Bilbao-Abando railway station is the city’s main railway terminus and its history goes back to the arrival of the railway in the nineteenth century, with the station opening in 1863 as the terminus of the line from Tudela and becoming popularly known as the Estación del Norte because of the company that operated it. The present station is largely the result of a major 1948 rebuilding, which gave it a more monumental post-war appearance. The station, also known as Abando Indalecio Prieto and formerly as the Estación del Norte, sits near Plaza Circular and has the pleasing confidence of a station that knows it still matters.
There’s a bit of faded grandeur to the building, but it’s sizeable and things sort of function. It’s also connected to the metro network and it’s something of a transportation hub.
The most striking feature is the enormous stained-glass window inside the station, which depicts scenes connected with Bilbao and Biscayan life, including industry, fishing, sport, farmhouses, the Basilica of Begoña and the bridge of San Antón. It is a wonderful piece of civic storytelling, filling the station with colour and meaning in a way that makes most British railway concourses look as though they have given up emotionally. There is something rather lovely about arriving by train and being greeted not just by ticket barriers and someone eating crisps aggressively, but by a huge glowing summary of local history and identity. I very much like this, it’s got character.
It is not Bilbao’s most famous building, but it’s practical and it has a Carrefour which was very useful for stocking up on cold drinks to get me through the heat. Did I mention how hot it was?
I never did work out what this was. Art installation, memorial, or Renfe simply couldn’t be bothered moving some old sleepers.