spain. Tourism grew from about 25,000 visitors in 1995 to more than 932,000 in 2018, most of them Spanish, with the French the largest foreign group.

Daily life centres on the street and the bar. People meet for a drink and a pintxo after work, shop in the Ensanche, take the metro to the beaches of Getxo and Sopelana in summer, and walk in the hills at weekends. Large projects continue to reshape the city: the Zorrozaurre peninsula is being turned into an island of new homes and offices, and a new underground station for high-speed trains is planned to replace Abando and Concordia.

Bilbao's traditional cooking is built on the sea and the estuary, above all salt cod and eels, and it shares the dishes of Biscay. Bacalao al pil pil is salt cod cooked with olive oil, garlic and guindilla peppers until the sauce emulsifies, and bacalao a la vizcaína is salt cod in Biscayan sauce, made mostly from dried choricero peppers. Many restaurants and bars in Biscay are recognised by the main food guides, and the province has several Michelin-starred restaurants.

Like other Basque cities, Bilbao is known for pintxos: small slices of bread topped with an ingredient or mixture of ingredients, eaten in bars from the counter. Other bar snacks include rabas, fried or battered squid rings served with lemon; Spanish omelette of eggs and potatoes; txampis, stuffed mushrooms; triángulos, Bilbao-style sandwiches; and gildas, small skewers. Friday and Saturday nights are the busiest times for a round of pintxos.

The local drink is txakoli, a white wine usually drunk as an aperitif; Bizkaiko Txakolina, the white wine of Biscay, has its own protected designation of origin. Cider, patxaran, a sloe-flavoured liqueur, and Rioja wine are also widely drunk. The Casco Viejo, with Plaza Nueva at its heart, has the greatest concentration of bars and restaurants, and the Ribera market supplies fish, meat and produce every morning except Sunday.