BILBAO THROUGH AGES TOUR – 13K

We will start the tour at the entrance of the Old Town, running close to the river from Teatro Arriaga to Puente de San Anton and Mercado de la Ribera. Then we will enter the so called 7 calles, the medieval Old Town with colorful houses and bustling pintxo bars. There, we will pass through Catedral de Santiago, Palacio Yohn and Plaza Nueva, all of them a piece of Bilbao´s centennial history.

We will head, following the river, to Paseo Campo Volantín, first Bilbao´s expansion, and essential run to understand Bilbao’s last years’ evolution from industrial and grey city to service and cultural bright hub: Zubizuri, Isozaki Atea, Museo Guggenheim, Palacio Euskalduna… but also Palacio Olabarri, Universidad de Deusto, Edificio El Tigre.

We will cross Puente Frank Gehry to get into Bilbao’s future: Zorrotzaurre. This island in the middle of the river is called to be Bilbao’s future Manhattan. We will run along the island, redesigned by Pritzker awarded architect Zara Hadid, full of ancient industrial buildings being refurbished now into modern and alternative business and technology related companies.

We will cross Puente Euskalduna to come back to Bilbao’s present, running through Parque de Casilda Iturrizar, with its green gardens and nice Pergola, and after passing close to Torre Iberdrola and Jeff Koons’ Puppy sculpture, we will run to Plaza Moyua and Gran Via, vibrant center of today’s bilbainos life. From there we will head to our start point at the Old Town, while greeting Bilbao city founder Diego Lopez de Haro, and running in front of other historical and political elements such as Palacio Foral, John Adams sculpture and Sociedad Bilbaina, to finish our historical route.