19th Chapter - Including Interesting Beer & Bar Facts!

Friday, 29 April 2016
Calle Sendeja et al

And here we are with yet another sortie of our Quest!
After some deliberation, we decide to start the evening from the northern limit of Casco Viejo and move our way inwards. As a result, our first beer is an Amstel at BAR EIDER in Calle Sendeja, a cafeteria which probably works mostly during the day, but all the same looks quite ok to us. 
Although we personally do not look very ok.

At the bar-Asian restaurant ARRATIANO we find a beer we have never heard of before: Aguila. It looks and tastes suspiciously like Amstel, though... and rightly so, since it's the same drink, only under its old name: Aguila was acquired by Heineken and then fused with the Amstel company and barrels years ago; this bar happens to keep the old sign on the draught beer font. See? We are actually expanding our hop-and-malt knowledge!

Next comes YAMIKE, a modern-looking place in Calle Esperanza. Sitting on the bar stools, sipping very cold Heineken and listening to the background music, we talk about Jon and Alex's misadventures earlier during the day - a small incident that for now only serves to confirm Ivan's prejudice against Bilbao's most "punkards" areas. But what would life be without a little adrenaline, after all?

At TABERNA PLAZA NUEVA, in the square of the same name, we find the real treat of the evening (beside another Amstel). The navy blue walls, ceramic tiles, knick-knacks and pictures hung on the walls of this bar already tell an interesting tale in their own way. And then from one of the barmen-owners, a friendly and chatty elder guy, we learn the story behind one of the framed memorabilia: one day the comic artist Kim (famous in Spain for creating the series of Martínez el Facha) came into the bar, ordered a drink and asked for some paper; closest thing they happened to have that day was a poster for a pelota game, but Kim, unperturbed, proceeded to sketch the bar itself on the back of the poster in just three minutes. We are also told how a Japanese journalist featured this bar in his article about food in Spain. And how another foreign correspondent, from the Netherlands this time, included in his reportage on the Basque Country a full-page picture of Taberna Plaza Nueva which was bigger than the photograph of Guggenheim itself - as the barman is quite proud to point out!

Eventually we get to the busy Calle Somera to try one more bar: our choice falls on TXALAPARTA, a very crowded bar that must have (re)opened quite recently, since none of us recalls noticing it only a few months ago. Another Amstel drunk, another place ticked off our list, another episode concluded... 

But before ending this post, enjoy this rare pictures of the three Questers preparing themselves for a table football challenge at TIRAUKI. ¡Hasta luego!

18th Chapter - A Long Awaited Reunion

Friday, 22 April 2016
Calle Ronda (for a start)

The BBQuest is on again, at last!
More than one month has passed since our last episode, due to the fact that we all went on holidays and/or trips back home around Easter time - and some more time, too.

*****

Tonight we are happy to have Jon, and most importantly his camera!, joining us. 
As a start, we decide to try the newly reopened BAR ARITZA, in Calle Ronda (the first of the Seven Streets of Casco Viejo). Despite its diminute size and plain air, the place has a good atmosphere, with several customers inside and people hanging around outside. We order Mahou Classic plus a Dubbel trappist, while we tell each other tales from our vacations (should I mention Alex ending up sleeping in the woods in Lithuania? Maybe not). Noteworthy fact: when the time to leave arrives and, for once, Bea steps up to buy the first round, the barman shows his sharp disapproval at the idea of three men letting the only girl in the group pay for them.

Stopping at CAFÉ TEATRO LA VILLA is a walk down memory lane for Jon: he tells us that this used to be "the" place during his teenage years. It still works as a late-night bar, as one can guess from its dark colours and the not-so-vague smell of something that is not cigarettes. But it's too early for teenagers and dancers, and too smoky for us. We grab our Heinekens and drink them in the fresh air outside. In the photo below: Ivan and Alex cautiously entering its sinister doors.

Although it is not exactly on our list of top places to go for a drink, 100 MONTADITOS in Calle María Muñoz still has to be included in our Quest. It's a popular franchise where chips and tinto de verano (wine mixed with soda pop) are all the rage, but we opt for a Cruzcampo and a Radler for Bea (she's part German after all, so we can forgive her). Ivan is displeased with the size of our glasses, that only allow for very small cañas.

