A tid bit of history

Over spring break I was fortunate enough to have my mother come visit me for the full duration of Semana Santa. We spent time locally here in Bilbao and Getxo, as well as traveled to Madrid, Granada, and Malaga.

We made sure to work in a good portion of culture into all of our destinations including visiting museums, historic sites, and tasting traditional foods. I was surprised about all the new information I was learning about Spain, and I even learned something new about the town I live in. I've been here four months now, walked on the path along the Gexto pier countless times, and never once stopped to look at the informative panels along the promenade.

So while I was tying my shoe, my mother began to read aloud one of these panels; come to find out the large and luxurious looking homes along the water are mansions from the late 20th and early 19th century. Walking along the path, you can take your own self guided tour and read about each of the mansions individually.

These mansions started popping up along the coastline, and Getxo became a destination for the rich to have summer homes. Closing my eyes and imagining the mansions without the modern day buildings was like a scene from The Great Gatsby. I could picture it so well, almost feeling reminiscent of the Newport Mansions in Rhode Island. 

As we walked along, we learned that the creme de la creme of architects in Bizkaia region we being brought in to design these mansions. Styles range from traditional English, eclectic, to chalets. On this stroll, which is called Muelle de Las Arenas, you will find the architecture becomes more ornate with each mansion. I can just imagine that during era of these mansions, money was no object to the rich and fortunate owners. The crafted and detailed mansions look incomparable to the modern day apartments which now fill in the gaps between these amazing 20th century structures.