Casco Viejo — Plaza Nueva and the Siete Calles

Bilbao began as seven streets between the river and the hill, and they are still there: narrow, straight, stone-paved and full of bars. At their northern edge is the Plaza Nueva, a closed neoclassical square finished in 1851, sixty-four arches around a paved rectangle, with the arcade running the whole way round.

The arcade is why photographers use it. Arch after identical arch gives a repeating frame you can walk a subject through, the ceiling bounces light down evenly, and — the real point in this city — you can keep shooting when it rains. Bilbao gets a fine, persistent drizzle the locals call sirimiri, and this is the one central location where it does not end the session.

Inside the arcade the light is soft all day and the stone is warm; out in the middle of the square you get symmetry and a clean, empty rectangle in the early morning. The Siete Calles behind are narrow enough to stay shaded at midday, with the cathedral of Santiago and the Ribera market five minutes away.

Sunday mornings the square fills with a stamp, coin and bird market and later with the whole neighbourhood having a drink — impossible for a private session, excellent for street-style frames. Weekday mornings are empty. Late evening the terraces spread across the middle and the square belongs to the pintxo crowd.