Our following stop is TABERNA ASKAO BERRI in Calle de la Esperanza. They offer quite a wide variety of rolls and bites, so it can often be crowded, but tonight it's a slow Friday and we are almost the only ones in. The ceiling displays an artsy decoration with a net of coloured threads holding upside down glasses. The beer here is, once again, Heineken.

The last bar featured in this episode is GRAN CAFÉ EL MERCANTE in Calle Arenal, where we have the third Heineken of the evening. A spacious café-restaurant facing the tree-lined square of Arenal, this place boasts colourful stained glass windows, elegant wooden interiors and industrial chic lighting: it even has a cocktail bar-inside-the-bar downstairs.

Since we end the evening in another part of Casco Viejo that has already appeared on our blog, we can only conclude by putting a couple more pictures of us not being photogenic. Until next time, cheers!

17th Chapter - Blue Wines, Nosy Sculptures and Smoky Pubs

Friday, 11 March 2016
Seven Streets of Casco Viejo

After some slower nights fighting against flu and rain showers, we can finally enjoy a real pub crawl without even having to carry umbrellas with us! Taking advantage with us of the dry weather are Jon, Eider, Tiziana and Iván.
The night begins at IZARTEGI TABERNA in Calle Carnicería Vieja, with a glass of Heineken. It's one of these local bar with local flavour: wooden interiors, a display of tools, and salted green peppers for those who want a bite.

The restaurant-bar URBIETA, in Calle del Perro, shows its Athletic Bilbao pride with the typical boinas (aka txapelas, aka berets) in the team's colours, plus an arrangement of pictures of Basque players, all hanging from its walls and wooden girders. Before we can finish our Amstel, the owner nicely puts in front of us a plate of chips on the house.

At TXAKURTTO TABERNA, in the same street, our friends join us for a caña of San Miguel. There's a yummy display of pinchos and tortillas on the counter, which none of us takes advantage of, unfortunately.

Taking some notes for the blog!

Our following stop is the pintxo bar XUKELA. Its walls intrigue us: they are covered in posters, painting reproductions and curiosities, like a mapamundi (map) of Bilbao, a certificate of atheism - complete with instructions on how to get a "religious disaffiliation" and get excommunited by the Catholic church -, and a collection of plaster casts of noses belonging to waiters and bar owners of Casco Viejo. 
While the guys drink Amstel, Bea orders a moscatel wine and is served... Gïk: a sparkling, very sweet wine that also happens to be blue.
It's also worth mentioning that the sign which indicates the level reached by the flood in 1983, so common around the old town, in this bar has acquired a lighter tone thanks to the cartoon figure of a small man happily swimming in the current, holding its precious bottle of beer.

Always faithful to our thirst-quenching mission, we all move on to SÉPTIMO CIELO, a smaller bar with a more night-oriented atmosphere. We drink Mahou and listen to ABBA songs; inspired by the decoration of this place, Ivan wonders how a disco ball would fit in his and Bea's apartment (it wouldn't).

Although it does not sound like a place where we would typically go out on a Friday night, the bar SKULLS has to be featured on our list. Much to Iván's delight, the soundtrack is pure heavy metal (Iron Maiden, Cannibal Corpse and co.). None of us is a big fan of closed smoky rooms, on the other hand. We are sorry to say that the San Miguel drafted here is one of the worst ones tried during our quest: everyone agrees on its strange flavour, and Ivan comments that "it has a metallic aftertaste, maybe to go with the place".

We've made more than the intended share of bars for tonight already (and are quite proud of it, to be honest!). But the last beer left our mouths in desperate need of trying a decent drink. That is why, with slightly swaying steps, we head off to JAVIER, in Barrenkale. Their Estrella Damm does its job and leaves us refreshed - and ready for bedtime!

Will this good weather assist us in our future beer endeavours? Will bad San Miguel continue to persecute us? What is the point of blue wine, exactly?
We hope to find the answer to these and other questions in BBQuest next episode. Until then, cheers!

16th Chapter - It's hard to act young

Friday, 04 March 2016
Calle del Perro

As the title says, it's hard to act young.

We would like to stop complaining about back pain, heartburn, persistent cough and receding hairlines... but then, it's a nice variation from the constant gossiping about other people's lives! So tonight we embrace our old side and join the flow of sixty-somethings in Calle del Perro. 

