Getxo, Spain

Getxo is a town of 78.000 people about 14 km (8 miles) north west of Bilbao.  It's only a 30 minute subway ride away so it's easy to get to.

The city was founded in 1075.  It is an affluent area of the greater Bilbao area.

The Las Arenas neighbourhood sits on the right side of the Nervion river directly across from Portugalete.  The two towns are connected by the Vizcaya Bridge, or the "hanging bridge", which was the world's first transporter bridge.

The bridge took three years to build and it was completed in 1893.  It is referred to as the Arc de Triumph of the Industrial Revolution.  In 2006 it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The gondola runs 24 hours a day.  It takes 90 seconds to cross the river.  Up to 6 cars, 6 motorcycles, bicycles and 200 passengers can cross at a time.  I don't know about cars bit it is one €0,50 per person to cross.

Here's 20 seconds of a 90 second trip.

Near the bridge is the Church of the Mercedes.  It was destroyed in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War and it was rebuilt in 1939.  It doesn't look like your typical Catholic Church from the outside.  Unfortunately it was closed when we arrived so we didn't get the chance to see the inside.

This building was used as a social centre for decades before 1986 when it became the Andrés Isasi Music School.

This is all we saw during a quick stroll around as we spent most of the day on the other side of the river checking out Portugalete.