Beauty and THE BASQUE

EXPLORE THE COLOURFUL SPANISH CITY OF BILBAO

- Mitchell Jordan.

Don't be put off by the fact Bilbao is an industrial port city - it's still deceptively beautiful. The 10th-largest city in Spain, Bilbao boasts of a population of over 347,000. It's famous for its Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, but there's so much more to this Spanish city...

BITE-SIZED BLISS

As I take my seat at the bar, I can't help but feel a little excited. It's early evening in Plaza Nueva, a public square in Bilbao, the largest city in Basque Country, where locals and tourists alike have come to indulge in pintxos. This Basque tradition of sampling small plates of finger food in bars and restaurants is something entirely new to me, and as my guide, Xabier, explains what it involves, I wonder if I've already made a big mistake.