CASERÍO-TXAKOLI

The txakoli hamlets had their maximum splendor during the 19th and 20th centuries. The residents of the towns traveled to the hamlets that produced txakoli and displayed their BRANQUE, a green laurel branch that they placed on trees and posts to indicate the route to follow. to reach the txakoli-hamlet. These excursions were done with family and friends that lasted the entire day.

There were hamlets-txakoli that offered their services throughout the year and others during the season that began in spring, after Easter week and lasted until the end of autumn.

Currently the production of txakoli is mainly white, although in the times of the boom of the txakoli farmhouses, the most appreciated were the reds or gorris and the clarets or ojo de gallo. The activity of these establishments also led to the development of an important gastronomy based on local products and delicacies such as cod that was brought from the seas of northern Europe.

Some of these txakoli-hamlets have reached the 21st century converted into typical restaurants of the Basque Country, as is the case of Txakoli Simón, a temple of good eating, specializing in grilled chops and an excellent wine and txakoli list.

Txakoli Simón is in Artxanda, a mountain that protects the city of Bilbao to the northeast, 20 minutes from the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. You have the possibility of taking the Bilbao Funicular to Artxanda from Tivoli Street in Bilbao. A place where the tradition of eating on the terrace and in the fields is maintained just as it was in the txakoli farmhouses of past centuries.