Should I stay ? or should I go ?: Bilbao (the "hidden gem" of Northern Spain)

Home from a great 3 night trip in Bilbao Oct 2015 - our friends have visited Bilbao a number of times and so we had our very own tour guides.

We arrived in glorious sunshine on our first day, this shot is taken in the old town, in the square known as Plaza Nueva. About a 5 min walk from the apartment we were staying in.

It has over 20 bars around the outside, and a lovely feel about it, with all the locals enjoying pintxos and wine, while children play in the centre.

The bars all offer there own variation of pintxos and it's tradition to have a little "nibble" and a drink in each bar. Two of our favourites were http://www.sorginzulo.com/ & http://barcharly.com/ this bar did amazing pork scratchings.

We stayed in some lovely apartments and they were only 69 euro a night http://www.arriagasuites.com/ right in the heart of the pretty old town.

There are lots of nice cafes nearby for breakfast

This is the view from our apartment balcony on our first morning

As the weather was so good when we arrived, our friends suggested we go up on the funicular lift to see the view of the city from above

http://www.bilbaoturismo.net/BilbaoTurismo/en/sustainable-transport/artxanda-funicular

The view from the top was fantastic you could see for miles

It is a great way to get your bearings of the town from above

Once back down we had a nice wander though the town and over the river

In the newer part of the town, old and new buildings sit side by side

We stumbled across a lovely bar called Jardines and soaked up the sunshine

The sangria was lovely

Then we wandered back over to the old town, some interesting street art

We had a great first night out wandering in and out of all the pintxos bars

This bar did the most amazing spicy mushrooms http://gorasomera.com/

and the white wine was lovely here Casco Veijo

It was a bit wet first thing the next day so we decided to get the metro over to the Bizkaia Bridge (very similar to the transporter bridge in our home town of Middlesbrough). The metro was a great way of getting to the other side of town

Our friends said each visit to Bilbao they always get some rain due to it's position in the mountains

It was a bit of a contrast to our first day

We had a nice walk along the sea front and popped in a bar and by the time we came out the weather was clearing.

There were some lovely houses along the front

We decided to walk along the top of the bridge, you had to get a glass lift up and down the same side and then go over on the gondola

http://www.puente-colgante.com/index.php/es/

Fantastic views from the top

Then we were in need of some very well deserved refreshments

Bilbao football team were playing at home it was a fantastic atmosphere in the streets around the ground

On our second night we decided to go to a lovely grill restaurant, but on the way it would be rude not to stop for one of the infamous lamb kebabs as a starter at this lovely place

http://www.cafeirunabilbao.net/

We stopped by this place a few times the kebabs were fantastic and the wine was lovely too

Bilbao was such a lovely place, beautiful old streets, churches, cafes and friendly locals