Today's the photo-heavy day, also the most transport-focused, so if you're target audience can I encourage you to head over to Flickr and gorge on 48 photos of public transport in Bilbao.
I was pleased to discover that Citymapper works in The Basque Country. It also offers some fairly unusual transport choices.
Metro Bilbao
Bilbao's Metro is the third busiest in Spain and was many decades in the making. Money and engineering eventually came together in the late 1980s with an existing railway line bolted onto a new underground section through the city centre. Line 1 opened in 1995, followed in 2002 by a bifurcation along the opposite bank of the estuary. Line 3 is much shorter and operated by a separate company, all three lines interchanging in the old town at Zazpikaleak/Casco Viejo. There are currently 48 stations along 31 miles of track, fares are cheap and if you want more background than this brief summary may I direct youelsewhere.
What makes the Bilbao Metro stand out is that its stations were designed by Sir Norman Foster, also most of them look identical. At ground level access is via glass/steelentrances called 'Fosteritos', these resembling dazzling larvae burrowing into the ground. The downside to the gorgeousness is that station names are often very hard to spot. On the outer parts of Line 1 the entrances are less rounded, often with a prominent lift, because the stations are less deep below street level. The new underground stations were generally built by 'cut and cover' methods, which caused years of disruption, but the uniform design does mean that you instantly become familiar with the layout.
Stations are generally double-ended, improving access, with a bank of escalators (and perhaps a long passageway) to shepherd you towards the platform. A few of the stations are quite deep so should the escalators be out of commission and the queue for the lifts long, changing level could really tire you out. The bank of ticketgates comes just before the platforms, also a rack of information including maps and actual pocket timetables. And then you step out onto a mezzanine which hangs directly above the tracks, with shortstaircases down on either side to platform level. It almost always looks like this.
Trains run roughly every 10 minutes on each line, so every 5 minutes over the shared section in the centre, with indicators showing the next two trains by time and destination. Annoyingly they don't show the number of the line, also there are no maps anywhere on the platforms, only upstairs, so I nearly got on completely the wrong train when an unfamiliar short-stopping terminus was displayed. The trains themselves are fairly standard European 4-car models with more standing room than seats. Above the doors are analogue diagrams which light up to show the progress of the train, although these have restricted sightlines so if the announcements are muffled it can be hard to determine which identical-looking station is up next. A big thumbs up for simplicity, though.
The Metro is the ideal way to visit the next unusual means of transport which is located six miles down the estuary. We took the train to Portugalete on Line 2 and returned from Areeta on Line 1.
Transbordador de Vizcaya
Bilbao has the world's first transporter bridge, a dramatic aerial transfer system built in 1883 to cross the mouth of the Nervión river. Very few transporterbridges were ever built worldwide and hardly any still operate, for example in the UK the Newport and Middlesbrough giants are closed for hopefulrenovation and Warrington's is seriously disused. But the Vizcaya bridge not only still works but is a key part of the Bilbao transport network, shuttling usefully every eight minutes, indeed its usefulness and cheap fares put the Dangleway to shame. It was thus very much at the top of my list of must-sees when I came to the Basque Country. UNESCO also officially approve.
The bridge is 160m long, 45m high and made of iron. The structure is supported by 70 steel suspension cables, truly pioneering for its time, and was designed by local engineer Alberto Palacio, a student of Gustave Eiffel. The gondola is rather more recent and can carry six vehicles as well as dozens of pedestrians in two side cabins. One side is in the ancient town of Portugalete and the other notionally in Getxo, although more properly in the more recent suburb of Las Arenas. We arrived on the old side while the town was setting up its annual summer fiesta, stepping down to the waterfront to gain our first view of the enormous span. It's certainly a majestic sight, comfortably to scale in its riverside landscape, on this occasion with several ocean liners visible underneath at the far end of the estuary.
There are two ways to cross the bridge, one on the gondola (0.60€) and one via the elevated walkway over the top (11€). I'd long been mulling whether I'd have the nerve to cross at height, walking within the iron structure with a sheer drop beneath and the gondola mechanism rolling by every few minutes. I understand there's even a sign which says Please don't all jump every 0.8 seconds else the bridge will swing or words to that effect, which doesn't help. Obviously I should have gone up having come all this way, but... hmmm, why was the upper walkway entirely empty? Also hmm, the steps to the lift were securely locked and the souvenir shop selling tickets was closed, this apparently because only the lift on the opposite bank was operational mid-afternoon. So we took the lower option.