Ok, we might have been exaggerating. There is a cuadrilla definitely in their late fifties drinking in  ROTTERDAM, the first bar that we choose. To get even crazier, we order a draft Voll-Damm (gasp!) instead of the usual lager, while the waitress eyes us suspiciously and wonders if we are eventually gonna sit for a proper dinner, as well. But we don't. Thug life!

Our second stop is RIO-OJA, which welcomes us with a nice smell from their restaurant part, its walls lined with pelota-related articles. Beer: Amstel Oro, the toasted variant of our usual cerveza.

And the tiles in the bathroom remind customers to always carry their umbrella - it's rainy Bilbao, after all.

A few doors down on the same road we find EGILUZ. The three of us sit down at the bar, looking at the rows of ceramic pots filled with calamari, soup and meat, and -with an Amstel in hand - slowly slide again into our retired personas. It's actually an OK place, only lacking some music maybe, but half hour later we notice that the owners start tidying the place up: time for another bar!

We move to the restaurant-bar KALDERAPEKO, on the opposite side of the street. Here we are served Mahou (that Ivan twice tries to pay for, feeling a strange and unnecessary rush of generosity), while the conversation turns onto aging and relationships. Outside, rain and drizzle alternate, in a nice echo of our contemplating mood.

Alex did not even make any comment about forks, this time.

And finally it's time for our last BBQ stop for this Friday: the bar LUZGAS in Calle de la Pelota. We have a glass of Heineken and observe the dimly lit room - there's a girl with artistic inspiration drawing behind us, a blackboard on the wall which entertains us for a while as we try and make out the writings on it, and some inflatable toys used as decorations that remind us of Jeff Koons creations. 

We call it a (BBQ) night, collect our old selves and leave this side of Casco as soon as our glasses are empty. 

Until the next beer!

15th Chapter - Two More Off The List!

Friday, 19 February 2016
Calle María Muñoz

This cold and damp weather might discourage weaker knights... But since a friend of Ivan's, Marko, is in town for a visit of a few days, how could we refuse to show him some bars and brag about our noble quest?
We decide to try a new place for our project tonight, then continue drinking in tested, reliable and more lively bars of the Casco, accompanied by several other friends. After a tasty but rushed dinner at Muga, therefore (some Basque people might want to work on their manners...), we enter its neighbour LAU ANAIK, in Calle María Muñoz. It's a quiet, familiar-looking local bar of which we are almost the only customers; the guys order an Amstel and Bea is served a mealy Legado de Yuste (Belgian Pale Ale). We sit at the bar, and enjoy the nice background music.

This night is far from over: it will eventually include a lot more beers & beverages. But since all that are was not part of the quest, we can close here our narration and avoid explanation!

*****

Saturday, 20 February 2016
Mercado La Ribera

After recovering from last night's excesses (let's say our day started sometime PM), we are ready to add at least one more bar to our list. With our buddies Marko, Iván and Tiziana, we go for food and drinks to Mercado La Ribera, the indoor market on the river. We are left with only a pic of the dinner and not the bar: see the neat division on the table between meat grilled on the spot by Ivan and Marko, and the veggie side of Asian plates ordered by Alex and Bea?

For beers we go to CERVECERÍA ARANBARRI, a bar which boasts of 50 different beer brands from the world. Alex goes for a pint of Guinness, Ivan for a draft pilsner. Bea, however, intrigued by the wide offer, has in mind to order something special... only to find out that apparently there's only the five visible tap beer on the counter, and nothing more. Ok, better than other places, but quite a disappointment - the difference between 5 and 50 is quite striking.

This night as well will go on someplace else, but the BBQuest part ends here. Until next episode, cheers!

14th Chapter - A Sip of History

Friday, 12 February 2016
Plaza Nueva

We start, once again, with a quick flashback. 
Last Saturday saw us celebrating Carnival hopping from bar to bar, but only one of them had not been featured yet on our list: MORGA TABERNA in Calle Somera. Our outfits were reflections of our innest selves: cheesy couple matching masks for Ivan and Bea, hand painted with love (and low skills that caused major skin discoloration)...

 ...and an historical ensemble for Alex Torbjørn, our 50% Welsh, 50% Danish, 100% Viking BBQuest knight! You can spot, in the background, the tap of Mahou that we enjoyed together with other friends and their costumes. 

The rest of that night, fun and goofy as it was, does not belong in this blog...thus obliging the writer to jump immediately to yesterday evening!

