(...)
Back onto the other side of the river estuary I walked along Alameda Urquijo, having had the unexpected chance of finding the Jesuit priests residence church open. The 1889 Sagrado Corazón church interior caught me off guard. The profuse decoration with its polychrome colours gave it a rather exotic oriental look, I was not expecting, the vaults having been painted with a sky blue colour and the lateral ones in green with stars. I must confess I liked the "light" ambiance, complemented by the overcharged gilded altar piece dedicated to the Sacred heart.
Outside one could not see too many passers-by in the streets and yet cafés, especially the open air spaces were overcrowded with people standing around drinking "copas", the typical Spanish way of ending the working week, as in accordance with what I was told.
Just a few metres away from where I was lodged I came across one of the most intriguing and breathtaking buildings in Bilbao, the Campos Elíseos Theatre, known as the Bertendona street Bon-Bon shop because of the shape of its unique façade with a horse-shoe shaped arch profusely decorated with naturalist motifs and mythological elements. This 1902 Theatre has been an ongoing centre for artistic events.
Architecturally speaking Bilbao and what I had seen of it kept on having a strong impact on me and although Modernism is said to have had a small impact in Bilbao and been almost strictly limited to a few decorative elements another public building, this time a former old market and washing building designed by Ricardo Bastida, caught my attention, but above all what I was impressed with was the balance in the integration of the old and modern architectural features "incorporated" within just a few metres from one another.
By the time I sat on the bed I could hardly feel my feet. Nevertheless I felt happy for having "covered" quite a wide part of the city and was prepared to continue doing so the following (and last) day.
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