What you can see on the Bilbao webcam
The camera is on a hotel next to the stadium and looks west, downstream. On the left, the curved white façade of San Mamés fills the top of the picture, with the hotel's terraces and garden below it. On the right, the ría bends away between its embankments, past a long spit of land, new apartment blocks on the far bank and the green hills that close the valley. The tide reaches this far up the estuary, so at low water the edges turn to mud and at high water the river fills its banks. The picture comes as a time-lapse of the day.
Bilbao webcam: San Mamés and the ría from a hotel terrace
This camera stands on a hotel built right against San Mamés, the home of Athletic Club, and looks west down the ría. The stadium's curving wall of white fins, with its big red-framed window, fills the upper left of the picture; below are the hotel's roof garden and terrace tables. To the right the estuary bends away between stone embankments, with a spit of land in mid-river, blocks of flats on the far bank and wooded hills behind.
Watch the water: the tide comes this far inland, so mud banks show along the edges at low water and disappear as it rises. It is also a quick guide to Bilbao's changeable weather, from low cloud on the hills to bright Atlantic sunshine. It comes as a time-lapse of the day.
From shipyards to the Guggenheim
The ría, the estuary of the Nervión and Ibaizabal rivers, runs about 15 km (9 miles) from the city to the sea, and for more than a century its banks were lined with shipyards and factories. The last big yard, Euskalduna, closed in the 1980s, and its name lives on in the concert hall and conference centre built on its site, upstream from the camera. The Guggenheim Museum, Frank Gehry's titanium building, opened in 1997 and turned the city into a destination. San Mamés, opened in 2013 for Athletic Club, seats about 53,000, and at night its façade lights up in colours.
When to watch Bilbao
Bilbao is one hour ahead of the UK and Ireland. It has a mild, green, Atlantic climate, with rain spread through the year and the wettest months from October to April. Because the camera looks west, mornings come with the light behind it, and on clear evenings the sun sets down the estuary. The tide changes the picture too, so it is worth comparing morning and evening on the time-lapse.
Around Bilbao
Getxo and its beaches lie at the mouth of the estuary, where the Bizkaia Bridge, the world's oldest transporter bridge, still carries people and cars across the water. San Sebastián is about 60 miles (100 km) east along the coast.
Visiting Bilbao
Bilbao airport is about 6 miles (9 km) north of the city. The ferry terminal is at Santurtzi, on the left bank of the estuary, linked to the centre by train and road. The old town, the Casco Viejo, is a short tram or metro ride from San Mamés.
