Port of Bilbao Information
Welcome to cultural Bilbao - the trendiest city in Northern Spain!
The sea and the estuary have always been of fundamental importance to Bilbao: they have been responsible for most of the city's transformations and developments and have been the true shapers of Bilbao's history. Long ago, Bilbao was just a village with a tiny port on the right bank of the estuary where there lived fishermen, farmers, and a noble family or two.
With the arrival of industrialisation in the mid-19th century, a new, none-too-poetic change began to transform the city. All of this meant that for a long time Bilbao was considered nothing but an industrial area with no tourist interest, a city of smoking chimneys and of an estuary where you could find anything except fish swimming in the water.
But there's not really so much left of that poor grey Bilbao, abused by industry and ignored by tourists. The crisis of the 80's, which left the whole city depressed and without direction, had the positive effect of obliging the citizens of Bilbao to think of new directions for their town, away from industry and towards other kinds of services. The Bilbao of today is growing in a new direction. The number of projects which have already been carried out or are currently in the making is astounding. Of course, the most spectacular to date has been the Guggenheim, designed by Frank O. Gehry and classified as one of the most fantastic pieces of avant-garde architecture of the 20th century. Another important project worth mentioning is the innovative metro line as conceived by Norman Foster. Other projects such as bridges, luxury hotels, trams, towers, and the cleaning of the estuary are the new face of a city in change, which is enlightening the spirit of Bilbao's inhabitants, who now see the future with new hope.
The sea and the estuary have always been of fundamental importance to Bilbao: they have been responsible for most of the city's transformations and developments and have been the true shapers of Bilbao's history. Long ago, Bilbao was just a village with a tiny port on the right bank of the estuary where there lived fishermen, farmers, and a noble family or two.
With the arrival of industrialisation in the mid-19th century, a new, none-too-poetic change began to transform the city. All of this meant that for a long time Bilbao was considered nothing but an industrial area with no tourist interest, a city of smoking chimneys and of an estuary where you could find anything except fish swimming in the water.
But there's not really so much left of that poor grey Bilbao, abused by industry and ignored by tourists. The crisis of the 80's, which left the whole city depressed and without direction, had the positive effect of obliging the citizens of Bilbao to think of new directions for their town, away from industry and towards other kinds of services. The Bilbao of today is growing in a new direction. The number of projects which have already been carried out or are currently in the making is astounding. Of course, the most spectacular to date has been the Guggenheim, designed by Frank O. Gehry and classified as one of the most fantastic pieces of avant-garde architecture of the 20th century. Another important project worth mentioning is the innovative metro line as conceived by Norman Foster. Other projects such as bridges, luxury hotels, trams, towers, and the cleaning of the estuary are the new face of a city in change, which is enlightening the spirit of Bilbao's inhabitants, who now see the future with new hope.