Umbrellas open, we begin with a pit stop at Las Fritas, where the guys, tired from the work week, regain some strenght and warmth with a cucurucho of fries topped with Roquefort cheese (Ivan) and soft boiled eggs (Alex). We are soon joined by Jonathan and Marta, and with them we quickly hide from the rain under the arches of Plaza Nueva. 

We open with no less than CAFE BAR BILBAO, an unmissable place in town since 1911. Its blue-and-white ceramic tiles, electric blue sign and stucco ceilings are certainly a nice sight. There's luckily a free table where we can sit down and sip our glasses of Amstel.

Our second beer is again an Amstel drank outside of EREKA bar (Crianza red wine for the girls). It looks like an ok place which also offers pintxos for 1 euro, though we barely step foot inside.

We soon move to URDIÑA, on the same side of Plaza Nueva, where for a change we find Mahou draft. Please forgive our shaky hands while taking the pic... we really miss our official photographer Jon!

And after these quick glasses, it's time for another traditional spot in Bilbao.  The restaurant bar VICTOR MONTES stands out with its black and gold facade. Inside, the barman explains us that their San Miguel beer is poured from a tap designed by sculptor Lorenzo Quinn, son of actor Anthony Quinn. Well, our quest can be informative as well! 

The arm-shaped tap by L. Quinn. Cool touch!

"Alcohol poisons you slowly" - a caveat for us beer drinkers, spot by Ivan on Victor Montes' walls...

To close the night, we walk out of Plaza Nueva and choose a place with a completely different flavour. ERRONDABIDE bar - club, in Calle Ronda, is an extremely Independentist cultural centre, its walls lined with political posters and the like. On Saturdays it can be very full, loud and smoky, but tonight we find it to be quite the opposite, and are happy to enjoy a moment of tranquility and chatting with a glass of Mahou.

And that's it for this episode! We take leave with a shot of Hameed and his (borrowed) moustache umbrella - it looks like a classy enough picture, don't you agree? 

So long, farewell!

13th Chapter - The Night Before Carnival

Friday, 05 February 2016
Calle Askao - Plaza Nueva

After a one-week hiatus due to Alex's visit to his homeland, we are once again ready to tackle our hoppy mission. Eider, neighbour and friend, is the first one to join us tonight in Calle Askao, behind Plaza Nueva.
LOS CARACOLES is a narrow bar in Athletic Bilbao's colours - red and white. They serve us Mahou and Moscatel wine. It's mainly a warm-up, so not much to note: we sip our drinks, discuss Carnival costumes, gossip about Hameed and lament the fact that Jon is not here to take pictures for us.

Next comes the bar and restaurant GURE TOKI, which also has draught Mahou - and dishes like goose egg or a tomato concentrate called Fancy Tomato Paste; for all their fanciness, they are a little stingy with the quantity of beer in a glass. Bea orders a Grimbergen, forgetting that it's a devilish abbey beer impossible to finish; when Ivan notes that Alex holds his glass in a peculiar way that even English lords would find too sophisticated, however, even Grimbergen is a good enough prop to make fun of him.

Some other friends have joined us in the meantime, so we move to SORGINZULO, in Plaza Nueva, recognizable by its large frog sign (a pity that our French acquaintances are not around tonight!). They serve Amstel and are proud to call themselves "the best bar of pintxos" - you can see Hameed putting them to the test.

The following beer stop is EKAIN: they lose some points for serving San Miguel, but they make up for it thanks to the interesting Basque prints on the walls and the nice waitress who compliments Alex on his Euskera skills (she might have been making fun of him at the same time, but we like to look on the bright side).   

Intermezzo: a picture of Bea in front of the TOPA...! shop. If, like her, you are familiar with the slang of Livorno, Italy, you do not require further explanation. If you are not, let us only note that for Basques "topa" means "cheers", and for Livornese people... well, it means something else.

Finally, we turn our steps towards Calle Somera and enter BAR JOSÉ "PEPE" MUJICA, an vegan-friendly place dedicated to the former Uruguayan president. We close the evening drinking Estrella Galicia and sweet mosto, with some awkward hugging and inexplicable cheering going on all the while. 

...And this last one makes three cheering-arms-up, silly-looks-on pictures for tonight.
Now we have to go and get dressed for the Carnival follies. Enjoy this winter parenthesis of confetti and fried food, 'cause we surely will!