If you don't have the local transport card you buy a ticket from the machine, then pass through to a waiting area and file aboard the gondola when it arrives. It's not a glamorous cabin, neither are there any seats, but you won't be aboard for long and there is a good view through the windows as you cross. We had mild drama as an American man was rebuked for attempting to jump aboard just before departure, aghast his wife had boarded without him, so vaulted the turnstiles in an attempt to sneak in via the side entrance. Our attendant was having none of it and gave him a proper earful, banishing him to wait shame-faced for all of the next eight minutes, and we nearly applauded.
On the Getxo side we took lunch in the nearest cafe because it was the height of the afternoon and because its set menu was far cheaper than the tourist traps in town. I thus spent an hour on the terrace watching the gondola shuttle back and forth while working my way through steak and chips and a bottle of red wine, which is one of the very finest ways to experience a transporter bridge. In all that time the elevator never moved and no visitors ever appeared on the upper walkway, even though the website would have happily have sold me a ticket. I concluded the bridge walk had never been an option on this particular day and was simultaneously peeved and relieved. Only much later did a message appear online saying "Due to a technical problem the elevator will operate temporarily from 10am to 2am and from 4pm to 8pm", so there had been an opportunity except by chance we'd arrived at 2.05pm and left at 3.55pm. If there's ever a next time, hmmm, maybe.
Citymapper features three Basque ferries, one of which crosses the Nervión just south of the transporter bridge every 5 minutes for those who can't be bothered to wait for the gondola.
Artxanda Funicular
Bilbao has two funicular railways, the mostcentral of which climbs a steep hill not far from the Guggenheim. It opened in 1915 as access to an elevated viewpoint on Mount Artxanda, the upper level now also home to a hotel, recreational facilities and a very minor suburb. The two current vehicles date from 1983 and comprise five staggered cabins with a maximum capacity of 70, one starting at the bottom and one simultaneously at the top with a tiny passing place halfway. The journey takes just three minutes, the maximum slope is 45° and we thought it'd be a jolly little excursion. Unfortunately lots of others had had the same idea, it was an unusually hot day and we spent longer than expected in a diagonal oven.
The timetable's notionally every 10 minutes but seemed to operate only every 15, hence the queue at the lower terminal nudged forwards less frequently than we hoped. You had to pity anyone who lived or worked up top but found themselves caught in all this tourist hoo-ha. When finally a service arrived with sufficient space we all crammed on, then stood in close proximity for 12 minutes while the stuffy compartment heated up. A better-staffed operation would have kept us on the platform before ushering us aboard. So bad was the heat that on the journey back down someone in our carriage actually fainted, which put TfL's endless messages about carrying water in perspective. This won't happen to you unless it's a hot day so don't let me put you off, but suboptimal transport procedures can of course be found everywhere.
The view from the top was thankfully spectacular, the swooshy viewpoint located a very short walk from the upper terminal. The city is spread outbelow in front of a mountainous backdrop, at least once you get past the chain of thick red letters spelling out 'Bilbao'. It's not perfect because a rim of trees part-obscures several of the best bits, including half-the Guggenheim and the nearby river, but best not complain. Also the exposed setting could be a shock to the system in poor weather, but we loved the breeze that helped steel us for the journey back down.
In a deliberate act of selective pricing a return trip on the funicular costs 6€ if you pay at the terminal but only 1.46€ if you turn up with a Barik card, the local equivalent of Oyster. This is such good value that the lady at the Tourist Office tried to warn me off buying the 10€ Bizkaia Card that permits free travel in the city for 24 hours. Even after making three Metro journeys, two tram rides and a funicular return I was still 3€ down, but as a tourist in an unfamiliar city all I wanted was a magic card that let me travel everywhere for the day rather than a mysterious top-uppable product.
The tram network is fairly restrictive but we rode it twice, mainly because it was hot and we were being lazy. We didn't ride any buses, although I was intrigued that several had four-digit route numbers. We left the suburban rail service alone.
I thank BestMate and BestMate'sOtherHalf for their patience while I explored more transport options than they would normally choose and took far too many photographs. You can see a small fraction on Flickr, so do take a look.
