We start off at Plaza Nueva in the 'casco viejo' - 'old helmet' as it is often literally translated, but really meaning the old centre. As you can guess from the picture, the siesta is observed religiously as much in Bilbao as anywhere else in Spain - not much is open from around 2-5pm. But don't be fooled - this classic Spanish square has several good hostelries around its perimeter and from the early evening into the night is filled with groups crossing from bar to bar and diners heading for one of the many excellent restaurants in this quarter. It's a good place to begin a crawl of the bars and an equally good place to end up. Luckily, it's fairly easy to find on the edge of the casco viejo, near the Arenal bridge.