Wednesday, July 01, 2015

Guide to Bilbao, Spain

Have you heard of Bilbao? It’s one of Basque Country’s gems. Basque Country is technically in Spain but they want their own independence. It’s the region in the northwest coast near the France boarder. I absolutely LOVED Bilbao. Although it was raining often (Bilbao gets a lot of rain. Don’t forget your umbrella!), it’s beautiful and welcoming. And surprisingly vegan friendly!

Where to Stay:
We stayed in the Ganbara Hostel. It was a great hostel, no complaints. They have very friendly staff who are very happy to help you with directions or tips for the city. Keep in mind it's a hostel and bunkbeds are a given. 

What to Do:
You may have heard of the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. Well there are more locations and one is in Bilbao. The museum is a work of art itself, designed to look like a fish. The museum is full of modern art and while we were there, the main exhibit featured Niki de Saint Phalle. Pictured above you can see her "Nanas", her famous women sculptures. 

The Guggenheim’s interest in featuring art has spilled into the rest of Bilbao. You can find artwork surrounding the museum. There's a gigantic spider sculpture near the river and and even larger flower sculpture named "Puppy" in front of the Guggenheim. Puppy was suppose to be a temporary exhibit but became permanent when Bilbao fell in love. And I did too. A large flower puppy? YES. 

Eat pintxos! Pintxos are Basque Country's tapas. They are typical open faced sandwiches with a skewer through the middle. Pinxtos are all laid out on the bar for you to choose. Let your tastebuds go wild! 

Where to Eat (Vegan):
Typically when I am traveling to a city, I would use these resources to find vegan options. This wasn’t the case in Bilbao. Vegan options just fell into my lap. It was such a pleasant surprise!

Tirauki is a bar that specializes in vegan pintxos. We had no clue we'd find vegan pintxos! It was a lovely coincidence. & they were very delicious, featuring vegan cheese and tofu. 

On the same street there is Muga Taberna which also featured vegan items on their menu. I had a vegan quesadilla with a ton of vegetables. It was kind of greasy but that bar food for you. I’d suggest trying something else at Muga Taberna. :) 

Hot Dog's House is an omnivore restaurant that has a vegan hot dog and hamburger. They’re prices were perfect. I admittedly had a lot vegan hot dogs there. The staff was lovely, a very comfortable place to go.

I absolutely LOVED Bilbao. I really want to go back and eat more vegan pintxos. (I miss them. ;)) Would you ever consider visiting Bilbao?

- Christina

12 comments:

  1. It's so awesome that they had a varied food scene. I'm going to send this post to my brother. He has been looking for a new Spanish city to visit in a few years. :)


    http://aroseisinbloom.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. That last one looked like a regular sausage and I was confused for a moment because I remembered your vegan post! What does a vegan hot dog taste like? I think I tried some sort of vegan option in Subway before but it wasn't very good. It wasn't horrible or anything. It just didn't...taste very yummy, but I'm assuming Subway is probably not the best option for trying a vegan patty. What exactly is a pintxos?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great pictures!

    xx

    Mademoiselle Coconath

    http://mllecoconath.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hehe yup! A vegan hotdog tries it's best to taste like a typical hotdog but I wouldn't bite into it and expect it to. People try mock meats & are disappointed when they don't taste exactly like the real thing. (So just keep that in mind. :)) Ya, Subway isn't a where you should base your opinion ;) The most popular mock meat companies are Gardein (http://gardein.com/) & Field Roast (http://fieldroast.com/). So if you wanted to try something else I suggest trying one of their products!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Everytime I see the name of this city, I see "Bilbo" with makes me think of Bilbo Baggins. So in my mind this place is like the Shire. Which i know is not the case lol. Just a random thought I would share.


    Your pictures of this city are great! Can we go have Pintxos together?!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh and we totally need to find a way to make cute Cat and Dog topiary's for our yard.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Oh my gosh... I need to go to Bilbao! It sounds and looks awesome! I love all the artsy photos/spots. Just wondering... what font is the title in?

    ReplyDelete
  8. It's very lush like the Shire! ;) (because it rains so much.) I would love to get pintxo with you!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Yes! Please go! The font is called Luna from dafont.com. It's cute, huh?

    ReplyDelete