Why go
Bilbao’s growth as a port and industrial centre explains one side of Biscay; the painted trees at Oma reveal another use of its landscapes. Reading the province through those two anchors gives more meaning to a trip than treating every stop as an isolated attraction.
The full story
Biscay, also known by its Basque name Bizkaia, is both a province and a historical territory of the Basque Country. Bilbao is its capital. The city’s development as a trading port, followed by rapid industrialisation in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, helps explain why urban and industrial history matter so much here. Later deindustrialisation shifted the economy towards services. That urban story occupies only part of the map. Urdaibai contains the woodland setting of Oma, where Agustín Ibarrola made living trees part of an artwork. Along Biscay’s southern edge, ranges including Gorbea and Urkiola form part of the divide between Atlantic and Mediterranean drainage basins. These are useful contrasts when choosing the focus of an outing: Bilbao offers a port and city narrative, while woodland and mountain settings require a different pace and attention to outdoor conditions. The name Biscay should therefore suggest several kinds of landscape, rather than simply the surroundings of Bilbao.