The picture above shows the tiles along the wall at the restaurant 'Rio Oja', a few steps from our front door. It's a great place where you can stand at the bar and eat a serving of a 'cazuelita' - a hot dish of some wonderful meat, fish or vegetable stew. The tiles, as you can see, feature a number of Basque icons including the Guggenheim, country dancers and cows, but the image that dominates is that of the blue man with the blue umbrella. And that's because it rains a heck of a lot here.
The umbrella is significant too. Bilbao is a city of umbrellas - just like British cities used to be before it became somehow unfashionable to carry an umbrella and everyone started making do with hoods and hats of various kinds. Here, the umbrella still reigns (no pun intended), and not necessarily the pathetic little fold-up ones that we hide away in our bags in Britain. Oh no. Many Bilbainos still proudly carry proper umbrellas. (Just like I have never stopped doing, in fact...)
We were lucky in the summer and autumn: there was apparently considerably below average rainfall here. It's supposed to rain on approximately 50% of the days of the year throughout the year, but it was nothing like that between July and December. However it's sure making up for it now. For the last ten days it has rained pretty much non-stop all day and all night. When it does rain here, it often rains all day - usually quite lightly. There's even a name for the kind of light mist of rain that often falls for hours here - it's called 'sirimiri'. The last few days, however, it's been raining quite heavily. In fact it's been unusually heavy, and pretty much the whole of the Basque country is on flood alert. Yesterday, the river was running very high and very fast here in Bilbao: quite dramatic. But there was still a way to go before there was any risk of flooding.
Bilbao is vulnerable to flooding as it's hemmed in on all sides by hills, and the water rushes down into the river when it rains very heavily. In 1983 there was a catastrophic flood. In these pictures you can see how unbelievably high the flood waters went in the old town. The flood marker is above the street lamp, near ceiling level on the first floor:
The umbrella is significant too. Bilbao is a city of umbrellas - just like British cities used to be before it became somehow unfashionable to carry an umbrella and everyone started making do with hoods and hats of various kinds. Here, the umbrella still reigns (no pun intended), and not necessarily the pathetic little fold-up ones that we hide away in our bags in Britain. Oh no. Many Bilbainos still proudly carry proper umbrellas. (Just like I have never stopped doing, in fact...)
We were lucky in the summer and autumn: there was apparently considerably below average rainfall here. It's supposed to rain on approximately 50% of the days of the year throughout the year, but it was nothing like that between July and December. However it's sure making up for it now. For the last ten days it has rained pretty much non-stop all day and all night. When it does rain here, it often rains all day - usually quite lightly. There's even a name for the kind of light mist of rain that often falls for hours here - it's called 'sirimiri'. The last few days, however, it's been raining quite heavily. In fact it's been unusually heavy, and pretty much the whole of the Basque country is on flood alert. Yesterday, the river was running very high and very fast here in Bilbao: quite dramatic. But there was still a way to go before there was any risk of flooding.
Bilbao is vulnerable to flooding as it's hemmed in on all sides by hills, and the water rushes down into the river when it rains very heavily. In 1983 there was a catastrophic flood. In these pictures you can see how unbelievably high the flood waters went in the old town. The flood marker is above the street lamp, near ceiling level on the first floor:
And here's another one in the cathedral cloisters:
It happened when Bilbao was hurtling into economic decline with the breakdown of the steel industry in the early 80s, and it was one of the factors that led to the policy of dramatic urban renewal which got off the ground in the late 80s and early 90s and for which Bilbao is famous. A few pictures of the flood follow:
I will write more soon when current workload has resolved. Meanwhile, the rain it raineth every day:
A great while ago the world begun,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
But that’s all one, our blog is done
And we’ll strive to please you every day.
A great while ago the world begun,
With hey, ho, the wind and the rain,
But that’s all one, our blog is done
And we’ll strive to please you every day.
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