The Café Boulevard

amplify image

The Café Boulevard

This is Bilbao’s oldest café, and has remained operational following considerable vicissitudes and reform work, which have changed its appearance down through the years. Its current arrangement is set out on two floors, with over 500 square metres of available space and an impressive art-décor look from the year 1929, rich ornamentry consisting of gold-leaf, stuccoes, marble work, some splendid stained lead-glass windows by Luis Lertxundi at Vidrieras de Arte SA, original bronze and alabaster work (probably acquired after the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1926), and two small frescos by the Bilbao painter par excellence Manuel Losada.

The Café Boulevard is famous for its tertulias or café get-togethers, to which it has always lent its support, to the extent that its initials, C.B. have been interpreted as “Convivencia Bilbaína” or Living Together in Bilbao. It is still the venue for many groups and social and cultural activities- its “Tuesday evening poetry sessions”, for instance, which have been organised since 18 February 1992 by the Vizcaya Artistic Association. Admission is free, and normally some eighty patrons attend. This event obtained official recognition of its activities when it was awarded the Golden Pen by the Provincial Council of Bizkaia.

Stories of the countless anecdotes and happenings at the Café Boulevard, the Café Iruña and La Granja inspired Carlos Bacigalupe, a journalist, to publish “Los Cafés Parlantes de Bilbao” (Bilbao’s Talking Cafés - the third and last volume has just been published by Baqué).

The café is open every day of the year and serves breakfasts, hot and cold sandwiches and grills and a wide range of “pincho” snacks, with a particular favourite the hot pinchos. Its large rooms and the separation between floors, together with its excellent location, make this a unique sport for group meals, banquets, presentations, parties and all manner of social events.