3 Best Sights in Bilbao and the Basque Country, Spain

Take an evening paseo alongside locals through this central park with promenades and pools on the site of an ancient fortress.

Bilbao's main park, stretching east toward the river from the Museo de Bellas Artes, is a lush collection of tree-shaded paths, duck ponds, fountains, and wide lawns. It's a sanctuary from the hard-edged Ensanche, Bilbao's modern, post-1876 expansion. Doña Casilda de Iturrizar was a well-to-do 19th-century Bilbao matron who married a powerful banker and used his wealth to support various cultural and beneficent institutions in the city, including this grassy refuge.

This park, with bridges, gazebos, and man-made hills, offers a nice respite from the hustle and bustle of the city. At Christmastime, it morphs into one enormous nativity scene that kids go nuts over.