Balmaseda

The territory around Balmaseda was home to the pre-Roman Autrigones people, and a Roman milestone dating to 238 AD — found at the eastern edge of the municipal boundary — confirms that a secondary Roman road once passed through the valley, linking the coastal city of Flaviobriga with the interior.

The town itself was formally founded on 24 January 1199, when the nobleman Lope Sánchez de Mena granted it the Fuero de Logroño under the Castilian king Alfonso VIII. What followed was two centuries of political turbulence: the town changed hands between the Castilian crown and the lords of Vizcaya at least six times, passing through the hands of the powerful Haro family and back again. The matter was finally settled in 1399, when an agreement bound Balmaseda permanently to the Lordship of Vizcaya — the arrangement that, in evolved form, still defines its place within the Basque Country today.

By the 15th and 16th centuries Balmaseda had grown into an important commercial centre, with a bridge, customs post, town walls, several churches, and fortified tower-houses.

The bridge of La Muza is Balmaseda's most recognisable landmark. Built across the Cadagua river in the Romanesque style and completed in the Gothic period with the addition of a tower, it has three stone arches — the central one significantly larger than the other two. It served as a key crossing on the Camino de Santiago and was declared a protected monument in 1984.

The Church of San Severino is a Gothic building of the 15th and 16th centuries, substantially remodelled in the 18th century by the Navarrese Carmelite friar Marcos de Santa Teresa, giving the exterior its Baroque façade, pinnacles and cornices. The interior remains Gothic throughout: three stepped naves, ribbed vaulting, and a polygonal apse with tall vertical windows in the tradition of the Burgos cathedral school. The Baroque tower was raised in 1726 under Lázaro de Incera. Among the notable contents are a Cavaillé-Coll organ and a 1533 Flemish-Renaissance altarpiece by the Beaugrant brothers. The Renaissance Chapel of the Cristo, built between 1541 and 1545 by Cantabrian mason Juan de Rasines for a Balmaseda merchant based in Seville, is a highlight. The church complex was declared a protected monument in 1984.

Balmaseda is 30 km from Bilbao. Cercanías train line C4 runs up to two trains an hour from Bilbao La Concordia, taking just under an hour; Barik transport cards are accepted. BizkaiBus also connects Bilbao's bus terminal to Balmaseda, with the drop-off and pick-up at the same point in town.

Once there, the town is small enough to cover entirely on foot. Bars Los Gemelos and Sauto are local options, and the cafes and bars around Plaza San Severino offer a good selection of tapas.