7th Chapter - Midweek Somber

Wednesday, 02 December 2015
Askao Kalea

We hadn't planned to go on our quest this night. 
It's movie night: the DOCK bar/cultural centre in Paseo Uribitarte, for its Cine Retro Wednesday, is screening "Honey, I shrunk the kids". Free entrance and free popcorns with one beer!
After the film, we walk together to the Casco Viejo, and decide to have a caña after all. There's some talking to do, some time to spend thinking, the calmness of a midweek evening, and not all bars are closed yet. We enter CAFETERÍA MELCHOR in Calle Askao.

The bar is long and narrow, and the barmaid quite friendly. They offer Estrella Galicia  draft beers, the lager and the 1906 Reserva. On a wall, a blackboard shows two riddles: be the first to solve them and your drink is on the house. Bea has the solution (can you guess it too?), but arrives too late to claim the prize. The barmaid kindly offers to take a photo of us all the same, to award our effort.

This is really a tiny episode, but still worth mentioning: first, the feel of a local bar with its own atmosphere put a smile on our face; secondly, it's our first bar in this part of Casco (I mean during the BBQuest, obviously).
Hasta el próximo fin de semana...

6th Chapter - Fairytale of Bilbao

Saturday, 28 November 2015, h 20:00
Bidebarrieta

We strongly recommend to listen to "Fairytale of New York" by The Pogues while reading this post. The reason for such a soundtrack will be explained later.

Alas, not all nights can be beer nights. Cold weather has finally come, so Friday is spent playing "Articulate!" at Alex's place. Please remember that five out of the six people involved in this fast talking description board game in English are not British: some linguistic misunderstandings of course ensue. Nothing, however, beats Hameed's attempts to:

• describe a rat with the elusive definition of "that land animal";
• define a deer as "a Christmas animal";
• confuse us with the words "that special Asian", until we understood that he meant "special agent" and that the person was James Bond, and not Mao or Confucio.

Anyway, let's stop with the nonsense and move on to Saturday night, for our quest is far from complete!

These times of rains and bar follies have taken their toll on Alex: thanks to his cold, however, tonight he has a deep, husky voice worth of a real Welsh man (by his own admission). 

We start drinking a Mahou Classic at KIOSKO, in Calle Bidebarrieta, with our friends Giedre and Jon. It's a franchise bar, but beer is ok and Bea, the black sheep when it comes to drinking, appreciates the red wine. Our conversation soon turns on the prices of alcohol in foreign countries, and on expensive Finland in particular. When someone wonders how come Finland has such a high suicide rate and at the same time is one of the world's happiest countries, Giedre sensibly remarks "It's because with suicides they get rid of all the sad ones!".
I wrote sensibly, not sensitively.

We move on to KAPIKUA, where Alex is not too happy to drink San Miguel. Ivan and Giedre, on the other hand, show signs of hunger (mouth watering, restlessness, glancing at the bar) and are sent to get pinchos. The choice is hard (can you see the internal struggle captured on Jon's camera?), but they are finally rewarded with very good food.

Next comes the BASTER bar, and an order of Estrella Damm beers. It's a quite hipsterish place, with light bulbs and plants hung from the ceiling and a chalk-on-black-wall decoration on the side. We are organizing a gafapastas party (look it up!), and the irony is not lost on us.
For the record, we say that this is our last beer for tonight.

...So it's completely natural that we find ourselves, a short time later, drinking Heinekens and a sweet Moscatel at 107.SOIZ, in Barrenkale. All that talk about aging and facing the infamous middle life crisis must have shaken our spirits. We do not spend too much time in this bar, since it's pretty cold inside.
Alex says this was his last beer for tonight.

But for some reason or other, the call of the calle is too strong and once again we enter a bar - AKATZ, in the same street - and order our dose of Amstel. While we munch olives and greet the arrival of our friend Hameed, Ivan and Jon's attention is drawn by a set of coloured bottles lined up on the counter. Like nouvelle Alice in Wonderlands, of course, we have to try them! The blue liquid proves to be Curaçao. No strange side effect observed, except for the usual effects of a rhum shot.
Alex says this was his last beer for tonight, but at this point his credibility is quite low and we continue.

Our last stop is the TXOKOMEX Mexican takeaway, a nice option for tacos, burritos and spicy food. Heinekens are ordered and drunk quickly to cool down the guys' mouths, inflamed by a particularly nasty mustard.   
Inebriated by chili, beer and possibly cough syrup, Alex starts singing "Fairytale of New York" in the street, making the best (and using up the last) of his new manly hoarse voice. Are you still playing the song in the background? Good. When our Failed Comedian's singing begins to crack and fade away in high-pitched sounds, we decide to call it a night and slowly crawl back to our homes.

Cheers, readers!