This bright and airy flat offers a kitchen view of the Bilbao River’s mouth so lovely that you’ll volunteer to wash the dishes. It’s located in the ancient port town of Portugalete, just 15 minutes from breathlessly cosmopolitan Bilbao. The happenin’ thing in Portugalete, meanwhile, remains the nightly sunset riverfront promenade by hundreds of locals .
We enjoyed both worlds greatly, thanks to the kind and wise guidance of Pilar and Juanjo, who treated us like friends from our first meeting and have known and grown in Bilbao all their lives. By sending us to the traditional Basque restaurant La Baracca, for example, they proved to us lifelong food-chasers that we’d never tasted sublime seafood paella or the awesome complexity of great gazpacho.
We also enjoyed Portugalete’s virtually carless waterfront, the 25-foot ferry that chugs across the river every few minutes, the rainproofed playground, the very friendly and very local Portugalete tourist office, and the riverside promenade that goes on forever, both in terms of distance and strollers. The combination of sea, clouds, cliffs and boats was endlessly captivating. A wonderful second vacation when we thought we were just visiting Bilbao.