Bilbao and its surroundings allow you to enjoy its gastronomy and culture. Also be, for a day, chef of their traditional pintxos, as well as "pelota player”In one of the Basque pelota cradles. In addition, you can taste cod and its famous preserves. All washed down with the “Txakoli”, Which is not what it seems, as it is tasted and learned in a winery located in the natural area of Urdaibai. The Jurisdictions , the oldest restaurant in Bilbao. It opened in its Old Town in 1878 and offers diners the possibility of preparing their food pintxo a pintxo together with the chef, Paul Ybarra.
The "pintxo" gastronomic and social reason
Start with the pintxo Cricket, the most from Bilbao of all, dating from the 40s. “You made with what was in the bars to keep drinking. He got lost and is currently recovering ”, he explains while assembling the pintxo based on potato, lettuce y onion.
The most famous pintxo in the restaurant is the anchovy pie, of which the chef tells us his secret: the anchovy is left for 10 minutes with soybeans and sunflower oil (half soybeans than oil). Then it is cooked with a blowtorch, and carrot is added. Another pintxo that the diner makes is the scallop with "Miso of Bilbao", which has, in addition to the Asian sauce, fried garlic, olive oil and lemon. Another of its specialties is truffle spherification, a truffle cream with calcium, which reacts in seaweed flour.
Basque pelota, more than culture
30 kilometers from Bilbao, in Gernika, one of the cradles of Basque pelota, the visitor can live the experience of being pelota player. Its pediment, from 1963, is considered the cathedral of the punta basket (Jai Alai, Basque pelota modality) of the Basque Country.
"Here I have seen gambling to the hamlet." They tell it in the visit to the fronton, in which the demonstration is attended by two pelotaris. Afterwards, the visitor can try what is considered the fastest sport in the world.
Gernika also hosts one of the few traditional markets in the Basque Country, which brings together a hundred producers from the region every Monday. Next to the market is Etxeko Makailoa, specialized in cod for 30 years. There you can try this product from Iceland.
En Bermeo, the largest fishing port in Vizcaya, the first canneries were founded, of which six remain. One of them is arroyabe, founded in 1898, with a gastrotienda in the town. Here they explain that spring anchovy is always of higher quality. It is explained because it is when it has more fat, when spawning this season, and that the belly is the "Jabugo" of the bonito (because there is only one belly for each bonito). Among its new products is the bonito with a touch of pepper.
Urdabai, biosphere reserve
Between Bermeo and Bako is one of the most impressive landscapes on the coast, the great islet of Saint John of Gaztelugatxe with its hermitage of San Juan. Not far from there is one of the most beautiful places on the Vizcaya coast, Urdaibai, a Unesco Biosphere Reserve.
Here is the Berroja Winery, opened 20 years ago and specialized in txakoli. The "Txakoli"" It has gone from being a self-consumption wine to a gastronomic wine, "says its owner, José Ángel Carrero. “It has always been thought that txakoli is a young wine, of the year, and it is quite the opposite. That is an urban legend ”, emphasizes Carrero, who makes eight types of txakoli.
In the world there are only thousand hectares of txakoli -which increased its consumption in the last decade- all in the Basque Country, of which 440 are in this province, Vizcaya; 500 in Guipúzcoa and 98 in Álava.
The history of the kalimotxo
Another very different drink, which emerged in the Basque Country, is the “kalimotxo”(Red wine with Coca-Cola). They say that it was created in the 70 years. It happened when some young people from Algorta (Getxo) who had bought red wine from Rioja to sell in the Saint Ignatius festivities they realized that it was chopped and decided to mix it with Coca-Cola.
En Algorta You can see old fishermen's houses, some of which display the thistle flower on their doors to scare away evil spirits.
And in GetxoIn a residential area, the patisseries fill up at snack time to have the butter bun, typical of Vizcaya.
“It has butter, eggs and sugar syrup. The dough is the same as that of the Swiss bun, but the flavor has nothing to do with it ”, they explain in the pastry shop. zurikaldai. There it also offers two other specialties of the place such as Carolina cake and the spinach pie.
Write: Monica Uriel. Journalist
