It was in the 1980s that Bilbao began its process of renewal, transforming itself from an important industrial centre into a modern cultural centre. Among the most interesting projects of recent years is the San Mamés Stadium, built by revaluing and distorting the ancient and original Catedral of the early twentieth century. Opened in 2013, it features impressive architecture that emphasizes the contemporaneity, technologies and design of our century. Back-lit geometric elements, “safe standing” seating technology, acoustics and state-of-the-art lighting earned it the award for best sports building at the World Architectural Festival in 2015. But what is most striking, during the visit, is the huge space dedicated to the Museum and the history of the team, to which the city is strongly linked, also because it is the only team in the world made up exclusively of players of Basque nationality.

Another building that certainly cannot go unnoticed is the futuristic Guggenheim Museum, already fascinating from the outside thanks to its shapes and the use of atypical materials, which turns out, inside, to be a true architectural and technological masterpiece.

But Bilbao is not only art, architecture and excellent cuisine. Nature is also the protagonist in the city of the Basque Country: embark on a gentle navigation on the Nervión River, which crosses the historic center to flow into the Cantabrian Sea, and continue to the shores of this sea, reaching deserted and wild beaches and ancient fishing villages, where tradition is still rooted in the lives of those who live there.